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 lived in a mobile home park in Kokomo, Indiana. This was in the late 1980’s, and I was working as a Project Engineer. At that time, I wasted years of my life building up a career in the middle of “no where”; climbing the corporate ladder… only to be laid off with no notice at the end. I was such a fool.
Anyways… one day the open slab space next to our mobile home was occupied with a home. Surprised us.
It must have come in, placed there, and then left.
The next day… it was gone.
Come the third day it came back, and the entire crew of 20-something fellows were busy putting back in place.
The day after… it was gone again.
What was going on?
Well, it turns out that a group of guys store a mans complete home; furnishings and all, and “hid” it in plain sight about 300 miles away in my Mobile Home Park. When they tried to get it, they had to deal with road blocks and what not, so they would keep coming back to retrieve it. Only to return it back.
I do not know what eventually happened to these fellows, but one thing is for certain…
Never under-estimate the bad things that people can do. They will surprise you every time.
Today…
Is China ready for the coming WW3?
Yes it is.
If it isn’t, then it will deserve everything that happens. The United States will launch a attack on China, and will blame China for it. Expect this reality.
And China will NUKE the living shit out of the USA and all of its proxy nations.
Offsetting peace, sowing dragon’s teeth
The current US doctrine of war against China is based on distributed, dispersed, diffused, network-centric warfare to be conducted along the myriad islands of the archipelagic states encircling China in the Pacific.
These are the “island chains” upon which the US has encircled and sown dragon’s teeth: tens of thousands of troops armed with mobile attack platforms and missiles.
This is to be coordinated with subsurface warfare, automated/autonomous warfare, and longer-range stand-off weapons and attacks.
Powerful think tanks like CSBA, CNAS, CSIS, RAND and the Pentagon have been working out the doctrine, details, logistics, and appropriations for this concept intensively for over a decade while advocating intensely for it.
The sale of link 16 to Taiwan realizes and completes a key portion of this, binding the Chinese island as the keystone of this “multinational kill chain”.
This doctrine of dispersion is based on a “rock-paper-scissors” concept that networked diffusion “offsets” (Chinese) precision.
China’s capacity to defend itself and its littoral perimeter with precision missiles can be undermined with diffuse, distributed attacks from all across the island chains.
Note that this diffusion and dispersion of attack platforms across the entire Pacific gives the lie to the claim that this is some inherently deterrent strategy to defend Taiwan island. Diffusion is clearly offensive, designed to overrun and overwhelm defenses: like Ukraine, this is not to deter war, but to enable it.
This thus signals that aggressive total war against China is being prepared, in granular, lethal fashion on tactical and operational levels.
On the strategic level, currently, at the CFR, CNAS, and other influential think tanks in Washington, the talk is all about “protracted warfare” with China, about pre-positioning systems and munitions for war, about ramping up to an industrial war footing for the inescapable necessity of war with China.
The US senses that the clock is running rapidly down on its power. If war is inevitable, then it is anxious to start war sooner rather than later.
RAND warned in 2016 that 2025 was the outside window for the US to prevail in war with China. The “Minihan window” also hints at 2025. The “Davidson window ” is 2027.
RAND window is 2025.
Minihan Window is 2027.
The question in Washington regarding war with China is not if, but when–and how.
But the US is still engaged in Ukraine. Can it wage a two-front war?
The current administration has hardline Russophobes who want to continue to bleed Russia out in Ukraine. It wants protracted war with Russia. It firmly believes it can wage ambidextrous, multi-front war.
Many US officials also believe that war with Ukraine and war with China are connected. They see Russia and China as a single axis of “revisionist powers” (i.e., official enemies) conspiring against the US to undermine its so-called “rules-based order” (i.e., US hegemony).
Furthermore, if the US abandons Ukraine, this could weaken the Taiwan authorities’ resolve and willingness to wage war on behalf of Washington.
Earlier in the war, when Russian gains in Ukraine were uncertain, Bi-khim Louise Hsiao (Taiwan’s current vice-president elect) gloated publicly and prominently that Ukraine’s victories were a message to China, as well as proof-of-concept of an effective doctrine for waging and winning war against China. As such, the Taiwan authorities were and are a major supporter of the Ukraine proxy war.
But the converse also holds true.
Based on the same premise, if the US abandons and loses Ukraine, it sends a clear message to the people on Taiwan island that they will be the next to be used and abandoned; that their US-imposed war and war doctrine (light, distributed, asymmetrical combined arms warfare) for fighting China is a recipe for catastrophic loss.
The US plans on using proxies for war against China: Taiwan, Korea, Japan (JAKUS), Philippines, and Australia (AUKUS).
Thus it cannot signal too overtly its perfidious, unreliable, and instrumental mindset.
Washington has to keep up the pretense. It cannot be seen to overtly lose in or abandon Ukraine. It needs a “decent interval”, or a plausible pretext to cut and run.
Still, the US is stretched thin.
For example, it is relying on Korean munitions to Ukraine, and South Korea has provided
more munitions than all of the EU combined.
Moreover, the US is currently at war with itself. The fracturing of its body politic can only be unified with a common war against a common enemy. Russia is not that enemy for the US. China is.
The Republicans want war with China now.
Eli Ratner and Elbridge Colby have been fretting for years about the need to husband weaponry, arms, and munitions in order to wage war against China.
Since the outbreak of Ukraine, Ratner has been working hard to pull India into the US defense industry’s supply chain, and claims to have been successful.
South Korea’s considerable military-industrial complex is being pulled into sub-contracting for US war with China.
Since many of its major Chaebol corporations got their start as subcontractors for the war in Vietnam (for example, Hyundai was a subcontractor for Halliburton/Brown & Root), the Korean economy is simply reverting back to its corporate-martial roots.
South Korea’s economy is currently tanking due to US-forced sanctions on China. Major Korean electronic firms have lost 60 to 80% of their profits due to US-imposed chip sanctions.
Under those conditions, military manufacturing and/or subcontracting looks to be the only way forward.
In this way, the US is forcing a war economy onto its vassals.
The business of the US is war
Furthermore, US aid to Ukraine benefits its own arms industry.
The business of the US is war. Not only do existing US arms companies gain, but also the entire tech industry and supply chain benefits, and is currently re-orienting around this.
Much of the US tech industry is seeking to suckle from the government teat, now flowing copiously in preparation for war.
On the other hand, the general US economy is not doing well, with massive layoffs, especially in the consumer and business tech sector.
The backstop of military Keynesianism, with the integration of think-tank lobbying groups funded by the arms industry with close ties to the administration (such as CNAS, West Exec Advisors, and CSIS) ensure that war is always the closest ready-to-hand resort for tough economic times.
The US is simultaneously trying to decouple supply chains, which creates opportunities for US firms (both domestically and subcontracting with US vassals).
Automated, AI-enabled warfare will be a key part of this development, as will be dispersed, distributed warfare platforms using proxies such as South Korea and Japan.
This fits the existing historical pattern: the history of Western technology shows that technology and machinery have always been developed first for war.
Afterwards, they become tools of entertainment and distraction, and later productive tools for general industrial use.
The machinery of war, mystification, and repression
This pattern goes back to the earliest machines and inventions of the West: the crane, the pulley, the lever, were all military technologies – machines of war (used in sieges).
Later they became machines of illusion and distraction (used as stage machinery in Greek theater).
Only much later were they applied for general use – and exploitation – in manufacture and production.
This holds true for many other technologies, including:
the internet, originally designed to create redundant military communications in case of nuclear strike;
GPS, for precision bombing;
integrated circuit computer chips, a miniaturization of electronic circuits to fit inside the cone of missile guidance systems;
digital computers, conceived by Alan Turing while trying to break military encryption;
microwave ovens, originally radar technology, initially marketed as the “Radar-range”;
analog computers, invented for military calculations; and
feedback systems, for guidance systems.
Nuclear power obviously derives from nuclear weapons.
AI, too, from its inception, was conceived for automated battle management, especially to enable second strike after human life had been destroyed.
An AI war is already in the works, with US sanctions on AI-related chips and computing, along with an algorithmic race to suppress dissent and critique in the information domain.
War and business are intricately related in the west, and war is the first lever pulled when the economy stagnates critically or needs a boost.
Is there any possibility of peace?
The US needs to abandon its neoconservative fantasies of hegemonic global empire and retreat gently into that good night, for there to be peace.
Washington needs to negotiate in good faith with Russia, and begin the process of de-escalating its proxies in Ukraine, as well as in Palestine, and the Pacific.
It needs to seek win-win cooperation in a multilateral order based on international law and mutual co-existence, not its own top-down “rules-based order”.
It needs to respect the One China principle, end its interference in China’s affairs, and stop preparing and provoking war with China.
However, the US ruling class is unwilling to do so. And it has only a few levers left to pull. The military one is the closest and most ready to hand.
As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The US is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world”.
Like a drunk at the bar after the final call – drunk with power – Washington is determined to go out with a fight.
Palestine has shown what it will try to get away with: brazen genocide with the whole world watching.
The issue is no longer war or peace in Ukraine. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell sees Ukraine as a “unified field” of war with China. He revels in the possibility of a “magnificent symphony of death” in Asia.
The coda, of course, will be a deafening fermata of silence across the entire planet.
Unless…
…we stop this insane march to war.
This is why Gen-Z men are no longer dating
As a parent, what did your child’s school do that made you say “you can’t be serious…”?
I was the student.
So in most US states, you have to take a high school assessment that determines whether you graduate. In my home state, it was called the PSSA, and we took it in senior year, but got “practice” ones every year prior.
So, it’s ninth grade. We’re asked to write an essay nominating “the most influential person of the 20th century.”
(Read all the way through this before you judge my answer to the question, if you would.)
I picked Adolf Hitler.
A few days later, I was called to the office. My mother was not present—however, the school “resource officer” (rent-a-cop), student liaison, both principals, both guidance counselors, and the school psychiatrist WERE. I feel like I should mention this was 2003—while Columbine was a semi-recent specter, along with a school shooting in my hometown, the absolute madness currently going on in this country wasn’t even dreamed of yet.
One of the principals pulls out my essay and says they’re “deeply concerned.”
My answer was something along these lines:
“Look, the prompt didn’t say good influence or bad influence, it just said influence. He burned entire research libraries because they were run by Jews and we still don’t have all that information back. He convinced half of Europe they wanted to kill the equivalent of the entire population of California*. He managed to conquer an area that was almost the same size as the Holy Roman Empire. Almost all of our modern medical codes of ethics came about because of what Dr. Mengele did on his orders Before the Holocaust, about two percent of Europe was Jewish. Today, three-tenths of a percent are** because the population never recovered. I think he was one of the most awful people who ever lived. But you can’t say he wasn’t influential.”
Now you might think the head-shakey part is that they somehow didn’t understand their own prompt. But you’d be wrong.
It’s that, having heard what I had to say, the two principals and student liaison (who was an adult) all whisper among themselves, and then the student liaison says:
“How do you know all this? We don’t teach it.”
Answer: I was home-schooled for two years.
A reply from the other principal: “We’ll let it go this time. But I don’t want you talking about this anymore. It might upset the other students.”
WELL I FUCKING DAMN WELL HOPE TWENTY MILLION PEOPLE KILLED ON THE WHIMS OF ONE MAN’S PREJUDICE UPSETS OTHER STUDENTS, MY DUDE. When Hitler-like behavior doesn’t upset people, we end up with seven-year-old refugees dying in concentration camps on Christmas Day. There’s a fucking reason we say “Never Forget.”
A postscript: I found out the next year they were all full of shit anyway. My tenth-grade teacher made a habit every year of showing Schindler’s List.
*The population of California at this time was approximately 20.3 million people. I’m aware it’s higher now. This number includes all victims of the Holocaust, including but not limited to Jews, Rroma, people with physical and mental disabilities, and gay men.
**This number has fallen further and is now two-tenths of a percent.
I should loop this and watch it over and over and over
Fideo with Ground Beef and Potatoes
food1
Ingredients
1 package fideo
1 pound ground beef
1 potato, cut into small cubes
1 can El Pato
1 can diced tomatoes
2 to 3 cups hot water
Salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon minced garlic
Instructions
Lightly brown fideo. Add ground beef and potato. Stir well and cover for about 3 to 5 minutes to brown meat a bit.
Uncover and add 1 can El Pato and 1 can diced tomatoes. Stir and add about 2 to 3 cups HOT water; stir.
Add salt, pepper, cumin and garlic; cover and cook over medium low heat for about 15 to 20 minutes.
Serve with warm flour tortillas.
Be part of his struggle
As a Japanese person, what cultural shocks did you have when you visited the USA?
My goodness, so many cultural shocks. Off of the top of my head, here are a few:
1.) Shoes
This was probably the first thing I noticed when I went to the United States. No one seemed to take their shoes off when going into any type of building. I found it rather odd though I knew prior to visiting that they didn’t follow customs like that.
2.) Talking and Speech
Americans generally speak in a louder and more blunt tone than countries in East Asia. One thing that stood out to me when I first visited was how close they would put their face next to you when talking and their distinct way of laughing. I honestly didn’t have a big issue with it for the most part although I can be quite sensitive to loud noises, touch, and certain types of personalities. Slang and sarcasm was used commonly as well, something, while not rare, but not often used in Japan.
3.) Toilets
The toilets in the U.S are scandalous! (In my opinion). They use a sheet of paper to wipe their private parts instead of using bidets. I personally think it’s disgusting, but the toilets mechanics are simpler, I suppose.
4.) Quantity vs Quality
While quality is still valued, most things in the United States were large in proportions or quantity. In Japan, people are very thin and small, though in the U.S it is more common to see overweight people. This is most likely because of marketing and how junk food is much cheaper than organic foods (which is understandable). It was sad to see and many people didn’t get the exercise they needed because most people drive cars (again, are very convenient). Meals at restaurants were also large, as well as houses and many buildings.
5.) Reading
Books in the U.S, and most other places, are read from left to right. Books in Japan are read right to left. This surprised me despite knowing beforehand. For some reason they keep manga nearly the same, though. Japanese is traditionally read vertically, but it did not surprise me to see English read horizontally since all my schools taught it.
6.) Driving
I was used to seeing cars driving on the right side, although I had visited places that drove on the left side. My friend was initially confused and a little frightened, but he soon understood. I was surprised to see that the minimal legal age to drive was sixteen. I thought that was a little young. I visited a place in the U.S where it was fourteen.
7.) Expense
I found everything to be quite expensive there, and some of the stores and food to be disappointing. There was a product I wanted to buy that was 301.00 $ in the United States and only 14,630 ¥ in Japan. On the contrary, depending on where you live in either country, prices will always vary. Larger more populated cities will generally be more expensive (like Tokyo and New York) and smaller towns will usually be cheaper (like Coeur d’Alene or Kunohe-mura).
8.) Courtesy
The culture in the U.S, so it seems, can sometimes be quite rude. While this isn’t always the case, in certain places they can be seen as ignorant or apathetic, though this really depends on who you are talking to. Some people don’t even know how to give a simple thank you or speak politely, especially around elders (this is quite noticeable for young children). During political debates and elections, citizens may start riots and yell at others who don’t believe the same thing as them. While it makes sense, it is still not okay.
9.) Touching
High fives, handshakes, embracing, hugging, kissing, and patting backs is seen often in the U.S. This can be very uncomfortable for a Japanese person as we generally don’t touch each other (purposefully), though it can’t be helped in crowded areas or if you’re with friends and family. The comfortable distance between two people is 1 1/2 to 3 feet (yes, using the imperial system) when standing together, if not in a crowded area. In the U.S, couples will show affection to one another in public (kiss, hugs, romantic grooming) and friends will tug on each other and playfully hit each other. This isn’t unseen in Japan but it just isn’t the norm.
10.) Homes
I have lived in a traditional home my whole life, so it was a shocker to see the difference. I could find houses similar to these in Japan, but it was about my 2nd or 3rd time encountering one and I actually went inside. They are set differently than houses in Japan, even if they look similar on the outside (modern homes). I don’t exactly remember, but I believe I was bewildered by the fact of how dirty it was, and the bathing differences.
11.) The Check
In the United States, you are expected to pay a lot of money for the check, but in Japan, you’re not. Actually, in most cases, you don’t leave extra money for the server/waiter. In the U.S you are always supposed to, or else, someone may get angry. Though, from my standpoint, many Japanese servers wouldn’t actually mind receiving tips though have been taught that it could be an inconvenience for the person paying (which is very true).
I was going to mention the school system, but that could be a whole entire essay. Thank you for reading, here are just some of the cultural shocks that came to mind. Thank you. For people from Japan, is this accurate?
This is so very true!
When he becomes a man.
What ancient battle in history was a slaughter due to one side bringing in shocking new weaponry?
This is a Seleucid war elephant.
main qimg 564a0e9cc2876b92954e358405d96e07 pjlq
War elephants were probably the most terrifying battlefield weapon of the ancient world.
However, there were two problems with them. Firstly, elephants were hard to find, difficult to train and expensive to run.
Secondly, even with training, you could never really make an elephant want to fight. Worse, they could be driven mad by enemy arrows and end up trampling friends rather than foes.
However sometimes, just sometimes, they actually were the terror weapons they were supposed to be. One such occasion was a battle fought in 273BC.
The Galatians were a bunch of marauding Celts who rampaged across northern Greece in the years after Alexander the Great’s death. About 20,000 crossed the Bosporus and settled in Asia Minor, taking protection money from the local inhabitants.
main qimg 0a31b6c78967d59e24041428abcf5114 pjlq
Where they settled made them neighbours of the Seleucid Empire and in 273BC Emperor Antiochus I decided to deal with these interlopers. Unfortunately for Antichus, his army wasn’t really a match for the Galatians. He had mainly light troops, whilst the Celts had infantry, cavalry, light chariots and their own terror weapon – chariots with scythes on the wheels.
However Antiochus had his elephants, 16 of them. Somehow -and we’re not told how – he managed to hide them from the Galatians. As the Celts charged the Seleucids the elephants emerged: four on each flank and eight in the middle facing the scythed chariots.
Faced with this unexpected terror weapons the Galatian horses turned and fled. This was particularly unfortunate for the infantry, who suddenly found their own scythed chariots heading back towards them. The entire Celtic army routed, pursued by the elephants.
Antiochus had won a decisive and, from his point of view, cheap victory. What’s more he had shattered the myth of the invincible Celtic warrior. All thanks to his elephants.
Brian REJECTS Girl Who Throws Herself At Him
Why does the CCP keeps saying the accusations in Xinjiang are false but refuse to let UN observers in? Are they afraid of letting the world know or see something? What is a better way than to show the world themselves to prove them wrong?
In light of recent events happening in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine, it would be safe to say that if an active genocide is happening in an area, regardless of any kind of attempt to block the information from getting out, there will be images and videos leaking out.
I mean, look at Palestine; there is no electricity, no food, and they are bombing reporters. There are new videos of the dismembered bodies of children uploaded every day.
Xinjiang is a province about 300 times larger than Palestine, and they claim that millions are being killed. It would be very hard for an authority to suppress the information in that area. Just imagine the manpower needed for such a job, that’s impossible. Yet, all the videos they have is so-called exiled Uyghur or Concentration camp gurads who has their faces covered and voices distorted. That’s not convincing at all.
Allowing the investigation would be a bad start. If It’s allowed, from then on, any group from any country can request some kind of investigation of visit as long as they claim they suspect something. We do not trust your intentions on our lands. You can’t blame us on that, You know what your ancestors did.
Any request without compelling reason should be denied. It’s our rights. We will stand for it, and fight for it if necessary.
Col. Douglas Macgregor: How Close Is WWIII?
What is the most shameless thing you have ever seen a teacher do?
We had a cocky little brat in our class who loved to cause havoc. He was as popular as herpes, both with kids and teachers.
One day he picked up a chair and threw it at a teacher. Hitting her and a couple of other kids. They weren’t hurt badly though. She picked the chair up, told the kids around him to move out of the way, whilst he stood there daring her to throw it at him, and saying she was too scared to do it.
She threw that chair with all her might and whacked the little brat a good one, and the entire class started laughing at him. The noise caused other teachers to come to see what was happening and the class backed the teacher up when she said he was acting the fool and fell off the chair he was standing on. He was a well known trouble maker (who was eventually expelled from school) so the other teachers believed her (or went along with it more likely).
This was in the UK in the 1970′s, and nothing happened to that teacher, and no-one messed with her ever again, but I am quite sure that the brat would be molly-coddled today, and the teacher ‘expelled’.
Pity. The old days were much more fun.
Chinese insane billboards
Can you be shot from so far away that the bullet loses enough energy and the shot does not break skin and just hurts?
Yes, and you can also be shot at a very close range with the same result.
A good friend of mine was shot in the chest from just a few yards away with a .45 caliber bullet and it did not ‘break the skin’.
The way the story was recounted to me, a group of young people that included my friend, were on a camping trip in the 90’s. Someone was mishandling a .45 cal pistol when the pistol was accidentally discharged.
The .45 ACP round went through a cooler sitting on a table, then through the two, 2-liter soda bottles inside the cooler, then out the other side of the cooler, then shattered the Gatorade bottle my friend was holding, and finally stopping when it struck him square in the chest.
Adding to the absurdity of the whole incident, the Gatorade bottle he was holding in front of his chest contained the familiar red liquid which ended up all over his white shirt.
He fell back when the round hit him, more from being startled than struck. The bottle, being glass, seemed to explode in his hand. Several people standing next to him thought he was bleeding profusely in the fading light due to the red liquid he was now soaked in and everyone panicked – but amazingly there was no bodily damage found when he was examined.
Ironically, the person who was holding the firearm when it discharged was supposedly the most experienced person there with firearms – being some sort of Firearms Instructor associated with law enforcement. That person was the most affected by the event and was psychologically traumatized for quite some time as a result of completely screwing up and unintentionally shooting someone in the chest.
My friend still keeps the bullet that did not kill him in his possession.
Lots of lessons here, kids.
More insane Chinese billboards
When the ISS is decommissioned, can we control it to crash into the Chinese space station and claim that it was caused by the ISS going out of control?
cannot
1. The power plant of the International Space Station comes from Russian modules .The Russian module is a locomotive, and the modules of other countries are just carriages.Therefore, odules from other countries cannot control the flight of the ISS.You can’t convince the Russians to do that.
2. The Chinese space station itself has a powerful power unit that can implement emergency orbit changes and actively avoid any impacts. According to public reports, they implemented two orbit changes to avoid Xspace Starlink satellites.
3. Trolls like you cannot make any decisions about the behavior of ISS and can only type on the keyboard in front of the monitor.
The reality
The United States and it’s hawkish neocons have ZERO idea what they are dealing with. Check this 40 second video out.
What is the most disturbing thing ever done by a popular historical figure that most people do not know about?
Since his death, the many toxic facets of Apple Computer visionary Steve Jobs have grown more visible. However, one of his actions still resonates with me, if only for its petty cruelty.
In 1975, Atari founder Nolan Bushnell decided to make a single-player version of their popular game Pong, called Breakout. He tasked Jobs, then a low-level Atari technician, with designing the game.
Bushnell knew that Jobs would most likely recruit Steve Wozniak, who was known to the Atari leader as the better engineer. Jobs and Wozniak had been friends for the past four years, designing and building the computers that would become iconic around the world.
Bushnell offered Jobs a bonus for every chip fewer than 50 that he used when building the game.
Wozniak could not believe his luck when Jobs asked him to help. Jobs proposed splitting the fee, and told Wozniak it would have to be built in only four days, using as few chips as possible. Typically a job like this could take months.
However, Jobs hid two key details from Wozniak:
The bonus for using less than 50 chips.
The four day deadline was self-imposed by Jobs, as he wanted to get back to his commune farm to help bring in the apple harvest.
The two Steves stayed up all night, for four straight nights. Wozniak would work his day job at Hewlett-Packard, then toil nightly on his design. Jobs implemented the chips beside him.
Their herculean efforts succeeded. In four days, the assignment was completed using only 45 chips. The game was successfully delivered to Atari.
For the payment, Steve Jobs only gave Wozniak half the base pay. He kept the bonus money for himself.
Wozniak only found out about this ten years later. He is quoted in the Isaacson biography Steve Jobs, sourced below:
When he talks about it now, there are long pauses, and he admits it causes him pain.
“I wish he had just been honest. If he had told me he needed the money, he should have known I would have just given it to him. He was a friend. You help your friends.”
“Ethics always mattered to me, and I still don’t understand why he would have gotten paid one thing and told me he’d gotten paid another. But, you know, people are different.”
Wozniak, to his credit, did not hold this against Jobs in later years.
There are other excellent answers to this question, detailing historical figures perpetrating brutal acts. I realize this tale from early computing is quite small. Steve Jobs is not in the same league as others.
But tricking your friend into working all night long for several days, and then cheating him out of his paycheck, proved to be only the first salvo in a long litany of his penchant for pettiness and pointless cruelty.
I didn’t see this live, but I did see the video. Two separate stories.
In the first a guy broke into the bank to rob the ATM . There is the full security footage of his attempt.
There are two bullet proof glass doors before you get to the ATM. He goes to the first and pushes it, to no avail.
So he takes his truck and rams it into the outer door at an angle damaging his right front fender, but pushing the outside door off its hinges.
So now he goes to work on the second door. It wont budge and he can’t get the truck in far enough to touch it. He gets a a crowbar, and has no luck. Then he hops in his truck and comes back 5 minutes later with a cordless drill.
Still no luck, then he lays on the floor and naps. The police eventually come and arrest him.
There’s a sign on both the inner and outer doors, that says Pull.. He spent well over an hour trying to push. They weren’t locked, because people need access to the ATM 24 hours.
So he goes to court, and says that he didn’t get into the bank, so it wasn’t break and enter. That he just needed a warm place to sleep it off.
The judge didn’t believe him.
In the second case, that the media called Dumb and dumber, two guys painted their faces with permanent markers, and tried to rob a bank.
They were caught just down the street, because they couldn’t remove permanent marker.
They said that there was no way to prove it was them, because by the time the trial happened the permanent marker had faded. The police showed a video of them robbing the bank with permanent marker, then a video from a body cam, of them being arrested. Then they had clips taken of the two in jail as the marker faded day by day.
Nobody likes to walk point. The point man is at the head of a patrol in enemy territory and is usually the first soldier to get shot at.
I remember the first time I was told to walk point: our battalion conducted a search and destroy operation in the Bosnian mountains and just one minute before my platoon would march into enemy territory, my commander walked up to me and said: “Is it okay for you to walk point? Now?” That came as a surprise. Only two days earlier, a soldier of our company got shot in the stomach while walking point. Now it was my turn!
I could have said no, but to be honest, I also felt honored that my commander came to me and not to somebody else. Not every soldier is able to make a good point man:
A point man has to be very perceptive and must be able to spot an often well camouflaged enemy. He must know how to detect landmines and have an eye for possible ambush situations. At the same time he must be quick and not slow down his unit’s movements, an impossible task!
Everything went well, we were chasing the enemy and we decided that I would continue to walk point for the rest of the operation. Once I got used to my new job I was quite thrilled.
Soldiers rarely volunteer for any combat related activity and this is especially true for the point man position. When your commander asks you to walk point you neither say “yes” nor “no”. You simply clench your teeth and do the job.
First Men in the Moon | Full Movie | Voyage
Full video. A great fun classic!
H.G. Wells fantastic account of life on the moon is vividly brought to the screen by special effects master Ray Harryhausen in this amazing sci-fi epic featuring extraterrestrial creatures.
Body size. The average BMI rises as the social class decreases. It’s expensive to maintain a healthy weight in the U.S.
Family size. The higher the social class, the fewer the children, on average.
Age when you had your first child. Higher class people tend to wait longer to have their first child.
Number of different people you’ve had children with. The higher the number of different people you’ve had a child with, the lower the social class, generally.
Education levels. Lower class people tend to quit their educational attainment earlier.
Volume levels while in public. This goes for both speaking and music levels. Lower class people tend to be louder when in public, either oblivious or unconcerned with how obnoxious they are to others. Or, in the case of loud music, the obnoxiousness is a part of the appeal.
Conflicts in public. Lower class people tend to have more conflicts in public places. You rarely hear about fights breaking out at places frequented by high class people.
Respect for authority. Lower class people—particularly younger ones—are more likely to have a default adversarial stance towards anyone in authority, including the police and teachers.
Proximity to violent crime. Lower class people are more likely to have seen a violent crime, know a victim of a violent crime, have committed a violent crime themselves, or know someone who has done time in prison for a violent crime.
Proximity to the military. The lower the social class, the more likely you are to enlist in the military. The higher classes tend to become officers, if they consider the military at all.
Post-retirement plans that don’t rely on the government. This one should be obvious, but higher class people tend to also have better, private retirement options.
The ease with which you or your children can find a job via networking. Higher class people know more people in hiring positions, and have an easier time getting jobs. If you are high class and unemployed for an extended period of time, it’s likely by choice.
Tattoos on your face, neck, or hands. Lower class people are more likely to have tattoos that aren’t easily concealed by regular clothes.
Why is the CNN feed from China full of machine language?
CNN from all other sources is normal. Only from China is bad.
Is it normal to look at CNN reports on other sources?
A view from the video camera of the CNN channel:
1
Passerby’s Perspective: They see a new movie being made by the famous American movie studio CNN that hired paid protesters …… 🤣
2
CNN is simply responsible for delivering the messages and attitudes that the American ruling class wants to deliver. Whether or not it disseminates the truth is beyond the scope of CNN’s job.
Do you really take the American “democratic and freedom” as a real scenario?
If you see a promotion from American Mobile Recharge, remember to buy a small recharge card for your IQ. 😁
So does the BBC in the UK. The Uyghurs you see in reports like the BBC.
3
Uyghurs 100 years ago
4
Uyghurs in reality today
main qimg 59cbcb142b6567daec525ca2b3836e91
How CNN covers China:
CNN reporter: Old gentleman, how do people as old as you travel on New Year’s Eve?
Chinese old man: I’m too old to walk.
CNN reporter: In China, there is no freedom to travel casually.
Chinese old man: I sometimes travel, and high-speed rail is very convenient.
CNN reporter: China’s high-speed rail has safety hazards, the technology is not up to scratch, you are so old to do up very difficult, right?
Chinese old man: High-speed rail is quite comfortable, but I don’t ride it often.
CNN reporter: In China, high speed rail is the privilege of a few people!
CNN reporter: What is your New Year’s wish?
Chinese old man: life is better now, children are earning a lot of money, is busy at work, come back to see me more often would be better.
CNN reporter: The young people have to abandon the old people in order to make ends meet.
Chinese old man: You can’t talk nonsense, I live a good life, why can’t you speak kindly?
CNN reporter: The old man protested strongly against the injustice he encountered, which is the enlightenment of democracy and freedom ah!
Chinese old man: you guys stay away from me! You guys are reporting nonsense!
CNN reporter: The old man is afraid that our factual reporting is subject to injustice by the authorities and urges us to leave.
(Old man turns and runs away)
CNN reporter: We are worried about this old man’s future. How terrible it is to have no democracy and freedom!!
Simply put, the Western mainstream media pursues a policy of dumbing down.
Is there any land in the world that has never been conquered from its original inhabitants?
In 1981, a cargo ship called the Primrose ran aground off the coast of North Sentinel Island. After a few days of waiting for a passing ship to rescue them, the Primrose crew members noticed that a group of Sentinelese tribesmen were building boats on the beach and were preparing to attack them and their wrecked vessel. Panicking, as they had no guns or weapons aboard, the Primrose’s captain radioed that they be supplied firearms by air drop, but a storm prevented this. Fortunately, they were rescued by helicopters sent from India.
In 2004, an earthquake and a tsunami struck the Indian Ocean area around North Sentinel Island. An Indian government helicopter was sent to the island to establish if the Sentinelese people were badly affected by the earthquake. The helicopter was able to observe a few islanders on the beach, but incredibly, the helicopter was pelted with spears, arrows, and stones, which forced the helicopter to flee.
In 2006, two Indian fishermen foolishly decided to fish in the waters near North Sentinel Island, and when their boat drifted too close to the island, they were killed by the islanders.
Shortly after this, a film crew sailed very close to the island to film a documentary about uncontacted tribes left in the world. Naturally, they were very wary about the tribe; after being warned by the Sentinelese, they snapped a few photos such as these and promptly sailed away.
Most infamously, in 2018, a 26 year old American missionary named John Allen Chau decided to visit the island to preach Christianity to its people. However, he was shot down with arrows almost as soon as he arrived.
Due to these tragic incidents, it’s illegal to travel to the island, and the Indian government leaves the Sentinelese people alone. They have simply always been there; no other civilization has conquered them. We know almost nothing about their language, religion, and culture.
It is amazing to me that the year is 2021, and there is still an uncontacted tribe out there, which we know almost nothing about.
Why does the United States have the largest prison population in the world?
Have you ever been waiting for a show to start while they’re testing the equipment? When the microphone is just a little too close to the speaker, or the speaker is turned up just a little too loud, you hear that awful screeching noise. It’s system feedback. Someone goes to test the microphone and the “T” sound from the word “Testing” (or whatever first sound they make) is fed back through the speakers at almost the same instant. The sound arrives at the mic just slightly louder than that initial sound. It happens so fast, it seems instantaneous.
If you could watch it in slow motion, you’d see something like a hill followed by another hill slightly bigger. Each successive hill grows until system limits are reached.
Meanwhile, everyone in the room clasps their hands to their ears while the guy with the mic fumbles for the volume.
The “justice” system in the US is suffering from multiple slow motion feedback loops.
Not convinced? No idea what I’m talking about? Stick with me for just a minute.
On June 18, 1971, President Nixon announced the War on Drugs. This was that initial “T” sound. The public supported it, yes drugs are dangerous, and this seems like a good idea.
main qimg 9faecdfc36a8ae73eb21a133f999e6b0 lq
Arrests are made, lots of them. Wow, this drug problem was a lot bigger than we thought. We need stiffer penalties, more laws, and more enforcement. So the prison population grows drastically.
White middle class voters notice that the majority of people getting locked up are not white, nor middle class. From behind the picket fence, these people look downright dangerous. Cue more laws and penalties.
The stiff penalties and societal ostracization of convicts trying to return to society make it all but impossible to succeed. Lawmakers see the “recidivism” and decide that felons are beyond hope… more laws… more penalties.
The growing prison population needs more space and cheaper supervision. Enter the private prisons. Now we have a group of people with an economic incentive to lock up their fellow Americans. The prisons become a sizeable sector of the economy. You can’t close prisons or reduce penalties because jobs depend upon it.
Any politician who suggests reform is labeled “soft on crime” and dies politically. Even if the competition doesn’t call him out, lobbyists for the prison sector will.
The children of inmates grow up without positive role models. Their role models are in prison, so they emulate that behavior… another cycle starts…
In our schools, we overreact to horrible events by making things that children do (and have always done) criminal offenses. We station police in elementary schools!
Many children leave school having already had multiple brushes with the law… commence new cycle.
And on it goes.
These are feedback loops. We’ve created what we sought to destroy. The problem is that nobody is at the mic. The screeching noise is only now beginning to be heard. Pretty soon we’ll all have our hands to our ears.
Canines at War: Watch out for China’s robotic dogs equipped with arms
Robotic dogs equipped with machine guns have been successfully tested by Chinese scientists. Developed by a research team at Nanjing University of Science and Technology, the accuracy of small four-legged robotic companions is quite close to that of skilled soldiers
Traditionally used for entertainment purposes and to perform mundane tasks, these Chinese-made robotic canines are now repurposed for military purposes. Image Courtesy: @aprajitanefes/X
The technology used in the military is advancing.
These days, utility robots are now mimicking dogs in both appearance and functionality.
Robotic dogs equipped with machine guns have been successfully tested by Chinese scientists, according to the South China Morning Post.
The accuracy of the small, four-legged robotic companions is quite close to that of skilled soldiers.
Traditionally used for entertainment purposes and to perform mundane tasks, these Chinese-made robotic canines are now repurposed for military purposes.
This could have a substantial impact on how conflict plays out in the future, particularly in urban combat situations.
Here’s all we know about them.
Putting guns on robotic dogs
A few videos of robotic dogs, designed to play a support role to humans, have been released by the Chinese military through official media in recent years.
Developed by a research team headed by Professor Xu Cheng of Nanjing University of Science and Technology, the videos demonstrate the strength and accuracy of these robotic canines.
The researchers have put a 7.62 millimetres machine gun on the robotic dogs, to achieve impressive precision with a half-dispersion radius of only five centimetres across a 100-metre range, the report said.
Its accuracy exceeds that of the M16 rifle, which is known for being an accurate weapon, highlighting the technical strength that these quadruple platforms possess.
SCMP quoted lead scientist Xu Cheng and his colleagues as saying that the study “demonstrates the feasibility of a legged strike platform” in a peer-reviewed paper that was published in the Chinese Journal of Engineering last month.
Because of the rapid growth of China’s electronics industry, these developments have resulted in an enormous reduction in production costs, making this technology more widely available.
Influence on urban warfare
Researchers believe that this technology may have a big influence on how combat develops in the future.
“Urban warfare, encompassing anti-terrorism operations, hostage rescue missions, and the clearance of streets and buildings alike, has steadily risen to prominence as a fundamental facet of contemporary conflict,” Xu and his colleagues wrote in their paper.
“The urban landscape, with its maze of intersecting streets and towering edifices packed tightly together, poses unique challenges for unmanned combat platforms. These platforms must negotiate unstructured terrain and execute intricate actions such as manoeuvring, scaling, and leaping, rendering traditional wheeled and tracked designs inadequate.”
With a focus on bionic principles, these machines are highly adaptable and capable of navigating the difficult terrain of modern warfare.
“Quadruped platforms, based on bionic principles, can use independent ground support points to provide enhanced mobility and adaptability in complex urban combat environments,” the researchers said.
Similar attempts by the US
In 2021, a company named Ghost Robotics displayed the Q-UGV, a four-legged robot equipped with a Special Purpose Unmanned Rifle 4. The utility robots’ weaponisation was emphasised at the showcase event.
Another utility robot with four legs was used in a proof-of-concept test carried out by the US Marines in September 2023. Its capacity to “acquire and prosecute targets with the M72 Light Anti-Tank Weapon” was measured, according to The Conservation.
The American company Boston Dynamics developed the utility robot Spot, which resembles a dog. Another intriguing move was when the business released a video in November last year demonstrating how it had integrated the AI chatbot ChatGPT with its Spot robot.
One of the company’s engineers can be seen asking the machine questions and having conversations with it while utilising a variety of “personalities,” like an English butler. The AI chatbot provides the answers, but Spot mumbles them.
Ethical concerns
A new era in military technology has begun with the introduction of utility robots that are outfitted with rifles and have proven to be effective in engaging targets.
Although there is no denying the potential to improve combat capabilities and operational efficiency, the implications of these advancements must be carefully considered.
Concerns about ethics have arisen about the autonomy of robotic canines in making life-or-death judgements as their deployment into conflict becomes a serious possibility.
The international community has demanded strict laws to control the use of autonomous weaponry, including defence analysts and AI researchers.
As per The Conversation, dozens of the top robotics companies signed an open letter that was posted on Boston Dynamics’ website in 2022, expressing their opposition to the weaponisation of readily available commercial robots in the letter.
The firms did not, according to the letter, object “to existing technologies that nations and their government agencies use to defend themselves and uphold their laws.”
According to BNN Breaking, the US military’s execution of programmes like Project Maven and references to studies from the Centre for a New American Security and Public Citizen highlight the critical need for a strategic approach that gives ethical and human oversight top priority in the development and application of AI-driven warfare technologies.
CRITICAL DRINKER: They Removed Testosterone & MEN From Movies, Now The Hollywood Sign is in FLAMES
Money talks and now Hollywood is finally learning that people are sick of wokeness in movies. Make Films Great Again.
Washington approved the dangerous sale of the Link 16 communications system to Taiwan. This is the final link of what the US military calls a “transnational coalition kill chain” against China, and signals a commitment to kinetic war.
In many traditions, when you paint or sculpt a Buddha, the eyes are the very last to be painted. It’s only after the eyes have been completed that the sculpture is fully alive and empowered.
The United States has approved a $75 million weapons package to Taiwan province, involving the sale of the Link 16 communications system.
The acquisition of Link 16 is analogous to “painting the eyes on the Buddha”: a last touch, it makes Taiwan’s military systems and weapons platforms live and far-seeing.
It confers deadly powers, or more prosaically, in the words of the US military, it completes Taiwan as the final, lethal link of what the US Naval Institute calls a “transnational coalition kill chain”, for war against China.
What exactly is Link 16? Link 16 is a key system in the US military communications arsenal. Specifically, it is the jam-resistant tactical data network for coordinating NATO weapons systems for joint operations in war.
If this sale is completed, it signals serious, granular, and single-minded commitment to kinetic war. It would signal that the Biden administration is as serious and unwavering in its desire to provoke and wage large-scale war with China over Taiwan as it was with Russia over Ukraine, which also saw the implementation of this system.
More important than any single weapons platform, this system allows the Taiwan/ROC military to integrate and coordinate all its warfighting platforms with US, NATO, Japanese, Korean, Australian militaries in combined arms warfare.
The deadliest link
Link 16 would be the deadliest piece of technology yet to be transferred, because it allows sea, air, and land forces to be coordinated with others for lethal effect.
It permits, for example, strategic nuclear/stealth bombers (US B-1B Lancers, B-2 Spirits) to coordinate with electronic warfare and surveillance platforms (EA Growlers, Prowlers, EP-3s), fighters and bombers (F-16,F-22, F-35s) as well as conduct joint arms warfare with US, French, British carrier battle groups, Japanese SDF destroyers, South Korean Hyun Moo missile destroyers, as well as THAAD and Patriot radars and missile batteries.
It also allows coordination with low-earth orbit satellites and other Space Force assets.
In other words, Link 16 supplies a brain and nervous system to the various deadly limbs and arms that the Taiwan authorities have been acquiring and preparing on the prompting of the US. It ensures interoperability and US control.
It effectively prepares Taiwan to be used as the spear tip and trigger of a multinational war offensive against China.
To give a shoe-on-the-other-foot analogy, this would be like China giving separatists in a US territory or state (e.g. Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, Texas) not just arms and training – already a belligerent act of war, which the US is currently doing – but connecting insurgent militaries directly to the PLA’s surveillance, reconnaissance, and command/control systems.
This coordinates and completes, to borrow the words of the US Naval Institute (USNI), the final link in a “transnational coalition kill chain” for war.
Offsetting peace, sowing dragon’s teeth
The current US doctrine of war against China is based on distributed, dispersed, diffused, network-centric warfare to be conducted along the myriad islands of the archipelagic states encircling China in the Pacific.
These are the “island chains” upon which the US has encircled and sown dragon’s teeth: tens of thousands of troops armed with mobile attack platforms and missiles.
This is to be coordinated with subsurface warfare, automated/autonomous warfare, and longer-range stand-off weapons and attacks.
Powerful think tanks like CSBA, CNAS, CSIS, RAND and the Pentagon have been working out the doctrine, details, logistics, and appropriations for this concept intensively for over a decade while advocating intensely for it.
The sale of link 16 to Taiwan realizes and completes a key portion of this, binding the Chinese island as the keystone of this “multinational kill chain”.
This doctrine of dispersion is based on a “rock-paper-scissors” concept that networked diffusion “offsets” (Chinese) precision.
China’s capacity to defend itself and its littoral perimeter with precision missiles can be undermined with diffuse, distributed attacks from all across the island chains.
Note that this diffusion and dispersion of attack platforms across the entire Pacific gives the lie to the claim that this is some inherently deterrent strategy to defend Taiwan island. Diffusion is clearly offensive, designed to overrun and overwhelm defenses: like Ukraine, this is not to deter war, but to enable it.
This thus signals that aggressive total war against China is being prepared, in granular, lethal fashion on tactical and operational levels.
On the strategic level, currently, at the CFR, CNAS, and other influential think tanks in Washington, the talk is all about “protracted warfare” with China, about pre-positioning systems and munitions for war, about ramping up to an industrial war footing for the inescapable necessity of war with China.
The US senses that the clock is running rapidly down on its power. If war is inevitable, then it is anxious to start war sooner rather than later.
RAND warned in 2016 that 2025 was the outside window for the US to prevail in war with China. The “Minihan window” also hints at 2025. The “Davidson window ” is 2027.
RAND window is 2025.
Minihan Window is 2027.
The question in Washington regarding war with China is not if, but when–and how.
Link 16 makes “how” easier, and brings “when” closer.
But the US is still engaged in Ukraine. Can it wage a two-front war?
The current administration has hardline Russophobes who want to continue to bleed Russia out in Ukraine. It wants protracted war with Russia. It firmly believes it can wage ambidextrous, multi-front war.
Many US officials also believe that war with Ukraine and war with China are connected. They see Russia and China as a single axis of “revisionist powers” (i.e., official enemies) conspiring against the US to undermine its so-called “rules-based order” (i.e., US hegemony).
Furthermore, if the US abandons Ukraine, this could weaken the Taiwan authorities’ resolve and willingness to wage war on behalf of Washington.
Earlier in the war, when Russian gains in Ukraine were uncertain, Bi-khim Louise Hsiao (Taiwan’s current vice-president elect) gloated publicly and prominently that Ukraine’s victories were a message to China, as well as proof-of-concept of an effective doctrine for waging and winning war against China. As such, the Taiwan authorities were and are a major supporter of the Ukraine proxy war.
But the converse also holds true.
Based on the same premise, if the US abandons and loses Ukraine, it sends a clear message to the people on Taiwan island that they will be the next to be used and abandoned; that their US-imposed war and war doctrine (light, distributed, asymmetrical combined arms warfare) for fighting China is a recipe for catastrophic loss.
The US plans on using proxies for war against China: Taiwan, Korea, Japan (JAKUS), Philippines, and Australia (AUKUS).
Thus it cannot signal too overtly its perfidious, unreliable, and instrumental mindset.
Washington has to keep up the pretense. It cannot be seen to overtly lose in or abandon Ukraine. It needs a “decent interval”, or a plausible pretext to cut and run.
Still, the US is stretched thin.
For example, it is relying on Korean munitions to Ukraine, and South Korea has provided more munitions than all of the EU combined.
Moreover, the US is currently at war with itself. The fracturing of its body politic can only be unified with a common war against a common enemy. Russia is not that enemy for the US. China is.
The Republicans want war with China now.
Eli Ratner and Elbridge Colby have been fretting for years about the need to husband weaponry, arms, and munitions in order to wage war against China.
Since the outbreak of Ukraine, Ratner has been working hard to pull India into the US defense industry’s supply chain, and claims to have been successful.
South Korea’s considerable military-industrial complex is being pulled into sub-contracting for US war with China.
Since many of its major Chaebol corporations got their start as subcontractors for the war in Vietnam (for example, Hyundai was a subcontractor for Halliburton/Brown & Root), the Korean economy is simply reverting back to its corporate-martial roots.
South Korea’s economy is currently tanking due to US-forced sanctions on China. Major Korean electronic firms have lost 60 to 80% of their profits due to US-imposed chip sanctions.
Under those conditions, military manufacturing and/or subcontracting looks to be the only way forward.
In this way, the US is forcing a war economy onto its vassals.
The business of the US is war
Furthermore, US aid to Ukraine benefits its own arms industry.
The business of the US is war. Not only do existing US arms companies gain, but also the entire tech industry and supply chain benefits, and is currently re-orienting around this.
Much of the US tech industry is seeking to suckle from the government teat, now flowing copiously in preparation for war.
On the other hand, the general US economy is not doing well, with massive layoffs, especially in the consumer and business tech sector.
The backstop of military Keynesianism, with the integration of think-tank lobbying groups funded by the arms industry with close ties to the administration (such as CNAS, West Exec Advisors, and CSIS) ensure that war is always the closest ready-to-hand resort for tough economic times.
The US is simultaneously trying to decouple supply chains, which creates opportunities for US firms (both domestically and subcontracting with US vassals).
Automated, AI-enabled warfare will be a key part of this development, as will be dispersed, distributed warfare platforms using proxies such as South Korea and Japan.
This fits the existing historical pattern: the history of Western technology shows that technology and machinery have always been developed first for war.
Afterwards, they become tools of entertainment and distraction, and later productive tools for general industrial use.
The machinery of war, mystification, and repression
This pattern goes back to the earliest machines and inventions of the West: the crane, the pulley, the lever, were all military technologies – machines of war (used in sieges).
Later they became machines of illusion and distraction (used as stage machinery in Greek theater).
Only much later were they applied for general use – and exploitation – in manufacture and production.
This holds true for many other technologies, including:
the internet, originally designed to create redundant military communications in case of nuclear strike;
GPS, for precision bombing;
integrated circuit computer chips, a miniaturization of electronic circuits to fit inside the cone of missile guidance systems;
digital computers, conceived by Alan Turing while trying to break military encryption;
microwave ovens, originally radar technology, initially marketed as the “Radar-range”;
analog computers, invented for military calculations; and
feedback systems, for guidance systems.
Nuclear power obviously derives from nuclear weapons.
AI, too, from its inception, was conceived for automated battle management, especially to enable second strike after human life had been destroyed.
An AI war is already in the works, with US sanctions on AI-related chips and computing, along with an algorithmic race to suppress dissent and critique in the information domain.
War and business are intricately related in the west, and war is the first lever pulled when the economy stagnates critically or needs a boost.
Is there any possibility of peace?
The US needs to abandon its neoconservative fantasies of hegemonic global empire and retreat gently into that good night, for there to be peace.
Washington needs to negotiate in good faith with Russia, and begin the process of de-escalating its proxies in Ukraine, as well as in Palestine, and the Pacific.
It needs to seek win-win cooperation in a multilateral order based on international law and mutual co-existence, not its own top-down “rules-based order”.
It needs to respect the One China principle, end its interference in China’s affairs, and stop preparing and provoking war with China.
However, the US ruling class is unwilling to do so. And it has only a few levers left to pull. The military one is the closest and most ready to hand.
As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The US is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world”.
Like a drunk at the bar after the final call – drunk with power – Washington is determined to go out with a fight.
Palestine has shown what it will try to get away with: brazen genocide with the whole world watching.
The issue is no longer war or peace in Ukraine. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell sees Ukraine as a “unified field” of war with China. He revels in the possibility of a “magnificent symphony of death” in Asia.
The coda, of course, will be a deafening fermata of silence across the entire planet.
There is a border between China and Mongolia, or how do you distinguish the two countries?
If you mean the border fence, in most parts, there isn’t.
You can roughly devide China-Mongolia border into three sections: east, middle and west. Middle and west section is not habitable for human beings.
The famous Gobi desert lies in between China and Mongolia covering middle and west part of the C-M border, you wanna cross the border on foot? Die. Because Gobi desert has a size of 1.4 million square kms, ranked 19th among all countries if it is a country. No roads, no rivers and lakes, no human residents, no one can cross it without an army behind providing supplies.
There are some villages and towns in the desert, with a road connecting each other. But there’s border patrol along the roads in near border areas, because you go off the road, you die.
There are some crossing points, and also patrols and fence stretching aside, long enough to preventing anyone trying to cross the border near the crossing point.
I was 16 (legal working age) and acting up at home so my mother decided that I should get a job to keep me busy. No skills, still in school and couldn’t type.
A friend of a friend said they were hiring at a company that mailed credit card holders their statements and a bunch of advertisements. You had to hand pick the sheets and stuff the envelopes. (This was before the digital age)
Got hired! For one day. The second day I showed up I was told that I had to be 18 to work in that position.
I was devastated. Vice President of the company to the rescue! We had met at lunch the previous day and he was the nicest, kindest man.
Anyway, for the next 7 months I was his personal assistant, riding with him to business lunches, keeping his schedule and generally doing a few filing tasks.
The regular office staff was furious! His actual secretary would make snide remarks, throw eye daggers and practically have an apoplexy every time she handed me my check.
Mr……… then offered to pay for my college education!
I was ecstatic!!! He had two grown sons with their own businesses who he said didn’t need him to help them.
One morning I came in to “work” and everyone was crying. Mr…….. had a heart attack and died overnight.
I loved that man. He made me feel like I mattered. I still miss him even though it’s been over 45 years since this happened.
China Just Launched The MOST POWERFUL Hypersonic Engine In The World That Will CONFRONT The US
In a modern battle, the tanks are brought in only when the Aerial Threats are completely cleared
Tanks today are used mainly to break positions and strongholds
Yet the line of tanks come into play only after the air force destroys all aerial threats to the tank which are mainly
Artillery Guns
Air to Surface Missiles
Other Tanks
The fourth threat is LANDMINES which can be neutralized by demining operations
Now let’s see Ukraine
They have virtually no Air power
This means a Tank goes into the front line with the air full of Sukhoi 35s, Sukhoi 34s, Ka 52 Helicopters and Loitering Drones
How long do you think the world’s best tank can survive?
It has armor but it also has vulnerabilities, which include being susceptible to a munition drone that drops an accelarant laced explosive capable of generating a huge ball of flame
Today Tanks can be mainly used against enemies who don’t have major air power
Small Armies, Separatist Factions, Terrorist Holds, Fortifications without Air Cover
Not against the front lines of the World’s Best Land Army, loaded with air power
The worst part is the Abrams is millions of dollars whereas the drone that dropped the explosive likely cost the Russians less than ten thousand dollars
A Storm Shadow that cost £ 200,000 to source by the British Army is destroyed by a missile fired by the Russians that probably cost $ 30,000
That’s because Britain and other nations in the West have primarily privatised their defense industries and profiteering is INSANE
Russia , China and even India have managed to keep defence manufacturing in the hands of the State for a major part and that means prices are more controlled
Its an entirely new world now
Aircraft Carriers are becoming redundant as our Houthi Braves are showing the world
Stealth is becoming less important given the rapid nature of Air Defence Systems
Tanks are secondary to Air Cover which means rather than Superior Aircraft, you need more saturation of airspace and for that you need Cheap Loitering Drones
Here’s what REALLY happened with the Covid vaccine
America asked China to help stabilize the dollar and the American government debt market.
China not only committed to buying Federal debt, but it also expanded fiscal spending on a massive scale, doubling down on infrastructure.
Chinese growth and monetary injection helped pad the fallout from the GFC, which saw the dollar devalue by more than 30%.
American leaders belatedly awoke to the fact that China was already a mover and shaker, just because of the rarefied size of the Chinese economy.
Thankfully, the yuan hasn’t ascended to the table, still dominated by 4 currencies: dollar, euro, yen, pound.
That’s the sole reason why the G7 remains relevant today: financial dominance.
Let’s go back to 2012, when Barack was campaigning for his second term, having stabilized the American economy.
What was the platform he campaigned on?
The pivot to Asia.
Let me repeat, because this is a pivotal moment in 21st century geopolitics.
THE PIVOT TO ASIA.
Or rather, a thinly veiled platform to fix China and the Chinese.
The most consequential strategy that arose out of the pivot is a known fact that rarely surfaces in discussions. I call it the Reverse Plaza Accord. After winning his second term, Barack and the G7 essentially gave the BOJ carte blanche to devalue the yen, then held to captive highs as the darling of the carry trade.
The rest of the third world followed the yen’s lead, and devalued massively, with one notable absentee: China.
Both the Barack and Donald administrations subsequently attacked the PBOC’s monetary policy, threatening sanctions for currency manipulation. Singapore was drawn into the mess for operating a similar exchange rate mechanism based on the BBC (Basket, Band and Crawl), managed against a basket of currencies of major trading partners, and threatened with designation in tandem.
The political message (for those in the know) was crystal clear: do not devalue the yuan to keep pace with the rest.
What was the goal? Give Japan an unfair forex edge at high tech exports, while forcing low-tech exports out of China to the rest of the third world.
Notice the flattening/dip of ex-china cost post-2013? That’s the reverse plaza accord, measured in dollars.
Barack was using American hegemony to enforce step change in the forces shaping the Chinese economy.
China lost plenty of jobs—and babies—over the past decade.
But what did Beijing do?
It hunkered down, bit its tongue, and decided to focus on home renovation. Let’s transit from unbridled expansion to quality and HSE (Health, Safety, Environment). Let’s focus on domestic recirculation and develop OBOR markets rather than chase first world exports. Let’s pursue indigenous technology rather than buy foreign.
Let’s pivot from the West, too.
The discipline was merciless, and there were pockets of carnage in the upheaval. For example, opportunities in the Northeast—long a major industrial heart—became so limited the migration of entrepreneurs west to Yunnan and elsewhere was promoted and facilitated by the government.
The yuan has hardly moved the past decade, hovering around a 10–15% band of 6.6 to the dollar. The rest of the third world and Japan have all corrected lower. In the yen’s case, a 100% devaluation.
How does China remain the world’s factory with a 300% rise in labor cost within a decade?
Or in other words, how does China remain competitive with externally-imposed margin squeeze?
That’s a topic worthy of a book-length dive.
Pacific Command is now Indopacom. The annual APEC summit is now a backburner priority for the US, unless the US plays host. East Asia is no more—there is only the Indopacific. There is the Quad and Aukus, loose military partnerships centered around containing China’s maritime ambitions.
American worldview is pivoting to India and the INDOpacific being the center of Asia, and the red carpet is being rolled out to an immense population that can do no wrong.
I fear the consequence of unbridled ascent.
Note: the Americans no longer need China to buy its debt because they invented QE and explained it away using MMT.
Their gold vault is highly lightly empty. French president in the 1970’s threatened to take all its gold out and Nixon declared a U.S. dollar fiat currency. Ie they don’t have the gold!
China and Russia and a whole host of country has loads of gold. Not the U.S. the U.S. has loads of debts and deficits. Ready to default. Watch out!
Laying by the ocean next to my gorgeous girlfriend.
We were living the Dream.
Outside of my pasty white skin, it was the stuff of a great #travel Instagram post.
We were celebrating an incredible year as business owners, splurged to fly our entire staff to an all-inclusive Mexican resort, and couldn’t wait to strip our clothes off and drink alcohol on the beach.
We rubbed sunscreen on each other and took a deep, relaxing sigh.
Until one unscheduled activity ruined everything.
A nap.
We had both succumbed to our exhaustion, or to the margaritas, or to the sunshine… but I woke feeling like a 76” hot dog forgotten on the grill.
I looked at my girl.
She was a bronze goddess.
“Babe, I’m not feeling too good.”
Her: “Okay, let’s just get you back to the room.”
With the stride of a marathon runner overcome with bunions, she walked me back to our room.
The heat wasn’t subsiding. I felt like my skin was made of tin foil.
I made the mistake of looking in the mirror.
I was somewhere between crimson and purple.
Maybe my eyes haven’t adjusted yet.
I lathered myself up with Aloe.
Then they started show up.
Blisters.
In the end, I had to remain in our hotel room the remainder of the trip. There was free booze, great food, and all I wanted was to be locked in a walk in freezer.
Instead, I got a trip to the emergency room and learned an all-too-important lesson when it comes to sunbathing:
I am not, and never will be, a bronze goddess.
She messed up big time
Gringo Nachos
Unlike regular nachos, these are served as an entree. Melty cheese covers roasted potatoes, bacon and caramelized onions. The amounts are as desired.
nachos
Ingredients
Red potatoes
Bacon, sliced into 1 inch pieces
Large yellow onions
Garlic powder
Cheddar cheese, grated
Sour cream
Green onions, sliced
Instructions
Roast red potatoes, then cube and sauté with bacon.
Meanwhile, caramelize onions. Halve and slice onions. Coat a 12 inch skillet with cooking spray. Over medium heat, cook onions in oil for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until soft and golden. Stir in garlic powder, per taste.
Place potatoes on a rimmed cookie sheet.
Add caramelized onions on top of potatoes.
Sprinkle lots of grated cheddar cheese over the top.
Bake for 5 minutes at 350 degrees F or just until the cheese is melted.
Garnish with dollops of sour cream and green onions.
FIRST LISTEN TO | Ram Jam – Black Betty THIS S#!T SO DOPE MY NEW FAVORITE! (REACTION)
What if China decided to abduct Tim Cook’s family and ban iPhones in China, as well as force every other nation to ban Apple products? The US did this and still does it to Huawei.
What if China openly supports Hawaii in seeking independence and sells weapons and offers military trainings to the Hawaiians to better kill Americans? The US is doing this to China on Taiwan.
What if China patrols the Gulf of Mexico with warships, checking American civilian ships at gunpoint, blackmails the Mexican president into accepting a China-organised private court in Hague to use Mexico as a pawn against US presence off the coast of Florida? The US is doing this to China in the South China Sea.
What if China controls the world’s media and social media and brainwashes people all over the world to call AIDS the American virus, preach that the US is committing genocide against the blacks all over the nation, to constantly dehumanize and demonize the Americans as the core issue of every problem worldwide? The US is doing this to the Chinese people.
What if China prohibits Americans from going to space and kick the Americans out of the International Space Station and call all Americans spies? The US has been doing that to Chinese for years.
Etc. Etc. Etc.
It’s not which specific issue, but the entire underlying logic that bothers the Chinese. People used to fall for the “We’re not against the Chinese, only the government” shit, we used to look back at how the Americans joined China in its fight against the Japanese invaders in WWII, to imagine that the US holds certain moral principles. But now everyone in China understands that it’s neo-nazism and racism that’s driving the current American “competition” with China. That to beat China, the US government may go beyond fair competition or basic decency if it gets the chance. We don’t want to go the way the native Americans did, just so that future Americans can pretend to be friendly and shed tears for us. And this awakening has rallied people behind the Chinese government in its defense against the US.
And this is what is going on right now with Gen-Z
What did your boss ever say in the office that caused you to resign?
Hi Wow! Some of these stories! Here’s mine.
I worked in the marketing department for a national retailer. I’d come over from IT to run/manage their relational database system. We were responsible for the loyalty program, and sending out mailers. The marketing department consisted of me, a data analyst, and our supervisor. We reported to one of the VPs of Sales.
I’d been campaigning for the creation of a sales analyst position for several months, but was told that there wasn’t room in the budget for additional headcount. One day, I see a posting for a Sales Analyst position on the bulletin board. Naturally, I applied for the job. The VP of Sales told me that he didn’t think I could do the job, and another of the Sales VPs was bringing on someone from his former company to fill the position. (Yes, there were more VPs at that company than departments. There was even a VP who didn’t have any direct or indirect reports. She was the VP of herself!). Anyway, although he didn’t think I could do the job, he wanted me to train the new person when they started. I asked him if that made sense to him: I’m not good enough to do that job, but good enough to train someone else how to do the job? Before he could answer I said, “I’ll give you the weekend to think about that.” and left his office.
On Monday morning I went straight to his office. The conversation went like this:
Me: Have you reconsidered?
Him: No, but we still want you to train the new person.
Me: Then I quit.
Him: Effective when?
Me: Effective when I stop talking.
I turned and left his office, gathered my few personal belongings from my cube, and walked out.
My former neighbors (Oh, god! If there was ever a couple who needed to enter into a murder-suicide pact!) and I each had our own drive way that butted up together; enough for two cars to park side by side. Granted, it was somewhat tight on that portion of our driveways that was situated between the two houses but completely negotiable to even the casual driver.
My neighbor’s wife believed it was too tight in this location for her to proceed past a car that was parked fully on my driveway and complained about it. Being a new neighbor and wanting to get along, my wife and I avoided parking in this area even at our own inconvenience. I also informed family members and recurring guests to do the same.
However, when I had uninformed visitors come over to my house and park in the “sensitive“ area, my neighbor would come out and start yelling at my guests. Because she had a delusional take on the width of the driveway, she assumed everybody else had her same irrational perspective. This was not the case though. No one ever thought that they would impede the flow of my neighbor’s traffic in and out of their own driveway. So they never gave it any thought.
Again, trying to be accommodating, I told my neighbor that it was impolite to confront my guests about where they parked their car. I asked that she and her family members, if they saw a car parked in this area, to come and get me (Or another in my family if I was absent) and I will take care of it. She argued with me telling me that it should be readily apparent that anybody parking in this section of my driveway would block any cars proceeding in and out on their driveway. So apparent (in her unreasonable brain) she said her confrontations were appropriate.
I told her she was 100% wrong (but I still wanted neighborly harmony) and reiterated that she only talk to me; never again to say anything to my guests. I told her in no uncertain terms that if she did not comply with my simple request, I will buy an additional car and make that area of my driveway its permanent home; never to be moved. Well, it happened again (not surprised) and I made good on my promise to take the offensive.
I planned to purchase a beater from a junk yard but a friend of mine (just as outraged as I was) had an old box truck he said I could have as long as I needed it. I fell in love with it! It was big and intimidating yet within regulations for width and more importantly, totally fit within the boundaries of my drive way, albeit barely.
My neighbors never said anything to me because they knew why it was there. They tried a counter move by parking adjacent to the truck when one of them was home but it was a move I anticipated. Although inconvenient, I had to move the truck every now and again to egress my driveway. However, more times than not, my neighbors were not home and all we had to do was swing around the truck on their driveway (as any experienced driver could do) to get In or out. That truck was there to stay until I saw a white flag.
Besides changing their parking behavior, they called the police. However after discussing it with the police (and knowing they could not do anything anyway) they gave me a wink and a smile translating to, “More power to you!”
The neighbors had their overly-sized son try to intimidate me but I told him to do his worst and go pound salt. They complained to the city (various departments) but there was nothing that the city could do except try to convince me to come up with an amicable solution. Again, when they heard my side of the story, the response was just about the same as the police accompanied with a required, but weak, “Well, we hope you would reconsider.”
The white flag came out about six weeks after the truck arrived. I agreed to remove the box truck if and only if I was promised that I would never hear a complaint regarding a car parked anywhere on my drive way. Moreover, not one comment to any visitor; I didn’t care if it was a Jehovah Witness or an Amway sales person. No one was to be addressed regarding where they parked on my drive. I promised them that if they did not abide, the next vehicle would be a fifth wheel with its own address.
Are banks in Switzerland as good as they are portrayed in movies? What is so special about them? Are there any other countries that compare?
No. They aren’t. The were at one time, but that’s gone. Switzerland remains unique in that it one of the two places in the world where you can bring in paper cash without being required to declare the paper cash (Gibraltar is the other.)
The special thing about Switzerland is that until recently what you told you banker or accountant was secret in the same why that what you told your lawyer or doctor. If you tell your doctor or lawyer that you are hiding money, then in most countries, they aren’t legally required to tell the government, and can get into a great deal of trouble of if they did so.
However, in most countries, if you tell your banker or accountant that you are hiding money, they will immediately tell the government.
Switzerland was particularly special during World War 2. A lot of people wanted to hide their money, and Switzerland was the place to do this. This money got hidden by both the good guys and the bad guys.
But all that is gone. A few years back, the US forced Swiss banks to disclose information about US accounts. It turns out that in disclosing this information, the Swiss banks were in violation of Swiss law, however, the US basically asked the banks who they where more scared of, and they blinked. This happened after 2000.
Swiss banks are no longer special. Swiss bankers still are, and there are a ton of Swiss bankers in Hong Kong. The thing about the Swiss is that they have a reputation of being trusted, and talking to a Swiss banker is like talking to your doctor or your priest.
So imagine that you are a rich billionaire that happens to have several mistresses, none of which know each other, and which your wife and family do not know about. You want to make sure that they are provided for. You have one nephew you like, one nephew you hate. You want to give a ton of money to the nephew you like, but just enough money to one that you hate to keep him quiet.
Your banker will know about this so people trust Swiss bankers not to tell anyone else.
As far as where to hide your money. That changes from place to place, but the number one place for non-US residents to launder your money happens to be the United States, particularly US real estate, which is totally awesome for money laundering.
One thing that’s funny about US money laundering laws, is that they all apply to money going out. None of it applies to money going in.
Inflation is real
What was the most bone-chilling sentence a loved one ever said to you?
My husband had a terrible mental breakdown. He developed psychotic depression very quickly and without warning.
We had been happily married for 40+ years.
One of the manifestations of his illness was that he thought we had no money, our house would be repossessed and we would be on the street. All of this was completely untrue but he was convinced that it was so.
He could not bear the idea of us having to suffer this humiliation and in his poor deluded state decided that it would be for the best if we both died.
Obviously I disagreed with this suggestion and tried very hard to convince him that he was mistaken about our financial position and that even if he was right it was not something to die for.
To try to talk someone out of a strongly held psychotic belief is completely futile even if you can change their mind for a little while the psychosis comes back quickly.
My bone chilling moment came one evening. I was in the kitchen when my husband appeared in the doorway, he was holding a knife. He quietly said “ It will be quick”
I am not one to panic easily thank goodness, I really believe that had I run he would have come for me and stabbed me, instead I reached into the drawer in front of me and found a hammer, looking him in the eye I said “ give it your best shot”.
He must have thought better of his plan because after a short stand off he put down the knife and walked away.
I spent some months with him as he planned to kill us both before he finally got too dangerous and had to be placed in a secure mental hospital, but that first threat was for sure the one that chilled me to the core.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me positive and kind messages.
My husband finally tried to strangle me, after this he was confined to a secure mental hospital and I was told that it would never be safe for me to live with him in the future.
He was in hospital for two years then he absconded one day and walked into the sea.
I loved him very much but I can understand that for him death seemed the only escape from the nightmare his life had become.
Day of The Triffids (1962)
Full Movie! This was one of my favorite flicks growing up as a kid. Really. Have fun and enjoy it.
Watch this video before it is taken down. It is currently suppressed.
Ray McGovern with Nima Alkhorshid on the possibility Israel might have sent a F-35 loaded with atomics, the intention was to detonate them in high altitude, getting an EMP effect destroying the Iranian civil electrical grid. The military…
As I understood the discussion, Pepe Escobar reported it, and Scott Ritter, as a military expert, said that that event was logically impossible.
Nevertheless, we shouldn’t put anything past these monsters.
…
IF TRUE, RUSSIA SAVED THE WORLD ONCE AGAIN FROM …
… THE MINI-ME ROGUE STATE IN WEST ASIA BEING PROTECTED BY THE BIG ROGUE STATE IN NORTH AMERICA. A QUITE DANGEROUS PAIR FOR ALL OF US TO SAY THE LEAST.
Mao Zedong 毛 泽 东 (1893-1976) made sure in 1949, at the start of the People’s Republic of China, that all the Western Jews left China. I’m not speaking of the Jewish families of Kaifeng being there since the Song dynasty (960-1279). Obviously, they were not expelled. Also, I’m not speaking of certain Jews like Sydney Rittenberg 李 敦 白 (1921-2019) or Israel Epstein 伊 斯 雷 爾 爱 潑 斯 坦 (1915-2005) the Chinese rulers thought useful for them and China.
Contrary to many urban legends repeated with gusto by misguided people, I don’t think that the Jews (in general or those living in Israel) rule the World. Of course, their “elite” is part of the movers & shakers of this World but it doesn’t mean that they rule the World. They are powerful but not all-powerful as their excellent propaganda managed to make some incurable morons believe.
Their “elite” had a lot of money, sure …
But that kind of candies works only for lowly kakocrats and NO countries endowed with a minimum of aristocratic men at the helm of the State would have succumbed to money.
Same remark concerning the big rogue state.
What’s certain is that their “elite”, especially the Zionist variety (living in the US, Western Europe or Israel) is endowed with chutzpah to an inordinate level.
The British used them at the beginning of the twentieth century for getting a foothold in West Asia because Mark Sykes (1879-1919), the British representative in West Asia at the time, got extremely disappointing results in his negotiations with François Georges-Picot (1870-1951), his French counterpart. And being clever people, the Zionist leaders, having seen clearly through the British government and its representative, the clumsy Mark Sykes, skillfully accepted to be used in order to gain a state in Palestine, having stolen step by step the land from their rightful owners since then.
As crimes’ partners, the Zionists are in a very deep symbiotic relationship with the Anglo-American EstabLishment, hence the acronym I coined : KFC-AZAEL (Kakistocratic Feudal Conglomerate of the Anglo-Zio-American EstabLishment).
It’s a well-known psychological phenomenon that a servant will take on unconsciously/subconsciously the characteristics of the master. In this case, both groups suffering from the get-go of extreme hubris; together, they reciprocally amplify to a staggering degree their common deadly character flaw.
Here’s a reminder of what happened between May 16, 1916 (Sykes-Picot Agreement) & November 2, 1917 (Balfour Declaration) :
There is also THE OTHER URBAN LEGEND that, thanks to his agent having got the news that Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated at Waterloo on June 15, 1815 before everyone, the Rothschild at the time screwed everybody at the London Stock Exchange and that his family held under their thumb the British aristocracy & its global policies since then … Legendary, huh ?!
What is sure is that the Zionists managed somehow to get A LOT OF MONEY from the US officials. The US elite is completely hypnotized by the prestige (the bribes ?) of the Jews & the Jewish culture ???
Believe what you want but for me, NO ONE IS ALL-POWERFUL …
I repeat myself : If true, Russia saved the World once again.
Not only that, Russia sent a crystal clear message to the mini rogue state & to the big rogue state, that there are truly red lines in this World & there is someone to seriously enforce them.
SO I WISH PEPE ESCOBAR’s REPORT IS 100% TRUE.
Those people, the ruling classes of the mini rogue state & the ruling class of the big rogue state, will never change.
THE ONLY SOLUTION IS THEN :
Ceterum censeo KFC-AZAEL-nem esse delendam
PAX SINICA PERSICA KOREANA RUSSICA
IMPERIUM MUNDI SEMPER INVICTUS
Have you ever been pulled over by a police officer for an unusual reason?
Yes. I was on my way home and got pulled over by a cop who handed me two packages of really nice dog treats, asked to fuss my dog, and then gave me a card with his name and number. He was really friendly, lovely, asked me alot about my dog, and even asked me where I got my dog’s beautiful collar from. He then wished us well and left.
This is why.
I had been at a restaurant with three friends and my assistance dog. I’m a wheelchair user. It was a nice place, a bit pricey, but nice.
My assistance dog was always impeccably well behaved. She went under the table, next to me, and went to sleep.
We ordered our meal, and were eating, when some very bratty kids (6 ish in age, old enough to read) started running around. They saw my dog and started bugging her, getting near her and yelling WOOF!!! Then one brat poked her. My dog’s only reaction was to get up and put her head on my knee.
I strongly told Brats to bug off, leave my dog alone, and to go to their parents. Brat 2 joined her, saying, loudly, DOGS AREN’T ALLOWED IN HERE, STUPID!
I smiled as nicely as I could and tried to explain that she was a special helper dog… then Brat 1… who was a good 3 feet from my dog (whose head was still on my knee) yelled THAT DOG BIT ME!
The two terrors ran screaming ITS A BAD DOG! ITS A PITBULL! ITS GONNA KILL ME!
My dog was a smallish, exceptionally gentle, patient, and calm black lab.
In no time parents are with restaurant manager demanding that they throw me and my “pitbull” out of the restaurant. All the other patrons are looking and pointing.
I have not moved. We are still eating.
The parents (and its clear why the kids were monsters…) come over and demand to see my ID so they can “engage their solicitor”. The manager, clearly upset and embarrassed, said “I need to ask you to leave”.
I said I was not giving my ID to anyone, I was not leaving, and I would appreciate if they would leave me alone as my dog was allowed by law and they were ruining my.meal. I might have added that at least SHE had her shots and was obedience trained…
The mother screamed that my pitbull (sigh) had nearly ripped Perfect Princess’ arm off. Note said child has a small round superficial bite mark on her wrist encircled by the same pink as her lip gloss.
I told them all that my dog bit no one, and to call the cops but I wasn’t speaking to them any longer. My friend just kept eating and chatting as if nothingvwas wrong.
Parents storm off, manager begs me to leave, tells me to leave, demands I leave… I explained about Assistance Dogs, introduce her, tell him he can see she was not a problem but by then Parents are back and they had called 999 saying there was a rabid pitbull running arounfçattacking children … manager tells me to please get out. I reply…
She’s not a bitbull.
There is no rabies in Britain.
She had not moved from her space next to me.
She is wearing an AssistancevDog jacket, Ive shown my ID, and tried to explain. Im going no where.
I’m not really upset because this shit happens often enough that Im used to it… the brats were a unique twist, but people are really ignorant about Assistance Dogs.
All of a sudden a handful of cops burst in. Parents tell their side. They strut over to me and demand I immediately leave. I said that when we were done eating I would, but not until. In all this the waitress had continued to serve us… so we just got our puddings.
Lead cop is totally self impressed, and starts to read me the riot act, demanding I surrender this pitbull I brought into the place. I kept eating. He bangs his hand on the table to get my attention.
When he does, the dog treat I had on the edge of the table falls off and my sweet pup sticks her head out, takes the treat, and goes back under the table.
Just then the other cops come back and pull cop1 aside. Theyve read the situation, told him so.
He asks to see my dog properly. I called her out, and told her to ‘say hello’. She was wagging her tail (total fusspot) and raised her paw to the cop. All three of them are now admiring my dog.
Parents come over demanding I get arrested, deported, hung drawn quartered, etc.
Cop says Your children are harassing this lady, her dog is allowed…
Mother says about dog bite.
Cop says “thats not a dog bite, lady, and wasting police time is an offense. Leave this lady alone, get control of your kids, and either go sit or leave.”
He tells manager that there is no problem with us.
Cop sees we are all done and kind of hust waiting for this foolishness to end so we can leave as we’ve got our coats on, etc.
He says “I suppose you guys would feel better just getting out of here yeah?”
I start to argue but my friend says “Yes, we are going. “
He says “Im just going to get some details from the manager, and we will stay until you go, to keep the peace”.
Waitress comes over and I am about to ask for our bill but the cop waves her away saying “they are leaving, please just let them go…”
We go! Our bill was well over 100… I put £10 on the table as a tip.
We got in my van after loading my chair, saw the cops leave as we were.
When I saw the lights behind me I thought we were in trouble gor skipping out on the bill!
I did call the restaurant later and spoke to the manager to offer to pay, he profusely apologised and sent me a gift voucher and asked for another chance.
We did go back, just me and a friend (and my dog) there was a sign clearly posted that assistance dogs were welcome … but that poorly behaved children were not!
We lost Taska March 2024. Her successor is just as calm and well behaved
Assistance dogs are amazing
What secret did you learn about your neighbor that made your jaw drop?
When I was growing up my neighbor Tom was my role model. My father was an alcoholic who was rarely home except to sleep. When I wanted to learn something, I would talk to Tom. He had dropped out of school to help support his family, but was very talented with his hands. He built the house he lived in, and I mean completely, plumbing, electrical, everything. He was also an outstanding mechanic. He was very strong, but incredibly gentle and patient. I knew he was a vet, but he never talked about it except to say he hadn’t really done anything. When he died, his family searched for his records. They wanted to bury him with any medals he had been awarded. I think most of us expected stuff like a Good Conduct, National Defense, maybe a European Victory Medal. What they found out was that this quiet gentle man was a genuine war hero. He had been credited with single handedly stopping an attack by a company of Germans, effectively destroying the company through the combination of casualties he caused and prisoners he took, despite having been wounded at the start of the attack. For his actions he had been awarded a Silver Star. There were also a number of awards for other actions. I ended up spending 20 years in the military, and his rack of medals remains one of the most impressive I’ve seen.
Every mans daydream
What was a gift that made you speechless?
I was 39 with a 4 year old son. Becoming a single mom through adoption and everything was great. I had a great career, lots of friends, the child I’d been dreaming of etc. Suddenly, a massive heart issue popped up leaving me on disability for 11 months while it was diagnosed and treated. We had just moved to a new place a couple of months prior. Then, just after I paid the bills and went in for a minor heart procedure, it turns out the people I had been renting from were not the owners of the house. They were squatters and I was scammed. The actual owner showed up wanting me to pay first, last and deposit, and the past due electric bill that was nearly $1000 at that point (my rent included utilities). Obviously I couldn’t pay it so I had to move out quickly just 2 days after heart surgery. We found a place and I got help moving the majority of Stuff. Some was stolen while we were moving the other stuff.
I was released to go back to work and my HR informed me that they had accidentally overpaid me during my disability, do they were deducting that from my next 4 paychecks. About the same time, the Franchise Tax Board hit me with a penalty for not filing my taxes the year before and garnished 25% of my wages. So I was getting about $850 a month at that time. We were sinking fast! I wasn’t fully recovered enough to have strenuous work and I only get paid once a month at my regular job.
I was at my breaking point. Then, my only vehicle broke down, again! I am not super religious, but I do pray and I was definitely b my knees at that point. I didn’t know what I was gonna do. My credit was shot, I was SOL. One day I get the mail. There was a ton of bills in there. I left them sitting on the table for 2 days, because I cannot pay them anyway.
Finally, I sat down to figure it how bad this was gonna be and I noticed that one of the letters is a greeting card with no return address, but addressed to me.
I open it up and there is a beautiful card that says, “I see you struggling and I see you keep going. You are so loved and you will overcome this. Signed Jesus Christ.”
Inside the card was $2,000 in cash! I couldn’t speak for a few minutes! I still have no idea who sent that card, but it was definitely a game changer for us! To whoever sent that card and money, they definitely changed our lives.
“The United States has consistently claimed to comply with ‘the rules-based international order’, but the most significant rules are the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, including international legal norms such as UN Security Council resolutions.
The Security Council, as the core of the world’s collective security mechanism, should by no means be a tool manipulated by individual countries for geopolitical purposes, nor should it serve as a stage to pursue hegemony or power politics.
There is no exception in the United Nations in complying with international laws including Security Council resolutions, and the United States holds no privileges in this regard.”
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Excerpt from remarks by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a joint press conference with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi after their talks in Jakarta, April 18, 2024.
INCREDIBLE SCENES (this is why I came to LAOS) 🇱🇦 LOST in LAOS Ep:2
I know Thailand is the land of smiles but in my own experience I found the people of Laos and Cambodia to be even friendlier than the amazing Thai people. Really miss that whole beautiful area of the world. Happy Travels
A real adventure…
What factors have contributed to the growing demand for fast food among Indian consumers?
Ah India
One aspect of the Nation I am proud of
Fast Food in India has been INDIANIZED better than in any other nation
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After all these years of McDonalds and KFC and Burger King’s and Taco Bell – the leading fast food is still Vada Pav
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When KFC was forced to launch Biryani among in its Indian menu when it was evident that the 2 Pc and 3 Pc and the famous Zinger was not doing it for the Indian people
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When India is the only country in the world where the top selling burger McAloo Tikki is a vegetarian one and the top 3 selling dishes – McAloo Tikki, McSpicy Paneer and Big Spicy Wrap (Paneer) are all vegetarian pushing the Filet O Fish to fourth sport and Mac Maharajah to the fifth spot
We may be utterly beholden to the West for their technology and core software in every sphere
Yet our Fast food growth is mainly due to our own foods
The leading fast foods of today include :-
#1 Vada Pav
#2 Pav Bhaji
#3 Momos
#4 Pani Poori
#5 Bhel Poori
#6 Aloo Tikki
#7 Samosa
#8 Kachauri
#9 Pizza
#10 Sev Puri & Samosa Chat & Aloo Chaat
(Zomato most ordered foods between 3 PM and 7 PM 2023)
Only Pizza stars in the top 10 popularly eaten fast foods of 2023
And guess which is Dominos most popular Pizza?
Indian Tandoori Pizza & Achari Do Pyaza Pizza
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Pepperoni or Hawaiian are the least selling while Tandoori Chicken sells far more
So it’s not just Mcdonalds outlets or KFC outlets that have spurred the taste of fast foods in India like it did in other nations
The three top reasons include
Availability
Fast Food is available everywhere today
You go to a street and you have a Pani Puri wallah or a Chat seller or a Pav Bhaji stall or a Bakery selling Puffs or a High End Pizza store
You are served in 3–4 minutes and finish in 10 minutes
Far more convenient for office culture and working culture
Price
Fast Food is not too expensive especially Indian Fast Food
You can get Pav Bhaji for 40–60 Bucks a plate which is way lower in cost and better in taste compared to a ₹ 378/- meal in KFC
Taste
Fast Food may or may not be unhealthy but it’s tasty
It’s spicy and Indians like spicy and tangy food
Chili Verde
Chili Verde
This authentic Chile Verde recipe made with fresh tomatillos, poblano peppers, jalapenos, onion, garlic, and cilantro takes a little more work than the typical “salsa dump” recipes but is absolutely worth it! Serve it with these Slow Cooker Pinto Beans, corn tortillas, or with some Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice.
There are so many different recipes out there for chile verde but unfortunately, most of them involve grabbing a jar of store bought salsa verde and dumping it into the slow cooker with either chicken or pork.
While this can be really delicious (case in point: Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Chicken), it will never be as good as making green salsa from scratch. While making salsa from scratch may sound intimidating, it’s actually really easy and only takes about 5 minutes of active prep.
Let’s start with the salsa. Chile Verde is made with a tomatillo salsa verde made with fresh tomatillos, chile peppers, onion, and garlic. The first step to creating this flavor is roasting the tomatillos and peppers. Roasting everything deepens the flavor, adds smokiness to the salsa, and also mellows out some of the sour flavor in the tomatillos. Next, it is important to brighten up the salsa and that is where the cilantro comes in.
How to Serve Chile Verde
Traditionally this dish is served with rice, beans, and tortillas with fresh limes but there are all kinds of ways you can use this. Here are some of my favorites:
Tacos: This is a no brainer, but clearly this stuff is delicious in tacos. Warm the tortillas and serve the chicken with fresh cilantro, limes, and queso fresco or avocado.
Burritos and Burrito Bowls: Build your own burritos or burrito bowls with rice and beans. Personally, I like to make burrito bowls since the chicken is moist and sometimes I find the burrito begins to fall apart before I finish eating it.
Quesadillas: While it may be tempting to stuff this inside a quesadilla, I actually prefer to serve it on top so the quesadilla gets nice and crispy on the outside. Simply make a cheese quesadilla and then top it with Chile Verde.
Scrambled eggs: This is so good for breakfast with some scrambled eggs and pinto or black beans. Trust me.
Baked potatoes: This is a great stuffing for baked potatoes or sweet potatoes topped with some melted cheese.
Chilaquiles: Chilaquiles are one of my favorite breakfast recipes and this Chili Verde is so good on a pile of chiliquiles. If you think you might make chilaquiles, I recommend doubling the salsa so you can cook the chips in the extra tomatillo salsa.
What is Chile Verde?
Many people wonder about the origins of Chile Verde and there is some debate whether chile verde is from Mexico or New Mexico. Most people agree that it is a dish that hails from Northern Mexico, and possible areas in New Mexico as well.
In Mexico, it is traditionally made with pork that is slow cooked in a spicy roasted tomatillo salsa that uses a variety of chile peppers. In New Mexico, it is made in a similar manner but traditionally uses Hatch chile peppers or other native New Mexico green chiles.
1Preheat the oven to broil or your oven’s highest temperature setting, like 500 degrees.
2Place the tomatillos, poblano pepper, jalapeno pepper, serrano pepper, onion, and whole unpeeled garlic cloves on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Broil for 10 minutes, flipping everything halfway through. If the garlic looks like it is beginning to burn, remove it when you flip everything else.
3Carefully remove the baking sheet from the oven. Place the peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a lid. After ten minutes, carefully pull the skin of the peppers off, removing as much as possible. You can also remove the seeds, depending on how spicy you like things. Peel the garlic.
4Add the tomatillos, peppers, onions, garlic, cilantro. and chicken broth to a blender along with any juices from the pan. Blend until it reaches your desired consistency. Some people like a chunkier sauce and some prefer a smoother sauce.
5Stovetop: Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a Dutch oven or heavy pot. Add the chicken (or pork), season with salt and pepper, and brown for 2-3 on both sides. Add the sauce and bring to a simmer. For chicken, let simmer on low heat for 25-30 minutes until the chicken easily shreds with a fork. For pork, simmer for 2.5-3 hours until pork easily pulls apart.
6Slow Cooker: Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a Dutch oven or heavy pot. Add the chicken (or pork), season with salt and pepper, and brown for 2-3 on both sides. (You can skip this step but it adds more flavor if you sear the protein first.) Add to the slow cooker with the sauce. For chicken, cook on low for 4 hours. For pork, cook on low for 8 hours or until the pork is fork tender.
7Instant Pot: Use the instant pot saute setting. Add the chicken (or pork), season with salt and pepper, and brown for 2-3 on both sides. Add the chile verde salsa and cover. For chicken thighs, use the manual (Pressure Cooker) setting and cook for 8 minutes. Let naturally release for at least 2-3 minutes before using the steam valve. For pork, use the manual (Pressure Cooker) setting and cook for 45 minutes. Let naturally release for at least 2-3 minutes before using the steam valve.
When it comes to the heat in this recipe, it comes from using three different types of chile peppers that vary in strength and flavor. The poblano has the least amount of heat but adds a lot of flavor similar to a slightly spicy bell pepper.
The jalapeno is in the middle when it comes to spice and the serrano is the spiciest. You can vary the heat in the salsa by using different amounts of each pepper to find the right combination for you. You can also remove the seeds for less heat or leave them in for more.
Whenever making salsa, start slowly and taste along the way until it is as spicy as you like. Generally, I recommend making it slightly spicier than you want your final product since it will mellow out when cooked when it is cooked with protein.
If you have kids who don’t like spicy, make the salsa using just one seeded poblano pepper for flavor. Cook the protein in this mild salsa. Then puree the remaining peppers with a little chicken broth. Stir this spicy salsa into your dish individually so you can have a spicy version. I always make it this way and my toddler devours the milder chicken while I make mine super spicy.
The next decision when making Chile Verde is what kind of protein you would like to use. Traditionally Chile Verde recipes are made with pork but it is often made with dark meat chicken as well. Both options are delicious.
Normally I like to make it with chicken for a quick meal and I use pork when I will have more time since the pork takes much longer to cook. To keep things lighter, I like to use boneless skinless chicken thighs or a lean pork shoulder roast, but any protein would work.
I have been playing around with the new AI software kits out there. I have made all sorts of pictures, comics, PDF’s, videos, clips and the like. Some of which are good. Some of which are bad. This is my first movie attempt.
It’s about 2 minutes 40 seconds long.
I made my first Film Noir Movie
I opened up a new YouTube channel and made this 2 minute movie using AI. Please tell me what you all think.
I think that it stinks.
But, not bad for a first try.
What are those people indulging in when they assert that India is positioned to surpass China as an economic powerhouse?
There are two types of people. Either they are totally blind and deaf or they are dumb as hell. That thinks this way. Of course there are brain dead Indians or Chinese and China hating westerners living under a huge rock who can think that way.
But let me clarify, I think well of Indians and India and their history and culture. They have a great culture and are highly intelligent people who made wrong choices and got enslaved 300 years by the despicable British.
But what is worst is that the Indians are foolish enough to let the white Aryan Caucasian a free pass to fxxked them up after independence for another 50 years by allowing their economy to be wrecked via the so call rules based international order that impoverished them further. China on the other hand won’t let the west a day after 1949! That is the difference between India and China!
Relatable
Be the Rufus
You’re an 19 year old kid. You’re critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley, 11-14-1965, LZ X-ray, Vietnam. Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8 – 1, and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac 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 1/2 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, and you look up to see an un-armed Huey, but it doesn’t seem real, because no Medi-Vac markings are on it.
Ed Freeman is coming for you. He’s not Medi-Vac, so it’s not his job, but he’s flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs 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 2 or 3 of you on board.
Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the Doctors and Nurses.
And, he kept coming back … 13 more times.
And took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out.
Medal of Honor Recipient, Ed Freeman, died 16 years ago at the age of 80, in Boise, Idaho. May God rest his soul. How come we didn’t hear anything about this hero’s passing?
Being a father
What do mediocre employees do that the best employees don’t do?
I used to live in Washington, D.C. years ago. Every other morning the radio station played DC101 and we listened to the Greaseman. I hate all drive time DJs, I just want to hear music but I really hated this guy. His catch phrase was, “Habba-doo-gee Habba-doo-gah”.
Then one day a guy called in and asked the Greaseman how to keep a job. That he had been an idiot and lost several jobs in a row and had his license pulled and how he had gotten a job bartending that was walking distance and he wanted to really try to do well and not lose this job but he didn’t know how.
The Greaseman dropped his phony radio voice and and said something like the following, “I am going to give you two pieces of advice. First if your shift starts 6, show up at 5.45. Take the fifteen to have a chat with your coworkers, wash your hands, get your head in the game. When your shift starts you are ready to work. Bosses hate people who clock in but aren’t ready to do any work yet. They notice that shit.”
“Two, look at all the other bartenders. You want to be the second best dressed bartender there. If you try to be the best dressed, well maybe the other bartenders will think, ‘Look at this new guy trying to be better than all of us.’ But if you aim for the second best you will fit in with the other workers and the boss will still think, ‘Here’s a guy who knows how to be professional.’”
I was like, “Wow, that was actually pretty good advice from someone I thought was an idiot.” I still think it was pretty good advice.
My daughter has a very close female friend. They went right through school together and to this day remain good mates. The friend ,(s), went off to uni and while on a holiday back home, stayed overnight at our house. On Saturday morning I had been for an early run and was in the bath ,we had no lock on the door and had this rule if the door is closed someone is probably in there. So the door opens and (s) walks in , naked as the day she was born, says Hi to me and sits down and takes a piss. This is a girl I have known since she was 4 years old and was such a shy little girl, then at 18 was OK with being naked in front of me and me being bollock naked in the tub. If my jaw dropped any lower I may have drowned.
I am fucking tired
Forgotten Chicken
Forgotten Chicken is a great fast and easy recipe! I have made this with chicken tenders, and it’s great. This is also known as “No Peek Chicken.”
forgotten chicken
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups white rice, uncooked
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 soup can water
Chicken breasts or thighs
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
Instructions
Mix rice, soups and water.
Pour into a greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
Lay chicken on top of rice mixture.
Sprinkle chicken evenly with onion soup mix.
Cover tightly and bake for 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees F.
Check this out
I tried this. Very cool. But takes a while to generate.
About 20 years ago, I was in a downtown area with my friend and her young son. My friend has MS and sometimes has trouble walking long distances. She has a permanent handicapped placard from her state. It was hanging in my car, and we parked in a short term parking space. So, here we are, two women apparently healthy, with a small child, and this jerk of a guy comes up and asks me which one of us is handicapped.
Usually I don’t think of the great answer until 2 a.m., but I found my tongue as I walked around to open the trunk…
“Not that it’s any of your business, but it’s her.”
…I open the trunk to reveal the stroller AND the wheelchair…
As I’m unfolding the stroller..
“For now, she’s going to steady herself by pushing the baby in the stroller. If she gets tired later, we’ll come back and she can hold him in her lap, and I’ll push the both of them in the chair. IS THAT OK WITH YOU?”
I’m still proud of that.
Just because a disability is not visible to you doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. If you have the person in question’s full medical history, feel free to contact the authorities.
We were at a flea market that isn’t advertised. People have to either live in the area or hear of it from someone who does. A little bit of everything is sold there; nothing is expensive.
It was dusty and hot, with a mishmash of cotton cloth used as overhead cover, held together by clips and ropes, held up by mostly bamboo poles.
We gladly sat down on a rickety wooden bench, ordered homemade lemonade and rested.
Not far from us was a family of four, sitting on two worn out rattan mats. Grandmom and grandad (that’s what the kids with them called them) arranged fresh veggies for sale at the front of the mat while the kids (a teenaged boy and a younger little girl) sat behind them, cleaning more veggies and fruit.
The grandparents were poor farmers, that was evident from their clothes, their weathered skin, the way they spoke, their eyes. The children, wearing clothes that were too small, old but clean, were probably living with them so their parents could work in Bangkok. It happens a lot here.
Then I heard Australian English. Two couples of backpackers walked by, chatting. How they found this market, I will never know.
Maybe six meters away, one of the young men stopped his friends and looked back at the veggie vendors. All four returned and squatted down in front of the mats.
I was about to see if I could translate for them when the grandson began to do his best. I smiled.
The next few minutes were pure joy. The Australians were asking the Thai names of veggies and then gave the English names. Lots of smiles and laughter. They bought some of everything, then tried to pay more than the asking price.
Grandmom was having none of that; she added extras to their bags.
They took their leave but returned, taking clothes and shoes from their backpacks and insisting on sharing with the whole family. The area around us went silent (unheard of in Thai markets).
The two things I remember the most: the teenager’s huge eyes when he was given a pair of running shoes, and the little girl’s delighted laughter when she put on a pretty pink shirt that was big enough to be a dress for her.
Grandmom, wiping tears, tried to give them more veggies.
I’ve been in some scrapes, but only one in which my life depended on winning the fight.
I made the mistake of letting a subject in too close to me. By the time I saw him pulling the gun from his waistband it was too late to pull my own. I could only grab his hands and make sure the barrel of his gun did not point across my body.
For a few seconds it was quite intense. As my backup strolled up I yelled, “GUN!” at which time my backup, well, — BACKED UP. Then he hid behind a gas pump, pulled his gun and pointed it at the subject and I as we wrestled for the gun. It became a little more intense then, knowing I was in this alone. I guess had I been shot my backup would have avenged my death.
I had to make him drop the gun (the bad guy, that is). I whacked his hand against the gas pump and it fell to the ground, then he did too.
My Chief read my report and gave me a commendation letter. I still have it somewhere. He said he and the politicians were impressed by how I handled the situation. He wrote, “…you could have used your own gun, your K9, your ASP baton, your Taser or your OC spray, and instead you disarmed the subject using the least amount of force available.” I felt like a complete idiot. I never bothered to tell him I would have used ALL of those things if I had the opportunity.
So, guys. Don’t make the same mistake I made. Keep that tactical distance. Or have a good backup.
Texas Declares Biden Administration To Be In VIOLATION
This wasn’t something that I overheard, but my cousin did.
He was sitting on a train and overheard two girls talking, roughly in their early 20s. One of the girls had been asked to house sit for a family friend who was away for 2 weeks and also look after their pet German Shepherd.
Things were going well for the first few days until she woke up one morning and the dog had died in its sleep.
This was in central London in the height of summer, and the girl didn’t own a car. The owners wouldn’t be back for about 8 days so she couldn’t just leave it in the house until then incase it started to rot. She read online that she should store it in a cool place, but there wasn’t anywhere suitable at their house as it was a very big dog. She also didn’t have many friends in the area and had no access to a car, so she had no idea what to do.
She googled where the nearest vet was who might be able to store the body until the owners returned, but it was two stops away on the tube. Even if a taxi agreed to transport a dead dog, she couldn’t really afford to pay £20 for a London taxi, so she put the dog in a suitcase and took it on the tube.
A man offered to help her carry it down the stairs as she was struggling, and asked what on earth she had inside that made it so heavy (about 30kg). She was a photography student, so told him that she studied photography and had a lot of camera equipment inside. They chatted a bit about it and got on to the tube.
At the next stop, the man got off, but just as the doors were closing, he grabbed the suitcase and ran off towards the escalators as fast as he could. He was obviously a petty criminal who thought he would cash in on the camera equipment. Before she knew what had happened, the doors had shut and she was on her way to the next station.
I’m not sure if they ever got it back, but there aren’t many greater images than the thought of this man returning home thinking he had hit the jackpot, only to open the bag and see a dead German Shepherd staring back at him.
Yes, I remember a very strange thing that happened in a sort of mundane way. This happened around the late 1980s or early 1990s. I can’t remember the exact date now.
I had an appointment at the dentist, and went out to my car. It was a 10 minute drive to the dentist.
It was pouring with heavy rain. I got in my car, started it, and then realised my wipers weren’t working. I fiddled with the switch, but no -they wouldn’t work at all. It would have been impossible to drive through those conditions with no wipers.
There had NEVER been any problem with them, so their sudden refusal to operate was quite strange.
I went back in the house and phoned the dentist. I knew I’d be charged a late cancellation fee, but oddly, the receptionist said they’d had a cancellation, so there was no rush. “Just get in when you can in the next forty five minutes or so” she told me, “And there won’t be a charge.”
I was pleased by that . No pressure about timing.
I went back to the car, and tried the wipers again. Nope -not working.
I just sat there for a moment or so, then tried again, and suddenly they sprang into life!
I was, by then, about 15 minutes over my scheduled appointment time. But that didn’t matter so much now.
I drove out and about a couple of miles away there was a turning onto the main road, so I turned….
…And headed straight into a pile up of cars; a big car accident which had obviously just happened. I pulled over to see if any help was needed but someone told me they had already called emergency services.
That accident had happened within the previous 10 minutes obviously. A number of vehicles were involved. It was quite horrible to have to weave my way through it all, knowing people had to be injured, or perhaps even killed. But I had to, in order to not block the road for emergency vehicles about to arrive.
So I continued. But as I drove I began to wonder why I had been stopped from driving out, by my “broken” wipers (which, by the way, never ever broke down again and worked perfectly until the end of that car’s life.)
And as time went by, I began to wonder if something, some force, something I had no name for, had protected me that day? And why?
Something quite strange had happened that day.
I don’t feel I was “warned”. I feel I was quite clearly protected from harm, or possible death.
So one thing I learned is this: When things appear to go very frustratingly wrong in your day and you start to get annoyed about it, just stop and wonder. What might you be protected against? You don’t know. Keep an open mind.
I got a call about the “dentist’s visit” my daughter was leaving high school for. It was very strange since I was not aware of any dental appointment. I looked into it and was told that she had given the school a handwritten excuse note supposedly from me. I had not written any note.
The school was concerned because she had been having so many dental and doctor appointments that year.
It turned out she and her friend had been writing notes for each other to get out of school all year long. They had also signed a bunch of forms at the beginning of the school year so the signatures on the notes would match the signatures on file. The other mother and I had signed those forms, but the girls told the school secretary they’d lost the first sets they were given. The unsuspecting secretary gave them packets of replacement forms which the girls then signed and turned in.
I had to punish my daughter, but I secretly admired the amount of thought and preparation she and her buddy had put into the project.
I have to give my broom riding ex wife credit for this.
I have full custody but I completely missed something the ex caught one morning in texts from our daughter who had stayed at one of her friends’ house. We thought it was a safe place. We had never had any trouble with our 14 or 15 yr old daughter.
She texted her mom asking if she could pick her up later than agreed on that day. Her mom called me and said text our daughter, something is strange it doesnt sound like her.
I thought it was slightly different but definately her so I wasnt worried. Whats the problem?
She sounds high or drunk. Her texting is weird.
I picked her up myself and she smelled strange in the car but seemed normal.
I checked her bag as she took a shower and found two empty pint whisky bottles and a vape pipe. Complete and total shock.
Big fight after her shower but she has never been caught with anything again or made us suspicious. She was never allowed to hang out with that girl again. The parents didnt say anything to their daughter and busted her sneaking out to meet older boys with cars and alcohol the next night. We took ours’ phone, she couldnt warn her.
That girl straightened up too, I saw her at her job a few years later and she was very nice and mature acting. I was impressed with her.
It’s As BAD As We Thought… (Finally Some Honesty!)
He generally never says no to anything, and so he always ended up paying for all our colleagues’ coffee bill, whenever we ordered. But he always did it smilingly. He is the quietest radiologist I know of, and one of the most capable.
It was late in the evening, and he did not have lunch yet. Not the right time for the General Electric (GE) salesman to request him to ‘do demo a new portable ultrasound system’.
‘Sir just 5 minutes, the company insisted on your comment sir, please’.
As usual, he couldn’t say no.
With the last patient gone, he looked for some hospital orderly to lie down on the patient bed to check the new ‘portable ultrasound’ machine.
Hungry, and looking for a way to solve his predicament, he succumbed to the most primordial reflex. He lifted the right end of his neatly tucked shirt and placed the ‘ultrasound probe’ on to his own abdomen to check for the clarity of the machine.
–
What shocked him was not the clarity of the ultrasound machine but the fact that his right kidney showed a clear ‘mass’ at the lower pole; a diagnosis of ‘Renal Cell carcinoma – RCC’ That was the diagnosis that he would make on seeing such an image for any patient, including himself, with a radiology MD name board on his white coat.
‘Good machine’ he softly commented and left.
Instead of going for lunch, he went to his colleague in a nearby hospital. By evening urology consultation was taken and the next day he was inside the operating room in a green dress, undergoing partial nephrectomy.
We waited outside. No one ordered coffee.
The biopsy confirmed cancer, but fortunately, he was cured.
Because it was detected very early.
–
Now I know why his room has the picture of an ultrasound machine hung on the wall; instead of the usual lord ‘Ganesha’.
The mouse might be good at smelling money, but the ultrasound is better in picking up unseen diseases early and save a catastrophe, something that no money can buy.
I was a caterer for for 10 years and specialized in weddings. My last weekend serving food for weddings before moving out of state was my most challenging! There were 2 receptions for 300 people each and an extravaganza for 700 people and all were on the same day. My partner was at one, our most experienced employee oversaw the 2nd one and I had the 700 person nightmare. We had some hiccups but they all went well. We always had sufficient food for people who showed up after not responding. We had servers with champagne or sparkling cider at the end of the receiving line. We knew how many glasses they had available to help keep count of people served. Most weddings were buffet so we only had out enough plates for the people they’d signed a contract for. Often we had to bring out more plates. It was appalling how many times the parents of the bridal party tried to get out of paying for the extra people. A wedding is no place to bring uninvited people.
I used to work for a multi-billion dollar consumer goods company. There were several rather stupid policies in place.
One of them simply didn’t make any sense at all. It was a “clean desk policy.” You were only allowed one or two pictures on your desk, your computer, and an in/out basket. At the end of the day, you had to put anything that wasn’t approved away, and that happened to also include whatever you had in your in/out basket. Yes, that had to be empty at the end of the day. No staplers, tape dispensers, pens/pencils, etc. could be left on your desk.
Our offices around the world were set up as “open offices.” There were no cubicles, nor were there any enclosed offices. The only rooms with doors were meeting rooms and, of course, the restrooms. Desks were arranged in pods based on department, and you could see clearly from one corner of the building to the other.
Whenever the big-wigs were coming from the main headquarters, HR would scurry around and enforce the clean desk policy. They would badger, bully, and berate us to the point where they even took the offending items off our desks and threw them away. Everything had to be perfect for the big-wigs.
Here’s where the stupidity of the policy comes into play: the big-wigs never visited after hours when the office was in full compliance with the policy. They visited during office hours which was when everyone had papers strewn all over their desks because they were at work!
China is a peaceful nation, but it is not a pacifist nation.
They are also not idiots. They see the actions of the United States, and like President Putin, have concluded that no one in America is in control. It is completely running amuck, on “auto pilot”, going through the motions, and seemingly desirous of “suicide by cop”.
There was a time when the United States, with it’s “allies”, were roughly matched in military ability against China. That was right after world war 2, when the American military was at it’s strongest, and the Chinese nation, and military was at it’s weakest. That was back in 1950. And when the United States started bombing China during the “Korean War”, they unleashed a dragon. And the Allied forces were horribly mauled.
Since then, well, China has been getting ready. REALLY READY.
To understand what is going on, you must study Chinese military history. Because once you do… then you realize just how fucked the United States is right now. Is there anything that the United States can do right these days? From abandoned cities, to homeless tent cities, to breath-taking inflation, and mind-boggling corruption.
Do you think that it is because the American “system of democracy” hit some “bumps in the road”, or that since 2008, the United States have been fighting world war 3 against China? And China, if you read history, ALWAYS destroys the aggressor nation from within.
You all must remember that…
China has the oldest military in the world.
It has the oldest navy in the world.
It has the oldest marines in the world.
It has the largest military in the world.
It is peer capable with the best military technologies, including stealth, cloaking, and AI robotics.
But China doesn’t want to use these forces. It wants peace.
But, you know, if some imbecile decides to bomb China / Taiwan… well, the radioactive clouds over America will take decades to dissipate.
…
Oh, China is ready.
And, so is Russia.
WOP
Have you ever faced a situation when you intuitively did the right thing?
Many years ago when my husband and I were first married, I was a college student while he was working as the grunt guy for a used restaurant equipment shop to pay the bills. We stopped at Sears while doing errands. When I got out of the car, I looked down and saw a ring.
I thought it was a junk ring that a child would wear or something. I don’t know why but I picked it up and threw it on the dash before I closed the car door and went into the store.
Sometime later, while my husband was driving us to another errand, I picked up the ring and looked closer. I thought that it might actually be real. I couldn’t believe it. I mean why would a real ring be in the parking lot of Sears?
However, I took it in with me while we went into the next store and stopped at the jewelry counter. We showed it to the clerk who looked at the stone with one of those eye glass things. He confirmed that it was a real diamond.
We ended up going back to Sears to report the ring to their security, who called the police, and we had to wait around for them to show up. They took the ring and filed a report. It took several hours and we weren’t sure if the hassle was worth it.
However, we found out a few days later that an older couple had come into Sears looking for the wife’s wedding ring. Apparently, she had taken off her ring to put on lotion while her husband was driving and then she had gotten out of the car with the ring still in her lap. They didn’t realize the ring was gone until later.
We were glad that I had impulsively picked up what I thought was a piece of junk and threw it on the dash of the car. A wife got back her wedding ring and we had an unusual story to tell.
Alien Bodies Confirmed After Testing to be NON Human
I once was the Managing Director of a Consumer products division in DongGuan, China. This is how we ran it. Here’s some points that are off the top of my head.
[1] All employees sign a contract of employment. It lists the working hours, conditions and length of contract. Most contracts were 2 – 3 years long. If the employee breaks the contract, they lose accrued benefits, and social welfare benefits. If the company breaks the contract, they risk substantial fees, and penalties.
[2] Working hours were 8:30am to 6:00pm with a two hour lunch & nap time. Six working days. Sunday was off.
[3] Everyone has a free room in a dorm. The rooms had a bed, small kitchenette with refrigerator, television, and free wifi. It included a small table, and chair. Shared bath down the hall, and a common room with sofas, kitchen, microwave, and large screen television.
[4] Everyone got free meals. This included breakfasts, lunch and dinner at the canteen. Plus periodic special moments, like fee watermelon, ice cream, or Jaozi spectacular. The management and supervisory staff ate in a upstairs dining hall, the regular workers ate in a hall (or outside) next to the kitchen.
[5] We had a shared bus that ran to and from the factory into town. You could arrange pickups, or meet their fixed discharge and pickup schedule. The driver lived in the dorms. Ran a regular schedule but could be pulled out for special trips on request.
[6] Supervisory staff had slightly larger quarters, a special common room, and some other minor perks.
[7] Time management was conducted by thumb-scan. Presently the factory uses facial scanning.
[8] No dress code, except for safety concerns. Employees washed their clothes in the (dorm) floor washing machines and hung their clothes on their dorm porches. Typically, employees wore tee shirts, and trousers with tennis shoes.
[9] Average age of the workers was somewhere between 30 – 45. The guards were all retired males, and the cleaning ladies and cooking staff were also (generally) older if not retirement age.
[10] Families. Some employees had children, or extended family. The children were permitted to live in the dorms, and were monitored and looked after by the factory community. The guards had the responsibility to make sure that the children went to school safely. Visitors often asked about the toy scooters, and what-not in the parking lot and yard. But that’s why.
[11] Sickness. Illness was treated with serious concern, and we would assign staff to help the person see a doctor and make sure that they got the medicines that they needed.
[12] Special holiday. Once every six months we had a special holiday, where the factory took a trip to a park, or amusement center. The employee would have to contribute towards the cost of the bus ride, but the meals and fees were all paid by the company.
[13] CNY Holiday. The company shut down for CNY which generally lasted ten days. About half of the employees opted for a full month off. This was negotiated in their contract. Leading up to the holiday was a hectic time. We would then host a nice big dinner, and a KTV visit(s) where the yearly bonus would be handed out. Bonuses were equal to one months salary.
I’ll tack on more info as I think about it. But this should give you an idea of what it is like working in a factory in Dongguang.
Chinese billboard
Only in China.
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.
American food makes you fat.
Has anyone rented a car with unlimited mileage and then really driven it with “unlimited mileage”? What was the response when you returned the car to the rental agency?
In 2010 I drove across the USA with my family.
Rather than drive my own car, I wanted to rent a car so we could have it replaced if there was a problem on the road. We had a lot of plans and couldn’t afford to lose time. We wanted a nice, large SUV with unlimited miles.
Hertz would not offer unlimited mile SUVs but I could get a minivan. So, I booked that, disappointed. I called the local airport rental place to tell them my plans, and to ask if I could reserve a specific vehicle make and model even though that was against policy. When I explained why, the manager’s eyes lit up. “We don’t offer unlimited milage SUVs, but you can upgrade the minivan contract to SUV fur a small fee and the unlimited miles feature follows!” She then let me and the kids explore the 4 SUV models of the time, and we picked a Chevy Traverse. We agreed on a Thursday pickup.
As we were packing in the days leading up to the rental, we thought we’d get the car a day early and start loading so we could take off sooner. Since we had a special arrangement, I called the location and asked about an early pickup. The person who answered said the manager was out that day but said to come down and see what they could do.
I arrived at the SJC airport location on Wednesday, and the rental lot was nearly empty. My heart sank. I suspected they would not honor the deal. I walked in, braced for bad news. When I introduced myself, they recognized me immediately. “Oh, you’re the cross-country guy! Come with me.”
We walked to the back of the rental shack and there was a Chevy Traverse, with a big OUT OF SERVICE sign on the dashboard.
“We got this car on Monday, but we couldn’t rent it because it had mechanical problems.” He opened the door and pulled the sign off the dashboard with a flourish and a grin. “OK, that should fix it. Now we can rent it.”
I went on to clock 7,800 miles over 5 weeks. They didn’t bat an eye when I returned it.
One day everything is fine. I shut off my computer, and go to sleep.
Next morning I wake up, grab a cup of coffee and sit at my computer, and it is “locked”. And, you know, I didn’t lock it.
Computers have different modes aside from “on” and “off”.
…
There’s “suspend“.
There’s “sleep“.
Somehow, my computer went into “Rip Van Wrinkle” mode.
…
No matter what I would do, It just wouldn’t wake up.
Speech!
Stressed me out to no end.
So…
I used another computer to download the latest version of Lunix Mint. It’s called “Virginia”. And then booted up with that ISO.
Works great.
But, when installing, I lost all of my files, and other stuff.
It took me the next two days to recover all my passwords and links and stuff. But somehow, I did manage, and now I am back up and running. Though…
I lost all my gaming history… back to the beginning for me. Ugh.
I lost all my pending articles, not yet uploaded. Oh well.
I lost all my family videos and such… Sigh.
But the bulk of my system is saved and secure.
The reason… Well let me tell you…
…
Firstly, I have backups on all meetings. If my computer goes down, I have my Chief Engineer and we use his systems, and phones. So I do not rely on one meeting operating system.
Secondly, I connect my phone to my computer browser. If my computer goes down, I can sync with my phone and vice versa.
And, most importantly, thirdly… I wrote all my passwords and criticals in a book. If my electronics are locked, stolen, compromised, or whatever, I still can access the internet data.
Phew!
For once, the thing that everyone made fun of me for doing, worked out and saved me in the end!
1. Eat the frog and start with the things that are most important.
“Crush” time is from 9 to 10 a.m.
We finish our trickiest assignments during this period and avoid bothering one other with inquiries. First thing in the morning, you should probably finish the task that you are most afraid of.
2. Make plans for tonight and tomorrow.
Making a brief list of easy tasks to complete at night will enable you to get started quickly in the morning and create a constructive momentum that will last the remainder of the day.
3. Enumerate your day’s “crucial results.”
Make a spreadsheet with your top three priorities listed for each day. This will assist you in organizing your days and ensuring that you stay focused on the most crucial things each day.
4. Modify your inner monologue.
Your drive and energy levels can be greatly enhanced by making a small change in viewpoint. Say “These are the two things I need to focus on today” rather than “I have too much to do today!”
5. Complete administrative activities during downtime.
standing in line for example at the bank, the grocery store, the elevator, etc. Bring along a book you’ve been wanting to read, some emails to get through, or some status updates to catch up on. Alternatively, just wander your thoughts and take in your surroundings.
6. 70% of the wealth is generated online, so you should too start an online business. Here join this challenge to learn how to start an online business
7. Make time for “me” at the beginning of the day:
Sort through and prioritize the accumulation of accumulated emails and social media posts from the previous night. Eliminate prompt comments and
recommendations so that others can get to work on their duties. Plan out the larger jobs. And remove the informational or unimportant content.
9. Get rid of private distractions:
Workplace productivity can also be severely hindered by personal diversions. You would quickly lose focus and waste hours doing nothing if you allowed personal distractions to interfere with your work.
10. Take a bigger stance:
Around 3 p.m., do you start to feel a bit sleepy? Get up!
China will peak after it is 5–6 times the U.S. real GDP size of the U.S. which I suspect will be around 2075–2100 period. Why do I say 5–6 times that of the U.S. China will in real terms match China i.e. 4X USA economy around 2050–2075 period because China has 4 TIMES the population of the US.
But China won’t stop there because Chinese are generally smarter recieved better education, willing to work harder, are more industrious and learn more than US citizens hence it will not stop growing till it hit 5–6 times the US size at the minimum. So stop hallucinating China wants to catch up to the U.S. it wants to lapped the U.S. many folds.
Chinese political system is more sustainable and its infrastructure is presently miles ahead of the U.S. now. And while the Chinese are focus the U.S. will always be embroiled in conflicts after conflicts till it implodes in a mess of debts and deficits wasting resources that it barely has. I ammmetely pointing out facts that scare the shit out of you guys especially US lackeys or U.S. dogs and slaves or simply ignorant and naive brain dead Americans here in QUORA. You hate me for saying this and will prefer to be in denial. But lying to yourself is what you did for the longest time.
Interviewer : You have 10 minutes to impress me. Go.
Me: If I do that, if I dazzle you within ten minutes, would I get this job?
Interviewer : Young man, I must warn you, I’m extremely hard to impress. But if you’re able to pull that off, I shall hire you on the spot.
Me: You see, that’s the problem. I’ve been working in this field for a long time. I’ve done a lot of projects with a lot of programmers. Most of these guys started out as mere acquaintances. I had no idea how good or bad at coding they were. It was only after working with them for a while that I got to know their true calibre. And one strange pattern I noticed was that the guys who I didn’t think much of in the first meeting, later proved to be some of the best collaborators. While the ones who completely floored me with their dazzling first impressions, later turned out to be complete assholes and a total pain in the ass to work with. Right now, I could throw in a bunch of complex projects I’ve done in the past, or I could tell you about the research I’ve been doing, or competitions I’ve won. Any of those would be sufficient to impress you. And as you promised, you would give me this job. But if you do that — give me this job going by whether I’m able to impress you within the first ten minutes or not, then I’m not so sure I’d still want it.
Your workers expect 5 times Chinese workers salary and 10 times more benefits and your rental and utilities are 5 times more expensive in the U.S. than in China. Hence a dollar in the U.S. buys you a big mac and the same dollar translated into RMB allows you to get 3 similar Big Macs. That is why your nominal GDP means shit! Everything that you pay 3 bucks in New York you pay merely a buck in Shanghai! Simply speaking your purchasing parity is a mere pittance of China.
So who do you blame? Your big mouth. You told the world you have a great Union who protects your workers income! Great your worker get paid more but your product can’t sell ! Without sales you cannot pay your staff all together.
Eggs with Peppers and Sausage
2024 02 21 08 26
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
1 large onion, sliced
1 pound Italian sweet peppers or banana peppers, seeded and cut into strips
I worked in a doctor’s office, internal medicine so they did gynecological exams among other things. We used metal speculums and after each patient, the speculums would be dropped into a solution to soak. Near the end of the day, they’d all be put in the autoclave machine to sterilize them. One Friday, the nurse forgot. The speculums remained in the soaking solution all weekend and you’d think maybe it wouldn’t be that big of a deal but BOY OH BOY let me tell you….when I got to work Monday morning I saw the exterior doors were open with box fans in them, trying to help remove the most hideous and sickening odor you could imagine. It was like somebody had taken a dead body, stuffed it with expired tuna, and hid it behind the magazine rack. How ANY patients consented to be treated in there that day, I do not know.
In the summer of 2015, my two sisters and I set out on a backpacking journey across Europe. We were all quite athletic: I was devoted to the gym and cycling, Mary worked hard as a waitress, and Joanne excelled in high school sports.
Despite only having basic German skills, I was somewhat fluent, thanks to my mother’s influence. Along the way, we encountered many German tourists, providing ample opportunities for interesting eavesdropping.
One particularly memorable moment took place during our first visit to a topless beach. While relaxing in our bikinis, my sisters Mary and Joanne decided to go for a swim. Nearby, two German men, whom I’ll refer to as Hans and Klaus, began discussing us.
Hans: Look at those girls. They’re cute, but…
Klaus: …they have big muscles.
Hans: Yes, they would be very pretty if it weren’t for the muscles. What’s the deal, I wonder?
Klaus: They’re American. Americans like girls with muscles.
Hans: What makes you think they’re American?
Klaus: They’re covering their breasts.
I stayed silent, but when it was my turn to enter the water, I couldn’t resist a playful gesture. I waited for them to look, then flexed my muscles, Popeye-style, and gave them a wink.
When I was in graduate school working on my doctorate, I had a “friend” who was as cheap and as greedy as a person could be. She was one of those people who always begged for a bite, a piece, or a sip. Even if I had eaten half of my food, played around in it with my fork, or sat talking over it, she would tell the server clearing the table to leave my plate so she could eat the rest. She did this in an Indian restaurant once, and the server literally blanched and looked at me incredulously. I just shrugged as this woman proceeded to scarf down my half-eaten cucumber salad. Any time I didn’t eat everything on my plate, she’d ask if she could have it. Well, the last time we ever went out to eat was when we went to a Chinese restaurant and she decided that she wasn’t really “in the mood” for the teriyaki beef dish she had ordered and was really hankering for the shrimp fried rice I had ordered that came on a large platter with a serving spoon. Her eyes got really wide when our server brought out our food, and she saw all of that rice. She never offered to pay for half my meal even though she readily helped herself. Because I was taught that it is rude and petty to deny someone food who asks, I silently watched her heap her plate with fried rice and eat it. When the check came, she paid for her untouched meal and asked the server to wrap it up so that she could take it home and eat it at another time. There were other incidents. There was the time she went into an ice cream shop to get us ice cream while I waited outside with my dog who could not go in for obvious reasons. Moments later she came running back out with only her cone because my cone cost 30 cents more than I had given her. But eating half of my dinner and never offering to pay was the last straw and the last time I ever went anywhere with this woman.
Russia is one of the most resource rich land masses in the planet
They have enough oil based on current reserves and current increase in consumption to last for 63.6 years
They have enough Gas based on current reserves and current increase in consumption to last for 118 years
They have enough of the Top 6 Industrial Raw Materials in Ore Form to last for 70.1 years
They have enough Fertile Wheat production to feed 15.6% of the World’s Population outside their own country
They have access to nearly 137 Million Metric Tonnes of Seafood which is enough to feed and export for the next 56 years.
And that’s not counting unexplored reserves
If they peg the Ruble to the value of Oil, Gas Gold and Wheat and price the same independently – their GDP would be close to $ 4.73 Billion nominal
Next the Russian Army
Russia has :-
548,000 Professional Soldiers
784,000 Active Personnel serving on Contracts
1.903 Million Reservists between 18–44 years old
The Russians are among the toughest hardest soldiers in the planet and among the most patriotic
Any other Nation in 1942 would have broken to the Nazis but the Russians died and died and died, hated Stalin but for Mother Russia, they found and kept dying
The Brits broke under far less stringent conditions in Singapore in 1942
Their Production Capacity is very high
Only Next to China who is an Ally
Today Russia can outproduce the ENTIRE NATO at 3:1 to 7:1 for Artillery Ammunition, Tanks, BMPs, Armored Vehicles, Drones etc
Except Fighter Aircraft
Economically Russia is one of the MOST UNDERUTILIZED NATIONS on earth
First the Tsars
Next the Early Commies Lenin and that Moron Trotsky
Then Brezhnev
Then Gorbachev
Then Yeltsin
For 150–200 years, barring a brief period when Josef Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev where in charge (1929–1966) , Russia was always suffering under Moron Leaders or Oligarchs or Indifferent people
The Russian people may love Russia but they rarely respected their Leaders
Very few people Earned the Respect of the Russian People
Stalin for one
After Stalin, only Putin has managed to earn the same level of respect
Yet Russias development has been uneven, slow because of these reasons
Plus the fact that Russia has a mere 150 Million people and couldn’t attract migrants due to harsh communism for almost a century and due to the freezing weather
So I can say Russia can NEVER be defeated in Battle and War
I can say Russia can always ensure its Economy doesn’t collapse
Russia can always survive due to so many Natural Resources
However because Russia has only 150 Million people, it cannot be the most powerful country of all time
Because Russia only grew and surged for 54 years in the last 200 years, Russia isn’t the most powerful country of all time
Still thinking it’s a Gas Station is why 450,000 People are dead and Europe is in bankrupt chaos
When I was a paramedic I was called to a home for an unresponsive person.
As we made our way into the house a woman greeted us and she was extremely upset. She hurried us into the kitchen where we found her husband on the floor. He was in full cardiac arrest.
As we started to attempt resuscitation, we went through our normal steps. My partner would place an advanced airway while I readied the cardiac monitor and defibrillator. There would need to be an IV and medications given and we would have to breathe for him. Of course we were doing all this while maintaining CPR.
As we moved him to the cot and prepared to move to the ambulance and go to the hospital, I noticed more details about the room we were in.
It was Valentine’s Day. This husband had gotten up early and lovingly prepared breakfast for his wife. He had a vase full of roses on the kitchen table and a card with her name written on the envelope. The food was still warm on their plates. It was untouched. Everything was perfect, except this kind and considerate man was dead. Sadly, his lack of response to our efforts to restart his heart told me he was very likely to remain that way.
I’ve had to relive this particular scenario dozens of times on birthdays, Christmas and pretty much any other holiday. I have performed CPR in restaurants and at birthday parties. I guess what all this taught me about life is that, more often than not, it ends right in the middle of your plans. Large plans, life plans or, sometimes, breakfast plans.
In the annals of Western New York history, one particular individual found themselves on the receiving end of a cautionary tale during the winter of 1987. The National Weather Service had issued a dire prediction: a major storm was poised to sweep over Lake Ontario in the early hours of the morning, heralding an onslaught of snowfall that threatened to disrupt the region’s daily routines.
For those acquainted with the capricious nature of Lake Effect snow, the forecast served as a somber warning. Yet, as dawn approached, the storm’s arrival remained a matter of speculation. In Western New York, where the resilience of residents was matched only by the reluctance of employers to cancel a day’s work, the impending snowfall was met with a mixture of apprehension and resignation.
In this climate of uncertainty, our protagonist made a fateful decision. Rising at the early hour of 5:30 or 6:00, they peered outside to find a light dusting of snow. Without a second thought, they returned to the warmth of their bed, lulled into a false sense of security by the meager accumulation outside their window.
Meanwhile, the rest of the region braced themselves for the impending storm, diligently monitoring their radios and televisions for updates on the weather front. As the morning progressed, it became increasingly apparent that the storm had veered off course, sparing much of the area from its wrath.
Yet, despite the absence of significant snowfall, our protagonist found themselves facing the consequences of their premature retreat to bed. Upon arriving at work, they were met with skepticism from their employer, who, in a display of fairness, sought confirmation of the purported inclement weather.
Contacting local authorities for verification, the boss received confirmation that no road closures or emergencies had been reported due to the light dusting of snow. Faced with the ultimatum of providing evidence of a two-foot snowdrift at their doorstep or collecting their paycheck and departing, our protagonist wisely chose the latter.
In the end, the moral of the story was clear: in the unpredictable realm of Western New York weather, it pays to stay vigilant, lest one find themselves left out in the cold.
My brother passed away unexpectedly in April of this year. He was 9 years younger than me, and we were extremely close. We grew up in an extremely dysfunctional family, and were always there for each other in ways that the rest of our family was not. In a lot of ways, especially when he was little, I was as much a mom figure to him as his big sister, our relationship was one of the greatest sources of comfort and joy in both our lives. l was, and still am, devastated by the loss of him in my life.
I work in the town where he lived a few days each week, and had my own room in the house where he lived with his husband, “J”, who is like another brother to me. My brother loved vintage fashion, and was always bringing home his latest “amazing finds” from local thrift stores. He definitely had hoarding tendencies. His plan was to resell most of what he bought at the flea market for a profit in the summer, which never happened.
In the immediate weeks after his death, J and I started sorting through his things, including the bags and bags and bags and racks and racks and racks of thrift store “scores” that were all over the house, often mixed with his personal clothing. We kept some, and gave away or donated the rest. We always made sure to check any pockets; since he often stashed money and other valuables in random places, which he sometimes forgot about.
I was going through the pockets of a heavy pea coat, which neither of us had ever seen him wear, and felt what I thought might be a credit card. I pulled it out, and saw that it was actually a card key from a hotel that the previous owner presumably had forgotten. I turned it over, and was stunned. What are the odds of finding a random hotel key card in the pocket of a random thrift store coat, less than 2 weeks after my brother died, printed with an image of puffy clouds in a blue sky, and a single sentence that read “It’s time to let me go”. There have been other inexplicable moments in the weeks and months since he passed, that I believe are signs from him, to reassure and comfort us that in some way, he’s still with us. I am so grateful for those moments.
Walking away from marriage, children, and other stuff we’re supposed to have
Everyone – including me – thought that this was a ridiculous excuse. A girl showed up late, out of breath and red in the face. She was the kind of student who was usually very conscientious, so I expected a common and reasonable explanation like car trouble. Instead she stood right inside the door, panting, and explained that a snake had been holding her hostage.
I knew that this fifteen year-old girl was responsible for getting herself up and getting ready for school because her single mom worked the early morning shift at the hospital, so I was already inclined to go easy on her. That snake story just didn’t sound right, so I asked her to explain.
The girl lived in a small apartment on the first floor, and it was a small town so I knew that these apartments only had one entry. She had woken up and gotten ready as usual, but when she opened the door, she found a big rattlesnake sunning itself on the mat. She had called several people until her uncle finally answered and came over to kill the snake – with a pistol! He did manage to kill the snake, but he also brought all the neighbors outside. The girl and her uncle had to wait until everyone had finished telling him off for being stupid enough to fire a gun right in front of their homes before he could drive her to school.
I accepted her excuse but I remained skeptical until I got off work that afternoon and stopped at the store, where everyone was talking about the moron who shot a snake in the town’s one and only apartment complex. I still suspected that she could have just walked around the snake or something, but two years later a watermoccasin decided to take me hostage. I mentally apologized to my former student, because there was no way in hell that I was gonna just step around that thing.
The question is do you need his recommendation? The urge to tell him to get lost is strong but if you do you could wind up screwing yourself later on. After all, if somebody calls up for a reference and they ask him… it’s not going to be good.
So you ask yourself would it benefit you to be polite or not?
Let me tell you a story of when I was younger. It was my first real IT job for the summer. Small company needed to upgrade everything and needed a jack of all trades type to do it and I got it. So I spent months crawling under desks, running cable, setting up the servers and backups and during all this the owner’s girlfriend would be looking over my shoulder and asking what I was doing. I’d show her because why not? She was nice. A bit of a ditz but she had… assets if you get me.
So the end of the project comes. I’ve done all the testing, present him with the documentation and ask what’s next. He says nothing because his girlfriend was taking over and she could do my job. I laughed, he was serious. Gave me my severance and I was out the door.
About a month or two later I get a call from him and he’s frantic. Seems they had a problem, they lost all their data and when they went to restore from backup found out his girlfriend wasn’t doing the backups like she said she would do. He promised me the world at this point, back pay, bonuses and all that. I told him to go screw himself as he got what he deserved. I think he went out of business in a month or so later. I didn’t need him. I was in school and that was just a way to make some money while gaining experience. But you might need him later.
So I’d ask yourself if it’s worth it to tell him to get lost or whether it’s in your best interest to at least not be as dismissive. Don’t just give it to him but make him understand you’re doing this for the good of the company, not him. And you could just as easily have told him to get lost.
I was born with fatal Asthma. My lungs have collapsed three times, and every year I’d spend approximately 3–4 weeks in the ICU under an oxygen tent. When I was big enough, I got to use the regular mask and/or tubes in my nose. I’d have severe asthma attacks every night, but it was just my way of life (I still played sports, etc.).
I got to know who some of the regular nurses were- especially because, though they’d let my parents stay after visiting hours, I’d get really sad when they had to leave. The nurses were always so great about making me comfortable. This was in the 1980’s. I’ll never forget the head nurse, Norma. She always made me feel less alone.
In those days, there were TV’s in the room- attached to a big arm on the wall, but you had to order it- and a cable guy would come in and set it up. You had to pay per day. My parents always got it for me.
I always knew how hard nurses worked and I never understood how come they had to be there for so long. At night, when the ward was dark- I’d leave my TV on so the nurses could watch “Dallas”. I’d make it so the face of the TV pointed toward the hall. It’s not like they could sit there for the hour, chillin’ in my room. But I liked to keep a chair by my bed for them. I’d fall asleep, and in the morning the TV was off. I guess I didn’t “catch” a nurse- it’s more like I encouraged them. I was just little. I always knew how much they wanted me to get better, and I always knew they really liked Dallas.
Norma never watched it, but she never seemed to be mad about it.
1. Waiting for someone to save them. You can’t wait for some hero to come and snatch you from the claws of life’s difficulties. You can seek advice and get support from those closest to you, but even they can’t bear the weight of being your hero because the only one who is capable of fulfilling that role is none other than yourself.
2. Victim mentality. You will never be able to change your life for the better if you believe that everyone and everything is out there to sabotage you. It will only make you feel more powerless and helpless, robbing you of willpower and motivation to change anything.
3. Extreme poverty. With extreme poverty, there comes extreme desperation, which often pushes people into doing things they’d have never imagined they were capable of.
4. Constantly lying to themselves. When you can’t be honest with yourself, you are unable to face all the fears, weaknesses, and problems holding you back. And the more lies you tell yourself, the tighter their grip will get on you until your life is left in shambles.
5. Being in a toxic relationship with a master manipulator/narcissist. Not only will they destroy your self-esteem and your sense of self, but they’ll try to make you stay with them and even guilt-trip you into it when you say you want to leave them.
6. Having enemies disguised as friends. A friend is supposed to have your back, not stab you in it, which is exactly what these people do. They try to discourage you from pursuing your goals because they don’t want to see you succeed, they always find a way to criticize you under the guise of “friendly feedback” and are never there to support you when you need them.
7. Growing up in a dysfunctional family. If one or both of your parents were abusive, toxic, etc., you will start noticing the consequences of it after stepping into adulthood. Once you do, you’ll have to unlearn some things you subconsciously picked up during childhood and completely destroy the rest. Otherwise, you’ll risk repeating the vicious cycle by turning into your parent(s) or living with the damaging consequences for the rest of your life.
Paluski (Polish Potato Fingers)
Do these bring back memories. Paluski! We always had them with homemade kapusta and kielbasi. I make these all of the time. My family loves them with a nice mushroom gravy. They taste delicious fried in some bacon fat with onions and crisp bacon. I sometimes cut them up into small pieces and add them to my homemade chicken soup. I have even gone so far as to fry them up and serve them with sunny side eggs, scrambled and poached.
2024 02 21 08 a28
Ingredients
4 cups all-purpose flour + extra if needed to make a pliable dough
4 cups mashed potatoes, cold
1 tablespoon salt
4 eggs
Instructions
Cook potatoes and drain well. Press through a ricer and place in a large bowl. Cool.
Combine flour and salt in a large bowl, mixing well. Make a well in the center of flour and add eggs, one at a time, mixing well until all the eggs are mixed well.
Add the riced potatoes and mix until all ingredients are blended real well. If necessary add some water to make the dough pliable if too stiff, this will depend on how much flour you add. (I have found that 4 cups will make a very wet dough, so I add 1/4 cups of flour at a time until the dough feels just right. This is done by feel. Do not make the dough too stiff.
Roll out dough in portions at a time onto floured surface, rolling out into a long log about 1-inch thick.
Cut logs into 3/4-inch pieces, rolling slightly to even out.
Drop into rolling salted boiling water and cook until paluski float to the top, allowing them to simmer a few minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in a large bowl.
Have some melted butter ready to drizzle over the paluski to coat them.
You can sauté some onions in butter and toss in with them.
Notes
Either way you doctor them up, they taste wonderful.
Woman says she’s breaking up with boyfriend over this…
I bought the security guard company I worked for when the owner decided to retire and move to Las Vegas. He wanted 3 months billing for the whole tamale; office equipment, gear, patrol car, and clients. He was billing around $237,000 annually so the asking price was just over $59,000.
I got a business loan for $30,000 and agreed to pay him $1,700 a month over 18 months for the balance owed. The extra money was for interest.
A couple of years later he showed up in my office. The $30K was gone and the monthly payments had ended, and he needed money. So he asked me for a job selling for my company.
I’d quadrupled his annual billing — from $237K to $980K — so I told him I’d pay him a $1,500 monthly draw against commission.
After 6 months he’d sold 3 patrol accounts, for a grand total of $1,100 a month, so I cut my losses and let him go.
While at university my roommate and I lived a couple blocks in from the beach. He walked up to the beach to check the surf late one evening. A cop pulled up along side him and said “Hey, are you [my name]?” My roommate said “no” and the cop drove away without another word.
A few days later at about 8:00 PM I left our apartment and started to drive to our university. My small truck had an automatic transmission and the parking break was broken. So I kept a large rock by my feet that I would wedge behind a tire when I parked. As I drove away from our apartment a cop pulled me over. I asked what the problem was and he didn’t answer. He shined his flashlight inside my truck. He saw the rock and asked in a very serious tone why it was there. I explained. He then told me to get out of the car. I complied. He didn’t go inside, but looked inside the door. He saw my backpack on the passenger seat. He said he wanted to search it and asked if I had a problem with that. Knowing I had done nothing wrong, I was getting annoyed. There was nothing but textbooks and notebooks in my backpack, but I didn’t like his attitude. And I was upset about the cops asking my roommate if he was me for some reason a few nights earlier. So I said I did have a problem with it and I would not be allowing him to search it. He said he had the right to search for probable cause. I asked what he was defining as probable cause. He replied that the rock on my floor was a weapon. I told him I thought that was a pretty weak position after the explanation I gave him and I objected to his search. He said if he called a judge he could provide me a warrant to fully legalize any search he wished to perform. I then told him I would wait calmly while he radioed the station (before mobile phones), they called a judge, and a search warrant was issued. I also asked how he thought a judge would react to being annoyed at home to get a warrant to search a [local university] student’s backpack after being pulled over for not committing any traffic violations. He looked at me, said “you better pray I never catch you doing anything wrong” and turned away. He got in his cruiser and drove off. It was all very strange, but I never had another incident after that.
I came from a very ordinary background, and I have advised countless people who are very wealthy and grew up poor or middle-class.
Even if we look at larger studies, we find that most of the richest people in the world came from working and middle-class backgrounds.
Only in some places where inherited wealth dominated, like some parts of Europe, is it 50%-50%.
If you mean is it possible to get rich, or wealthy, on a middle-class income, then the simple answer is yes.
This man was a UPS driver for years. He made a maximum of $14,000-$15,000 a year:
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Theodore Johnson died with $70million after a friend told him about investing, which is why he got into it.
Yes, you read that right. $70million. Now sure, when he started investing, 14k-15k a year was worth 50k-75k in today’s money.
Yet it still wasn’t a huge salary. So, how did he manage it? Well, he invested very smart, long-term.
He wanted to make a difference when he died, so he gave it to charity.
He isn’t alone. This man was a janitor called Ronald Read who accumulated $8million:
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This lady was a secretary and accumulated $9m:
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You might think these are one-offs. However, stats show that 14% of the world’s millionaires are teachers, and about 50% are middle-income professionals.
The reason is simple. Income doesn’t always rise exponentially with time. Wealth can.
What is more, there are always investment opportunities out there, as I mentioned on a recent CNBC interview:
As a final comment, I will speak about risk, as it is the most misunderstood subject.
Do you assume that you are playing it safe with money in the bank?
You are fooling yourself 👉🏼 and here is exactly why:
1. If you save money in the bank you’re buying into the sure risk of inflation.
2. If you only rely on your savings for retirement, you’re risking everything on the assumption that things will go to plan.
But life doesn’t always go to plan. Some sort of risk is inevitable, it’s everywhere.
It is far better to:
Put your eggs in numerous baskets and not just the bank or property
Pick the risks you will take. It gives you more control.
Take action, rather than setting New Year’s resolutions to save/invest more money + lose weight and forget about it!
When a tattoo is removed, the ink particles are eventually broken down and excreted through the urine.
Our own immune system, meant to protect us, can kill us faster than the fastest-killing virus, Ebola (4 days)
Your brain can play tricks on you, making you feel referred pain from your organs in unexpected places! For example, a painful pancreas can present as pain in your flank or back; a heart attack can feel like jaw or shoulder pain; a kidney stone can feel like testicle pain;
The cause of period cramps is the uterus suffocating itself. During a period, the uterus contracts to shed its lining, and sometimes the contractions are so strong that they squeeze the blood vessels, cutting off the supply of oxygen and causing pain.
The front of your tongue has a mind of its own and is always on the move, secretly exploring your mouth. Dentists are well aware of this behavior during impression taking, when the tongue can be seen chasing the dental tool or licking their fingers around the mouth.
Your eyes are “immune privileged,” meaning the rest of the body’s immune system has no knowledge of their existence. If this immune system were to suddenly become aware of the eyes, it may treat them as a threat and try to neutralize them, potentially leading to blindness.
Through various work events, I’ve met the late Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, Prince William, Prince Edward, Sophie (Countess of Wessex), Princess Anne, James (Viscount Severn), and Lady Amelia Windsor. Though James was only a toddler at the time. Regardless, none of them ever treated me with anything but respect and cordiality (when time allowed more than a passing handshake). And I’m about as lowborn as it gets. The bastard scion of an unwed mother, who was herself the daughter of a gangland enforcer and the 2nd cousin of the man who *ahem* allegedly disposed of the evidence of murders conducted by one of the UK’s most notorious gangs. My more distant ancestors on my mother’s side were Irish loyalists, and on my father’s side were Welsh coal miners. Sailors, miners, and criminals were what went into making me. And yet still, never have I ever been treated poorly by any member of the Royal Family I’ve ever had any interaction with.
As to loyalty… Dolce et decorum est pro patria mori. I’m from a family with a long military tradition. Loyalty to my nation and sovereign go without question. It’s Parliament, not the Royals, who inevitably fuck over me and mine. I’ve no reason to be disloyal. Furthermore, Queen Elizabeth is one of the most dedicated monarchs we’ve ever had. She gave her all to her country and her people. It is only proper that loyalty and service be returned.
The U.S. Has Made Taiwan a Trigger for War. Can China Disarm It?
Taiwan is a useful pawn in the U.S. strategy of confronting China as a “great power competitor”, Finian Cunningham writes.
Ever since China’s civil war ended in 1949 with victory for the Communist side, the island of Taiwan off China’s southern coast has been a U.S. pawn as a haven for anti-Communist forces. The United States has sponsored the Taiwanese separatists first under the dictatorship of Chiang Kai-shek and up to the present administration in Taipei. Ironically, Washington portrays Taiwan as “democratic and free”.
Washington’s support for Taiwan waned in 1979 when the U.S. endeavored to normalize relations with Beijing under the so-called One China Policy which defines Taiwan as under the sovereign control of the People’s Republic of China. The U.S. position conforms to the international norm of recognizing China as one sovereign nation in which Taiwan is but an island province.
The U.S.’s so-called normalization of relations with China was not genuine. It was a geopolitical move to wedge relations between Beijing and Moscow. Now that China and Russia have reestablished strategic connections under Presidents Xi and Putin, the U.S. has reverted to overt hostility towards China and its policy of using Taiwan as a cat’s paw to destabilize the mainland.
After the Obama administration embarked on its Pivot for Asia strategy in 2011, Washington earnestly reinstated relations with Taiwan in such a way as to deliberately provoke Beijing and undermine its sovereignty.
Tensions over Taiwan have become increasingly fraught as the United States steps up military supplies to the island territory. The weapons systems have become increasingly offensive in their capability of attacking China’s mainland. This development not only undermines China’s sovereign authority. It also poses an overt national security threat to Beijing. Taiwan is a mere 130 kilometers (80 miles) from the Chinese mainland across a narrow sea called Taiwan Strait.
This places China in an acute dilemma. Should it take preemptive military action or wait it out until politics takes its course?
A recent election in Taiwan was won by a pro-independence party. But there was a greater combined vote for parties that want more friendly relations with mainland China. That strongly suggests that Taiwanese people are against a military confrontation and are amenable to political reconciliation as proposed by Beijing. Perhaps over time, the Taiwanese population may develop a decisive majority that desires peaceful reunification.
The problem is the United States has control of the initiative to inflame tensions with China. In that case, Beijing might eventually be drawn into a military confrontation despite its aspirations.
The Return of Great Power Competition
Since the supposed end of the Cold War in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, for most of the ensuing three-decade period, the United States declared its main national security concerns to revolve around international terrorism. In recent years, however, the U.S. has relegated the perceived threat of terrorism and officially prioritized its strategic concerns about “great power competition”.
Russia and China have been labeled the top geopolitical rivals for U.S. global power. In this way, there has been a return in Washington to the Cold War geopolitics and rhetoric that dominated international relations during the five decades after World War Two. While Moscow and Beijing have both repudiated adversarial relations and have repeatedly urged peaceful coexistence in a multipolar world, the United States has relentlessly sought to depict the so-called “global rules-based order” as being threatened by Russia and China.
The current U.S. administration under President Joe Biden has contrived to portray international relations as an existential contest between “Western democracy versus autocracies”. This zero-sum terminology is typical of Cold War ideology which aims to polarize international relations into geopolitical camps of “us and them”. Such polarization is an essential function of U.S. and Western power politics and the promotion of U.S. hegemonic ambitions.
By dividing the world into “blocs”, the resulting conflictual relations and tensions are amenable to American militarism. In other words, cooperative peaceful international relations as advocated by Russia and China in their multipolar visions are anathema to the pursuit of U.S. hegemony based on unilateral domination.
China is Enemy No. 1 for the United States
Several U.S. strategic planning documents indicate explicitly the emphasis on “great power competition”. The 2022 National Security Strategy defines the U.S.’s priority concerns. The document states:
“We are now in the early years of a decisive decade for America and the world. The terms of geopolitical competition between the major powers will be set… the post-Cold War era is definitively over, and a competition is underway between the major powers to shape what comes next.”
The strategic outlook clearly determines China as the bigger threat to U.S. power. The document states:
“Russia and the PRC [People’s Republic of China] pose different challenges. Russia poses an immediate threat to the free and open international system, recklessly flouting the basic laws of the international order today, as its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine has shown. The PRC, by contrast, is the only competitor with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to advance that objective.”
Another major U.S. planning document, the 2022 National Defense Strategy, also defined China as the “pacing challenge” to American global power. It was stated that China is “the only competitor to the United States with the intent and increasing capability to reshape the international order.”
The term “pacing challenge” is a euphemism for Enemy Number One. The prioritizing of China over Russia as the designated top threat to U.S. national security was reiterated in the National Defense Authorization Acts in 2023 and 2024. The NDAAs govern annual U.S. military spending of over $850 billion – about four times the military budget of China and more than eight times that of Russia.
The war in Ukraine which erupted in February 2022, has certainly accentuated tensions and hostilities between the United States and Russia. This may give the impression that Russia is deemed by Washington as a greater threat than China. Nevertheless, despite the heated rhetoric and war in Ukraine, the strategic outlook according to the U.S.’s own planners is that China is perceived as the long-term principal adversary.
Even Russian President Vladimir Putin in a recent interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson acknowledged that China was seen in Washington as a bigger threat than Russia. “The West is afraid of a strong China more than it fears a strong Russia,” said Putin.
U.S. is Planning on War with China
The United Air Force announced on February 12, 2024, a major overhaul and expansion of force structure in the Asia-Pacific. Its commanders specifically cited China as the motivating threat and reason for renewed military build-up for “high-end conflict”. When the civilian head of the U.S. Air Force, Frank Kendall, was appointed to the post in 2022, he told the U.S. Congress that his three priorities were: “China, China, and China.”
Several senior American commanders have publicly warned that the U.S. could be at war with China in the next five years. And they mention Taiwan as the flashpoint.
This war planning accounts for an overall U.S. military build-up in Asia-Pacific involving air, navy, and land weapons. Washington has been expanding military bases and missile systems in Australia, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Guam, and most provocatively on China’s territory of Taiwan.
On January 16, 2024, it was reported by Taiwanese news media that the island territory was building two new missile bases on its east coast facing the Taiwan Strait and China’s mainland. The new construction stemmed from the expected arrival of more U.S. anti-ship missiles. The reports also indicated that five more bases were under planning.
These developments point to long-term planning by the United States for a military confrontation with China in the coming years.
Taiwan is the Primary Cat’s Paw for U.S. Hostility
Following elections in Taiwan on January 13, 2024, U.S. President Joe Biden stated that the U.S. did not support “independence” for the island territory.
Biden was thus publicly affirming Washington’s adherence to the One China Policy (OCP).
However, Biden’s public position on Taiwan and China can be better understood as part of the United States’ other policy of “strategic ambiguity”. Officially, Washington claims to recognize China as the sole sovereign power concerning Taiwan. Whereas in practice, U.S. actions point to another, treacherous agenda.
When Chinese President Xi Jinping met Biden in November 2023 at the APEC summit in San Francisco, the American side reiterated its obligations under the One China Policy. At that summit, President Xi called on the United States to stop arming Taiwan. He said Taiwan was the “most dangerous” issue and warned that China would use force if the matter is not resolved diplomatically for reunification.
Under Biden and his predecessor, Republican President Donald Trump, the United States has ramped up weapons supplies to Taiwan.
Provocatively, it seems, the U.S. has chosen to ignore President Xi’s admonitions about desisting from arming Taiwan.
The reported expansion of missile bases and supply of U.S. missiles to Taiwan indicates that Washington has set a course for antagonizing China by undermining its sovereignty over Taiwan.
On February 8, 2024, it was reported for the first time by U.S. and Taiwanese media that American special forces were being permanently stationed in Taiwan and the neighboring Kinmen islands near the Chinese mainland. This development is a major violation of the One China Policy by the United States. It puts into perspective the purported pledges made by Biden in person to Xi during the APEC summit.
Furthermore, the purpose of the U.S. forces in Taiwan has offensive connotations. The American personnel are reportedly engaged in training Taiwanese military units for conflict and monitoring China’s mainland forces.
It should be noted that these U.S. military developments in Taiwan followed a high-level meeting between America’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi which took place on January 26 in Thailand. Earlier that month, Chinese and U.S. officials also held “high-level discussions” at the Pentagon after a two-year suspension. The series of talks was reported in Western media as an effort by the American side to reduce tensions and improve communications.
Again, rather than such contacts being a genuine effort at improving relations, they seem to be more illustration of the U.S. policy of “strategic ambiguity”. More accurately, that policy should be called “strategic duplicity”.
It seems plausible that Washington is trying to mislead China over what its real intentions are regarding Taiwan and the wider issue of strategic confrontation. The Biden administration may state adherence to the One China Policy and call for better military-to-military communications to avoid conflict.
Yet, in practice, the United States is pushing ahead to supply Taiwan with more missiles. This unprecedented build-up of offensive U.S. capability is replicated in other territories across the Asia-Pacific.
The election in January of Lai Ching-te as the Taiwanese president provides Washington with a strident “pro-American” voice in Taipei for the next four years. Lai has previously called for Taiwan’s independence from China. Indeed, during the election campaign, Lai said there was no need to make such a declaration because Taiwan was “already independent”. Beijing has repeatedly declared its desire and sovereign right for full reunification of the island territory with the Chinese mainland. However, President Xi has warned that if Taiwan were to formally announce independence, China reserves the right to use military force to assert its legal sovereign control over the territory.
Taiwan is a useful pawn in the U.S. strategy of confronting China as a “great power competitor”.
By giving tacit support to pro-independence politicians in Taiwan, Washington is inciting separatist sentiments. Supplying the territory with U.S. weapons and military personnel also foments Taiwanese notions that Washington is a military patron who will come to Taiwan’s defense if a conflict were to erupt with mainland China.
Significantly, the incoming Taiwanese president is the third administration of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The DPP first came to power in 2016 under President Tsai Ing-wen. She was re-elected in 2020. Her vice president Lai Ching-te is taking over in May when he is inaugurated as president. The DPP has inflamed pro-independence politics over the past eight years with the full encouragement of Washington under both the current Biden administration and his predecessor Donald Trump. This political saber-rattling will likely continue over the next four years of Lai’s presidency.
It is also significant that the last eight years have seen a build-up of missiles in Taiwan’s arsenal. Before 2016, the island’s military capabilities were limited. Under the DPP, and with supplies from the U.S., Taiwan’s forces have acquired ballistic missile capabilities, especially anti-ship missiles. The target range of these weapons is short-range up to 500 kilometers which could reach China’s southern coastal provinces.
What needs to be monitored is the supply of longer-range U.S. missiles which would indicate greater strategic ambitions in a conflict with China. The American-sponsored militarization of Taiwan is correlated with the incitement of separatist politics on the island, which in turn foments tensions with Beijing.
On February 13, the U.S. Senate approved a $95 billion military aid package for foreign allies, including $60 bn for Ukraine, $14 bn for Israel and $8 bn for Asia-Pacific. The latter portion will allocate nearly $5 bn to Taiwan. The Asia-Pacific funding will cover the U.S. build-up of missiles in the region.
This is another indicator of U.S. hostile intentions towards China. It belies the seeming diplomatic engagement and renewed military-to-military communication exchange. The litmus test for rhetoric concerning the One China Policy is the facts on the ground of military offensive capability toward China.
The facts testify that Taiwan is being honed as a cat’s paw to antagonize and provoke China.
The Ukraine-Russia Analogy
There is a vivid analogy with how the U.S. has cynically used Ukraine as a provocation toward Russia. Ukraine has deep cultural ties with Russia and a long history of disputed territorial control. Over the past decade, the United States has ramped up military support for Ukraine and incited animosity with Russia. The tensions erupted in February 2022 with Russia ordering a military invasion of Ukraine to halt mounting provocations. A two-year war ensued and is continuing. It is the biggest war in Europe since the Second World War. An estimated 500,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed. The conflict has had a devastating impact on Europe’s economy. It brings nuclear powers perilously close to catastrophic all-out war.
China’s former ambassador to the United States, Cui Tankai, recently stated that China would not be drawn into a military trap in Taiwan. The seasoned diplomat alluded to the U.S.-instigated scenario of Ukraine and Russia. On the matter of increasing American arms supplies to Taiwan, Cui was quoted as saying: “Someone may be preparing a proxy war but we will not fall into that trap. We don’t want to see a situation where Chinese are killing Chinese.”
Such aspirations are laudable. Nonetheless, such a view is a hostage to fortune. The Chinese authorities may not want a war over Taiwan and may try their utmost to avoid a war. Beijing’s aspiration for peaceful reunification with Taiwan is no doubt genuine.
Still, unfortunately, the United States has the sinister power to turn Taiwan into a trigger. Washington is ramping up offensive military capability and fomenting incendiary pro-independence politics. Beijing does not control that hostile process. There may come a point when Taiwan becomes what Ukraine is to Russia – a site of proxy war by the United States.
In that case, there is a stern prognosis: China should act militarily sooner rather than later to assert its control over Taiwan. A war seems inevitable given the U.S.’s reckless and incorrigible provocations. The belligerence in Washington is constant regardless of who sits in the White House. The U.S. presidential election in November this year will make no difference to the strategic course. The longer China leaves its response, the bigger will be the military confrontation as a result of the increasing U.S.-supplied offensive capability of Taiwan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview on February 14, 2024, that a major regret he has about the current two-year-old war in Ukraine is that Russia did not act sooner to intervene against U.S.-led provocations. Putin ordered Russian military intervention in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, to defend the ethnic Russian population of former east Ukraine and to preempt the growing threat from NATO to Russia’s national security.
This author wrote an article 10 years ago regarding sinister developments under the NATO-backed regime in Kiev which came to power in February 2014 in a CIA-backed coup d’état. The article made the argument that Putin should have sent troops into Ukraine in mid-2014 to preempt what was a looming U.S.-led proxy war. Subsequent events in Ukraine – the horrendous scale of death and destruction – and Putin’s own recent admission of regret would suggest the author’s prognosis in 2014 was correct.
On the matter of Taiwan, there is a real risk of China repeating Russia’s problematic delay in acting decisively. By not acting decisively to preempt, China’s President Xi Jinping might also share the same regret about Taiwan as Putin does over Ukraine.
When I was about 20 years old and at that time I lived with my parents. They had a plastering company in after being rewired. One was an elderly man, due to retire the next year. The other was younger, tall, quite good looking, but there was something about him I couldn’t fathom. Every time he came into the room, the hairs on the back of my neck prickled, and the dog would whimper and go into the other room. I’d catch him watching me as I went about my business. I was crocheting to pass the time while they were there and he kept asking me about it and coming over to see how it was going. He’d put his hand on my shoulder as he leaned over to look. It freaked me out.
My parents went to walk the dog and left me to hold the fort. The older man randomly started talking about personalities and first impressions of people. He kept looking from his colleague and back at me. He said do you find you get a gut feeling when you don’t like somebody? I said that yes, I do. He still kept looking at his colleague, then he said that when we have a gut feeling it’s important to act on it, and that 9 times out of 10 it’s correct, even if the person seems to be okay. He looked at me, raised his eyebrows, smiled slightly, nodded slowly, and carried on with his work.
I swear to this day that he was warning me not to trust his work colleague.
Personally, I wish America well, because it is vital to the global economy.
But I choose to make a stand when it comes to war in East Asia, which America is hell-bent on provoking for selfish national interest—preserving American primacy.
I cannot, and will not accept that, and my efforts here on Quora is a mere token, informing and explaining developments to fellow East Asians.
For example, how the demonization and dehumanization of mainland China will inevitably lead to the victimization of Chinese diaspora, repeating the age-old pogroms and witch hunts suffered by Chinese diaspora over the last 4-500 years.
For example, how a weaponized dollar will bring ruinous harm to the financial health of East Asia, and options being developed against the certainty.
For example, the many hotspots around the region through which conflict with China may arise.
For example, the multi-dimensional economic war being waged on the mainland economy, and its fallout, rules-based order be damned.
America is not my home. I maintain an interest because what happens stateside directly affects my family’s future.
A strong, well-run America is good for the world. Unfortunately, both conditions are ebbing today.
And that spells danger for the rest of humanity.
I am merely curating and explaining developments, as America loses its primacy.
It is up to American society to recognize, accept and change course.
I once worked in a glass factory in Pennsylvania. The company was a huge mega-billion dollar operation, and I was working in one of the oldest and decrepit operations of it; the “hole in the wall” ancient facility in West Elizabeth, PA (in the heart of the “rust belt”) just South of Pittsburgh.
Ah. What a depressing place.
Closed factories, towns, shuttered homes. Dilapidated facilities, and all the rest. Rampant crime, poverty and drug abuse. Yuck.
Anyways, I worked in maintenance, and I was busy keeping the equipment working in that Hellish environment.
One day, I was told to fix a problem.
The factory had termites.
Yup. Hordes of termites were crawling out of the cracks in the cement floor, and they needed to be eliminated. They were over everything and starting to fall into the hot molten lead “river” bath that comprised the main assembly line.
Termites in cement?
Well, apparently the cement was poured over the old lumber / wood structure laid down two centuries ago. And termites ate up all the wood until there was nothing left. Just these long empty holes in the concrete. And that was that.
So I got an exterminator.
And while I was making plans to fill up the voids in the base structure, I was laid off… let go. And the factory continued as was.
And that is my story about the termites that attacked the glass factory in Pennsylvania.
Termites.
Swarming out of the cement floor.
Attacking the mill workers.
Ah, strange things occur when civilizations start to decay and break down.
Future biotechnology could be used to trick a prisoner’s mind into thinking they have served a 1,000-year sentence—in just 8 hours.
This type of technology could potentially change the way punishments are given to criminals.
Dr. Rebecca Roache, a researcher, says that drugs could be used to manipulate the brain into thinking you’re serving a longer sentence than you actually are.
“There are a number of psychoactive drugs that distort people’s sense of time, so you could imagine developing a pill or a liquid that made someone feel like they were serving a 1,000-year sentence.”
A different way of achieving this end goal—putting people in prison for a short amount of time but making them think it’s longer—would be to speed up the rate that the mind works at.
In other words, ‘uploading’ someone’s mind to a computer and ‘speeding up’ the rate at which it was thinking, could make someone feel like they’ve lived for a thousand years.
I think this end result seems scary to say the least.
Sure there are some pros you could argue for:
Criminals could have longer sentences.
Jails wouldn’t have to pay as much money to take care of prisoners for long periods of time.
It could potentially be more efficient.
However, there are also other things to think about.
Is it humane to make someone live out hundreds of years—only in their minds?
How would this affect their mental health?
Are their memories going to be the same?
What if someone was wrongfully jailed and we punished them for ‘1000 years’?
Imagine this:
A criminal, wrongfully accused of a horrendous crime, gets a jail sentence of 500 years.
Their mind is sped up in order to make them feel as if they’ve experienced 500 years when in reality, it was only a couple of hours.
Everyone around them is normal.
Their family doesn’t miss them.
However, they, on the other hand, have been without anyone for seemingly hundreds of years.
This would probably ruin them forever, completely changing their lives and the way they think.
They’d be contemplating the unfairness of their sentence for YEARS.
I think that the nature of this technology is quite inhumane and shouldn’t be developed or used in the future.
Too many risks.
Baked Eggs on Toast (Jaja na Grzankach – Polish)
IMG 5755
Yield: 3 to 6 servings
Ingredients
6 slices white bread
Butter
3 tablespoons freshly-grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
6 eggs
Salt and freshly-ground pepper, to taste
Instructions
Toast the bread and butter it on both sides. Place on a baking sheet and, using the tips of your fingers, make a small depression in each piece of toast. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and chives. Carefully drop an egg onto each piece of toast and season with salt and pepper.
Bake in a preheated 400 degrees F oven for 5 to 10 minutes, until the eggs reach the desired degree of doneness.
They like to play victim all the time. Trust me when I say they will go to every extent to show that they are a victim.
They lie even when it is not necessary. They look for what is beneficial to them.
They will try to make you feel guilty for things you’re not actually guilty for.
They never self-reflect. If you do something, it is wrong for them. But if they do the same thing, it is right. Whatever they do, it is always right. If you tell them that it’s not, then they will do everything in their power to make it seem like they are right.
They will easily give you a silent treatment. Their aim is to make it seem like they do not need you and make you feel like you’re guilty.
They will always dismiss your problems and say they have it worse.
Even if you give them the world, if one day things don’t work out their way, they will attack you. They do not care about what you’ve done for them, they only care about having things work their way.
Initially they will make it seem like they are opening themselves up, but they only do that so that you feel comfortable and put yourself out there like an open book. Once you do that, you realize that you barely know anything about them.
They are extremely smart in each step they take. This isn’t noticeable at first. But once you spot them, it becomes a lot easier to see that every step is calculated. Most of the times, their easiest form of manipulation is sympathy seeking. For example: If they’re sick, they will let everyone know. Not for anything, but sympathy.
How to build an AI MODEL that makes $11,000 per month
One time in my mid-twenties, my GF at the time and I were driving halfway across the country (from Florida to western Oklahoma) to visit some good friends from our High School days.
About midway through Texas, it was getting late, and I was getting a little tired. This was back before GPS, so we were using plain old paper maps. As we were going down a smaller, less-busy road, I noticed ed that my turn was coing. I started to go for the turn, but I realized at the last second that I was too late to make the turn safely. So I aborted the turn and went back to driving down the road, looking for a place to turn around.
As I swerved, 4 sets of patrol car lights burst into action in my rear-view mirror. It seems that a long haired dude driving the back roads of Texas with Florida plates is suspicious. We attracted quite the array of attention—Texas Ranger, County Sherriff, Local PD, AND Highway patrol! They had been tailing us for about 5 miles.
So, They ask us to step out of the car, separate us to make sure we are telling the same story, and ask to search my vehicle. I said go ahead. They asked if I had any weapons, and I replied “No, sirs” As they began to conduct the search, I remembered that I had a pocket knife on the dashboard…fearing that an un-mentioned blade might be considered bad, I blurted out—”Wait, officer..I forgot there IS a weapon!” At that moment, 8 sets of hands went to pistol grips in the “ready to draw” position. I clarified “There’s a pocket knife on the dashboard…I forgot about that.” The local PD officer looked at the dainty knife (IT was only about a 4 inch blade) and said “Shit, son..that ain’t a weapon. It’s a tool.”
After a few minutes, the party ended, and the various LEOs bid us a good night and told us a shortcut to bet back to my original target road.
It’s not a weapon…it’s a tool. I still giggle about that to this day, almost 30 years later.
A guy with us, who was particularly overweight, who constantly complained about being overweight, said he wasn’t hungry—and then when it came time to eat, dove into the food like he hadn’t eaten in 3 weeks.
I’ve seen a few people like that over the years—eating as if they were on the brink of starvation.
Once, I was at a local zoo. I was able to hold a bear cub and feed it a bottle of milk. What I didn’t expect, this small bear cub was fed 3 bottles by other tourists before it was my turn.
I was annoyed —I thought I’d get to feed a hungry bear.
And my annoyance was misplaced. Despite having 3 bottles of milk— the bear tore into this milk like it hadn’t eaten in forever. That bear instinct to store up calories starts early. I’ve never seen a creature clawing at the bottle, moaning, eager to consume every last drop of milk out of this thing as if it was a race.
To the question: this ties into the statistic that people who eat too quickly tend to overeat and be overweight.
If you slow down your eating—it will give your brain time to catch up and sense when you are actually full, rather than gorging yourself and waiting up with a gut. (Slow Down, You Eat Too Fast. Dr. Kathleen Zelman)
To be fair—I also eat too quickly, I’d be obese if I didn’t work out constantly.
Some of us are just born with a natural hunger gene, are emotional eaters, or we have that instinct in us to prepare for hibernation.
I am not 60, but I am retired. I served 25 years in the Army both Officer and Enlisted. I retired in 2009, and to be honest leaving the Army wasn’t the hard part. Settling back into the Civilian World was the hard part. Matched to the chief reason I retired at age 42.
That’s my youngest our Lil Mitts, and first day of college back in August 2023. I let go of the US Army and jumped feet first into being the primary parent for a Special Needs Child. All while engaged in being a grandparent.
All while self-managing my investment real estate portfolio which includes all my own maintenance and repair work. Above is before, below is after.
Then we have I also love maintaining my own cars.
Life is about continuing to the end always reinventing yourself till the end. Do I still do PT? Yes I do. Do I miss being shot at? Hell no!
Retirement is merely the rest of your days free of obligation to an Employer. That doesn’t equate stop living. The secret to enjoying it is find other things to enjoy.
Two of my siblings were upset that I inherited one of my father’s farms. They contested everything in court — and soundly lost. That was on a Monday morning. Wednesday morning I left the farm to drive home, 680 miles. I was 2/3 of the way home when I got a call that my farmhouse was on fire. Police initially accused me of setting the fire but that collapsed when I proved I was 500 miles away when the arson took place. There was no insurance coverage so I just lost a house I figured was worth less than $40k. I was screwed. Then I wasn’t screwed. Come tax time I asked my accountant how the loss of the house would get figured in. The account took values from similar 1840s farmhouses that had been sold and came up with a paper loss of more than 10 times what I thought the house was worth. I won’t pay taxes for a LONG time. The arsonist that I thought hurt me actually made me richer.
I’m pretty sure the arsonist was either one of my siblings, or someone they hired. I’m absolutely sure they were doubly pissed when the word got back to them that they made me richer!
When I was living with a girlfriend, her mother came from another city, to visit us for 9 days. But we still had to work 3 days of that week. OMG. The chaos. She could not sit still, she cleaned everything. She sorted our fridge, rearranged every cupboard. She put our toaster that we used everyday behind the slow cooker, that we used once a month. It took us a month to find the cork screw.
The drinking glasses were in the cupboard furthest from the sink, but closest to the fridge. We drank tap water, she put a pitcher of water in the fridge for us.
She rearranged our furniture so that it suited her better.
Some things, like washing our windows were appreciated, but we weren’t slobs, and she drove us up the wall with her constant movements. She constantly told us better ways to do things, and that the cars we drove, were not the best vehicles for us, that we needed to search for better jobs.
We had to drive her back to her city, and on the way, we told her that we loved her, but she wouldn’t be able to stay with us for more than a weekend, if she ever did that again.
She said that all she wanted was to help us, which made her feel loved and needed.
We said that advice should only be given when asked for, or if once or twice a year, she saw something that we should really know about.
She was heartbroken, she was upset that we didn’t appreciate all the work that she had done to make our lives better.
My girlfriend asked her, how much she appreciated her (girlfriends) grandmother coming and rearranging the house, and telling her what she was doing wrong.
The MIL said that was different because Granny was out of date and didn’t know how things should be done.
Then she abruptly shut up. Unfortunately my girlfriend and I broke up before her next visit, but I suspect that we cured her, of her habit.
Both of my parents were functional alcoholics. My father worked 50ish hours in a kitchen for decades while ma was general manager of a restaurant for over a decade. They did this while drinking a 30 pack of beer and eventually adding a 1.75 bottle of rum that didn’t last more than 2 nights. They spent more then 3 grand a month on alcohol and cigarettes on an income of about 50–60k (I’m not 100% sure but these were estimates my papa figured out since he knew their general income and expenses and also the price of alcohol and cigarettes back then).
My father was a drunk for decades until being arrested and sent to prison for abuse and assault. He later died of liver failure almost 20 years later. Ma never got a traffic ticket, DUI, or any reprimand at work even though she was always hungover and or still drunk while working. She managed to be functional for years and eventually severely limit her alcohol intake after my father was arrested. That is until the night she was babysitting my twins so I could pick up a shift. I came home after work to her passed out drunk on the couch and my infant son dead in the tub. She couldn’t wait until after his bath to start or continue drinking, and my son paid for it. After 4 years in prison she stayed sober and maintained her sobriety for about a decade before she died. That was her way of apologizing for Patrick’s death and making amends, though it will never undo her actions.
That’s what is wrong with being a functional addict. You can be fine for decades but it’s almost guaranteed that they won’t stop until they’re dead or do something that will force them to stop.
Yes. My wife and I wanted to try out a new place in town that had just opened up. We were in our early 50s at the time.
We asked if we could sit in the bar area that looked fun. The hostess said they had one table for us.. and escorted us to an area in the back corner of the place which was populated with elderly people and families with small children. It was evident they wanted the young happening crowd up front.
We weren’t happy but still wanted to give the place a try so we sat down and waited.. and waited. No wait staff ever approached our table! We tried to flag down a waitress and she ignored us. At the 20 minute mark we got up and left. Nobody noticed!
We drove down the road and tried another place. We were cheerfully seated at the bar. Service was excellent. 12 years later we still go there once a week. Just think about the tens of thousands the first restaurant has lost!
I can answer as to the small-town American shopping experience of the late 1980s-early 1990s.
There’s a great youtube series called “Dead Malls,” where a guy walks around giant indoor malls that are closed or barely hanging on.
When I was a kid, those malls were very much alive, and that’s where we did all of our non-grocery shopping. They had big anchor department stores at the ends of every major wing, plants and fountains in the walkways, plenty of seating areas, a food court, an arcade, and dozens of other shops. Families would go there as a group, then split up and go their separate ways to do their shopping. Boys like me usually ended up at the arcade. Men like my father usually ended up getting a drink and sitting in one of the sitting areas to “people watch.”
They all had a small bookstore, too.
And a small toy store.
And a music store where you could listen to music before buying it on cassette or, if you were rich, CD.
And one or two hair salons. Sometimes one specifically for children.
The better malls also had movie theaters in them.
And dine-in restaurants separate from the cafeteria-like food court.
And mall walkers… old people who did laps around the inside of the mall as exercise.
And, around Christmas, they’d have a Santa in the middle of the mall, for picture-taking purposes.
My mother was a manager of a shoe store in the local mall in my hometown for a while there when I was a kid. Of about 40 stores in that mall, 5 of them were shoe stores.
Parents would often drop their pre-teens off at the mall to “hang out” with their friends for a while. You couldn’t go to the mall in the evening without running into someone you knew from school.
There are a few malls like this that still do good business in the Chicago area. I go to one called Northbrook Court about twice per year, mostly because that’s where the Lego store is. But every time I go there, it gets a little more depressing, as every time there are fewer and fewer other people there.
Outdoor malls seem to be doing better these days, around here at least. The one near me recently became pet-friendly, so people can walk their dogs there, too, and hopefully spend some money.
Wal-Mart and Target were the beginning of the end of the mall in my hometown. Amazon was the final nail in the coffin.
Now that small hometown mall, like many others, has been converted to other uses. They have just a few big stores in them, like hobby or sporting goods stores, and their entrances are to the parking lot, not to the interior of the mall. Basically, they’ve been converted into strip malls.
Sadly, I have a lot of experience in this matter. But, it is not what you think.
There are many companies that operate inside of China, and it is so easy and cheap to set up if you are Chinese. So, Point 1, if you see a company inside of China, run by Chinese, it is probably a real company.
Point 2. There are many companies that operate inside of China that are not Chinese. These are known as WOFE’s. These are “Wholly owned foreign enterprises”. The entire ownership is by foreigners, and no Chinese are involved except as workers on a payroll. Again, these are not too expensive or difficult to set up. But they are severely monitored, and they do require a Chinese presence. (In other words, you cannot have a WOFE located inside of Australia.)
Point 3. Most of the already established major foreign corporations that operate within China are legacy companies. They were established before the WOFE program came into being, and are joint-ventures of one form or the other.
Point 4. There are many non-Chinese that pretend to be Chinese companies to swindle you. Many operate in the UK, Africa, and India. They pretend to be a Chinese company, and try numerous methods to extract information or monies from you. The Chinese consulates have access to a very lengthy list of these operations, and individuals and are on Interpol.
So, how do you know if you are dealing with a real company or something else?
There are numerous things you can do and watch out for.
[1] No Passport scan. Do not provide a scan of your passport for any reason to a stranger on the internet. One of the on-going scams is for the “company” to send you a scan pretending to be this person or that person. Do not send yours in response, and certainly do not get involved in any contracts requiring one.
[2] Face to face. Most scams involve e-mail. If you suggest a zoom meeting or some other video conference, and they call you instead, it’s a “red flag”, it’s that you need to see who you are dealing with. And you need to record the interaction. The chances are that the image on the passport will not match the voice at the end of the phone or the video on the screen. For instance, a UK passport showing a white male, and the voice on the phone has a very deep Indian accent with Delhi inflections.
[3] Factory / Office Visit. You need to meet the people in their offices or factory. While you are there, you must perform a professional audit. You not be taken back by a shiny tall office building, or a ratty back-woods hovel. You have to see the facilities and realize that they are real.
And yeah, you can employ investigators, and sleuth the internet. But really [1] be cautious and keep your personal information safe. Then, the best thing to do is [2] talk with people in person one-on-one using video conferencing, then, [3] set up a factory visit.
This last point requires that the factory apply for a Chinese legal document with company stamp / chop for the invitation. This is a very important step. You will use the invitation to obtain your visa to enter China. This step is very important, as it gets the Chinese police involved in-case anything goes wrong. As well, as you will not get a visa if the document is forged.
Summary
There are many, many companies inside of China, and all of legitimate, but the problem really is two-fold…
Is this a real Chinese company, or some scam-artist out of the UK or India trying to steal from me?
And if it is real, will they be able to meet my expectations.
I hope that this answer is helpful to you, and helps you accomplish your objectives.
x-86’s fate is chained to Microsoft’s Windows, although ARM is making inroads.
Loongson or Longxin makes RISC-based CPUs, with independent IP that’s not licensed from third parties.
This excludes Longxin from the Windows eco-system. It runs primarily on Linux, which is open-source.
Which is fine, because the first world hasn’t developed great Chinese software options that are competitive with mainland ones.
To add context, there are no Chinese IME (Input Method Editor) from the west that come close to being usable. Yes, Microsoft Pinyin/Swiftkeys/Gboard for Chinese input is lipstick on pigs next to mainland options.
China will grow its own eco-system, adapting Linux as the native OS. Eventually, Longxin will have access to advanced nodes, and offer competitive chips at far lower prices across the performance spectrum. This will drive the adoption of Longxin-powered laptops/desktops, which is already turning up in offices today.
This will reduce the market share of Windows/Mac, but they will still enjoy eco-system protection, unless geopolitics gets in the way.
Check back in another 5 years, especially in the content creator realm. AI and fusion computing will drive huge changes.
Typically within the Chinese Communist Party, a Leader who gives such a commitment must stand by it
A Leader who says in TEN YEARS, something will happen and if he is unable to deliver – he is relegated to handling food deliveries and preparing inventory for the rest of his life
In India, it’s forgotten in 10 seconds
That’s the difference between the Two Countries
The Reason China is a Great Power, that terrifies the socks out of the West is because in China, The People in Power don’t talk when they don’t mean it
In 2011, a Man made a speech that in a decade China would achieve Aerospace Independence. This was after the Wolf Act
image 251
He was Xi Jingping
He delivered his promise
By 2021, China was using BEIDOU for their Global Navigation entirely and their Aerospace Industry was Indigenous and the Chinese had landed on the Moon and Mars and plenty more
image 249
Ren Zhengfei made a commitment for solving his Chip crisis in ten years, in 2018
In five years, he launched a phone with entirely Indigenous Chips and Modems and other unique aspects
Five years!!!!!
Now I don’t want to embarrass Rajiv Chandrashekhar here
We have seen enough DRDO miracle drugs and enough Ventilators and Test Kits and enough Scientific marvels talked about with zero achievement
The Man is a fool and is embarrassing the country in front of anyone who knows the Semiconductor Business
The fact that he talks of dominating an Industry that China with twenty four years and $ 1 Trillion has just achieved maybe 80% parity with the West , in a decade
With what exactly?
Ten years is barely a single generation
That’s 2034
That means the Average Generation of Workforce to be a Median 31 years would have to be born in 2003
This means graduates of 2020 -2022
The Covid Batches!!!!!!!
Most of them CSE graduates
Most of them Graduates of Tier 3 Colleges with very little actual education
Even if we start today after a full syllabus, that still means Students who are 12 and that means Students born in 2013 at the earliest
This means at the Median Age for Workforce of 31, that’s 2044
Thats MINIMUM
So with all the luck in the world, with the 2013 generation having an median IQ North of 125–130 and with every reform possible – it would take 20 years to develop a workforce equivalent to what the Chinese have today
Thats so much Optimism that the chance of Virat Kohli picking up Eight wickets in an innings is higher
And RC talks of 10 years
Is he stupid?
Is he delusional?
Or is he just being INDIAN? Talking without any implications
When persuading somebody, use their name in the middle of the request, especially if they’re not very close to you. This is an amazing trick. It works because people feel the need to be acknowledged. Once they are, they will be way more unlikely to be disagreeable with you.
Touching the shoulder. That’s the same reasoning as before, but more bold. Also, more effective if it works. It’s all about proximity and acknowledgment.
When you want to convince somebody else, if you nod your head some times while talking, that person will be more likely to accept what you’re saying as true.
When you’re saying something that is very serious, look straight into their eyes and don’t look away (but blink, the idea is not to look like a psychopath).
Complement somebody about how impressive is what they are doing for you. This is the oldest trick in the world, except if you ask a question. People love to talk about themselves. Asking about how they learned to do that keeps them bragging while you get your stuff done 🙂
This is one of my favorites. When Obama was debating Mitt Romney, there’s this moment when Romney brings up Obama’s pension. While he’s doing this, Obama ignores him, smiles and forces Romney to repeat the question several times. This is an amazing domination technique – it made Romney seem like he was begging for attention.
Another one about dominance, if you start talking to somebody, get them engaged and then in the middle ask for his or her name again, as if you forgot. It puts people very uncomfortable around you, but keep in mind this might be not so cool if you don’t do it naturally.
This one is to screw someone else in an argument. When somebody finishes talking, don’t answer. They are probably going to keep talking to fill the silence, which will make them look like they are not in control of the conversion.
My dad went against what everyone else around him suggested, thought, and told him directly to do. He followed his gut.
My dad was an elder in our congregation. A woman and her husband went to him along with other elders for marital counseling.
After the couple met with the elders a few times, Dad felt like the woman and her two sons were in danger from her abusive husband. The other elders did not, they advised her to try harder and work things out.
When he knew the husband was gone, my dad showed up at the woman’s house, surprising her. He told her to hurry, get her sons, pack some things quickly and to remain calm.
She said she instinctively knew what he was doing, he was saving her and her boys. With no questions, she followed his directions. Within 20 minutes they were walking out the door together.
Dad took her and her boys to a shelter. He gave her money. He told her he felt she she wasn’t safe with her husband, and he felt the boys were in danger too.
After the boys were away from their dad they felt safe enough to tell their mom their horrible secret. Their father had been abusing them. Police were notified and after an arrest and trial, the father was convicted and sentenced to prison.
My father never told a soul what he did. I only found out about what my dad did years later. I ran into the woman who my dad helped. She became a second mother to me and her sons were, and still are, like brothers. She told me what my dad had done and that it saved her life. It saved her two boys too. My dad was the only one in the world who believed her. The one and only person that decided to do something. She said he was her hero.
My dad died when I was 15. At a very broken 18 was when I heard her story. I guess it was part of my dad’s story too. This new insight into my father brought me great comfort. I always struggled with whether dad would be proud of me or not. After hearing that, I knew and still know in my heart no matter what, dad would’ve heard me and listened to me. He would’ve believed me and I know he would be proud of me.
I was in Tennessee schools from grade 6–11… I never actually graduated.
I had reached the conclusion that Tennessee schools (Nashville specifically) were, at best, sub-par long before this incident, but this was the moment that I realized that I could not survive another year dealing with the total idiocy.
I was at Glencliff HS in 1985. I was in my English class and was the only white student AND the only male student. The “teacher” was a black woman that was only 5 years older than me and chose to teach the class in “Ebonics”. Yes, that was a thing.
Her choice to teach in Ebonics made the class hard for me to deal with, since I couldn’t understand 90% of what she was saying. She also chose to totally ignore me, even going so far as to refuse to properly grade my classwork, just giving me a default C grade regardless of the quality of my work.
The final straw, the absolute last thing I could tolerate, was when one of the girls in the class randomly asked “Teach, what be’s the longest word in the English langidge?”
Now, there is debate on which word can be considered the “longest”, depending on if you are looking for the longest word PERIOD or the longest word that could be commonly known. For the latter it is Antidisestablishmentarianism.
That is the word the teacher chose to write on the board…. misspelled.
That broke me. I stood up, walked to the board, erased what she wrote and wrote it correctly. I then told her that she was a “goddamned idiot that shouldn’t be teaching earthworms to dig through dirt” and walked out. I had intended to just go to the library and await the punishment I was sure would follow, but when I reached the front doors of the school I walked out, and kept walking until I got home. I never went back. I got my GED and a college degree instead.
Chicken Kiev
The chicken is pounded thin, rolled with a filling of seasoned butter, breaded and then either deep-fried or baked.
chicken kiev
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
4 large whole chicken breasts, split, skinned, de-boned
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 teaspoon thyme or marjoram
All-purpose flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup fine bread crumbs
Salt
Instructions
Pound breasts thin between plastic bags, keeping the smooth side of breast down.
Mix next 4 ingredients. Shape into 8 elongated oval pieces and freeze.
Wrap chicken completely around butter and dip each chicken piece into flour.
Next dip into eggs and finally coat with bread crumbs.
Fry in hot oil (375 degrees F) for 10 to 12 minutes or bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.
Drain on paper towels. Salt after cooking. Chicken will keep in a 200 degrees F oven if placed, uncovered, on a metal tray.
They victimize themselves — whenever they fail to perform they will become the victim. “I can’t repay your favor. Don’t you know how severe my life situation is?”
They will villainize you — along with becoming a victim they will make you the villain. “How inhuman are you to put a burden on me during this time?”
They are pathological liars — they will lie about small stuff like meeting a celebrity or false accomplishments. And will continue to lie on it even when they are exposed.
They pretend to be good — they will boast about their big-heart with a smile while their actions are always opposite. They appear helpful without ever helping anyone.
They will take your credit — when you are being praised for your work, they shift that praise onto themselves.“Oh, yes I gave him this brilliant idea”
They will label you inferior — they will label themselves superior and you, inferior. They will make you feel debted that a high-quality person is spending time with someone like you.
They gaslight you — when you call out on their manipulative behavior, they will label you emotionally unstable. They will make you doubt your sanity.
They undermine your problems — when you list them your problems and ask for support, they inflate and list their problems. “I know it’s hard without money. I was turned down my raise recently”
They will step-over you — in order to save their social image, they will destroy yours. When they are made fun of, they will shift social attention by making fun of you.
When I was living in Erie, I went shopping with my roommates. We went grocery shopping, which was something we did about once a month.
One of my ‘mates was this big burly man named Mark. He was a silly guy. Drank Pepsi cola like no one else alive. Perhaps twelve bottles a day. It was his way of coping as he distanced himself away from his drug abusing past.
A coping mechanism. I get it.
Well, as I checked out and had the groceries, Mark was no-where to be found.
We looked and looked, until he finally came out one hour later.
He strolled up to the car.
We asked “where the fuck were you?”
And he said “I don’t want to talk about it”.
But, later on he did.
It turned out that he was drinking a Pepsi in the store, and instead of taking the empty bottle to the checkout counter, he placed it on a shelf. And it was caught on the CC television video system, and the store detective nabbed him.
As he was on parole, this could have gone very badly for him. But… life is strange. It turned out that the store detective was a classmate of his, and after the mandatory beat-down, they warmed up and kicked-back and shared memories and stories.
Life is sometimes like that.
I am sure that Mark has since thought long and hard about this kind of “store grazing” behavior. I like to think that he is a better person for it. Ah I hope.
As I review my life, I am constantly amazed at how many times coincidences seem to intertwine the threads of our lives together.
Not quite a garage sale. A good friend, “ George” was a coin collecter, who noticed a small ad in the local News paper. “ selling late husbands coin collection – make an offer.” With nothing else to do that day he called and went to see the lady. He started to poke through and told her he need a bit of time, but he found 3 coins he wanted, for himself. He said to the lady I will buy these three right now, on the condition that if anyone else calls you tell them the “ entire collection is sold “ she said but you are only buying 3 coins what about the rest, what do I do. He said “ I will sell them for you, please give me a chance” She reluctlently agreed. He paid $300 cash each for the coins he picked out. He saw that the lady was not to well off and had lost her husband. He sat down and selected 10 coins, wrote down what they were and description, and said he would sell them for her. He was in touch with her every day, and about 10 days later, he went to see her and told her he was able to get a decent price for 3 of the coins he left with. he handed her $8000.00. and confirmed he would sell all of the coins that she had. She said as she was going through her late husbands things she had found other coins. She really had no interest in the coins and said they had taken up so much of her husbands time away from her. George told her that her husband loved her more then she knew. In about one year, he had sold off the entire collection of coins for just over $450,000.00 A few of the gold coins he told her to keep for herself.
My wife loves a deal. If they offered a free toaster with an Aston Martin, I might be driving my dream car.
So we were on vacation in Athens and she pulled off a haggling master stroke – a bag, a dress, and a speedo (hey, it was Europe) and got them to knock a few hundred euro off the price. All she said was, “is this the best price you can do?”
And this was at Dolce & Gabbana!
So, while on a business trip in Venice, I decided to pick two things up for my wife:
A dress and a deal.
At Prada!
I found the perfect dress. Something she definitely wouldn’t buy herself, but would look great on her. It was pricey, but I had my ace in my sleeve. My all-purpose Euro retail haggling pass.
The saleswoman approached me. I explained that I wanted the dress. She was pleased with my selection.
And then I did it.
I whipped out my haggling secret weapon, with Blue Steel swagger, and an expectant attitude.
“Is this the best price you can do?”
She paused and just stared at me.
I’m thinking, haha… didn’t see that one coming did you?
She keeps staring. She wrinkles her brow, like she’s computing the speech in her head.
Now I’m getting worried.
Then, she has a moment of clarity.
“Oh, are you trying to negotiate?”
She’s says it like I’m some 9 year old kid who just asked his 24 year old babysitter to be his girlfriend.
Me: (trying to stay cool) “Well… um, yeah…. You know. If there is any room for…..”
Her: (interrupting but sincere) “We don’t negotiate at Prada.”
Ordered 4 new bras from an online shop, ended up receiving 32 new bras, none of which were the color I had ordered.
The receipt in the box was tallied for 8 bras with a note that they’d been running a promo the day I ordered that they were buy 1 get 1 free. I don’t even want to fathom how 8 turned into 32, but when I called the company to get a return label the gal informed me that the bra sale had actually been buy 1 get 2 free, which should have only been 12 bras, not 32, and who the heck gives away 2 forty dollar bras?
Got transferred to a different representative and was informed that the bras I was trying to return where non-returnable since they’d actually been discontinued and were now “on clearance” neither of them had addressed the issue that the bras I received were the wrong color (right size at least)
I was transferred yet again (gotta love “that’s not my job” employment opportunities) where I was quickly informed that they would send out the bras in the right color.
Fast forward a few days and I received 12 of the right size, right color bras. They had honored the buy 1 get 2 free sale apparently. I also received 8 additional bras in colors I hadn’t even known were available in my size as a “consolation prize” for my troubles.
So, 52 bras for the price of 4 at forty dollars each. I haven’t had to special order bras in years…
I’ve worked in software engineering for 20 years. I come from a no-name college in India, and my grades weren’t stellar. SO, getting into top tier companies was hard for me. Over 20 years, I’ve worked my way up, and I’m in Amazon now. On the way, I have worked in all kinds of companies: startups, mid sized companies, large multi nationals; and in all kinds of industries: consumer goods, healthcare, finance, education
First of all, Companies are tiered in terms of the skill levels of their engineers. They pretend not to be. Everyone claims that they hire the smartest engineers. WHat they mean is that they hire the smartest engineers that they can get. There is a definite differrence in Engineers working in FAANG companies (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google), I’ve seen all kinds of engineers
Here’s the kicker. The biggest difference isn’t in the quality of the code that they write. FAANG engineers, on the whole, write as buggy code as engineers in decent companies.
The biggest differentiator is Communication. When I was in mid-tier companies, I was constantly finding myself explaining and re-explaining things in great detail. In fact, I would say that at most companies at mid-tier level, your success as an engineer depends on being able to drive people in the right direction by communicating to them.
There are 3 kind of people in tech. There are a) arguers:- people who will fight every point of view that isn’t their own, b) receivers: people who will try their best to understand what you are saying c) analyzers: people who start thinking critically while you are talking to them. Arguers are toxic. Receivers are good but slow. Analyzers are good and fast. In mid tier companies, you are more likely to find Arguers and Receivers, whereas in top-tier companies, you are more likely to find Receivers and Analyzers.
To be a successful tech company, you need to get in as many Analyzers as you can. Because these are the people who generate ideas. These are the people you give 2 and 2 and they figure out how to make 8. Not only that, with ANalyzers, you have to spend less time getting the team on the same page. Less miscommunication = Less rework = shorter turnaround = lower time to market = win.
Just to be clear, I’m not saying communication is bad. Communication is good. You need to make sure everyone understands what needs to be done. Communication is essential. All I’m saying is that in top tier companies, communication is lot more efficient. It’s like getting onto a highway. You are just going faster.
Not me, but my ex-wife, and I didn’t witness it. She told me about it several years after the fact.
My ex and I are both blind. As in without sight. One of the things you have to understand about blind people is probably something obvious. To wit, we don’t drive. We can’t. Has never happened and ain’t gunna ever happen; no, not ever. Another thing you have to understand about blind people is that sometimes sighted people will ask the stupidest questions or do the dumbest things. Usually this happens when we’re just walking along, minding our own business. One day this happened to her.
I can’t remember what she was doing at the time, but she was walking along, doing whatever errand she had to do, when this group of women happened to come upon her. One of them was obviously drunk.
“So,” said the drunk woman, “you’re blind, right?”
“Yes,” she said.
“So, um, like, how do you drive?”
My ex, who walks with a cane because she’s obviously blind, said:
“Well, I have two canes. When I drive, I keep one cane out the right window, and another out my left window. That way when I bump into something, I know when and how to turn.”
“Really?” said this other woman. “That’s amazing!” And she went on and on for some time about what an amazing feat this was,, while the other people she was with were laughing and calling her an idiot, which she so obviously was.
Probably convincing others that this is a good look. It isn’t — your lips look like a baboon’s anus swelling to indicate it’s ready for mating. I’ve never in my whole life met a single person, male or female, who appreciates this aesthetic. And yet I keep seeing it, with increasing frequency.
image 172
This weird bimbo-style… the heavy makeup… the facial fillers… and those God-awful inflated lips. Shudder. It’s horrific. So painful on the eyes that it makes one question the existence of the God who supposedly made our species in His image. The fake lashes don’t help, either… I mean why bother changing yourself in a way that isn’t genuine? I get going to the gym, working out or getting a tan, all those yield tangible results. But why alter yourself in ways that a single shower or missed injection could erase?
The weirdest thing people have ever done is invent this made-of-plastic bimbo aesthetic and promote it on social media as something to aspire to… it’s giving women in their twenties the appearance of elderly Hollywood stars in denial of their age. Turns the “girl next door” into whatever-the-hell-happened-to-Madonna. It’s an absolute travesty.
Originally Answered: Who was the most ignorant person you have ever met in America?
This happened many years ago, but it is what came to mind when I read this question…
I was teaching class, and we were discussing the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Students were discussing their various thoughts on the situation.
One student stated, very loudly, “You know what really bothers me? All those people who are shouting and holding up signs…why aren’t they speaking English?”
I explained that it is unreasonable to expect people in a foreign country to protest in another country’s language. She didn’t understand what I meant, and the class was trying to explain to her that Arabic is the language of the people who were protesting.
After a while, I stopped everyone and asked her where she thought “those people” lived. She said, “I don’t know…near Arizona?”
That is when I realized that she thought the the Middle East was next to the American Midwest! I showed her where it is on the map, and she said, “Oh! Things make so much more sense, now!”
The most intrepid drug seeker I have ever seen was Mr. C.
He walked in a very hunched-over posture, leaning on a walker, to elicit sympathy.
We would not even say his name, as that might bring the bad luck of the ER calling to admit him…AGAIN.
If one of my colleagues were to talk about him he would say, “Mr.” and then crook over his index finger.
We all knew who he meant.
This guy was the biggest pathological liar in the universe.
Every time I’d get a call from the ER his story was different.
He was a missionary, a teacher, a policeman, you name it.
His favorite was to tell people he was a former PA or MD.
ER calls….
“I’ve got a 68-year-old former doctor down here. He looks so decrepit that I think he needs nursing home placement.”
Right away, I knew who it was.
He went from hospital to hospital to hospital. I don’t think he had permanent address. Why would he?
“Uh,…I know who it is. He’s not a doctor. He’s a drug seeker.”
“No, Maureen, he’s such a nice guy. You must be thinking of someone else. I think he IS a doc.”
“Go ask him what a CBC is (complete blood count, a common lab test). I’ll hold.”
Off he goes.
“For Pete’s sake, he doesn’t know.”
“Ah…yup. Don’t give him any narcs.”
“OK. But he still needs admission because he has been having recurrent temperatures and can hardly walk.”
“Did you document a temperature?”
“No, he is afebrile.”
”Labs and imaging normal?”
“Yeah.”
“Wanna see him take up his bed and trot, upright, right out of there?”
“Yeah.”
“Tell him that Dr. Boehm will be admitting him. I’ll be happy to evaluate and treat any of his complaints. I won’t be giving any narcotics, however.”
Off he goes.
“Uh, he got up and left AMA.”
“Did he ask for a cab voucher?”
“Yeah.”
“He wants us to pay for his transportation to the next ER.”
Sometimes, I would come in and he had been admitted overnight by some unsuspecting doctor.
His nurse called me.
“Mr. C is very lethargic. He’s becoming hypoxic”.
“How can that be? He’s not getting any controlled substances.”
Well, he sure was.
He had called down to the OR and interrupted a surgery. He told them that he was one of our orthopedic surgeons. He demanded that a message be given to the Ortho PA.
“Why does Mr. C have uncontrolled pain? I want him on a Dilaudid PCA NOW!”
I walk in. Mr. C, not only has a Dilaudid drip running, in one of his groggy little hands he had a bottle of Percocet that he had brought from home. In the other hand, the button to deliver a hefty bolus of Dilaudid to himself.
He was “out” with a mouthful of half-chewed Percocet, the drip just dripping away with a hefty basal dose.
He could have killed himself.
Never have I relished the delivery of Narcan like I did that day.
One little squirt and he was wide awake and pissed that his nice “double” high was ruined.
After that we had to do a complete search of him and his stuff, with security, so he didn’t get away with it again.
I often wonder what happened to Mr. C after the new system was available to track and prevent his overuse of narcotics.
He couldn’t go to five doctors in a month and get narcs from all of them. He couldn’t go ER to ER.
When I was 15 I used to babysit these 2 super lovely Chinese kids every friday and saturday night. It was only ever for 4 hours, 8pm to midnight. The family owned the local fish and chip shop, that also sold Chinese food. Now I never got fed while babysitting, but the parents would pay me my time AND bring me chinese food to eat when I got home. Always asked me what I wanted when I went to the house. The were an awesome family.
Another time my GP asked if I would babysit his kids on new years eve, and stay over night. My mum agreed and he would pay me £50 for it. I got told to eat and drink whatever I wanted, watch whatever I wanted on the tv, and the room they let me sleep in also had a tv. Easiest babysitting job ever! The kids were in bed before I got there at 9pm, I was told to check on them at 10, 11 and midnight which I did. They never woke up, I got to eat junk food all night, and got paid for doing it. I was actually happier about the junk food and tv than the money. At home I wasnt allowed food between meals, junk food was never allowed, and forget about watching anything other than my mums choice of program on the tv.
I was in the military (USAF) and until you reach a certain rank, you are assigned a roommate in your dorm room. I was stationed in Germany in a unit that traveled extensively 300+ days per year. Commonly we would travel 6 months, come back for a week or even a weekend, and then be back on the road. I was assigned a roommate whom I met… He was the typical “computer geek”. Greasy hair, showered infrequently, was a slob, almost never left the room when he was not on the road, and played a lot of the “Oregon Trail” computer game.
Mind you both of us were in the same unit that traveled a lot, but we were on different teams, so we traveled to different places at different times. One time after being gone 6 months in England, I came back to station, and opened the door to my room, only to be gagged by the smell. I set my luggage down in the hall and went to the communal bathroom, wet some paper towels, and covered my nose and mouth area. Then went back into my room to locate and remove the source of the smell.
At first glance everything seemed in order, but the smell was overpowering… I walked over to his side of the room and it got even worse. His bed was raised up on blocks that gave him a couple feet of storage underneath it, and I saw a shirt sleeve sticking out from under the bed. When I lifted up the bedspread, it reeked to high heaven, but all I could see was his dirty clothes. They were stuffed under his bed to the point that it took up all the room in under the bed! I couldn’t imagine that this horrific gagging smell was just his dirty clothes (although they did stink terribly), so I started reaching under there and pulling clothes out a handful at a time…. When I had pulled out about half the clothes, I found the source of the pugnant aroma.
At some point when he was stuffing all his dirty clothes under there, he apparently forgot that he had also put a half a pitcher of OJ under there as well. When he pushed more clothes under there, the pitcher of OJ got pushed back into the middle of the pile of clothes. I had been gone 6 months and come to find out he left the week after I did! That OJ sat in that pitcher in the middle of his stinky clothes for basically 6 months, rotting! It was a solid black and green mass all around the outside with Orange pulp in the middle, and OMG did it stink. I was gagging and running to the outside trash can holding the pitcher behind me to get rid of it once and for all! Once it was gone, I went back to the room. I stuffed all of his dirty clothes into big black garbage bags, zip tied them, and put them back under his bed.
When he got back the following week I was already gone again, but I left a note for him and told him what had happened and what I had had to do! I also told him if I ever come back to something like that again, that I would be turning it in and reporting him to the First Seargent! It neverhappened again. (THANK GOD!!!))
strong independent woman instantly REGRETS their lifestyle
When I was a toddler my father had an affair. The woman started calling our house and tormenting my mother in order to break up the marriage. My mother wasn’t emotionally stable. After a certain time each evening, she knew that her friends and family wouldn’t be calling so late, and when the phone rang my mother would cry, wail and scream. I remember answering the phone myself in an attempt to stop my mother’s over-the-top reaction and at some point learned to leave the phone off the hook but my mother didn’t leave it that way for long. On some level, she liked the drama I guess. This went on for months. I’d have been 3 or 4 when this was happening. It was very traumatic for me because I had no idea what was going on until much later. In my pre-school mind, the threat on the phone had to be very dire and worthy of my drama momma’s reaction. I was absolutely terrified. I’d wake up many nights to answer the phone and cry “please don’t hurt us” into the phone, but she didn’t stop until the divorce was done.
30 years later, my father dies, leaves that woman a penniless widow, which was the result of gross financial mismanagement because he’d had money and didn’t support those of us in his first family (a man could get away with that back then). The one thing she has is a lawsuit for his death. It’s a good case. The payout is potentially large but that’ll take years in court and may never payout as the company responsible will probably go bankrupt. The defendant has offered settlement and would payout quickly but the only requirement is that all of his heirs agree to accept the settlement and agree not to sue separately at a later date.
But I don’t need money and I’ll never sign. I’ve been getting certified letters for years asking for my signature. They’ve threatened to have me arrested (which was clearly a ruse) for refusing, offered me cash to sign, on one occasion her grandson connected with me on social media explaining that she needed a new roof and could I please sign off on the settlement and I ended up blocking his whole family. Last year I got a letter that the county was going to auction her house for non-payment of taxes. She is probably living with one of her kids and collecting social security so not quite homeless but I still feel like I’ve gotten a little revenge.
Many years ago I lived in an inner suburb of Sydney, in a terrace house.
The next door neighbour was an alcoholic bricklayer. Call him Don.
Don had decided to do some extensions, or renovations, and had three pallets of bricks dropped off in front of his place. They partially blocked the footpath and leaned outwards, dangerously overhanging the road.
One of the.pallets was in front of our house. Effectively our parking was blocked and the footpath was hard to negotiate.
The first Saturday they were there I knocked on his door, (interrupting a fight with his wife as he had accidentally lost her car the previous night, as far as I could work out he had parked it near a brothel and could not find it when he staggered out) and offered to help him shift the bricks around the back. He declined and said he would get to them during the week.
A few weeks went by. I offered again to help shift them, and got told to f off. I explained they were dangerous and inconvenient. Got the door slammed in my face.
I complained to the local council, and I suppose they sent him a letter, but the bricks remained.
By this time the bricks had been there about four months. The pallets were deteriorating and the stacks leaning. It was getting more dangerous by the day. It was only a matter of time before they collapsed on a car, a person or the busy road.
I wrote up a couple of large signs “ free bricks, help yourself” and put them on the pile about 6:am on a Saturday morning.
By the time Don surfaced around 11, there was probably half a pallet or so left… which he moved to his back yard.
Without a doubt. Any unfair action by the EU Will be met by an action that U.S. fairer but with a much bigger consequences to EU. Let that be a solemn promise.
Europe will have to suffer a total collapse of the automobile market if it dare to try any shit. Don’t forget that many European cars companies are surviving only due to the Chinese market and consumer. And the reason it still can compete is only due to its production efficiency and capacity of its plants in China!
Years back, I sat in a sombre home where a young man in his 30s died untimely in an accident.
I, along with my family, went there to pay respects.
Sitting on the sofa I was nudged between two middle aged women who were discussing the next course of events.
“I heard Sheela is going to go to her maternal house to stay! How would Usha bear this? First she lost her son and now with the daughter-in-law gone she will lose her grandchildren too.”
“That’s true! I had the same reaction when I heard about it. We must put some sense in Usha and stop her from letting Sheela go.”
When Usha aunty came towards us, these two woman grabbed her and made her sit with them, squeezing me.
They then narrated their opinion on the grieving mother and stopped her from taking a ‘foolish’ decision and going against a tradition where the widow usually stays with the in-laws.
After listening to their valuable advice Usha aunty spoke.
“True, I lost my son. But Sheela has lost her husband too. A person she vowed to spend her old age together. A person who was a loving parent to their children. Sending them away to her parents place will surely make me sad and lonely but it would be a much needed change for Sheela. At this time, she needs her parents the most. If she stays here, this house would remind her of him everyday. At her parents place, she would slowly come back to her usual self soon. I lost my son. I don’t want to lose my daughter because of some tradition.”
The two women were speechless, so was I. I hadn’t thought of it in that way either. Usha aunty left and consoled her daughter-in-law who sat in a corner with a pale and teary face.
That day it was just a conversation I unknowingly was a part of. But today, I think what Usha aunty did was so right.
Thinking about someone else in the event of your child dying, needs immense amount of courage and determination.
Sheela di did recover soon and moved back to her loving mother-in-law’s house and now cares for them as their daughter.
Man went to McDonald’s — which was a treat — for his family’s dinner, and on the way back, was broad-sided in the driver’s door. He’s dead in the driver’s seat and his family’s dinner is all over the front of the car. When he didn’t come back, his 10-year-old son went looking for him on his bicycle and came up on the accident scene. The child climbed into the wrecked car and was hugging his dead father. We weren’t going to stop him, and the fire department stayed longer than they normally would have in case there was any unexpected fire.
Another officer took the child home in his police car and informed the wife of what had happened. Prime example of one of those evenings when a cop skips dinner because he has no appetite.
The driver that hit him was a teenager who had just stolen a tank of gas from the local AM/PM Mini Market, and was being chased by the idiot store manager in his own car. We arrested them both, though that did not make the outcome any better.
The only decent thing that came out of it is that the owner of a local McDonald’s franchise read about it, came in the station and we helped him arrange to pay for an elaborate funeral. The owner insisted we not talk about it publicly; he didn’t want his kind act to look like a PR move. That is class.
J.K. Rowling had just got a divorce, was on government aid, and could barely afford to feed her baby in 1994, just three years before the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone, was published. When she was shopping it out, she was so poor she couldn’t afford a computer or even the cost of photocopying the 90,000-word novel, so she manually typed out each version to send to publishers. It was rejected dozens of times until finally Bloomsbury, a small London publisher, gave it a second chance after the CEO’s eight year-old daughter fell in love with it.
Positivity, confidence, and persistence are key in life, so NEVER GIVE UP on yourself.
This Thing Is About To POP: Putin, Biden and The Trainwreck
This was one that I witnessed, but wasn’t a part of.
I was working in the hardware section of a department store, right beside the sports department.
Straightening up/stocking the shelves just near the boundary between the departments, I saw a fellow salesperson talking to a customer with his small son. The child was bored and started to wander around, touching everything he could reach.
After a couple of minutes, the other salesperson saw the child start to try to climb a display of weightlifting equipment. He quickly excused himself and rushed over to the child, not touching him but gently suggesting that the boy not climb on anything and particularly not on the heavy weights.
The father turned around and seeing what was happening was incensed.
“How dare you tell my son what he can and cannot do! Who do you think you are?”
“I was just trying to keep him safe.” said the salesperson. “The weights are heavy and he could hurt himself.”
“Oh really? You have no business disciplining my son. I want to see the manager to complain.” said the father.
By this time, the child, seeing that he was again being ignored, went back to the weight rack and started to climb again.
The father fumed on at the unlucky salesperson.
And just at that moment, the rack of weights, unbalanced by the child fell over on top of him, a couple of weights pinning him to the floor.
He started crying.
The father started ranting about suing the store.
I later heard that he lost because the salesperson had tried to stop the child from climbing and had been forbidden from doing so by the father.
I got a performance review that ripped me up, down and sideways, and was totally unjustified. I refused to sign it and requested a second meeting later that afternoon. I attended that one armed with statistics showing how I had reduced the work ticket backlog on our software library from over 800 to just 2.
Now, a little technical explanation. This was pre-Windows. We had a software library written in Microsoft Pro Basic. Everything worked for the most part when I took it over, except it was slow. I fixed the outstanding bugs, then went looking for the cause of the slowdown and I found it: type declarations.
There were none. If a variable name ended with a $, it was a string. Otherwise, it was a number. But there are all kinds of numbers, and the default was double-precision floating point. Microsoft made a big deal about how indexes and array subscripts should be integers and pointed out that it was a speed deal. I went through, explicitly defined all variables and made sure that anything used as a loop index or array subscript was declared as either a short or long integer. Massive increase in speed. Calculations that used to take 20–30 minutes now ran in a minute or less.
Now, back to the meeting. I pointed all the improvements out to him, including comments from customers praising the improvements. He looked at everything and had the gall to say that my review was not going to be changed. I walked back to my office, made a couple of phone calls and had a job, paying more, starting the following Monday. I then edited the library and took out every one of the integer or long type declarations, recompiled the new version and saved everything into the distribution folders. I cleaned out all my work directories so that what I had done was not readily available, then walked by his office, tossed my keys on his desk, said I quit and walked out.
I had applied for a promotion that I was overqualified for. Had a great track record of mentoring new employees, working above and beyond, coming up with great ideas. I had been in the position for 7 years and with the company for 11.
My manager and supervisor told me that I wasn’t “ready” for this promotion (a 6% raise) and that I could try again next January. I told them “there would not be a next January”
Fast forward a few months, I was already applying for jobs and went on a few interviews. My manager and supervisor called me into a meeting to let me know one of the males on the team who have been at the organization and position for 2.5 years was getting the promotion (it was a promotion multiple people could get). When they asked me if I had any questions I said “No – his promotion doesn’t age t my career”
1 month later when I was putting in my 2 weeks notice for a company giving me a 30% raise my manager and supervisor asked me what they could do to retain me…I say nothing.
Left the job May 2021 and it was the best decision ever. Never knew I could get such a big pay bump for NOT being loyal to a company.
And if you are going to do it, this is the way. Not by shooting somebody or anything else.
My dad was a small builder. A few houses a year. He enjoyed it and it made him good money in retirement. He was building one of the only spec houses (not already sold when he started) he ever built.
One night, when the house was almost done, the furnace and airhandler disappeared from the garage. No signs of breaking and entering.
Now it takes a couple of hours to remove all of this w/o damaging anything. So my dad quickly guessed that his HVAC contractor (one he had never used before) had made a copy of the key my dad had given him. Let himself in, opened the garage door. Backed his truck in. Closed the door. And got to work.
He told the police this. They talked to the contractor who denied everything and suggested my dad had done it to collect on the builder’s insurance. This made my dad MAD! The HVAC guy however didn’t know the police told my dad he said this.
So my dad had the same guy put a new furnace and airhandler in the house. Yep, same guy.
What the guy didn’t know is that before hand my dad had a security system installed. Hidden motion detectors only, no contacts on the windows and doors to be spotted. And no audible alarm. Silent only. He registered his cell phone with the security company.
Sure enough, a few nights later he gets a call in the middle of the night from the security company. He tells them to call 911 and jumps in his truck. By the way, he lived only about 90 seconds down the road.
He pulls up and can see light around the garage door. He pulled quietly into the driveway at an angle, all the way up to the door, completely blocking it. And quietly waited for the police to arrive, which they did a few minutes later.
The guy heard him talking to the police in the driveway and put the garage door up. My dad couldn’t stop laughing at the expression on the guy’s face when he saw my dad standing there with four deputies!
And the best part? My dad hadn’t yet paid the contractor for his work. And he never did.
This actually happened to me years ago. It was a Friday evening. An entire group including me were in a meeting. We had a code thoroughly tested and ready for production. This Manager went and made changes without consent and broke the code but they still wants to keep the implementation date which was ten days away.
Now the ten days included two weekends. I’m sitting in the room. They totally ignored the fact that I was the one responsible for testing the changes. Nobody asked me what my plans were for the weekends and proceeded to agree upon meeting the date. I stayed mute. Now at that time my husband was in the army and and deployed to Bosnia, so they thought I had no life. They talked and laughed and when the meeting was over, I spoke.
“Who is coming in tomorrow because I need a ride”. They all said they were not. That’s when I dropped the bomb. I said, “Neither am I”. Everybody sat down, I got up, saluted them and walked out.
I had just finished a year of substitute teaching and had few. if any, prospects for a full-time job come that Fall. So when I saw that ad in the paper, my eyes lit up.
This company was wanting to hire teachers for a summer job. Was it evaluating textbooks? Maybe we would be tasked with creating exciting curriculum or conducting research into how children learn. Maybe a private school wanted to hire a number of tutors for their summer programs? The ad didn’t get specific.
I fired off a resume and waited to hear back. I didn’t wait long before being contacted with a time and place for the interview. When I arrived, I saw a room full of people dressed in typical teacher fashion-Dockers, Polo shirt, etc. I must be in the right place! But why are they doing a group interview? A bit later, a man walks in dressed more professionally. He asks us to tae a seat. He then gives a presentation into what sort of summer work they had for all of us education professionals.
STEAK KNIVES!!! He was wanting to “hire us to be door-to-door salesmen for his company’s line of cutlery. For a low investment of only (the cost of 2 sets) we could have unlimited earning potential. He must have seen the disgusted look on my face and figured I was going to let the more naive know exactly what the deal was, for I was the first to be invited into the office for a second interview.
It showed clearly that it does not care for its people but it protect profiteering and too big to fail companies. Such actions never ends well. The day will come when the U.S. citizens rebel and raised up against them. And these companies will continue to be unproductive and inefficient to the point of becoming irrelevant.
Pease remember the US has been dictating free trade and freedom of choice to Americans and the world for the longest time! What happened?
This tasty and easy Italian Sausage Soup Recipe is loaded with onions, carrots, celery, zucchini, and a healthy helping of Italian Seasoning in chicken broth with tomatoes, cannellini beans, and elbow noodles. It is the perfect pick-me-up for cold, wet weather, coughs, ailments, or just because your soul needs a little warmth. This Italian Soup Recipe is one of our favorites.
2024 02 13 08 12
Ingredients
2 pounds mild or hot Italian sausage
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 large onions, chopped
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
6 (14 ounce) cans beef broth
1 1/2 cups red wine (optional)
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce
3 tablespoons parsley
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
2 medium zucchini, sliced
3 cups pasta shells, cooked
Instructions
In a large pot, cook sausage for about 15 minutes.
Pierce with fork to release fat; drain well.
Cut into bite-size pieces.
Add remaining ingredients except zucchini and pasta.
Cook for 30 to 45 minutes, then add zucchini and cook until tender.
Add pasta shells just to heat through.
Recipe notes and helpful tips
If you have a nearby meat market, call and ask if they make their own Italian Sausage. It is well worth the added expense and trip to the market.
For aesthetic purposes, peel the carrots. It brings out that beautiful bright orange color.
You can sub any medium to small pasta in this soup, including penne, rotini, shells, farfalle, ditalini, or radiatori.
Fresh thyme is always delicious, and I usually have it on hand. However, you can substitute fresh chopped parsley or a little dried marjoram or thyme.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Heat on the stovetop over low heat or in the microwave at reduced power.
Freeze in an airtight container or heavy-duty freezer bag for up to 3 months.
One summer as a college student (many years ago) I worked at a now defunct “family” restaurant called The Ground Round. One room was a bar, and the other room was for families and they were famous for showing old silent movies in the family room and giving out free peanuts and popcorn (that usually ended up all over the floor).
Unfortunately, they were also famous for their “Penny-a-Pound” Thursdays where children under 12 who accompanied an adult would be weighed on a big scale at the front of the restaurant and could then order anything off the children’s menu (including unlimited free drinks) and be changed a penny for each pound they weighed. So, yeah, a kid could order a hot dog or a hamburger or a bowl of mac&cheese and get an orange soda (with 3 refills) for $0.40.
Most of this time this worked out OK and people enjoyed the deal responsibly. A family of four would come in, say, both parents would order full meals, and the little ones would get to basically eat for free. However, there were quite a number of occasions when people would completely abuse the deal. We’re talking situations where a single adult would come in with 5 or 6 children (obviously not all their own kids due to them all being the same age), the adult would order something cheap like a bowl of soup, and then the kids would proceed to make my life a living hell by constantly ordering drink refills every single time I walked past them on my way to take care of my other tables.
That wasn’t the worst part, though. No, the worst part was when it came time to pay the bill and the cost would end up being something like $9.27. And the person paying the bill would leave a $10 bill and say “keep the change.”
ALL the waiters dreaded having to work the main room on Thursdays, but since I was the newest employee there I ended up having to do it every week.
Dave was bragging to his boss one day, “You know, I know everyone there is to know. Just name someone, anyone, and I know them.”
Tired of his boasting, his boss called his bluff, “OK, Dave, how about Tom Cruise?”
“No drama’s boss, Tom and I are old friends, and I can prove it.”
So Dave and his boss fly out to Hollywood and knock on Tom Cruise’s door and Tom Cruise shouts, “Dave! What’s happenin?!? Great to see you! Come on in for a beer!”
Although impressed, Dave’s boss is still sceptical. After they leave Cruise’s house, he tells Dave that he thinks him knowing Cruise was just lucky.
“No, no, just name anyone else,” Dave says.
“President Bush,” his boss quickly retorts.
“Yup,” Dave says, “Old buddies, let’s fly out to Washington.”
And off they go.
At the White House, Bush spots Dave on the tour and motions him and his boss over, saying, “Dave, what a surprise, I was just on my way to a meeting, but you and your friend come on in and let’s have a cup of coffee first and catch up.”
Well, the boss is very shaken by now but still not totally convinced. After they leave the White House grounds he expresses his doubts to Dave, who again implores him to name anyone else.
“The pope,” his boss replies.
“Sure!” says Dave. “My folks are from Poland, and I’ve known the Pope a long time.”
So off they fly to Rome. Dave and his boss are assembled with the masses in Vatican Square when Dave says, “This will never work. I can’t catch the Pope’s eye among all these people. Tell you what, I know all the guards so let me just go upstairs and I’ll come out on the balcony with the Pope.”
And he disappears into the crowd headed toward the Vatican. Sure enough, half an hour later Dave emerges with the Pope on the balcony but by the time Dave returns, he finds that his boss has had a heart attack and is surrounded by paramedics. Working his way to his boss’ side, Dave asks him, “What happened?”
His boss looks up and says, “I was doing fine until you and the Pope came out on the balcony and the man next to me said, “Who the fuck is that on the balcony with Dave?
My uncle was a functional alcoholic. He had an advanced degree and was extremely accomplished in his career. He never did the kinds of things that would result in legal problems, he didn’t drink and drive, didn’t get in fights, or commit crimes. He and his husband were wealthy. They had a house with a swimming pool in a HCOL area. He was well-loved by everyone in the family but no one was able to get him to stop drinking or seek help for it. By and large, no one really wanted to argue with him about it either because it was pointless.
My uncle died during the pandemic and it wasn’t due to COVID. He drank everyday starting early in the morning and continuing through the night. He had done this for as long as I can remember. He cared about his appearance but completely neglected his health and refused to see doctors probably because they would tell him what he didn’t want to hear -alcohol was killing him.
Heavy drinking doesn’t only affect the liver — although that would be bad enough in itself — it also messes up the functioning of multiple other organs and body systems including, but not limited to, the heart, brain, kidneys, digestive system, and the nervous system. In my uncle’s case, he developed a cardiac problem and died suddenly. For many other alcoholics, dying is a slow, painful decline that involves a lot of suffering drawn out over many years.
Even if a person manages to avoid major illness, alcoholism, whether functional or not, does not make for a happy, fulfilled life. By nature, alcoholism requires that people prioritize alcohol over and above everything else in their lives, including all the meaningful things like important relationships, personal values, activities that bring joy, and personal accomplishments.
A person who drinks their way through life is never really present in their life and thus misses out on fully experiencing life itself. It may be feel pleasant to temporarily numb or black out distressing emotions but this comes at the cost of numbing positive emotions too. It comes at the cost of losing intimacy in your relationships, or just losing relationships altogether. It comes at a cost of not being able to remember your life or make good decisions.
Alcoholism and addiction in general, whether functional or not, is sad. It’s sad to see people searching for life satisfaction in the one place it will never be found.
Have you heard that “African babies cry less”? It is true, but the why of it is more interesting. They cry less because they are attended to. They are carried by their mothers, they co-sleep. They are always with their mother, who nurses the baby as soon as it starts to fuss. Doesn’t matter if it’s for comfort, for hunger or thirst. The baby never gets to the point where it *has to* cry.
Crying is the only way a baby has to communicate…..sort of. They also wiggle, and fuss and make weird faces and reach toward something, and when none of the rest of it works, THEN they cry. So it might be better to say that crying is the LAST way babies communicate. Even so, they can’t tell you they had a bad dream, or their stomach is upset, or there’s a string wrapped around their toe and it feels weird, or they have an itch but no fine motor skills to scratch with. We have to learn to decode baby language other than crying, before it gets to that. And we don’t.
You can’t spoil a baby. Moreover, when did giving someone attention get such a bad rep? Why is it bad to give a baby attention? What defines ‘too much’ attention, and why should we ration it? Is there a limited amount available? What idiot made this up?
By giving a baby the attention it needs when it needs it, and not when you feel like giving it, or when some book says you should give it, you teach the baby that you are always there for it. You aren’t teaching them to be clingy, you are teaching them that no matter what they do, what new things they explore, you will be there. It gives them confidence to try and do new things, knowing this.
But let a baby go untended until he gets to the point of crying, and then wait some more? What good does that do? The baby is not going to become less hungry or thirsty or scared or wet. Baby isn’t going to decide, oh, I guess I wasn’t actually hungry after all, I guess I’ll stop now. It will cause a lot of stress hormones to be released in the baby’s brain. A baby who cries until he stops has given up on you. He’s learned that you are NOT going to be there for him, and his needs might not be met. That, in his desperation, he reached out to you and you turned away.
Soon enough, he or she will be telling you not to hold their hand at school, or kiss them goodbye in front of their friends. The time when they need and depend on you is only a small part of their lives, and yours, so you should enjoy it while you can.
It’s really hard to fire someone in the government, but if they are an intern, it’s pretty easy.
We had three people start at the same time as interns. The two women were fantastic, interested in learning the job, hard working, never called out, etc. but “Charles”, not so much. I had just been promoted to supervisor. A week after he started, he stuck his head in my office and offered to help me with my supervisory duties. He didn’t know how to do the work yet, but he was going to help me supervise. Got it.
A couple days later, he walks into my office, plops down in a chair and says “I don’t know how you work with some of these fucking bitches. Those dumb cunts deserve to be fired”. Now I’m not a prude, but I also behave and speak in a professional manner. I had done nothing to make Charles think my office was some “safe zone”, where he could denigrate other employees, or use that kind of language.
He would sleep at his desk, call out, leave early, not what you would expect from any professional, let alone an intern trying to make their mark.
A lot of our job entailed technical writing. He wasn’t much of a writer to begin with, and often sent supposedly final versions of documents on the the next department with track changes and edits still in them. I had to fix a lot of his supposedly finished work. .
The crown jewel was him loudly proclaiming that life would be great in two months as he would no longer be an intern, so it would be near impossible to fire him. He was fired the next day.
I had to let an employee go when I owned a security guard company. He’d been involved in a fatal shooting — he killed a man who’d fired at him — before I bought the business and he shot and killed a drunk who attacked him after I took over.
After the second shooting my insurance carrier gave me an ultimatum: Fire the employee or lose my insurance. I promised them that I would not allow him to carry a weapon and that I would assign him to my office as Operations Manager but they would not budge. I had to choose between him and insurance coverage but without insurance I was out of business.
I called everyone I knew in the business trying to find him another job. They all knew about the shootings so they weren’t interested. So I began reaching out to my clients. My guy was ex-military and very smart and I hoped that one of them might be interested in him.
It turned out that a car dealer I was providing patrol coverage to was thinking about taking his security in-house so he agreed to talk with my employee.
Long story short, I lost a $1,000 a month patrol contract but the guard was hired by the car dealer. I haven’t spoken with my ex-employee in years but the last time I did he was head of security for the dealer, in charge of 4 different car lots. Like I said, he is very smart.
I’m from Russia. Below are a few things I almost always have to explain or discuss with visitors from Russia.
1. Why individual houses are so large? We always get into discussion that house is not just a shelter, but also a manifestation of one’s financial achievements.
2. Philanthropy. There is no culture of philanthropy in Russia and many view American philanthropy either as a waste of money or as some intricate plot to get some additional benefits.
3. People don’t walk places. They go everywhere by a car.
4. There is almost no public transportation except in a few large cities. People actually have to have cars to get places. Cars are necessity, not luxury.
5. Majority of high and middle schools have sport facilities of very high, almost professional quality.
6. Many schools have orchestras, bands, theaters of a very high, almost professional quality. Free.
7. Every state has a lot of autonomy.
8. President’s salary is comparable with the one of a plastic surgeon.
9. President doesn’t automatically become the richest person in the country.
10. Majority of things in the US aren’t controlled or regulated by the government.
11. Children are expected to leave home when they are 18.
12. Students prefer and are expected to live in a dorm and not with parents.
13. When relatives visit they often stay in the hotel.
14. Many children, even in well to do families, work in fast food, car washes and do a lot of other things to get money and it is not an embarrassment.
15. Parents have their babies sleeping in separate rooms almost from the day of their birth.
16. Russians find 11-15 are particularly absurd, offensive, and egotistical.
17. Many Russians believe that American system of primary and secondary education is very inefficient. As a mother, I have to explain that it is very diverse and essentially even in the poorest districts there are tons of resources available for children who are willing to use them. There are also an opportunity for kids to take advanced and extra advanced classes providing they are willing and able to do the work. And this differentiation is available as early as elementary school.
18. How well elderly live, even those on SSI and Medicaid. How many services are available to them.
19. How open Americans are about their shortcomings and always ready for self criticism.
20. Millions of people don’t have medical insurance.
21. Some hospitals look like five-star hotels.
22. Budgets of some hospitals are equal to h/c budgets of small countries.
23. Doctors tell their patients everything.
24. Return policies and free refill.
25. Idea of a liberal art education. In Russia, after high school graduation, a student should decide on vocation: engineer, doctor, teacher, lawyer, accountant, etc. It seems inconceivable to attend a university and then to graduate without a solid specialty. I often have to explain that not knowing what one wants to do after high school is an acceptable norm in US. A student can still acquire marketable skills, expand his or horizons, get a job after graduation, and, what is even more surprising, obtain an advance degree in a totally different field later. Yes, accountant can attend a medschool and become a doctor and musician can go for aa master degree in computer science.
Long ago when the no bra and see through crazes overlapped for a while (late 70s I believe) I had a young lady walk into my 1st Period class with no bra and a see through blouse. I took roll while the students started a mini lesson on the board. Then I started to write a note I intended to give to her to go to the office for a ruling/talking to by a female counselor. I had just started when the young lady called to me “Mister, tell them to stop staring at me!” I looked up and of course every boy in class (11th grade) was staring, standing to see over other students etc. Before I could say anything another girl loudly proclaimed “If you don’t want them looking, why did you dress like that?” Another girl handed the young lady a sweater jacket to put on. Then the young lady came up and whispered “May I have a bathroom pass?”
I gave it to her and put my note aside to see what happened. 10–15 minutes later she came back wearing an over sized PE uniform t-shirt over her clothes, handed the sweater back to the girl it belonged to, looked at me and then at the one who had spoken up and in a very soft voice said “I guess I didn’t think. It won’t happen again.” It didn’t.
On October 25, 2009, I was working like I always did and my supervisor came up and asked if I wanted an early out. I didn’t usually take early outs because I was a single mom and my supervisors knew it. I shocked him because I agreed to leave early. I said it’d be nice to have some extra time with my kids. I went to the babysitter’s house and her brother told me that she took my kids to her grandparents farm and he’d let her know to bring them straight home when they got back. I left there and at a stop sign and ambulance went flying past me and I had such a strong urge to follow it but I talked myself out of it. I went home and was pulling stuff out of the fridge when my phone rang. It was the sitter’s cousin asking me where my kids were and I told her they were with Nikki and then she told me that Nikki was in a head on accident and they may have to life fight her. She swore my kids weren’t with Nikki and I knew they had to be. After that Nikki’s boyfriend called me and told me that Nikki and my kids were in a head on accident and I must have let out a really loud scream because my neighbors heard me in their house. I called my parents as I rushed out the door and I asked them to keep me calm until I found my kids because they were in a head on accident. I didn’t even notice my neighbor standing in the yard. Apparently they heard about the wreck on the scanner and then heard me scream so they’d came out to drive me wherever I needed but I didn’t hear him talk to me. I was too focused. I had no idea where to go so I decided to go straight out the direction that I saw the ambulance go earlier. I came up to an accident and I tried to get past all of the cars and a police officer stopped me and said I couldn’t go any further. I told him it was my kids without knowing 100% at the time but just by my gut feeling. He called ahead to another officer and he said they were okay but my son’s face was cut a little bit from the airbag and his glasses. They allowed me to drive up to the ambulance but I still wasn’t allowed to see my kids. I followed them to the hospital. From the look of the truck, I knew the police officer was wrong. It took over 2 hours to be able to see my kids from the first call. I only got to see them when once the arrived at the hospital. My son’s face wasn’t just cut a little it was several cuts and two black eyes. My son ended up with permanent brain damage that was diagnosed later on. He didn’t want to walk and we just thought it was because he was scared so we carried him home. He’d just crawl on the floor and not walk. When we took him to his so called specialist, he told me I needed to institutional him because he’d never be able to learn again because he no longer had a short term memory and part of his long term memory was gone. I fired him and worked to teach my son how to walk, use the bathroom, and worked with him on his schooling. I’d enrolled in college just to help him learn. I needed to know how the brain worked to teach him and him retain things. He did learn it and more after I was told he never would. He also had whiplash extremely bad. Our attorney found it in the x-rays but the hospital never mentioned it. My daughter had to be potty trained again and she had severe whiplash along with a severe concussion. For the police to tell me they were fine I knew they weren’t. especially after seeing the truck. II wish my intuition was wrong that day. I’m fortunate that I didn’t lose my kids but we still lost my son as we knew him. When my older kids saw the actual changes in him they broke down crying. Fortunately it wasn’t all at the same time. As for the child the told me to institutionalize because he’d never learn again and could never live alone, He proved them all wrong. He’s got an amazing job, lives on his own, drives himself to work, and is having a babe in a couple weeks. He thanks me all the time for not giving up on him. He and his sister are best friends because she stood up for him when he couldn’t. I hope I never ever get the urge to follow an ambulance again. That’s not something I’d normally do so that day I had gut feeling and I was right. BTW, the engine was pushed all the way to sit in the back seat where my daughter was sitting. Her seatbelt wouldn’t work so she wasn’t fastened in thank God. If my kids would of say any other way I probably would of lost one if not both. Good was looking out for my kids that day. I’ll never ever forget that day.
Tuscan-Style Ribollita
2024 02 13 08 10
Ingredients
6 slices (1/2-inch thick) day-old crusty French bread
3 cloves garlic
Black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon chicken broth
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 zucchini, sliced
1 yellow squash, sliced
1/2 sweet red pepper, diced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
4 cups torn escarole or dark cabbage
1 (16 ounce) can kidney beans
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can plum tomatoes, drained, juices reserved
1 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Oregano leaves (garnish)
Instructions
Grease a baking sheet. Put the bread on the sheet and bake at 350 degrees F until golden brown, about 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven.
Cut 1 garlic clove in half and rub on each side of the toast slices. Sprinkle with black pepper and set aside.
Heat the oil and broth mixture in a 4-quart pot. Add the onions and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes.
Mince the remaining garlic. Add the garlic, carrots and celery to the pot. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
Add the zucchini, squash, sweet peppers and oregano; cook for 5 minutes.
Add the escarole, beans and tomatoes; cook until the escarole wilts, about 2 minutes.
Add black pepper. Pour the vegetable mixture into a 3-quart casserole and top with the toast.
In a large measuring cup, combine the reserved tomato juice and the broth; pour over the toast. Sprinkle with Parmesan.
Bake at 375 degrees F until the cheese has melted, about 30 minutes.
One night as I proceeded through an intersection when the light turned green I heard a car accelerate and saw it nearly t bone me. I made the stop and saw it was a local shithead kid I knew well as having a major chip on his shoulder. He blamed his faulty brakes to which I replied I’d have to impound his car for a safety inspection. At this point he changes his story and tries to reach down and roll the floor mat under his brake pedal to blame for the incident. I issued him summonses for unsafe speed, running a light a failure to yield with the warning to keep it on the straight and narrow. A short time later I received a call for a 911 hangup at his address. The door opened and a middle aged male walks out. I ask him if he was the homeowner and if everything is OK. He addresses me by name and says he’s a corrections officer and asks why his son was not given a courtesy and gives me a rehash of his sons version of events. I ask him if he called 911 over this event and he said yes he was trying to lodge a complaint against me. I replied that his son is a liar and that’s not what 911 is for. He went on grumbling about courtesy and I shot back neither you nor your kid know the meaning of the word. After that incident the kid was noticeably quieter during the numerous encounters we had with him and his delinquent crowd.
Yep, had a woman who did the same job as me on alternate days and was jealous as I was asked to do the important stuff so to speak on my shifts and not her, the boss, female would confide in me and not her as she was a straight out the door on the dot person and would never cover in an emergency etc. She started to file fake complaints on night reports …he didn’t do this etc but of course we had CCTV. She would send watsapp messages to me complaining and then the best one…my wife is Asian…one night she sent a message insulting my wife and Asian women calling them Ting Tongs and Asian brides.
What she failed to realise is that the CEO despite having an English surname through marriage was Asian. I simply replied… our Thai CEO will enjoy reading that
Years ago I was driving home from a night out in Memphis, TN. It was roughly 3 AM, and I was driving about 60 to 65 mph along Walnut Grove Rd through Shelby Farms. The speed limit stepped up from 40 mph to 55 mph pretty close to that spot, and I don’t recall which side I was on. As it turned out, it didn’t matter. I saw the reflection of my headlights on his patrol car and started to pull over before his blue lights came on. Once stopped, I rolled down my window and had my license and registration ready for him when he walked up to talk to me. He looked at them, at me, and at the officer decal on my windshield and said I could go. Greatly surprised, I asked him why, and I would never have predicted his response. “You pulled over so fast and in such a short distance that I don’t even have to go around [a mile or so down the road to a break in the median] and come back to my spot [where he had set his speed trap].” I was not intoxicated, and I was far from the fastest car to travel that road. But at that particular time I was the only driver around, so I got his attention. The whole thing was a bit surreal, but I was grateful for the outcome. I thanked him and went home to get some sleep.
I called for what I said was, I guess, a welfare check. I saw a young girl, probably mid-teens, walking on the rural road near where we live. I didn’t think much about it, even though there are few people who walk on that road, and very few homes. Later, as I returned home, I found her walking up the even more rural road leading up the mountain to where we live. I stopped and asked if she needed a ride. To my surprise, she said yes (her a young girl, me an old man). I asked her where she was going, and she said to visit someone. We passed my house, and she said to stop at a neighbor’s house. I asked who she was seeing, since I knew our neighbors, and she just said, “Someone.” I let her out and went home. I had to leave a while later and found her walking back down at the bottom of the mountain on the road near where I first saw her. I had also noticed that she had taken off her jacket and dropped it on the road. At that point I called the police and said that I was worried about her. I described her and told the 911 operator where she was. A short time after that a police car passed me going in that direction. I did not see the girl later when I returned home. I don’t know what happened, but she seemed troubled in some way, and was definitely acting odd. I hope the police gave her a ride home, or helped her with whatever her problem was, but I have no idea.
Ladies, this is the worst expression you could tell a man. Don’t tell him all men are the same because no one told you to try them all.
Men do not like to be told what to do and how to do it all the time.
When you ask stupid questions like “Do I look fat to you?” “Do you still love your ex?” “When I grow old, will you still love me?” “Do you think that woman is more beautiful than me?”
We all hate it when you bring up old things every time we fight.
Talking to your Friends about Anything and Everything
Men don’t like it when you talk about your exes, especially if you do it a lot or bring up details.
Even if you are just friends, men hate to be friend-zoned.
I was the IT manager at one of the Maryland Job Corp centers. I was in the process of upgrading government cast off computer equipment from 486s to Pentium Ones, if that tells u how long ago.
Being a nonsmoker, I never take breaks. Ever. I was coming across campus carrying 4 CPUs. I walk really fast so it alway looked like I was running to other staff. They’d joke about me working so hard, so fast. I stopped outside the admin building to catch up with the HR assistant. I was changing her computer next. In front of probably 10 of these smokers, my boss, the director of Finance and Administration took a puff and asked, “Christine, isn’t there someplace you should be?”
Dead, shocked silence.
The 60 hours I’d put in the week before, being forced to sign something that I was volunteering so wasn’t paid OT, and this comment flashed thru my mind.
I took a breath, bit back my inner voice’s come backs, smiled and set the computers down on the sidewalk.
I said, “There sure is.”. Smiled, walked inside, got my keys and kept walking.
When my older son was 7 (he’s about to be 28), the school nurse called because my son had an accident on the playground and sustained a large bump/knot to the center of his forehead. They said he was fine, but that I should probably take him to the doctor just to be sure. The nurse kept… almost giggling?… and when I asked what happened, she reiterated that he was okay, but that he would best be able to explain when I got there.
i should probably mention that he was already a big nerd, an advanced reader who used words many adults didn’t even use and wasn’t athletic AT ALL. He didn’t like to sweat or get dirty and was always afraid of injuring himself. Needless to say, all the way to the school I was perplexed at what MY KID could’ve possibly been doing so carelessly or vigorously on that playground to have injured himself.
When I got there he was embarrassed and mad af at himself but also laughing and I will never forget what he said. “My arch nemesis challenged me to a duel and I won. And it felt so good I couldn’t hold it in. I did a victory lap, but was stupid and did it with my eyes closed and ran into the tether ball pole. Mom, I gloated too hard.”
Months after buying a security guard company, from my former employer. one of my guards was involved in a fatal shooting at a nightclub. A drunk wielding a tire iron ran at him and the guard shot him once, through the heart, from about six feet away.
Houston Police investigated and eventually the guard was no-billed, meaning a grand jury declined to indict my guy, but that didn’t stop the drunk’s family from filing a wrongful death suit against the club and my company. My liability insurer wound up settling my part of the suit for $30,000 but after doing so they blindsided me by insisting that I fire the guard.
A couple of years earlier, while working for the man I bought the company from, he was involved in another fatal shooting at an apartment complex. In that case, a man shot at him from across a courtyard and his return fire struck the man in the head, killing him instantly. No lawsuit was filed in that case but my insurer still believed that two fatal shootings in such a short time indicated that the guard was too much of a liablility, so I was told to fire him or they’d cancel my coverage. I proposed giving him a job in my office so he wouldn’t be working a post, but the insurance company wouldn’t budge. I had 25 other fulltime employees to consider so I had to let the man go.
But I knew that a car dealer I provided security for was considering taking their security in-house, meaning they’d hire guards directly who’d work for the dealership. I talked with the owner and told him that my (former) guard would be a great choice to run his security team and, after checking the guy out, he agreed. I wound up selling my company and leaving Houston 10 years after I fired the guard but we’d stayed in touch over the years so I had a chance to visit with him before I left. He’d left the car dealership and was assistant security director for Occidental Petroleum. He said my firing him was the best thing that ever happened to him.
I use an iPad mounted facing down and connected to a projector as a document projector. The mount is flexible, so I can aim the iPad at the class, if I want to. If I suspect that students are cheating when I’m not looking, I just set the iPad to record a video or time-lapse, then quietly flex the mount, so the iPad is pointed at the students.
Then I walk around the room, making sure to turn my back on the students I suspect are cheating.
Then, I come back to the iPad and stop the video.
Finally, at the end of the quiz or test, I turn on the projector and show the students the beginning of the video I made. I pause it just a few seconds in, so they can think about the fact that I caught them on camera, and I ask the students to be honest with themselves and me. If they were cheating, let me know, before I see it in the video. It’s the right thing to do.
Most of them confess right then and there. Some of them don’t. We have to watch the video together and I have to point to the moment when they’re cheating.
If they know they cheated, but don’t confess, I show their parents the video.
Nazis had a pretty weird thing about blonde, blue eyed babies.
During Hitler’s rise to power, he initiated a program to raise the percentage of Aryan children. This was called a Lebensborn
program.
They basically made every available child to be in peak physical condition and made to match the Aryan race standards.
This included treatments such as: a very strict diet, early indoctrination with Nazi ideologies and even the usage of ultraviolet rays for hair color (in case a baby wasn’t blonde enough)
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Most children came from German impregnated moms but after WWII started , the Nazis encouraged SS soldiers to ‘’get to know’’ the beautiful girls of Europe. They captured not only the best countries, but also the most Aryan girls 😉
If those ladies got pregnant, and their children were deemed as desirable, they were sent to a Lebensborn house where their kids would get a treatment like the one written above. The main ‘’factory’’ (besides Germany) was Norway, with 12.000 kids born during WWII.
When there were not enough moms available, the SS would simply kidnap children that fit their Aryan standards, as Himmler himself said
‘’It is our duty to take [the children] with us to remove them from their environment … either we win over any good blood that we can use for ourselves and give it a place in our people or we destroy this blood’’
The USSR, Estonia, Latvia, Norway and Yugoslavia were serious targets. Poland reportedly lost as many as 100.000 children during the whole war.
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(abducted Polish children in a special labour camp)
After WWII, most children could not be found and linked back with their families because their program files were destroyed to hide war crimes. Hence, an exact number of Germanized children is impossible to tell.
Frid Lyngstad of ABBA is a known survivor of this terrible initiative. Her German father who was an officer in the German army, befriended her Norwegian mother to supply the SS with enough moms. After the war, she and her mom migrated to Sweden.
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(The one with dark hair)
At least something good came out of this whole mess.
I worked for a very large, blue, trash company for about 7 years. After the first year I was running routes so efficiently that there were no improvements left to make so they pulled me from those routes and made me a swing driver. I started running everyone’s routes faster by an average of 3 hours per day, other swing drivers would take 60 hours to run the same routes it was taking me 36 to run and pick up what they missed. I did this for a long time and after several talks with management to make the pay more fair they told me that there was nothing they could do. We were paid hourly and thats it. I told them I was going to find another job then. They freaked out and I told them I wasn’t leaving just yet but as soon as I found something else I was leaving. Fast forward 3 years and I walk into my managers office to tell him I am quitting. He couldn’t believe it because it was out of nowhere in his eyes. I walked away from a fun fast paced job making $20 per hour getting anywhere from 33–56 hours per week depenfing on which routes i would run or who they would let me help. I am now working a job where I only work 6 months out of the year, easy work and make $120k and only requires 8 hours of overtime every other week. Now fast forward another 4 years and I run into the new manager and supervisor. We talk for a minute and the supervisor tells the new manager I used to work for them. He offers me my job back. Before I could even speak the supervisor tells him they can’t afford me to come back. I wished them a good day and walked away. So to answer your question, probably not fired but definitely passed up for promotions. That’s what they did to me.
Because of her eyes that were getting angrier at me by the day. Because of her eyes that were getting hungrier by the day, but not for me. Because of the divide that had started to appear, and there was nothing I could do about it.
It started with a crack (that I didn’t notice at first).
And when I did notice more cracks, only hours later — on that very same day — I realized that she already was in a very different place, and that she might be cheating. Her cell phone behavior had become erratic. Her reactions on my every sentence aggressive. Just like that.
She must have been hiding it, but now the cracks started to appear.
Hours later, in one of the longest nights of my adult life — and still on that very same day — she blatantly stated in the darkness of our cold bedroom that her love for me had faded. (“It was not like before anymore.”)
And day after day, week after week, the space between us became bigger, and the cracks grew into an abyss of anger and distrust.
At one point, the divide became too big, and she was standing at the other side — not even waving. She was just looking at me with empty eyes, as if she was not seeing me anymore. (And I think she really didn’t.) I would see that same empty look on her more than fifteen years in the future — in the awkward silence only separated people know — when she was in the final days of late stage breast cancer.
Much further away on the other side of the divide now, and about to disappear.
The problem is that back in the day, we were already married.
And there was nothing to call off except our every shared memory. As if life had become a text, written on a chalk blackboard.
A friend of mine was having a medieval themed wedding. She had this gorgeous green gown and planned this elaborate hairstyle with flowers braided in. She asked her best friend to be maid of honour, and I got to be bridesmaid.
Get to the big day, and maid of honor is a no show. No phone call, text or email either. So I get upgraded and asked to help with my friends hair. I know NOTHING about elaborate hairstyles, there was no way I could do the style she wanted. So we ended up settling on a simple braided style with green ribbons and flowers threaded in. My friend was pissed. Not with me, but with her now ex-friend. Rest of the day went without a hitch and was gorgeous. My friend thanked me for helping at the last minute.
She never did get an explanation from that other girl, and refused to ever see her again.
I’ve quit without notice twice in my life. The first time was when I was passed over for promotion at Walmart but was offered a 25¢ an hour raise, instead, in recognition of the good work I was doing for the store. 25¢ an hour came out to $520 a year while the promotion would have resulted in a pay increase of around $12,000 annually. I told the store manager to shove the raise and walked out.
Several years later I was working in IT for a clothing manufacturer but I wanted to leave because I was, once again, denied a promotion. I soon learned that my boss and her toadie were holding me back by giving tepid references when companies I’d interviewed with called, so when I finally was offered a job I accepted immediately and told them I’d start the following Monday.
Before leaving work on Friday I drafted a companywide email telling my boss, and her toadie, and the business owner exactly how I felt about them, and I delayed delivery until Monday morning, so it would be the first thing everyone, including the three stooges saw. My boss actually called me on Monday morning, around 5 AM, before the email was delivered and asked me to come in early because she was having trouble with a printer. I told her I’d be right in and then rolled over and went back to sleep. She never called me again.
This is a a year of the wood dragon. It is a great expanse of opportunity for the well prepared explorer.
I suggest that everyone have goals.
That everyone have planned affirmation campaigns.
That everyone understands their career, work and fiances.
We cannot predict the future; as it is the nature of our thoughts that direct our actions. We can only play the gravitational influences; our Fate Forecasting.
Review yours today. Take note of the auspicious months and the inauspicious months.
A book, a journal… helps.
Note that I also have a new youtube channel. It is 100% devoted ONLY to affirmation campaigns. I think I have something like 15 to 20 videos already posted up on it.
There was this patient, 55 year old guy. He came with acute abdominal pain. The patient was in severe distress and the vitals weren’t good even at presentation. He was way too unstable to get a CT scan so we went ahead with just an Ultrasound.
Ultrasound wasn’t very conclusive but it suggested intestinal obstruction. The patient was just getting worse and worse so we gave him initial resuscitation and decided to open him. We were prepared to face unexpected scenarios. But we weren’t prepared for what it actually was.
As soon as we entered the abdominal cavity, copious amounts of reddish liquid oozed out. A little deeper and there it was..about 80% of his stomach, duodenum, the entire small intestine a portion of ascending and transverse colon were almost black in colour.
Every surgeon’s arch nemesis…Superior Mesentric Artery thrombosis.
But in this case Stomach was also involved. Basically, the blood supply to his stomach and his entire small intestine and parts of large intestine was compromised. Due to this the parts were ischaemic. There is nothing you can do in this situation. If there was enough healthy gut remaining we would have just cut out the dead part and anastomosed the healthy parts. There just wasn’t enough healthy gut here. So we just closed the patient up, informed the relatives and sent the patient back to the ICU where he passed away a few hours later, surrounded by his family.
It’s very disheartening for a surgeon to accept there’s nothing you can do for the patient in front of you. But then, a good surgeon knows when to cut but the best ones know when not to. Just operating when we knew he wouldn’t survive the procedure would have led to him dying on the table.
At least buy closing him up he could pass away surrounded by his family. And believe me, that matters. That matters to the patient and that matters to the family. And while I was heartbroken at losing my patient, it gave me the tiniest bit of satisfaction knowing that we could give that family the last few hours with him. And, hopefully, we could give them closure.
This is a new trend…
Girls flashing. Showing a bare back and some side boob.
First one: I was a single mom and my daughter’s father never paid a dime in child support. When she was very young, I was pretty destitute. Needed my car to get to and from work, but couldn’t afford to pay for insurance. My car was such an old beater that I couldn’t pass the emissions test, and couldn’t afford the $150 worth of repairs required to get a waiver. And I couldn’t replace my expired license tabs without either passing emissions or getting the waiver.
So, I spent $25 on a temporary 3-day pass and put a layer of tape over it. Put another layer of tape over the first one and wrote a date 3-days out on the top layer of tape. Every 3 days, I would replace the top layer of tape and write a new date.
I was out late visiting friends one night and got pulled over by the police on my way home. They shined their light on my temporary pass and my heart sank. Officer asked for my license, registration, and proof of insurance. After handing them my license (and hoping they would forget about the rest), he said he pulled me over because my temporary pass was expired. I knew the date was good until the next day, so I said, “Officer, are you sure? I’m pretty certain it doesn’t expire until tomorrow”.
The officer looks at his watch and says, “My apologies, ma’am, you still have 15 minutes”. And he let me leave.
Second one: Two weeks later, I’m driving that same old beater (with freshly dated tape), it’s dark and raining, and some guy comes speed-racing around me while an officer is headed in my direction and the officer immediately hangs a U-turn. I thought he was going after the guy that was speeding, but no, he pulled me over!!
Asks for my license which I had in a zippered pouch with a ton of other cards (debit, credit and store rewards cards), and spent a long time rummaging to try and find it, the officer becoming more impatient and angrier by the second. I finally found it and presented it to the officer. He glances at it and then asks for proof of insurance. So, I decide to play it off, and I tell him, “That will be another few minutes, officer”. I opened my glove box, and right on queue, it vomited paperwork all over the floor of my car. The officer now has a great big “Frankenstein vein” pulsing on his forehead and he shouts “Never mind, I”m letting you off with a warning this time”. LOL, never did say why he pulled me over or what the warning was for!!
Many soups of Italy, like this one, are served at the table with a jug of olive oil. The cabbage must be very finely sliced because it is barely cooked.
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Ingredients
1 pound potatoes
1 pound green cabbage, finely sliced
Water
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt, to taste
Instructions
Peel and cook potatoes in just enough salted water to cover them. Blend potatoes with their cooking water. Thin with more water if necessary. You should have a medium consistency.
Add cabbage and olive oil.
Cook uncovered for 5 minutes, until the cabbage is lightly cooked. It should be a little crisp.
Notes
Serve with a jug of olive oil.
Delusion
She’s in her early 20’s, but she will end up with lots and lots and lots of cats.
Size of breakfast is not a country thing. It’s a class thing.
In the west, Blue collar workers, people who work outside, or work with their hands tend to have a huge breakfast, small lunch and huge dinner. This is because during lunch time, they may not have access to refrigeration, and hence might have to take something for lunch that doesn’t;t spoil. Or they may not be in a place where they can sit down and eat, so they take things that are easy to eat. So, they load up on calories in the morning. Physical labor requires a lot of calories
This is a “lumberjack” breakfast from Denny’s. Lumberjacks are people who go into the woods to cut trees. They need lot of calories
image 170
White collar workers, OTH, tend to eat all thought out the workday. If they are not having lunch, they are either snacking or having coffee. This is because their environment gives them free access to food. As a result, they don’t load up on calories in the morning.
This is what a white collar worker typically eats in the morning
My friend and I were patiently waiting for our food at the table. As it was a self-service cafe, we got a number showing our order, and when it was announced we needed to collect it ourselves.
The number came up, and we went to collect our dishes.
Lo and behold, as we turned our backs a group of ladies gracefully lowered our bags on the floor and sat at our table.
Mind you, the whole process was less than a minute.
When we went back, we gently but firmly asked them to move.
“Oi, how am I supposed to know you guys are sitting here? You think by putting your bags here it’s your space?”
“Excuse m…”
“This is a public space and we can sit anywhere we want. Don’t think tha..”
BAM. I put my bowl down loudly. Everyone who wasn’t paying attention before turned their heads. She froze in shock.
“You saw our bags, you saw us take our food, and you threw our stuff on the floor. I will make a larger fuss of this unless. You. Move. From. My. Place.“
They sheepishly left, leaving my pal and me to eat peacefully.
If you use your privileges to justify rude behaviour, you are just waiting for trouble to erupt.
Tested on Mythbusters. Shot straight up, the bullet will climb and decelerate as it loses energy, at the top, the bullet will have zero energy and tumble back to earth, landing in the vicinity of the firing point. the bullet will experience atmospheric drag on the way up and the way down. There will be more drag on the way down due to the tumbling. The impact velocity will be the terminal velocity of the bullet. It will give you a nasty bump on your noggin, but not kill you.
Fired at any angle other than straight up, the bullet will retain enough energy over the top of its ballistic arc to come back down in a stable spin, and cause injury or death.
Under ideal circumstances (no wind, fired exactly straight up) the bullet returns to the location from which it was fired at the same velocity as the muzzle velocity.
Edit: (Yes, I’m a dumbass). The bullet returns to the location it was fired from at terminal velocity of a falling object, not muzzle velocity. I must have taken my stupid pill that morning.
The fact that the bullet tumbled on the way down both causes the bullet to slow down more and to have a higher likelihood of impacting on its side (larger impact area).
Short answer. Don’t try this at home.
Feel Good Music
Peter Thomas Orchestra – “Chariots of Gods Theme (Erinnerungen an die Zukunft)” (epic melody, 1970) The Birdwatchers – “I Have No Worried Mind” (sunshine pop, 1966) Georges Delerue – “Curly Sue Interlude” (instrumental, 1991) Ray Davis & His Button-Down Brass – “A Taste Of Honey” (jazzy instrumental, 1964) Agnetha Faltskog – “Disillusion” (beautiful song, 1973) The Superficials – “Gone” (indie pop, 2001) Claude Thornhill & His Orchestra – “If I Had A Ribbon Bow – Maxine Sullivan” (so smooth, 1939) The Fireballs – “Light In The Window” (great pop, 1965) The Objections (Sweden) – “I’m Through” (psych pop, 1966) Juan Martin – “Romanza”, “Last Farewell” from “Serenade” LP (awesome orchestral pop, 1984) The Quid – “Mersey-Side” (Merseybeat instrumental, 1963) Mantovani & His Orchestra – “Theme From Moulin Rouge” (instrumental, 1959) Drupi – “Sereno E” (classic song, Italy 1974) Lewis & Clark Expedition – “Daddy’s Plastic Child” (psych-sunshine pop, 1967) Pino Donaggio – Music from “Botte di Natale”: “Travis”, “The Prairie” (epic western, 1994) XTC – “The Disappointed” (great power pop, UK 1992) The Charles Kingsley Creation – “Summer Without Sun” (Joe Meek pop, 1964) The Tornados – “Dragonfly” (nice instrumental, 1964) Peter & Gordon – “Go To Pieces” (Merseybeat, 1965) Secret Service – “Destiny Of Love” (romantic pop, 1983) Enigma – “Prism Of Life”, “Beyond The Invisible” (epic stuff, 1997) Johann Sebastian Bach – Cantata BWV 1, First Chorale (by Georg Christoph Biller) (baroque, 1724) The Ventures – “Telstar” (classic instrumental, 1963)
Crowded House – “Not The Girl You Think You Are” (great song, 1992) Ray Conniff & His Orchestra – “Taking A Chance On Love ” (happy tune, 1965) Michel Legrand – “Chanson du Prince (sung by Jean-Pierre Savelli) from “Peau d’Ane” movie (romantic song, 1970) Ennio Morricone – “Canzone Per Donatella” from “Quando L’amore e Sensualita” (piano instrumental, 1973) Linus Of Hollywood – “When I Get To California” (neo-sunshine pop, 1999) Guido & Maurizio De Angelis – “Trinity Stand Tall” song, from “Continuavano a chiamarlo Trinita” (western, Italy 1972) Jean Sibelius – Symphony No.1, 1st Movement” (epic orchestral piece, 1899) The Fredric – “Saturday Morning in Rain” (rare pop psych, 1968) The New Colony Six – “The Time Of The Year Is Sunset” (haunting psych, 1966) Ferrante & Teicher – “You’re Too Much” (romantic instrumental, 1959, here) The Cleves – “You And Me” (pop psych, 1968, New Zealand) Johann Sebastian Bach – “Cantata BWV 204 “Ich Bin In Mir Vergnügt”, by Ton Koopman / Ruth Holton (beautiful arias, 1724) Cilla Black – “Something Tells Me” (sunshine pop, UK 1967) Richard Alden & His Orchestra – “‘S Wonderful” (cool instrumental, here) Paul Mauriat – “L’Avventura” (instrumental, 1972) Justin Hayward – “Day Must Come” (sunshine pop, UK 1966) 18th Century Corporation – “Message To Michael” (“Bacharach Baroque”, 1968) Johann Sebastian Bach – “Cantata BWV 8, Finale Choral” by Masaaki Suzuki (baroque, 1724) Carlo Savina – “Le Nochi Buena” from “Le calde notti di Don Giovanni” (relaxing, 1971) The Stone Country – “Everywhere I Turn” (US pop psych, 1968) Carlo Rustichelli – Main Title from “Avanti” (happy melody, Italy 1972) Duran Duran – “Last Chance On The Stairway”, “Save A Prayer” (new wave, synth pop, UK 1982) Antonio Vivaldi – “Concerto No.5 in E minor, RV280: III. Allegro” (great baroque, 1712) Foxx – “Sunshine Children” (happy little tune, 1970) Zack Hemsey – “Mind Heist” (absolutely epic, 2010 – here)
This wonderful drawing of the satisfied cat (thinking “I should buy a boat”, perhaps?) was made back in 1899 (published in Russian children magazine “Svetlyachok”):
My grandfather, third from the right in the picture below. He was 19 when he was supposed to hit Omaha. His troop carrier was hit on the way in and he swam in with absolutely nothing. The story he told was this: I got up on the beach and laid down behind a big piece of wood that was part of a blown up something. He’d had to come out of all of his gear to keep from drowning. He was trying to calm down and figure out what to do when this old crusty major walked up like it was a beautiful day on the beach and asked him what in the hell he was doing. Bullets are zipping around and explosions everywhere, people screaming and this guy looks like there’s not a thing in the world happening. Grandpa says “I don’t know what to do! I’ve lost all my gear.” The major says “ There’s gear everywhere, boy! Start picking shit up and get off of this beach now!” So he did. He said he grabbed every loose rifle, pistol, backpack, satchel, everything and got as far up the beach as he could.
When Saving Private Ryan came out, he wanted to go see it. He and my Grandma went, about 10 minutes in he got up and Grandma asked him where he was going? He said “Home. It hasn’t been long enough yet.”
He was transferred to Patton’s army and went all the way to Czechoslovakia. I’m pretty sure he was in Belgium when this picture was taken. It’s used as the cover photo for a book called Steel Victory by Harry Yeide. Grandpa went through it and noted all the battles he’d fought in that were mentioned in the book.
image 168image 167
Edit: thanks for all the upvotes and comments. It’s amazing that a simple thing like this can get so many votes. Another quick story about the above picture. They were lazing around in the halftrack when the photographer came by and asked to get that picture. They all started digging rifles out and the guy on the very end couldn’t find his rifle. Somebody told him just to carry the BAR (I think that’s what he said but I’m not an expert in war weapons so it might be something different. Regardless, it’s the biggest gun and the smallest guy according to grandpa ) because nobody would know any better back home. Grandpa thought it was funny that the smallest guy had the biggest gun.
Edit 2: Several people have asked about the Major who sent Grandpa off the beach. I asked my Uncle about it and he said Grandpa never mentioned a name and probably didn’t even know his name. If anybody reads this and had a family member who was a walking, talking, badass Major getting men off of Omaha Beach, let me know.
I once worked with a teacher who thought it was a huge deal that she was the only teacher at the school who was allowed to use the laminator. She only had that position for logistical reasons… the laminator took a long time to warm up, so it made sense to do all of the laminating at the same time.
So, if you needed something laminated, you had to give it to her and, once per week, she’d fire up the laminator and run everything through it.
I have never once, in my decade of teaching, needed anything laminated. Not once.
Still, she brought up her position as “official school laminator” on a monthly basis. She was so proud of it. She’d email us updates about her pile of things to be laminated.
“I have a big pile this week, so, if you need something laminated, get it to me now. I’m going to start early so I can get this all done.”
It wouldn’t surprise me if she even had it on her resume.
Jane Smith, English Teacher, Director of Laminating, Girls’ Lacrosse Coach
One of the novel things about this age is the role played by carnival acts in reinforcing public morality and shaping public opinion. With the exception of ancient Athens, human societies assigned entertainers a low status. After all, we still have the expression, “run away to the circus”, even though we no longer have the circus. The idea behind that expression is you reach such a degraded state that you literally leave decent society and join the low status world of the circus.
In modern America and the West in general, the circus not only plays a central role in society, but the circus performers also have enormous influence. So much so, in fact, the most powerful people want to be friends with the popular carnies. Every president has a stream of carnies coming through the White House, often attending state dinners with important foreign leaders. Carnies have even turned up in Ukraine, getting a special welcome by the Ukrainian dictator.
Of course, we have just had the biggest circus event on the American calendar, which is the Super Bowl, the title game of the NFL. According to the people in charge, almost all Americans stop what they are doing to watch the spectacle. The Super Bowl party has become something of an industry. Americans spend over $15 billion on parties that host three quarters of all adults. Naturally, all the important carnies seek a way to be part of what is the biggest carnie act of the year.
It is popular to compare the Super Bowl to the Roman games, maybe even dusting off Juvenal’s line about bread and circuses. There is some truth to that, but the Roman games were nothing compared to American entertainment. The games were a distraction for the masses and important people, but the performers were never treated like the modern celebrity or athlete. The performers in the arena were low status and important people made sure they remained so.
This is the great innovation of America. Entertainment has become a church at which the morality of the day is preached to the audience. It is easy to see at the Super Bowl, where moral messaging is everywhere. In the end zones there was a message about ending racism, a hobgoblin of the modern elites. There were ads about other hobgoblins like antisemitism, bullying and Gaia. They have your attention, so they make sure to let you know what you ought and ought not be doing.
Then you have the appeals to unity, by which they mean conformity. At the start of the game, you get patriotic songs. They even have something called the “The Black National Anthem” which is supposed to shame whites and remind them they can never be forgiven for the sin of whiteness. In a prior age, parishioners were told they were at the mercy of an angry God. Today they are told they are at the mercy of angry minorities, which is far more terrifying than an angry god.
When these songs are played at the start of the game, the players, who should only care about winning, make themselves cry and look moved by the program. This is where you see the supremacy of carny life. The star players know this game is really an audition for them to join the media circus or possibly get a brand going so they can be a celebrity past their playing career. Everyone wants to run away to the circus, even people already in the circus.
You see the warping power of the circus with the public romance of Chiefs player Kelce Travis and middle-aged warbler Taylor Swift. She is a super famous pop star, but she can always be more famous, so dating a famous sports star, especially one who gets to perform in the big circus, is good business. The NFL loves it and makes sure to feature this totally authentic romance in their shows. Any bets on whether these two love birds manage to build a life together?
All of this is the product of democracy. In theory, democracy is about convincing fifty percent plus one. In order to do that, you need to get the attention of the public, which is why celebrity becomes the coin of the democratic realm. The only way you can have a chance to influence anyone is by getting on the stage and you do that by getting everyone’s attention. Carnies live to get attention, so it does not take long before they take center stage in the democratic process.
It is why our politicians are mostly actors playing a role. The producers of the political shows are no different from the people who make movies, television shows or produce extravaganzas like the Super Bowl. They select people who can play the role, which often means picking people who will not question the script. Oklahoma senator James Lankford was picked because he is not smart enough to question things. He looks the part, and he reads his lines. That is why he is in the Senate.
It is easy to be critical of mass democracy, but the Super Bowl shows how powerful it is at controlling the masses. More people care about why Travis Kelce wore a suit made from garbage bags than the fact Joe Biden is non compos mentis. More important, it encourages the masses to empty their wallets in order to see the next show that the ruling elite will stage for them. Mass democracy is where the ruling elite charge the masses to be the masses.
For most of human history, carnies were relegated to the fringes of society because the running of society was too important to do otherwise. Today the running of society is over on the fringes, in the shadows where no one looks, because the carnies are now at the center of society. Maybe this is how the great experiment with participatory government is supposed to end. The masses think their voice matters, but in reality, no one cares, just as long as they pay full price for their ticket.
Look… I’m 100% in favor of you being whatever gender you are. Once upon a time (maybe five years ago?) I was easily able to tell what gender a student was 99% of the time. I won’t pretend that I didn’t make mistakes here and there, but it was pretty damned rare. Every year for the last several years, I’ve had transgender students. In general, if you’re sensitive to it and you honestly do your level best to treat them with respect as to the gender they identify themselves as, you’re fine.
But here’s the problem: the English language has these tricky things called “pronouns.” Those pronouns are gendered.
Let’s say that I have a student named Jaime. Jaime looks stereotypically male, buuuuuut you’ve heard from other students that Jaime identifies as female. So what do you do? You can ignore it and only call Jaime by name, but that’s awkward and clearly avoids the issue… which is a bit disrespectful. You can call Jaime by male pronouns, but now you’re being an asshole if Jaime identifies as female. You can call Jaime by female pronouns, but that could really set a boy off if you call him by female pronouns. You could go with a gender-neutral pronoun, but “it” is daaaaaamned insulting.
You know… you could pull Jaime aside and say, “So… here’s the deal… I’m going to let you know that this is a safe place and I’m okay with you being whoever you want to be. I have been hearing rumors that you want to be called by female pronouns. Is that correct? Cool. Sounds good to me. I’ll do my best to honor your wishes.”
Except… now people are upset because you’re “questioning a six-year-old about his/her gender.”
You just can’t win.
Fortunately “people” aren’t my boss. I don’t serve them. I serve my students, so I’ll just continue to do… whatever it is that I already do.
Crossover: Dieselpunk + Retrofuture, by Victor-Albert Bouffort
“Victor-Albert Bouffort was an aeronautics engineer who took it upon himself to design and build some pretty crazy cars in the years after WWII. The first was this magnificent streamlined three-wheeler based on a Citroen Traction-Avant”. Read this good article about this man here.
It wasn’t exactly a loophole, but it was something I exploited the hell out of. I wanted a new snowmobile, and they offered nothing down, and no payments for two years, interest free. I couldn’t get a discount for cash, so I took the deal. This was quite a few years ago. The sled was $4000, so I put the $4000 in a GIC guaranteed investment certificate, at 5 percent for two years, ending a couple of days before the first payment was due.
The deal was that as long as you paid for your snowmobile before the two years was up, you didn’t have to pay interest. But if you owed 1 penny on the snowmobile after two years, you owed 19.99 percent a year for 2 years on the entire $4000.
So this was a bit of a stress, but manageable. I had a cash back credit card, and I paid off my snowmobile with the credit card, and got 1 percent cash back. I had also received another points credit card, that allowed me to transfer the credit card balance from another credit card interest free for 6 months, during the first month after I activated it. So when my credit card was due, I transferred the balance. I still had to pay for all my purchases, but the transfer was kept separate.
When the six months was up, my line of credit offered me zero interest for three months, on any money I borrowed that month.
But I figured I had already pushed the system as far as I could.
So at the end of two years and seven months, I had earned $400 interest and $40 in cash back, plus points, on my snowmobile.
I could have made it to at least 2 years and 10 months interest free, But I was starting to think I would forget, and miss a payment and I would wreck my credit rating, so I called it quits.
I have had no idea what serious issue to post about today.
But this:
When I say that running MoA is a full time job it raises doubts and I may even get laughed at. But it is. Even when I don’t post.
I have to read, every day, a large number of pieces and/or watch videos to collect new ideas. It takes time to process those into conscious contexts and then those into blog posts.
Today, like every day, I have of course skimmed over of the usual mainstream stuff, NYT and WaPo nonsense, but found little in it to take note of.
I then skimmed through the comments at this blog and cleared up the spam list.
Then I walked through what my various news feeds provide. It is often quite a lot.
Here is what I consumed (read or watched) today and found worthy enough to copy URL, headline and some excerpts.
Middle East:
The World’s Gyre – SCF Biden may see himself needing some ‘grand victory’, as much as does Netanyahu, Alastair Crooke writes.
The Republican Plot Against Donald Trump – American Conservative The inside story of how Congress is pursuing endless war in Ukraine—and trying to stop a Trump election.
That is all I did for the day. It feels like a lot. And that was without writing a real piece for the blog.
Oh, not to forget – I also bought food and prepared a meal for myself.
Later today I will read the Strana.news summary of the day (usually out at 18:00 UTC). At 20:30 UTC I will listen to Dima’s Military Summary (well, at least to the first 10 minutes of it).
Then it will finally be the end of my day.
So what did you do today?
Posted by b on February 12, 2024 at 17:46 UTC | Permalink
There is nothing to fear about China attacking you, or stealing your land or colonising you or bombing you indiscriminately. There is nothing to even fear about China being authoritarian or bullying you or stealing your intellectual property.
But you are right to fear China will learn fast, with work hard, will build the best infrastructure, will send their children to the best school, will work very hard and stay disciplined and whatever you do Chinese can do better, faster and cheaper.
With 1.4 billion people or 4 times the U.S. population, or double the western world, China will overtake you and beat you in everything you do! They cannot be stopped unless you are ready to lose your limbs! China will be wealthier, more successful, more modern, efficient and effective than you.
But you were made to have irrational fears and thoughts to make you forget your failings and the consequences of your over exaggerated expectations of yourself set by your own hubris and xenophobic tendencies that is fanned by western media. It exists everywhere in the west and particularly the Anglophone world.
Let me be honest to you. So that you don’t live under the rock anymore. China has overtaken you in every sense of the world. China is in fact the leader and the most powerful nation now! Never mind the flawed GDP and the self deception. But the good news is China don’t want you dead. China only want to keep selling to you!
It was about 30 years ago, and I was having my car cleaned at a very big car wash. When the cars came out of the wash tunnel, they were placed in one of 5 lines, where men were busily wiping the cars down. When it was done, the guys would wave their towel for you to retrieve your vehicle.
Now these were mostly Hispanic men (it was in So Cal), and most spoke little to no English. My car was in the middle lane. There was a car in front of mine, a luxury make that I can’t remember. The detailer waved me to my car, but I was stuck. The driver (a woman) was inspecting her car, and making another detailer redo where she would point. I am a patient person, but I truly was boxed in and couldn’t move until she did.
She’d lean close and point to another spot. This went on for at least 6 minutes. I was getting pretty annoyed, and finally, on a whim, I pulled out a $10 bill (keep in mind that most tips at that time were between $1–2. I got out of my car, walked over to the hard-working detailer, and handed the 10 spot to him, saying (loud enough for it to be heard by the woman) “Here, that’s for you, because you know that b@#$h won’t be tipping you.” I turned and walked back to my car, to scattered applause from other car owners who had been watching the whole scene.
The detailer quickly pocketed the cash, and the woman got into her car, slammed the door, and took off.
Pasta Fagioli
This classic Pasta e Fagioli is maybe the perfect pantry soup! With canned tomatoes, canned beans and pasta. A bit of pancetta is added, for a salty note and of course, cheese in the form of Parmesan or Pecorino.
Enjoy this hearty, easy pasta fagioli soup for a hearty lunch, or add a crusty bread (or garlic bread) and a salad for a lovely pantry dinner.
pasta fagioli 1200 55
Ingredients
12 ounces Santa Fe chicken sausage, halved lengthwise and sliced
3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup uncooked small seashell pasta
2 cups coarsely chopped zucchini (about 2 small zucchini)
1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup (about 1 1/2 ounces) shredded asiago cheese
Instructions
Step 1: Brown the pancetta or bacon.
Step 2: Add the diced onion and celery and cook until softened.
Step 3: Add the garlic and herbs.
Step 4: Add some tomato paste and cook for another minute.
Step 5: Add the canned tomatoes.
Step 6: Add the rinsed beans.
Step 7: Cook the tomatoes and the beans together for about 10 minutes. *You can make ahead up to this point and refrigerate to finish when ready to eat later.
Step 8: Add the broth.
Step 9: Add the pasta and cook until the pasta is tender, about 10 minutes. Serve immediately.
FAQ
What kind of pasta can I use in this soup? Any small pasta is fine. I’ve used Ditalini pasta here. Small shells, macaroni or even orzo would work as well.
Can I use a different kind of bean? Absolutely, use what you have. Red kidney, navy, great northern or pinto beans would be great options.
Can I use canned whole tomatoes instead of diced? Yes. Just hand crush them before adding to the soup.
What is a Parmesan rind? It’s just the harder, darker outside of a Parmesan wedge. I like to keep the ends in a bag in my fridge for just these uses. If yours doesn’t have a rind, just cut off a chunk of the Parmesan and use that. No fresh Parmesan? Just stir a few Tbsp of grated Parmesan into the soup instead.
Top Tip
I feel like a bit of a broken record, but I’m going to say it again 🙂 Be sure to properly season your soup at the end of cooking. Taste it. If it tastes bland or flat, it needs salt. Some freshly ground pepper is nice, too. Need a touch more oregano? Stir that in at the end as well. And finally, top this soup with shavings of extra Parmesan (vs. grated). The hit of Parmesan is so lovely in this soup. Use your vegetable peeler to shave it on top before serving.
Heat a large saucepan over high heat. Add sausage; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add broth and pasta; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 4 minutes.
Add zucchini and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 2 minutes.
Stir in basil, oregano and beans; cover and simmer for 3 minutes or until pasta and zucchini are tender.
Sprinkle with cheese.
pasta e fagioli process
Yield: 5 servings (serving size: about 1 1/3 cups soup and about 1 tablespoon asiago cheese)
I was the nursing director for two large units at a Level 1 Trauma Center. I was “offered” a wonderful opportunity to move to a newly created Nurse Research position – same pay grade, same salary. Now, I am 100% not a research minded person. I realized that this was a move by Nursing Administration to get me out of the unit director position. Since I was two years away from retirement, I took it.
There was a HUGE going away party since I had been at the hospital for 25 years at that point. Many nurses that I had hired and mentored had moved to other positions, management, education, etc…. The next week, five of the most seasoned nurses transferred to other units in the hospital. A month later, another four left to go traveling and specifically said in their exit interview and on social media that they were leaving because I wasn’t there. It was quite satisfying. I tolerated the position for two years and then I retired. At my retirement party, I looked across the room and realized that almost 100% of the Staff (nursing and others) had been hired by me over the years.
So I would call the exodus of the most experienced nurses – the ones who oriented, mentored, clinical experts, informal leaders – a max exodus.
“Look, kids, I didn’t make this rule, and I think it’s a stupid rule, but I am paid to enforce it, so do me a favor and just go along with it, okay?”
You’d be surprised at how many middle schoolers are receptive to that kind of frankness. Not all of the students… there’s always going to be the kids who like to push boundaries and break rules for the sake of pushing boundaries and breaking rules… but the majority of students are cool with you if you’re cool with them about these things.
The worst “stupid rule” I had to enforce was about seven years ago, when I worked at a school that was on the verge of closing, for a principal that was on the verge of retiring. Her retirement was about a decade too late, I thought. She’d been in education since the 1960s, and expected students to act the same in 2012 as they did back when she first started in the field.
Among the stupid rules I had to enforce:
Absolutely zero talking in the hallway while switching classes. Her office was at the end of the hallway, and she didn’t believe in closing her door for anything. She just expected 150 students aged 11–14 to all go into the hall at the same time, go to their lockers, and go to their next class in complete silence. Teachers had to stand by their doors to enforce this unenforceable stupid rule. We had faculty meetings every week, and almost every week, we were spoken down to about not enforcing the silence in the halls during passing periods. We were enforcing it as best we could. She just didn’t get that students these days don’t have that kind of self control or concern for rules they think are stupid.
All student work had to be in cursive. Even when I was a kid in the 1980s, they didn’t enforce the cursive writing rule. They taught us how to write in cursive in third grade, and by fifth grade, no one cared if we stuck with it. So I didn’t. I struggle to read cursive writing when the students do it. I prefer print. Most of the students preferred to print. But she insisted on everything being in cursive, because that’s how it was when she was a kid.
Faculty may not leave the school during their planning periods or lunch breaks. I once drove down the street to get a coffee during my planning period, and, when I came back, all of the students were in the parking lot for a fire drill. She saw me, and threatened to fire me if I ever did it again. I still did it. I’m an adult, and I can do what I damn well please during my breaks. If principals want to start with the “planning periods must be used only for planning” business, then I’ll just start with the “okay, then I am doing absolutely zero planning or grading at home in the evenings and on the weekends.” The truth is that most teachers… most of them I know, at least… do the majority of their grading and planning at home on the weekends and evenings. There is no way planning periods would cover all of it.
Gonzalo Lira Has Now Died After Trying to Flee Ukraine
A young wife met her husband at the door when he came home from work, “Honey I tried getting something from the shelves in the garage, and everything fell over. Can you clean it up for me please? “ Husband just grunted and said “Who do I look like, Mr. Clean?” Two days later wife is at the door again. :Honey my car is smoking and making weird noises. Can you look at it please? Husband grunted ”Who do I look like, Mr. Goodwrench?” A few days later he is feeling guilty and comes home and announces. “ Hey honey I picked up everything needed to clean the garage and fix your car.” Wife said, Don’t bother it’s taken care of, the man next door did it for me.” Husband, ”Why would he do that?” Wife, I offered to bake him a cake or have sex.” Husband exclaimed. “What kind of cake did you make!’ Wife “ Who do I look like? BETTY CROCKER!
We can’t pleasure ourselves with everyday household items. For us, bananas are only meant to be eaten.
If a man walks behind a woman on the street, she may think he is following her.
You were probably told as a child that real men do not cry.
Men cannot tell their friends how attractive their siblings are, as women can.
It’s morning and you’ve got an awkward boner. You want to pee but you have to wait until the blood changes its route. (Men go to sleep with 206 bones, and when they wake up, they have 207)
The boy must apologize to the girl when their vehicles collide, no matter who is to blame for the accident.
It seems like we’re always being judged on how much money we make.
A man usually doesn’t get proposed to by a woman, but there are a few exceptions.
When you write an answer on Quora and don’t receive the same amount of views, upvotes, and comments as someone of the opposite gender, it’s easy to feel devalued.
Men Use AI To Put Clothes Back On Women! And Women ARE MAD AF
We all pick up bad habits. One of my bad habits (I have many) is that I often swear in English. When I swear, very few people around me understands English, so they do not realize that I am swearing.
Familiarity causes problems.
So I swear at the house. My wife does not like it, but it has become so commonplace that I don’t think about it.
But…
I have a young daughter.
And GULP! she has started to swear! Oh, God no! So I stopped all my swearing completely. But I think the Genie is out of the bottle. And NO, I do not think that it is “cute”. I hate her swearing.
I think that I am handling it fine, and not raising an eyebrow when she says “What the Fuck!” or “that God-damn son of a bitch”, or anything else.
Now, I use the terms… “Jimmy Crickets”, “fiddle-sticks”, and “Gosh and golly”. Alot.
But still…
Don’t let your life change because you have gotten too relaxed and confident. A word to the wise.
Yes, he was. Albert Einstein was notoriously incapable of remaining faithful to one woman. Female beauty was his greatest weakness, and he wasn’t shy or bashful about the fact — he famously explained relativity as “an hour talking to a pretty woman feeling shorter than a minute of having one’s hand on a hot stove”.
image 160
Albert Einstein had mistresses throughout his life. He was unfaithful to his first wife, who was the mother of his three children. He then was unfaithful to his second wife as well, who was also his cousin. The little girl on Einstein’s lap? His adopted granddaughter. Who, as legend has it, may have been an out-of-wedlock daughter fathered by the aging scientist and then adopted by one of his sons to ‘avoid scandal’.
The stereotype we have of Einstein is “somewhat confused, awkward scientist completely obsessed with his work”, but in reality, he was quite socially savvy and quite capable of seducing women, something he did often and ferociously. Women in his life were aware of his proclivities — a great man belongs ‘to the world’, and sharing, as he saw it, was caring.
Some women like their men handsome. Others go for brains. Albert Einstein had no shortage of brains… and no shortage of women in his life. He got around, so to speak, and was sexually active until old age.
I always use my cruise control as I have a heavy foot and without the control would speed without meaning to. I was on my way to church and when I turned off the expressway I stopped for a light. That turned off the cruise control. I was doing 70 in a 35 when I spotted the trouper. I slowed down and pulled over and of course he came up right behind me. The usual “Do you know why I stoped you”. I was totally honest. Explained about my cruise control being off and realized I was speeding the same time I spotted him. He went back to his cruiser and then came up, handed my license back and said, “You haven’t had a speeding ticket in years so I’m just telling you to slow down. Where were you heading anyway?” I said, “Wow, thanks and I was on my way to church just up the road”. Truth.. He smiled and said I should be on my way before any of my friends drive by and see me sitting there. I thanked him again and stayed 3 under the limited the rest of the short drive to church. I have always wondered if it was because I am a little old lady or the fact I was very honest with him. But he saved me a huge fine that day.
The western media is a coordinated propaganda machine mostly own by the far right Neocon group that has a clear agenda to demonised any nation or nations that refused to be submissive and subservient to them. And China and Russia is their key focus.
Do their coordinate their attack on China to slur it, to demonise them, to cast doubts on China, to downplay their achievements and to spew hates on China and the Chinese people. That is simply a fact and a matter of fact that everyone on earth knows except some 5% or so brain dead who blindly follow the western media narratives.
Politically the U.S. is a dead man walking. It has totally lost its plot. It has done so much shit the entire world wants to get as far away from the U.S. as possible. With the exception of US slave vassal states like Germany, Japan and South Korea, US fellow natives slaughterer like Australia, Canada and to some extent New Zealand, its fellow despicable colonial masters like UK, France, Spain, Portugal and Belgium and those nations who loved to poke Russia in the eye and then run to hide under the U.S. skirt Lithuania or Poland!
China has 150–175 nations on earth out of the world’s 195 nations respecting and supporting them regularly versus the above 12–15 nations supporting the U.S. that is the comparison.
Obviously, I mean OBVIOUSLY, they have never been to China and have no idea how fucking enormous it is.
If you hop in a car, and start driving, it will take you days… DAYS… passing huge apartment buildings full of hard working, militarized families, studying… working… training…
image 158
…building after building. Mile after mile. Kilometer after kilometer. Over and over and over.
One enormous giga-complex housing thousands of families… after another… and another… and yet another.
China is HUGE.
Simply enormous.
…
China is not the third world cesspool that the Western “news” says it is. It’s a nation thirty years in the future. It is proud. It is strong. And it is LETHAL.
It is a dragon wearing a cute panda-bear suit.
You all in the West are unaware.
Backwards. Retarded.
Fed garbage; not just figuratively, but literally. Most American doesn’t even know where California is on a map, or how many States there are, or how much 5 + 8 is.
When I say “stupid”.
I mean it.
Meanwhile in China…
I started using facial recognition and QR to pay back in 2013. That was ten years ago. I haven’t touched a coin or paper money in all that time. Using paper money is so 19th century.
My car is electric and it talks to me, and only turns on when my voice recognition software allows it to.
It self parks, customizes the interior with a rotation of interior motifs, plays my morning jazz tunes, and gives me a nice warm back rub as it links to the toll road and carries me off to my office.
In my office, my staff brings me my coffee and turns on my systems for me. Sometimes they might have a kid or two with them, being sick or what not. No worries, though, they are their next to their parents doing their studies next to the desks.
Lunch is paid for all my staff. It’s one of the state mandated laws, and after they eat a huge healthy cafeteria meal of fruit, vegetables, meat and fish, they go take their normal naps.
…
That’s just the first four hours of a typical day in China.
…
There’s a bunch of dunder-heads that think that the USA can invade China with D-Day style Naval assaults, and the threat of nuclear war.
Troll?
Moron?
Buffoon?
Ignoramus?
They believe that proud and powerful aircraft carrier will lay off the coast of China and launch cascade after cascade of fighters and bombers into China.
They think that stealthy submarines will sneak up and start bombing China. All this unopposed, and the Chinese will take it. Smile and say “… can I have another, master?”
They believe that the proud troops will be easily resupplied by Australia, Japan, Korea and Philippines. After all, that is the on-going American construction activity. Billets. Barracks. Supply depots, and large investments in bordellos for employment for the locals.
Fantasies. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.
NEVER going to happen.
…
I am here to tell you that World War started in 2008.
Oh, sure, the elements started far earlier. But historians will write that the date of the war began was in 2008.
image 157
It peaked in 2020 with the bio-weapon(s) that the USA launched on China during CNY (John Bolton, and Mike Pompeo brilliance there), and fell back towards conventional war with the NATO conflict began in Ukraine.
It hasn’t gone that great though.
Wars don’t go to plan, and this crop of brain-dead, pathological psychopathic oligarchs are dangerously deluded.
Take Ukraine. Ah. The “war in Ukraine”.
What they mean is the unreported hostilities used to counter the Russian “special military operation”.
Over 3000 American soldiers (with countless more NATO gents) are dead. Just because the American “news” isn’t reporting it, doesn’t mean that it is not going on.
Dead Americans are all over the place. I have photos and photos. Movies and movies. But if I put them up, they get pulled. It’s “news you can use”, but that is bad for the Westerners to see.
Good men. Soldiers. American men.
Dead.
Over what? And why?
image 156
It is sad.
I cry for the widows at Fort Lenard Wood.
image 155
As that phase winds down with a European collapse (economic, social, industrial, and military) a new phase opened up.
All to schedule; a disruption of the middle eastern shipping lanes.
Ah… that’s gonna teach China a lesson!
In their wet dreams, perhaps. China is about 3450 steps ahead of the rest of the world. They know what underwear that you will wear two days from now. Long before you even decide to put some on. That’s how advanced China is.
This idea that “China can be isolated” has failed, and is bound to fail, as the Chinese BRI are now proving how far-sighted and successful the rerouting of shipping avenues have proven themselves.
No wonder both Russia and China are screaming forward; an economic gallop. While the collective “West” is mired in inefficiency, lunacy, and insanity.
None of which is being reported in the “news”.
Here’s some more American troops in Ukraine…
image 154
Meanwhile…
We are watching the United States collapse in front of our very eyes.
After all, Texas has laid forth the reasons for departure from the Federal monstrosity.
And look at all the “steam” that it is gathering…
image 153
And yeah.
The USA has this dream of opening up a long-desired war in the Pacific over China. Troops, material and weaponry are flooding toward the Philippines, Japan and Australia. All ready to die for “democracy”.
Whatever the Hell that means.
image 152
A rally-cry of the moronic who still believe that “their vote counts” and that American culture (woke, red-pill, open marriage, LGBQ+) is worthy of preserving.
Woo! Woo! I’m gonna kill Commies for all that free gay sex!
And when that day comes… “death by cop” will be experienced in America. Up and down the coasts. As the United States will be bludgeoned by many, many, MANY people; and their nations. People who have been ridiculed and marginalized over the decades of pompous, elitist wars and flouting.
America is NOT respected in the world.
It is despised.
It is no mistake the distain that the illegal immigrants show towards American. And they are the polite ones. The USA is poised to get a much-needed Ass-Kicking at a scale of ferocity that is off the scale; in both ferocity, and in long-duration and everlasting pain.
And the United States has lost.
It just hasn’t been reported on yet.
Look around yourselves. The USA has no downtowns. No factories. No hard workers. No functioning anything. It’s just on the long slow crumble…
At this point in time, “war against China” will not be needed.
I was swimming in the hotel swimming pool and this lonely 12 year old girl came to swim. I immediately swam to the other end. She just kept following me, and talking and saying her parents were busy, and didn’t have any time to spend with her, and she was in a strange city.
I was really really getting uncomfortable, she wasn’t doing anything wrong, and if her parents or my wife were there, I wouldn’t have been near as uncomfortable, but would still be worried.
I eventually left her in the pool by herself.
When I was living in the city, the neighbors kids, probably 5 and 6, would come out and wait by the fence for me to walk to work, and I would stop and talk to them for 5 minutes, always staying back at least 3 feet from the fence, in my own yard.
They were such cute kids. But I hardly knew the parents.
When I walk down an almost empty street, if there is a woman in front of me, I either fall further back, or speed up and pass her when there are people around. I can’t just walk at my own pace.
You have to avoid anything that looks vaguely inappropriate, even if you are doing nothing wrong.
Wife Thought Husband Was A Doormat Until He Showed EVERYONE Graphic Evidence Of Her “Adventures”
I was with a group of people who where trying out clay pigeon shooting, and were standing around in groups of 3 or 4 people.
When it was your time, you were called forward and given the shotgun, shown how to load it and where the off-catch was. Then you just needed to put the shotgun against your shoulder and call out for the pigeons to be released. Nice and simple, and the trainer was standing to the left of the shooter.
Until we had a girl who, having loaded the shotgun, had a problem and needed to talk to the trainer. So, she needed to turn around and decided to turn to her right, with the shotgun pointed horizontally in front of her. Of course, that meant that she was then pointing a loaded shotgun at everyone else in the group as she turned around.
Apart from me, no-one in the group noticed what was happening. I was, obviously, flat on the ground before she reached my position. End of shooting for her.
You know guys, sometimes I get the biggest belly-laugh when I read some of the answers here. Either they are terribly deluded, or they are immensely ignorant.
…
Here’s a REAL answer.
First of all, let’s throw out some FACTS to “set the table”, so to speak.
China has the largest Navy in the world.
China’s navy is not spread out all over the place (like the USN), but are concentrated at the projected battle fields.
China’s navy is also the oldest navy in the world. It was operating CENTURIES before the first organized navy in Europe.
China’s navy has been restructured, and operates NEW ships with cutting-leading-edge systems and technology. Many of which are unique and unknown to the West.
Were a war to occur between the USA and China, a Naval war would be the lest of the worries of the American “leadership”. Economic, social, and financial collapse would all be in free-fall.
But, let’s answer this question.
Can the United States Navy sink the Chinese Navy?
Here’s my answer…
Yes, the USN has the ability to destroy vessels, aircraft, bases, and people of the PLAN.
It is highly unlikely, however, that they will be able to completely destroy the PLAN.
It is likely that in the process of this destruction, that the USN would suffer great losses in men, material, weapons, and vessels.
Both sides will likely take great losses.
But this is 2024. China’s city-destroying munition capabilities are global. The consequence of a United States (or proxy) war against China will result in the people of the attacking nation being hurt.
Thus…
American major cities will also become targets for destruction.
…
Remember, boys and girls, China is a peaceful nation…
…until it isn’t.
…
Never forget the great losses that the United States incurred the last time they fought the Chinese.
Look at the BIG PICTURE. Not the tactical issues, but the strategic issues. Then faced with this reality, project the highest probability outcomes.
Three days! In fact, they fired the CEO that fired me, then called and asked if I would consider coming back. I said, no. They then offered me a contractor position at over $200 an hour, I still said, no thank you. They ended up hiring someone nearly twice my salary and that person quit within 90 days. Although still happily unemployed, I never considered going back. Two weeks after my severance pay ran out, I found another job and was very happy. More pay, less stress, and much better management. I was lucky! My previous company, no so much. They tried contacting me a few times for questions, and I gave them info if I could but I never did any work for them again. I followed the recently fired CEO on LinkedIn and till this day, she is still unemployed. I sure hope she learned her lesson about hiring friends with less skills to replace experienced workers. It may not have been her best plan for success. Just about all the management were inexperienced friends of the CEO. Of course, many were let go once she was fired. The company is near bankruptcy and most of the good talent started to leave. It is sad just how much damage a CEO can do to a company when they put their own interest first.
second class life in MOSCOW! better than the WEST?
Examples of pointless human cruelty are, sadly, boundless. This is a shocking image and I apologize in advance for sharing it, but here’s one that truly got to me… in Belarus, 1918, after WWI had already ended, the brave Russian officer Rosinski was captured by the Bolsheviks.
image 159
The Bolsheviks tortured the captain, likely to get information out of the man, which he bravely refused to give. After that, they simply continued with the torture out of some sick sense of innate cruelty. He was ‘the enemy’ and he was at their mercy, so they brutally murdered their captive.
The brave captain was emasculated. And anally impaled on a tree branch. All this while still alive.
Alfred Savoir, the man who published the picture and was an eye witness to the death of the brave military officer, described “M. B.”, who ordered this atrocity, thus:
I knew him not long ago; he was a charming teenager with an ironic wit and joker. He was rubbed with French culture, he admired the novels of Barres and he quoted willingly poets that I did not know quite. He was also a great dancer, a great flirteur and a good bridger. He often came to Paris, and he amused himself.
Today, this bourgeois benevolent and skeptical, this happy boy is impaling people. Understand who can!
This is a perfect example of just how cruel people can get. And also, its a perfect example of the very worst treatment, torture and humiliation a human being can be forced to endure.
What shocked Savoir the most when seeing the scene, wasn’t just the act of cruelty itself, but the utter indifference of the crowd:
“In this inhuman document you will find something more terrible than torture, it is the attitude of the crowd. Look at these figures: they are bored! A horse falling Avenue de l’Opera provokes in the Parisian public more reflexes, more comments. Here, what placidity, what indifference!”
Basically, the Communist soldiers overseeing the brutal torture of the prisoner of war in their hands, had seen similar horrendous tortures taking place before their very eyes. Rosinski, chillingly enough, wasn’t even the first, or the worst of their victims.
Needless to say, the image and story have been etched in my mind forever. Why are humans this way? Simply because they can be. You give a person the power over life and death, and you’d be surprised by how even the most polite and milquetoast person turns into a psychopath practically overnight under the right circumstances…
Pictures of Noah’s Ark That Are Completely Real — If They Happened Today
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The classic cosmic do-it-yourself project, Noah’s Ark, is probably well known to all of you. In it, God tells Noah to “build a giant ark, grab two of every animal, and let’s turn this planet into a giant water park.” But what if this tale involved a common man who was having financial difficulties today?
It all began in the 1990’s under President Bill Clinton. By off-shoring manufacturing, and converting to finance and a Managerial economy, the GDP reflects a measure of how wealthy the top 1% is in a given nation.
Elements of society that generate profit for very wealthy people, for large corporations, and for the government are measured int his calculus. Things that matter to them; things that generate money for them, are what is measured.
The collectable tax base. Higher taxes = higher GDP.
Annual liquidity of the currency of the nation. Less savings = higher GDP.
Vacant buildings; a potential to be rented out for profit. Empty building = GDP.
Income from tariffs for inbound imported items. Add tariffs = Higher GDP.
Population. More people = Higher GDP.
Income from duties; on inbound products. More duties = Higher GDP.
Services; potential or realized. Includes babysitting, and waitress activity.
The success of the stock market. Direct correlation.
Inflation. The higher the inflation; the higher the GDP.
Personally, I think this is a Ponzi scheme of great deception. As it holds no advantage to a business owner, or an investor in determination of value, gain or loss of anything. It is just a rather useless measure that is used by the “news media” to convince dissatisfied people that they are happy and doing well.
This isn’t my idea.
This is what is discussed in the most prestigious video with the great economics professors of the West; Michael Hudson, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen.
She took one of my team members out for drinks with some other colleagues and didn’t invite me. I didn’t mind at all at the time because people form friendships at work and it’s fine not to always invite everyone. But I did think it was a bit odd.
It turned out that this was the beginning of an elaborate campaign to try to get my job. She tried to undermine me with my staff, my peers and my management as well as my stakeholders. She blamed me for things going wrong, lied about things I had said/not said, and tried to take my work off me. She even tried to tell my lesbian staff member that I was homophobic.
She wasn’t subtle. And because I prioritise people management and relationships at work, it got her nowhere. I got my revenge a bit later when asked to review a crucial report she had produced. I eviscerated it, quietly suggested to my manager that if she wasn’t capable of such basic work, and couldn’t write grammatically correct English, perhaps her contract shouldn’t be renewed.
She never spoke to me again, and left shortly after.
When my wife and I were first married we would frequently buy coupon books that were put out by charities that gave discounts to go to different restaurants. We really enjoyed this because it gave us a chance to go around see different restaurants but also to see different parts of the city where we lived.
One night at about 7:00 around the Christmas holidays we went to a small Mexican restaurant that was in a nearby town. We went in and there were very few people in the restaurant and it was very small with only four or five tables. We were seated by a young girl who looked to be about 11 or 12 years old. She greeted us politely and gave us menus. She came back to the table and took our orders and my wife and I were able to sit and have a nice quiet conversation.
When the food came the young girl and her younger brother who appeared to be about eight years old carried the food to the table, expertly placed it in front of us and brought us our non-alcoholic drinks. A little while later she came back and asked us how the food was and we told her that it was very good.
At this point we we were puzzled because they seemed to be the only two in the restaurant. I got up and walked to the door of the kitchen and saw only the two children working hard as they prepared food at the stove.
So when he brought the bill I asked the young girl where the adults were who owned the restaurant. She explained to me that her mother and father had gone out for the evening because it was near the Christmas holidays and they hadn’t had much time together.
She and her brother had cooked dinner for us, served it and also accurately handled the bill at the end of the dinner. She even gave us each a piece of candy and wished us a merry Christmas.
My wife and I were both stunned as we left and talked about these two little children who prepared and served such a good dinner. This became a subject that we talked about for years.
Walter White’s 5 Most Badass Moves | Breaking Bad ( Bryan Cranston)
I would like to start this by saying I am an American who has lived in the UK for 38 years, worked in 12 countries and visited 43 countries. My Bachelors is a BSc (Economics) in International Relations.i will try to be as unbiased as possible.
The experiences are very different. Jingoism and patriotic brainwashing takes place in many countries, but honestly, my life in a Californian elementary school had more in common with China and North Korea than most of Europe. Pledging the flag every day and the teaching of American exceptionalism. Yes, the is much to be proud of in the US from the National Park movement to flight, amazing manufacturing leap forwards to putting man on the moon. However there is much that is not taught:
The natural resources of the US created great wealth, the founding fathers were largely gentry land owners (and mainly slave owners). Washington and Jefferson’s families have had huge estates in Northamptonshire England, and went to the US as it was not enough for them.
Slavery – this is taught now. It made a huge difference in wealth creation. Meanwhile most of Europe, slavery was illegal (yes I know rich brits and Dutch owned slave trade companies and the abolition movement pressured hard in Europe to stop it, and did a generation before the US Civil War.
Robber Barons exploited the poor in the South (and the North) and were even celebrated for living the American dream. The union movement in the early 20th century started to counter this. But the fear of the “red menace” largely squashed it in the post war years.
The 2 world wars decimated Europe, WWII especially. So America, who’s infrastructure was largely unaffected profited well as decolonisation took place and Europe rebuilt. The balance of power changed.
The dollar became king. America was seen as the land of opportunity. But really the mind set of Puritan settlements seen as radical nut jobs in Europe, coupled with the propaganda of the revolution (remember the red coats protected shipping lanes from pirates and also tried to defend the colonies from the indigenous population, that is not cheap and the tax on tea was to help pay for that) and everything else led to small government, frontier spirit and let’s be honest, exploitation of immigrants and the working class. The country was new, so yes, opportunity was there.
But now, so many people have to work hard to feed their families. One sickness can lead to bankrupt and homelessness. People are largely ruled by fear and capitalism. It is sad, but true.
Now compare this to the European experience. The American revolution showed Europe a route for change. And revolutions took place through the late 18th and through the 19th centuries. But it was to workers and farmers that led the charge, not the upper echelons of society like America. Strikes and worker mobilisation and supportive societies led to stopping children in factories and up chimneys. It led to rights for the workers. In the tin mines of Cornwall, in the early 1800’s, the average life expectancy was 23. People rose up to fight for their rights. And they were given, after long hard fights.
Attitudes were different after the world wars. The populations lost so many compared to America (of course the US involvement, where my Grandmother’s first husband was killed on the beaches of Normandy) led Europe to be thankful, but it was nothing of the scale in Europe. Most people wanted (and want) a better quality of life. Socialised medicine systems like the NHS were established. Worker rights improved further to encourage them to work in different industries (the UK encouraged people from India, the Caribbean and Africa to come and work here). There are similar stories in mainland Europe. We saw that by having these things in place, people became happier and more productive.
I know no European who really considers health insurance before moving jobs. It is not a thing. I do know many who like packages where they can take less pay for even more leave.
I now work in the NHS. I have 31 days off a year as paid vacation and 8 bank holidays. I work as hard as I have in other countries as my American work ethic was drummed into me since childhood. But I have travelled the world, taken time to see friends and family, indulged in hobbies, been to 90% of my kids’ school events and relaxed when we have had a hard time. I am told off if I go too long without a break or don’t use my allocation. I am told off if I am seen emailing when I am off.
Between social health care and annual leave I believe I experience a far greater level of freedom now than I did in the States. And I really wish my fellow Americans could experience it too.
First time in Chinese new year CCTV performance, the PLA: “winning 决胜” with island landing: that shows Beijing determination towards Taiwan reunification. This is unusual as traditionally, Chinese new year celebrations are without 🔥. Enjoys the 3.27minutes video :
Over 35 years ago, our small daughter had a fairly young (16–17yo) babysitter while I worked at a part time job in a school. Obviously the babysitter was not required during school holidays, so the babysitter, who I will call Marjorie, decided on the spur of the moment to hop on an interstate bus and have her own little holiday.
Before school recommenced, Marjorie came to me looking embarrassed, and said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t babysit for you any more.” I was a bit blindsided as I knew she hadn’t just found a new job or anything like that, so I asked what was the matter. With much embarrassment, Marjorie told me that on her return to our small town, she found that there were rumours circulating to the effect that her sudden departure on her holiday was because I had come home unexpectedly to find her in bed with my husband.
Talk about making a story out of nothing! (I should note that at another time when my husband went on leave from his job at the same time his company car broke down and had to be towed to the city for repairs, the rumours circulated that his absence was due to his crashing the company car and breaking his leg 🙄). Apart from it being totally untrue, it was insulting to my husband to insinuate that he would be having an affair with a barely legal teenager. And poor Marjorie, who was a very sweet young lady, was mortified.
So I said, “If you stop babysitting for us, it will reinforce the belief that there is truth to this disgusting rumour. What we need to do is to go shopping together in the main street and have lunch, then for you to keep babysitting to demonstrate that nothing has happened.”
When I was a young boy, my parents warned me to stay away from a particular house on the West side of town. My parents would warn “They want to be left alone, so leave them be. Do not go up there, and do not provoke them. Remember they have guns.”
Why ask questions that you know the answer to?
What are you, a sadist? Asking the same old questions day in, and day out. Hoping, praying, waiting, for some other tidbit of information that would make the reality easier to digest?
On paper, in theory, all of the 11 aircraft carriers that the United States fields (10 Nimitz and 1 Ford), could be destroyed by Chinese conventionally-armed DF-26 “carrier Killer” missiles. Given the flight times for the latest upgrades for the hyper-velocity versions of the DF-26 anticipated stopwatch from launch to destruction is within five minutes within the 4000 Km range.
image 151
They are very effective.
And are designed to completely destroy Aircraft carriers.
China has a few thousand of them. Against what? 15 aircraft carriers.
From time to time, China takes them out as a warning to overly aggressive American neocons that are getting “too big for their britches”.
These units are not the ONLY weapons systems that are designed to destroy carrier flotillas, islands, and large bases like in Guam or Hawaii. There are many others. It’s just that the DF-26 is particularly good at it. Given the enormous numbers of launchers, and the insane levels of stockpiled munitions, one can only assume that all targets from land bases to submarines will be the prey for this missile.
The DF-26 appears to be designed specifically for high precision conventional strikes. The most likely target for the DF-26 missile would be Guam going by the range of the missile. Given the nature of the targets in Guam, which are mostly air bases (Guam has two large air bases where, as revealed by satellite imagery, B-52 squadrons are deployed), the DF-26 might be carrying specially designed cluster based bomb-lets to cause maximum damage to bombers spread out on the tarmac. In addition, there could be a specially designed deep penetration warhead for Hardened and Deeply Buried Targets (HDBTs).
Now, for the longest time, the USN and the ONI have been very quiet about the massive exponential increase in Chinese weapon lethality, survival-ability, and technology. The reports have been duly logged. The studies have been gamed out. The results and conclusions have been presented, filed and forgotten.
But it has only been during the last year that the USN admirals have become increasingly frenzied when dealing with hawkish Administration and Senate members. These people are not taking “no” for an answer, and want to find some edge; some justification, to “pull off” a “successful” war against China.
So, sometime, within the last nine months or so, the ONI through a number of key admirals, laid out the reality to the neocon “war hawks”.
The Chinese “just ran rings around us,” said former Joint Chiefs Vice Chair Gen. John Hyten in one after-action report
. “They knew exactly what we were going to do before we did it.”
Dozens of versions of the above war-game scenario have been enacted over the last few years, most recently
in April by the House Select Committee on competition with China. And while the ultimate outcome in these exercises is not always clear — the U.S. does better in some than others — the cost is. In every exercise the U.S. uses up all its long-range air-to-surface missiles in a few days, with a substantial portion of its planes destroyed on the ground. In every exercise the U.S. is not engaged in an abstract push-button war from 30,000 feet up like the ones Americans have come to expect since the end of the Cold War, but a horrifically bloody one.
And that’s assuming the U.S.-China war doesn’t go nuclear.
“The thing we see across all the wargames is that there are major losses on all sides. And the impact of that on our society is quite devastating,” said Becca Wasser, who played the role of the Chinese leadership in the Select Committee’s wargame and is head of the gaming lab at the Center for a New American Security.
“The most common thread in these exercises is that the United States needs to take steps now in the Indo-Pacific to ensure the conflict doesn’t happen in the future.
We are hugely behind the curve. Ukraine is our wakeup call. This is our watershed moment.”
So…
Please give me a break. Stop asking for answers that you do not want to hear.
If the United States drops one bullet inside of China, and Taiwan is China, the entire USN gets sunk. And the American losses in the first two hours will be absolutely horrific.
Finally, keep in mind that the limitations of the DF-26 (4,000 km) represents just a tiny portion of the massively lethal military onslaught that the China is ready and willing to unleash upon the United States and it’s idiotic “allies”. I suggest the Mr. DF-41 educate you all on what will happen to American and European cities. And lets not forget the up front and personal Type 094 or Jin class submarines.
China Launched a new Generation of Fighting Robots that Shocked the World
I’ve been fortunate so far in avoiding most scams. But a recent incident is worth noting. The driver side window was coming off the track in my wife’s Corolla. I took the vehicle to a Toyota dealership. They diagnosed the problem as a bent window regulator. The diagnosis cost nearly $100. But the repair would cost an additional $500. This did not seems right to me, so I declined. A bit of research on YouTube led me to purchase the part for $50. I saved an additional $50 money by purchasing a window regulator without the motor, then just transferred the motor from the stock unit. The most relevant aspect is that I was able to complete the entire repair in well under 1 hour. It was straightforward, and it worked perfectly. Charging $600 for the job is a scam – period.
In retrospect, I doubt the repair tech ever removed the door panel. Since this incident, I take my vehicles to a nearby independent shop that has earned my respect. Furthermore, I regularly reference YouTube for guidance in making minor repairs myself.
Women know but still won’t change, they just demand men accept their damage.
I had a young man who worked for me, quite a few years back, for about 6 months. He was constantly late to work which use to annoy me no end.
When staff come to work late on more than one occasion, I sit them down and have a chat. I let them know that I have noticed that they are late and that it makes me feel bad. I feel bad because it tells me that they don’t want to be there. So I ask them if that’s true and if I can do anything to improve this.
Every time I have this conversation it has never been said to me that they don’t like the job or don’t want to be there. So I continue with the reality that if I don’t insist upon them being at work on time it has the potential to spread to all the other employees and I can’t have that happening. I ask that they be mindful of the wider implications of being late and to make sure it isn’t a habit.
So this is how it went with this young man except he continued to come in late. My conversations gradually changed from nice to demanding to threatening him with losing his job if he kept it up.
Sure enough he again came in late,again, and I fired him for it. He was shocked and couldn’t understand why and literally said this golden nugget to me. “Why? I haven’t been late since the last time!”
In Australia the industrial relations law at the time allowed me to fire any employee, with no written warnings, if they had been with the company less than a year and the company employed lease than 15 people. This being the case I was well within my rights to fire him without a formal process.
A few weeks after his termination I am served with papers informing me that a wrongful termination complaint has been filed against me and I have to appear before a tribunal. Great!
In his filing he lied about his start date and lied about the size of my company and the number of employees. I had to prove otherwise and sent this documentation into the tribunal along with why he was fired prior to the hearing. It was work I shouldn’t have had to do but it was not too onerous.
I wrongly assumed the tribunal would throw the case out based on the evidence I gave them and the lack of evidence he gave, but no, it went ahead anyway.
He and his representatives – by the way, I was not allowed representation – talked about his work and why he shouldn’t have been sacked and how bad an employer I was, this carried on for about 15 minutes and was mostly untrue.
When my turn came I declined to talk about him, his work or say anything negative. I told the tribunal it wouldn’t serve any positive purpose talking about his work. I simply addressed the two key pieces of evidence that allowed me to fire him with no come back.
The tribunal then separated us both to speak with us separately. I was told by them they could tell I was a good employer by what I said and how I didn’t say anything negative about him. They said I had done nothing wrong and asked if I would consider reversing my decision to fire him and let him resign instead.
I resisted this as that wasn’t how it happened but relented after further pressure from the tribunal.
The whole thing, in my mind, was him deliberately wasting my time so he could make me pay for having fired him. It’s possible he was after a payout too but the way the tribunal saw things it was obvious he couldn’t succeed with that.
For those who will feel the need to side with the employee because all employers are money hungry, slave driving mongrels and want to leave me some comments.
Know this:
He never rang to say he was going to be late. He was at the gym prior to coming to work. His work was not good when he was there. He was late on more than 10 occasions. I also asked his supervisor to talk to him about being late. He never once offered to make up the time and was very quickly out the door at days end. He also never asked to vary his hours either.
So let’s begin by by prefacing this saying this happened to by my god-daughter’s mother. I had known this lady for over 24 years at the time. I was the one person that she called when she needed help, a ride to work, grocery stores planning her money, and things like that. So I didn’t think twice, when she asked to borrow my extra truck for awhile. So I’m thinking that she’s only wanted to be able to do couple things for a week or so, but NO. She ends up keeping it for nearly a year, didn’t change the oil change when I told her that she needed to after keeping it more than 5 months. But she did get an front end alignment, then she bugged me about getting her money back for it so much, I just said f*¢£ it. I ended up showing her to continue to drive the truck just about a years time. Finally she calls me and tells me I can come and pick it up cause she was moving to different house. I go to get it and find out that the only reason she was returning it was the engine had messed up, and needed fixing.
So I she called me up to tell me that I can have the truck back, but it going to need some fixing up. And just to make herself look better, she calls a mechanic, to diagnose the problem. He dies and she even arranges for him to fix it. But he has never fixed it or returned the truck. So far forward two years and she is asking to borrow the other car I had bought to replace truck, plus loan her several hundred dollars. She even tried get her daughter to sweet talk me into give her what she wants. I didn’t give in and told her that I just didn’t haveit then. No darn way I was going to help her out anymore after she messed up my truck.
May be because the “some people” is indeed 87% of the world call the Global South! And maybe because those people has intelligence, you don’t! You thought sucking up to the U.S. and helping them stay in denial is great.
Oh by the way the rest of the 13% most are coerce into saying US is great, some are forced to do, the rest are wishful that US is strong! A bankrupt nation with a million homeless with 35 trillion dollars debts is anything but strong!
Tagliatelle with Gorgonzola Sauce
blue cheese pasta 10
Ingredients
25g/1 ounce/2 tablespoons butter, + extra for tossing the pasta
225g/8 ounces Gorgonzola cheese, divided
150ml/1/4 pint/2/3 cup double or whipping cream
30ml/ 2 tablespoons dry vermouth
5ml/ 1 teaspoon cornflour
15ml/1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
450g/1 pound tagliatelle
Salt and ground black pepper
blue cheese pasta 8
Instructions
Melt butter in a heavy saucepan ( it needs to be thick based to prevent the cheese from burning).
Stir in 175g/6 ounces crumbled gorgonzola cheese and stir over a gentle heat for about 2 to 3 minutes until melted.
Whisk in the cream, vermouth and cornflour.
Add the sage; season. Cook, whisking, until the sauce boils and thickens.
Boil the pasta in plenty of salted water according to the instructions on the packet.
Drain well and toss with a little butter.
Reheat the sauce gently, whisking well.
Divide the pasta among 4 serving bowls, top with the sauce and sprinkle over the remaining crumbled cheese.
Interview to Tucker Carlson – Kremlin.ru, Feb 9 2024 Vladimir Putin answered questions from Tucker Carlson, a journalist and founder of Tucker Carlson Network.
> Russia is said to weaponize everything. The position of China is not (yet) seen in military terms. The emphasis is on economic competition. Any undeniable Chinese achievement must be declared to have been a bad investment. The directive thus reads:
“When writing about China’s achievements – question their purported cost.”
But we will be very polite if you’re 1) not that brainwashed and 2) reasonable.
Positive reports about China are rare to be seen in American media, you don’t think it’s strange.
Posts revealing the facts behind your propaganda on Tweeter/X or Facebook got deleted, you don’t think it’s strange.
Chinese users were banned on social media for no reason, you don’t think it’s strange.
Chinese quorans are upset and disappointed about this, because no matter how detailed we tried to prove China is not what you thought, what replies I frequently received is: it’s China’s propaganda.
OK, fine, whatever.
Several days ago, I met a guy here, his argument is, China DID genocide Uyghurs, because he has evidences. I checked his evidences only to find they are reports on some mainstram media.
Firstly I told him, although those reports had “revealed” some CCP documents, but it is about the vocational education records (background information: Chinese farmers do not own large peice of land, so they are not able to be rich on their small piece of land due to huge polulation, and they usually don’t have chances to work in cities due to their economic status), and this is a proverty-eradication program initiated by government. However, MSM like NYT took it as an evidence of “forced labour”, LMAO, this program is nation wide, not just in Xinjiang but to all Chinese in lower income levels. Obviously he didn’t know this background.
He said although he can’t read Chinese, he can verify the information via translation.
Then I told him 1) what you can verify is the translation, not the truth, 2) this is called selective appropriation , translation usually used to project negative images in news reports, these are academic conclusion in communication studies and I have a degree in this area.
He said he can’t verify my education background.
Then I suggested him to read some of the leading scholars in this area.
This is just a simple version of what happened.
The fact is, during the course, I’m annoyed by his stubbornness and arrogance, and his attitude rejecting any polite argument, then I lost control, calling him brainwashed, stupid, uneducated.
See, this is a typical case of Chinese quorans being “strangely aggressive”.
This is in the era when computers broke the $1,000 price so a lot of people with limited skills were getting them.
At that time, I made PC clones, and sold/serviced them (and any other brands) in the local area. Think: small town.
The PCs we sold were all with home delivery and setup. That saved so much hassle (for us and our clients). At least when we left they could dial up and get online and surf the internet. Usually! One client it just wouldn’t work. Wrong password error no matter how many times he tried.
Finally, we got the ISP to tell what password he was trying to use. Let’s say it was ABC, the correct one. When we setup it up with logged in fine. Saved the password. So all he had to do was click connect.
But what he did was add ABC to the password field. So his first attempt to login was with ABCABC then ABCABCABC. Each time he tried he just appended his correct password onto a long string of correct passwords.
Computer were new… that is an easy thing to do. And the in home setup and service got us past a lot of those kinds of issues.
It wasn’t uncommon when at someone’s house for service (not a new one) the client would want me to clean up the hard disk. Kinda like go through their folders and ask “do you want this?” and if not click delete.
Sometimes they would mention it would be best to avoid a specific folder or so.
So, this guy asks me to clean up his folders…. and we’re going through one by one. Now, I am not a prude and could careless if you have porn on your computer.
But, I click a folder and the screen fills with adult images…. of my client sitting next to me and others some of whom I recall knowing! Now, that is really something I don’t want to see! I think my client was also a little more than embarassed.
The Spiritual Connection of Cats | Why Did GOD put a CAT in your life ?
When I was in college I used to wear two particular hats. Syracuse was a cold, snowy place. With wind, rain, ice and snow. And wearing a hat and scarf was mandatory.
Today, I just want to tell you all about these particular hats.
Both were real leather. Most hats are made out of other materials, but both of these hats were made out of leather. One was a brown cowboy hat. It looked a lot like the one that Don Williams wore…
The other hat was a replica confederate soldiers cap.
I loved wearing it, and so many people complemented me on wearing it.
2024 02 10 12 38
In today’s hyper-polarized woke society, wearing it might end up getting me shot. But the 1970’s were a different time, and I loved wearing it. I had long hair, and often wore either a combat parka, or a leather jean jacket (with a fluorescent orange hoodie underneath.) .
The last thing that was stolen from me didn’t have a great deal of monetary value. Some, if you are a collector. The last thing that was stolen from me was an old hubcap off my grandpa’s ancient Chevrolet pickup truck. I’m still sour over it.
I live on part of what was my grandpa’s old farm. There is old stuff all over this place. In the outbuildings, in the barn, in the cellar and wash house you will find old things. Old tools, old bottles, there are a couple of wine casks from when my mother was a child and her daddy had a still hidden out in the pasture. Lots of old farm implements sitting around.
This stuff is treasure to me. I love nostalgic stuff. I’m fascinated by old items. What looks like junk to some looks like treasure to me.
One day, I was poking around in an old shed, and found that old hubcap. I set it aside and made a mental note to bring it to my house. As I was leaving the shed, I noticed some broken glass on the ground. So I picked up the glass and put it in that old hubcap. From time to time another piece of glass would surface, and I just put it all in that old hubcap. It was out there in that shed with glass in it for a few years, but I knew it would be there when I wanted it.
Then one day about a month ago, I noticed the hubcap was missing. The glass was all over the ground and the hubcap was just gone. I asked my dad about it and also my nephew, and they don’t know anything about it… They are the only two people who have been around, to the best of my knowledge.
Now here is the thing. This is way out in the boonies. People don’t just wander around our property. I would never have dreamed of anything going missing from this place. But my hubcap is still gone.
Like I said, some people will wonder why I’m worked up over an old hubcap. It’s because I have a collection of things that belonged to my grandpa, and because I learned how to drive in that old chevy truck the hubcap belonged to.
Also, it frosts my butt that someone just picked it up, dumped out the glass, and walked away with it. Who would do that?
I have my suspicions. But I will never know for sure. You can bet, I will take care to protect my treasures a little bit better from here on out. And I will watch the suspicious one like a hawk from now on too. Just in case.
Pasta with Three Cheeses (Pasta al Tre Formaggi)
2024 02 10 12 19
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 cups milk
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Fontina or mozzarella cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Gruyere or Swiss cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 cups (10 ounces) uncooked egg noodles
3 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
1 tablespoon butter
Instructions
Heat 2 tablespoons butter in 2-quart saucepan over low heat until melted. Blend in flour, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until smooth and bubbly; remove from heat. Gradually stir in milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir in cheeses; keep warm over low heat.
Cook noodles as directed; drain. Alternate layers of noodles and cheese mixture in ungreased 2-quart casserole. Stir bread crumbs and 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat until crumbs are toasted; sprinkle over noodles.
Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F until bubbly, about 20 minutes.
My GF Had A BREAKDOWN After The Open Relationship She Wanted Backfired
Flying back from Mallorca on Jet2, the pilot said on the intercom:
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I have some good news and bad news. The good news is that we’re ready early and we’ve made it with plenty of time for our departure slot. The bad news is that unfortunately it seems the Spanish air traffic controllers have decided to walk out in solidarity with striking French controllers so we currently have a 2 hour wait. However, to ease the boredom, I’ll step out of the cockpit and you can all come up, sit in the pilot’s chair and be shown around by the first officer who’ll answer any questions you have”
The second I saw him come out of the cockpit I sprang out of my seat to get to the front of the inevitable queue and had a good chat with the FO while sitting in the seat. My impressions were that the cockpit of a 737–800 is a lot smaller than you’d think and that the seats are pretty difficult to move.
image 130
After 90 mins the pilot is on the intercom again:
“Folks, unfortunately we’ve been told we have another 2 hours, 45 minutes wait (huge groans from the cabin) Only joking, we’ve got to get going quickly so back to your seats and buckle up soon as you can! (cheers from cabin)”
The pilot landed pretty hard in Birmingham and 10 seconds after reducing reverse thrust was back on the intercom:
“I’ve just been informed that my landing was a bit on the hard side. I don’t know what the fuss is about, it seemed fine to me. But apologies to anyone with loose fillings”
Most American tourists who make it as far as Australia are the best of your country, and we enjoy having them. Those who we would rather hadn’t come do share a few characteristics, though.
Ignorance. No, you can’t drive from Sydney to Alice Springs in an afternoon. Yes, the beaches have flags you swim between for a reason. No, you won’t get bitten by snakes walking through the suburbs. And no, no, for the love of God NO you CAN’T see all of Australia in a week flat. Not even if you fly everywhere.
Arrogance. If you come to any country as a guest, and spend half your waking hours telling people how much better your country is than theirs, you won’t make friends. This applies to any two countries, but with special particularity to Australia and America. There are STILL Americans about who’ll tell any Australian they can find how they, the mighty US of A, saved our “asses” in any number of conflicts, but especially the stoush with the Japanese in the early mid-twentieth century. We didn’t actually need our donkeys saved, and we’ve been paying for it in a number of ways ever since. And no, your health care may be wonderful for that five percent of the population who can afford it, but we cover everybody, so that we don’t have people begging in wheelchairs for their next oxygen bottle. Also, no, we can buy guns if we want to, but we don’t have to.
Loudness. Now I know the average Australian has a pretty good paddock voice, but we don’t take it inside. There are some Americans you can hear three streets away, and sitting next to their table in a restaurant can be a penance.
Lack of manners. As I said at the beginning, most US visitors to the antipodes are darlings. But anybody who snaps their fingers to summon a waiter here is likely to be ignored at first and ordered to leave if they persist. It is standard here to thank people who do stuff for us, whether they are paid to or not. We thank our bus drivers, our wait staff, our cleaners and our hotel staff, our shop assistants – everybody. They’re people. Lack of common courtesy marks you out as an arsehole.
Not fired, but gave them 7 weeks notice to quit. I was maintenance person in a nursing home. Within 6 months of being employed there, my manager asked me to undertake a level 2 course in social care. She had noticed my interactions with the residents and tried her best to convince me to extend my duties to include care work. After about a year of “ thinking about it,” I decided to study for a qualification in health and social care.
Around this time, after I’d already started the course, the nursing home was sold to another company. The new boss, for whatever reason, didn’t like me. Once qualified, I was picking up extra shifts on the weekend as a care assistant. It took him (and his wife) 3 months to realise I was also doing care work. He came and saw me at work, telling me, “We only want qualified staff looking after residents.” I showed him my certificate, indicating I was indeed qualified to look after residents. He then told me “ I don’t want you getting too tired.” ( I was only working 30 hours per week on maintenance.) I pointed out that a lot of his care assistants were actually working 60 hours a week and would often ring in at weekends saying they could not come in and I was prepared to cover any illness by other staff. He refused to accept this offer, restricting me to my working hours.
Anyway, I’d decided I enjoyed looking after elderly people and applied to our local NHS hospital for a position as a healthcare assistant. I passed the interview and selection procedure and handed my notice in. He avoided me for the next 6 weeks. On my final day there, he approached me and told me, “Get a year’s clinical experience and you can come back as a care assistant.” (An offer I could refuse.)
I finished work on Friday at 3pm.
Next morning, the nursing home phoned me at home, telling me there was a major water leak in the kitchen. I told them I was no longer an employee and to call an emergency plumber. “But that will cost us lots of money.” No shit, Sherlock! I almost relented, but my wife pointed out that I wouldn’t be paid, had I gone in. They asked me where to turn the water off, but I reiterated that they should call a plumber ( who would also not know where to turn the water off, as there were actually two incoming supplies to the one building.) I have now been with the NHS for almost 5 years and can honestly say it’s the most rewarding job I have ever had.
I was 18 and had gone for an interview. The secretary of the guy who was to interview me took me inside his cabin and told me to wait.
I was too nervous, hungry and desperate.
All of a sudden I had this huge urge to sneeze. But it just died midway. I reached for the handkerchief in my new trouser to realise I forgot it at home.
When the urge was back I was desperately looking for a tissue on my still-to-be-boss’s table. When I didn’t get any, I reached over and grabbed a notepad, tore off a page and made its way to my nose at the correct time!
I blew my nose. Had a grin on my face. And sat there satisfied only to see my boss standing just behind me.
I smiled awkwardly.
He came over, offered the little dustbin to me. I slowly put the soiled paper in it and muttered a ‘thanks’ and a ‘sorry’.
I thought I would be looked upon as a gross teenager, so it came as a surprise when he hired me.
For the next few months whenever he passed by my department, this would be the conversation.
“Enjoying Shefali?”
“Yes Sir!”
“Any problems?”
“No Sir.”
“You got a handkerchief?”
“Yes sir.”
And then he would laugh and wink at me. Colleagues could never understand why would we have such a conversation everytime.
Don’t even ask me how badly I wanted the earth to swallow me.
Putin Offers INCREDIBLE Terms For Peace With Ukraine In Tucker Carlson Interview!
The sketchiest contract I was ever forced to sign what was the Little Rock School District’s teachers’ contract. I hesitate to name the district, because I suspect this isn’t uncommon, BUT:
I was handed a signature page, like the one above. And no contract. At the top of the page it said something along the lines of “I agree to be bound by the contract that the union has so selflessly negotiated on my behalf.” Again, we were told we were not allowed to see it unless we joined the union. Multiple teachers told me they were threatened every year not to show the contract to anyone, including the teachers who were bound by it.
Why did I sign it? Because they gave it to us 3/4 of the way through the year! It was a retroactive contract! I had two kids and a pregnant wife. We had sacrificed to work in education, had chosen to live in squalor for the greater good, and so needed the paycheck. Plus I had hundreds of students counting on me.
I was told that I had to pledge to obey the contract, but couldn’t know what was in there. It had all my rights and responsibilities in it. But I couldn’t see it, nor could any of the signatures that preceded mine. The fact that I was hired at the significant level of those with a master’s who had been principals before, yet was only offered $40,000—that was supposedly explained in there. The reason why that $40,000 manifested as a net income of $18,000 was in there. The reason my room had no decorations, no computer, no phone, 325 students, and fewer than 20 textbooks—all would be revealed—just not to me because I didn’t join the mob.
That’s right, I said it. I’ve bought used cars, leased cars, homes, worked in corporate law, even bought a timeshare, and I’ve never dealt with a contract-situation as icky as the teachers’ union contract. If someone ever hands you a signature page with no contract, I hope a migraine-inducing klaxon alarm goes off in your head and red flags drop from the ceiling.
I had a friend like this, not a coworker. We would go out to eat and took turns paying the entire bill. After a while, I noticed that when it was HER turn to pay, I would order less than $20 worth of food + tip (I didn’t drink alcohol), usually ordering a moderately priced entree and a lemonade, with no appetizer or dessert. However, when it was MY turn to pick up the tab to “pay her back,” she’d order the most expensive menu items, including appetizers, multiple cocktails, and dessert in addition to the expensive entree. The bill would be upwards of a $100, even though my portion was usually under $30 since i only ordered one entree. This happened frequently enough, that I realized she was doing this on purpose, insisting she pay when we went to eat at a cheap chicken shack when our meals were dirt cheap, but then picking expensive restaurants when it was my turn to “pay her back.”
I tested this theory; we went for sandwiches once at Jimmy John’s and she insisted on paying: I carefully only ordered a $12 sandwich with taxes and that’s it. She didn’t even tip.
The following week, we went out to eat and it was my turn to pay. She immediately said she wanted to try out this new sushi restaurant that opened downtown. I told her ok, and as I drove us there (I always drove, but she NEVER offered to pay for gas), I casually mentioned “hey, my meal was only $12 the last time you paid, so I’m only paying for $12 for your meal this time.”
This person had the GALL to say, “oh really? Never mind, then, let’s just go grab sandwiches at Subway.”
I didn’t respond, I just couldn’t believe how shamelessly disappointed she looked.
Our friendship didn’t last long after that, but it was due to her overall abusive, manipulative behavior, besides what a cheap moocher she was.
that is to say, china can launch a 1000 sorties drone swarm attack with merely $57 million, that is merely 6 abrams tanks, or one apartment building in Shanghai.
In addition, Xi will very likily get 80% off because he owns Norinco.
So that is 5,000 sorties with the same budget. or 40,000 sorties at the price of a villa in SH.
Imagine 40,000 of this flying over your head.
image 127image 128
in addition, this costs $200 ea for Xi
500 of these equals to the death pension on a private.
taht is to say, evey TW soldier will have to dodge 500 such drones to survive the war.
image 126
500drones looks like this, a common recreation in chinese cities.
image 125
imagine the drones in a “i wanna f_ck u” formation before running towards you.
this drone bomber costs $340,000 (=3.4 soldiers) and can deliver 1 ton of explosives to 2500km away.
I don’t think Trump wants that. He is smarter than that. And he is smarter than Biden for sure. Privately he certainly don’t want that. If anything he wants the U.S. to be a strong 2nd largest economy. And his own companies benefit profusely.
He like fools who ask this question to thinks he like to decoupled because he wins votes and can do shit. He knows severing trade with China is like cutting of your limbs to fight China. Decoupling with China means decoupling from the world by the U.S.
I wish he does that, but he won’t. His companies will cut the sweetest deals, his group will strike up the most profitable venture and he will say shits like Kung Flu or Chiiinaaa! And guess what you bunch of morons will ejaculate.
I have been reporting to all of you the developments in Poland that lead many to believe NATO will enter the Russia-Ukraine conflict before May 5. I have renewed my urgent suggestions that all of you have emergency “preps” like food, water, medicine, a generator, communications gear like a CB or HAM radio, and I want you to know what I am doing/have done to “prep” this show.
When the Russia-Ukraine thing broke out, and it became clear that the US and NATO would be getting involved by shipping weapons, I worried to myself if Russia might take that as us being a “participant” in the conflict. So I MOVED the servers for this web site to South America. It’s a big deal: one primary server, providing content via the cloud to 19 other data centers around the planet. When you type in my website address and your browser goes out to the DNS server, my DNS routes your request to the geographically closest data center (that’s up and running) to speed-up your content delivery. Not everything is coming into or going out of a single place.
Every time YOU have visited this site for the past 2+ years, it has served you from South America!
I also established back-up streaming audio servers down in South America as well, but have never utilized them.
The streaming audio right now comes out of Oregon and it’s a big deal, but in a different setup than the website. Multiple audio servers operating through a load balancer, which can automatically spin-up additional servers to accommodate demand. But Oregon is near Washington State and we have a gigantic naval base in Bremerton, WA, which is home to much of our Pacific Fleet.
So if Bremerton gets nuked, Oregon will likely feel the EMP repercussions and that data center may go offline. Hence, the reason I set up a big audio server system in South America, just in case.
Here in New Jersey, just outside NYC, all of you are aware that the show goes out over a fiber optic line and there is a separate, fiber optic line as a fail-over. If both fiber optics are down, there is a cellular data fail-over. For awhile, I also had laser failover but it was just too expensive and I had to get rid of that. I have a backup generator and fuel for it on-site. It’s all on battery back-ups which can provide at least one hour of service, which is more than ample time to go out and crank-up the generator. The NJ house also has an EMP SHIELD in the main electrical panel with the hope it bleeds-off any EMP.
In the Pennsylvania home I inherited when my mom died, (after I had to pay off her Reverse Mortgage) I have a Cable modem and, just recently was able to add a single Fiber optic connection. But because trees falling can take out those land-based lines — and have done so in big storms quite frequently — I also have a cellular failover, and two satellite uplinks.
ALL of that gear is on Uninterruptible power supplies that can provide power for at least one hour, and I have two Generators on site, all hard-wired in. The one generator is 13KW and surge to 15KW, the other was my mom’s and it’s tiny 4KW. That house also has an EMP SHIELD in the main electrical panel.
All our motor vehicles have EMP SHIELDS installed in them – even my snow plow truck!
So I have done everything I know how to do to make certain the show __can__ air each night, no matter what.
Late last week, after finding out that Poland issued a NOTAM to all aircraft flying in the eastern 1/4 of the country, to maintain radio comms with air traffic control and to use their Transponders even at flight levels below 9500′, it became evident to me that NATO is likely to enter the Russia-Ukraine conflict within the time period of the NOTAM, which continues until May 5.
It seems clear to me that if NATO enters that war, the missiles will fly and some of them would – in my view – fly here. If Russia takes out the US, then NATO collapses immediately. So we ARE, in my view, an early target.
So I spoke to Alan Weiner at WBCQ and inquired of him as to whether WBCQ has a back-up generator for the transmitter on 7490. It does! A 250KW generator which, according to Alan, EATS FUEL.
I have also inquired of WRMI in Miami, Florida and WWCR in Nashville, TN. I am waiting to hear back from them.
I tell you all of this because I want you to know I’m not just out here telling YOU to prep, I’m actually doing it myself.
I have no idea where all this crap is heading, but I am thinking about it and am taking steps to actually BE PREPARED.
You are not a skinflint, you are now spending more for food than your boss. Depending on your work place. If you have evidence that your boss is doing this you could go to HR and tell them your boss is stealing your food. Theft is theft.
When I was first out of university, and had no money, I would go to the grocery store and buy a package of 5 sausage rolls. I would eat one each day. It worked out to about $1.50 for lunch.
Then my sausage rolls started disappearing, first just one a week, then 2 and finally 3.
I used to buy them on Monday, and they were just edible on Friday. Now I was buying two or three packs a week.
If I bought them on Thursday, I didn’t trust them by Tuesday . So in this case I bought them on friday, and knowing I would probably only be able to eat one more out of the package before they were either stolen or stale dated, I took them home, and I drilled out a tiny hole in the center. Then I some hot sauce that I had never been able to use, because it was just too hot. It was concentrated, so that its scoville rating was similar to pepper spray.
I filled up all of the 4 remaining sausage rolls, with this killer hot sauce, and put them in the work fridge.
Later that day, around 4:00 when the next shift was coming in, there was screaming coming from the locker room. The guy was frothing at the mouth, his eyes and nose were leaking, he had been eating the sausage roll with his locker door open, to keep out of sight.
Fortunately for me I had never complained to anyone about the missing sausage rolls.
It took 15 minutes before the guy was functional again.
He wouldn’t tell anyone what had happened, because he didn’t want to admit to theft. But it turned out, he had a bunch of stolen knick knacks from people’s desks, in his locker. It turns out someone who will steal food, will steal little items from the day shift as well.
He was fired.
But then I had to find something else cheap to eat. Because I couldn’t be seen eating sausage rolls.
Why don’t you understand the ABC of human behaviour? After all I presume you are a human, right?
Ok let me explain. No human want to buy anything 5 times a price it can pay in the market easily. And do you know why the U.S. makes everything at several fold cost compared to others? That is simple. The U.S. workers are paid at least 5 times other workers are paid yet it can only achieved half their productivity. And U.S. CEO insist they must be paid 100 times more! Your government insist it must focus on forever wars! China focus on making peace and being competitive!
So how can the U.S. makes anything that can be competitive? No way! Not in a million years! So you cannot make anything competitive but you have money to spend more on weapons than the next 10 biggest defence spending nation put together! Perhaps the U.S. thinks it can use the military to force other countries to work as slaves to produce cheap goods and hand over to the U.S.!
I had a 4th grade teacher that was fairly strict. One morning, during a reading session, she caught me drawing pictures, a fairly elaborate illustration of King Kong and Biplanes shooting at the poor guy. She snatched it up and scolding me for not paying attention in class. “maybe this will get your attention” she cackled, as she proceeded to tape the drawing onto my back. Before you could blink, it was lunch time, and as I was in the lunch line, all the reviews from my young peers rolled in. All positive, with “cooools” and “holy smokes!” and questions. Well the soul-killing deterrent backfired on the old witch, and I went on to study art, Illustration, and design. I’ve been employed as an artist for over 40 years and have won dozens of awards and accolades. Although this may sound boastful, the real point is, don’t let anyone kill your dreams.
A guy I’ll call “Cecil” was one of our frequent flyers. He was a Paiute Indian and had pretty much fried his brain with alcohol. He was also legally blind and carried a white cane. He would get arrested on some nuisance offense, spend a day or two in jail, get released, rinse and repeat. The two-officer crew of the downtown prisoner transport van, aka “the wagon,” were usually the arresting officers.
One night, the wagon crew decided to take a different approach. They picked up Cecil for something-or-other, but instead of taking him to jail, they got on the freeway and headed east. Fifteen or twenty miles east of town, they let Cecil out on the side of the road. Freeway and sagebrush, not much else. The wagon drove back to town.
Cecil was found by a state trooper who wondered how he got there. Cecil was only of marginal help, as it was difficult to know whether he was comprehending what was going on around him. When asked any question, his typical response was to shout random numbers at his interviewer.
Eventually, investigators were able to piece together what happened. The two cops were fired and criminally indicted on charges of kidnapping and oppression under color of authority.
Trial was scheduled several times. Each time, Cecil was either in the wind, out between arrests, or brought to court from jail. He couldn’t respond coherently to the simplest question. The attorneys defending the former officers capitalized on this and moved for dismissal of all charges, as Cecil was the only material witness and didn’t always seem to know where he was or what was happening around him. The ex-cops walked.
One got a job driving a bus. He was considered by all involved to be the instigator and mastermind, with his former partner sort of along for the ride. The partner was eventually hired by a sheriff’s department and worked there long enough to qualify for a pension.
When I was 17 I had a son I had to give up for adoption as the father was going off to Vietnam and we were unmarried. It was heartbreaking to say the least. When he returned, we married and had our daughter. Always looking to find the son we had to give up, as my parents had insisted. As the years went by, we searched and tried every imaginable source to find our boy. Our daughter was told she had a brother eventually, and my parents eventually regretted this adoption and begged me to “”find the boy” -impossible. Our daughter moved across the United States from Florida to California eventually and I had given up all hope after 34 years of searching. One night while in California, she told her roommate about her brother – it was his birthday, and she was sad. That night the roommate invited her for dinner with a friend. During dinner her friend questioned her about this brother….after everything my daughter told her, the young man said””me too”! He, too, was from Florida – adopted, this was his birthday, a miracle! Millions of prayers answered- she was indeed sitting across the dinner table from her long lost brother!! Found at last!! It all turned out beautiful. He had been blessed with an amazing adoptive family for which I will be FOREVER grateful. Many coincidences in my life but this? BEST ONE!!
Going Viral: Behind the AI-Generated Wes Anderson Trailers for Star Wars and LOTR
My siblings and I were sent to bed VERY early compared to our peers – most annoying. In rebellion, we often stayed up late, reading in bed while our parents remained downstairs watching TV. I had an old lamp and learned rather quickly that if I turned it in the normal direction it made a ‘click’ sound. But, if I turned it backwards, the light would quietly go off. So, in our creaking Victorian house, I had plenty of warning someone was coming and could get the light off and the book out of sight before they were anywhere near my room.
We had been given flashlights and batteries at Christmas soon after we joined the Girl and Boy Scouts. We needed them for camp and other scouting activities. Of course, we also found they made it really easy to stay up reading as well. At the first creaking boards, we’d turn them off and pretend to be asleep.
There were times that we might have been so engrossed in our books that we didn’t hear anyone coming upstairs and wouldn’t react until we heard footsteps outside our doors. The lights would have been easily visible beneath our doors. But, somehow, we managed to get the lights off before either parent noticed.
YEARS later, we had a good laugh when our father asked us why we thought we were given new batteries every Christmas and birthday (and any time in between when we said we were out). There were not enough scouting activities to burn as many batteries as we seemed to go through. No, the flashlights were to ENCOURAGE us to read more. They weren’t going to catch us with lights on if they could help it. If they did, though, the usual comment was, “Don’t you think it’s time you went to sleep?” We were never punished.
I was working at my local coffee shop. It was pay day and my pay didn’t come in. No phone call from my boss about it. It was 630 am as I was waiting for my pay to get to work for 8 am. I called in and ask if there was a problem with the pay. He said rudely there is a problem at the bank it might be in later today or tomorrow. I said well then I am not coming in today for my shift as I am not walking 2 hr to get work. If you called me at 5 to tell me about the problem I could have asked my sister and brother in law for bus fare before they went to work .
next day, I checked my account and my pay was in. I showed up for work and my boss thought he would tell me off in front of coworkers and customers. I said it’s not my fault you didn’t bother calling or texting your employees about the problem. And you should really wait to talk to be about it when it is appropriate not in front my coworkers and customers. The smirk came off his face quick walked away and didn’t say anything about it after. 1 month later we got a new manager
American society is imploding. Every decade this century has seen its strength weaken, particularly the social fabric, which has been torn asunder by division.
This is an American problem that require Americans to fix.
Alas, the talk never strays far from eternal war with a musical chair of external enemies.
A new world order is emerging, whether America wills it or not.
Can you imagine 4 years of Donald “making America great again”, followed by 4 years of Joe’s “Build Back Better”, followed by another 4 years of “MAGA”?
Again and Back? That’s Michael Jackson’s moonwalk—the illusion of forward motion while moving backwards.
The global south doesn’t want to be stuck on the american gameboard, because it hasn’t led to long-term development. And as Barack openly admitted, America has an agenda to keep the global south poor, because the planet cannot sustain itself providing the American standard of living for the unwashed masses.
A nation that continues to believe its Constitution is perfect and cannot be updated will not see out the 21st century intact.
America will discover it is merely one nation, out of >190, and learn to live like the rest of humanity. No one is immune to the poison of exceptionalism, particularly the hegemon.
In other words, atrophy develops in the absence of resistance.
I was a high school rowing coach and we had to leave at 3:30 a.m. for an event far away. As usual, I was running late and had 15 minutes to get to the school meeting spot, 20 minutes away. The two-lane road snaked through woods and up and down hills and it was pitch black: no street lights. My Jetta and I were flying and I suddenly heard the word “DEER!” shouted in my dead grandmother’s voice. I stomped on the brake as a deer shot right past the hood of my car. I pulled over, shaking. As I took a deep breath I smelled daffodils. Confused, I looked around: there were no flowers here. An image of a pink bottle of perfume popped into my mind and it struck me- the smell was White Shoulders, my grandma’s perfume.
I smiled and thanked her, promising more responsible driving in the future. As I got to the meeting place, a few rowers commented on the smell of flowers.
All these answers are great, and most have been tried on me. Back in the 80’s, I had a printing business and a “customer” gave me a rather expensive rush order for an event that was happening in a few days. I asked for payment up front because it smelled fishy. He gave me a check for about $5,000. Before I printed anything, I went to his bank and asked if the check was good. The manager told me there was not enough funds to cover the check. He could not legally tell me how much money was actually in the account, so I asked him if I added $100 if it would cover the check. No. Went through this dance till I came to $700 or something. Great! I deposited $700 into his account and cashed his check for $5000. Printed his order, (still had a tidy profit) and called him to pick it up. He was delighted, thinking he had scammed me. Then he showed up absolutely furious, having found out about the $5000 he never intended to spend. Said he was going to call the police. I told him to wait just a minute, the police were walking in right now. I had called the venue and what he was having printed was bogus tickets. My next call was the police. They walked in and he had the gall to ask them to arrest me for theft. I said he gave me a check and I cashed it. Then I showed them the tickets he was having printed. They took him out in handcuffs with him yelling that he wanted his money back. Never saw him again.
Wow. Ok I’ll bite. Not in the sense of being a hermit, but relationship wise.
A lifetime of abuse.
That will do it to you. As I recover, I am starting to realize that I don’t have any capacity for conflict. I don’t want to extend trust. I am suspicious and quickly withdraw from anyone that remotely, even unintentionally upsets me. My defenses are beaten down and I am an open wound.
No relationship is going to be without conflict. And you can’t really extend love without extending trust. So here I am alone and I am realizing that I will probably remain so for the foreseeable future.
I don’t really want to be alone. But I have realized, quite painfully, that I am going to hurt someone that tries to love me. That’s unacceptable and depressing. I will NOT become the abuser.
I’m in therapy and one of the first meaningful things he said to me was “I may not be able to help you. Due to the length and severity of your trauma, you may carry the effects for the rest of your life. The best we can do is hope to manage your PTSD.”
I appreciate his honesty.
So no, lonely as I am, I will not afflict some poor woman with my messed up self. I will go on alone. Well, not completely alone…
I don’t know about incorrect, but it was certainly unusual.
My church had a lock-in for high school aged kids. If you haven’t participated in one of these, it is essentially a big slumber party. But it is chaperoned. It is church after all. Sometimes schools do them too.
Anyway, there are all kinds of events that happen. Often there is a scavenger hunt, and this particular lock-in was no different, except with a twist. They had a “tape recorder and Polaroid camera” scavenger hunt. In other words, we were divided into groups and had a list of crazy things we were to get photos and recordings of our group doing. These days we could just use our phones for this, but this was in the 80s and technology was obviously not the same.
So we set off on the list. There were all kinds of things. We did a picture with a human pyramid. That was relatively tame and easy. Then we came to another. We had to get a photo of us walking through a drive thru restaurant line. Oohkay. I was our group’s driver, so I took us to a local Wendy’s. We got out and walked through the drive-thru line. Remember this was the 80s and I don’t think that many restaurants had cameras watching the drive-thru line back then. So, the staff of the restaurant didn’t know we were walking through the line till we got to the window. Wow, that turned escalated into drama really quickly. The manager was really mad at us, and they refused to serve us. Well, that didn’t really matter much. We tried to explain why we were doing it, but he was having none of it. I guess he thought we were drunk or on drugs or something. So, he called the police on us and they promptly showed up.
I guess he thought that was going to scare us. Actually, we were thrilled. We also had “recording the sound of a police siren” and “taking a photo of the group with a police officer” on the list.
Because of a grumpy Wendy’s manager, our group won.
When I was 18 I moved into a share house with some friends. On the second or third day I was checking the mail box when a man walked over from across the street where a little model car shop was located.
He said to me “excuse me, do you live here?” I said “yes, I’m Susan, we just moved in”. He replied “Good, would you like to come and work for me? The girl who used to live here worked for me for 3 years, but she moved out”. I asked “what sort of work did she do? What do need?” He told me that she did office admin work, tallied invoices, paid bills, occasionally sold merchandise….
I asked how many hours and how much and then, happy enough with the repky, I took the job on the spot. On my front lawn, next to my letter box.
He seemed to just trust that the house knew the right person to work for him. I worked their for 4 years and then I moved out. I can only assume that the new resident got offered a job soon after…
I love this one! Many years ago a police officer had a BIG guy handcuffed in the back seat of his squad car. He was trying like all hell to get the guy out. Another officer came to assist him. This guy wedged his feet into the floor under front seats. They didn’t want to mace him because they would not be able to use the squad for a long time. He was not a violent offender. It was something with being intoxicated but not driving. I think his wife called. He wouldn’t budge. Lots of swearing and threats to get him out. It was actually funny to see. He was not coming out.
Anyway, this state trooper I know, who is also a teacher in aikido and a few other martial arts, goes and asks him to PLEASE COME OUT. This guy is dying from laughter. He was calling him all kinds of Asian insults. So, the trooper asks one of the cops to hold his hat. He starts to put on rubber gloves. This guy is yelling, what cha gonna do? Check my prostate? Even the cops were laughing. Trooper says, “No. I’m gonna get you out of the squad.” Guy yells, “Go ahead, you &$@#@ eyes”. So trooper reaches in and with one hand pinches his nose closed. He put the other over his mouth. In about 60 seconds that guy flew out of that squad! We all learned a lesson that day. No matter how big the engine, it will not run without oxygen!
Jurassic Park but with a Cat
https://youtu.be/W85oD8FEF78
The West’s Not-So-Subtle Message To Russia: Photo Emerges of F-16 with U.S. Nuke (Trainer) on Wing; Ukraine?
A photo has emerged of an F-16 Fighter Jet with a U.S. B-61 Nuclear Bomb (Trainer) mounted under its wing; the exact same type of plane the West plans to “give” to Ukraine. A message to Russia?
That photo – shown above with (my) added text showing the B-61 nuclear trainer, was clearly taken during summertime; there are dandelions showing in the nearby grass. That such a photo was even TAKEN would be a gigantic breach of nuclear security. The fact that it has suddenly “emerged” in public is nothing short of astonishing. Unless, of course, its release is to send a message.
A “Trainer” is the same size, shape, and weight of the real thing, but is inert; there is no nuclear warhead in it. It is designed to provide pilots with a “feel” for the aircraft when it is carrying such a device, so the pilot can get used to how the plane handles with the weapon mounted, and what it feels like when it is released.
It also allows a pilot to train on how and when to release the bomb so that it actually hits the intended target.
The B-61 is a gravity bomb and is not guided by its own engine or any wings, to hit a target.
The B61 nuclear bomb is the primary thermonuclear gravity bomb in the United States Enduring Stockpile following the end of the Cold War. It is a low-to-intermediate yield strategic and tactical nuclear weapon featuring a two-stage radiation implosion design. Here is a FILE PHOTO of the actual, functional, B-61:
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The B61 is of the variable yield (“dial-a-yield” in informal military jargon) design with a yield of 0.3 to 340 kilotons in its various mods (“modifications”). It is a Full Fuzing Option (FUFO) weapon, meaning it is equipped with the full range of fuzing and delivery options, including air and ground burst fuzing, and free-fall, retarded free-fall and laydown delivery.
It has a streamlined casing capable of withstanding supersonic flight and is 11 ft 8 in (3.56 m) long, with a diameter of about 13 inches (33 cm). Basic weight is about 700 pounds (320 kg), although the weights of individual weapons may vary depending on version and fuze/retardation configuration. As of 2020, it is undergoing a 12th modification. According to the Federation of American Scientists in 2012, the roughly 400 B61-12s will cost $28 million apiece.
Back in May of 2023, when the issue of giving F-16’s to Ukraine first surfaced, I reported that the U.S. caused severe consternation among its NATO allies by insisting that the planes given to Ukraine be the type already modified to handle the B-61 nuclear bomb (Story HERE).
At that time, the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Council, their version of a Senate, publicly commented that if the US allowed Ukraine access to such bombs, Russia would have no choice but to make a “preventive” (pre-emptive) nuclear strike against Ukraine!
In the months since that story, the US and NATO have been training Ukrainian pilots on how to fly the F-16. At US insistence, those pilots are ALSO being trained how to use the B-61 nuclear bomb!
Not to put too fine a point on it, but why would those pilots need such specialized training unless the intent of the US and NATO is to actually allow them to use nuclear bombs?
This is the reality that is being forced upon Russia by the U.S. and NATO, and Russia is quite plain about how they will respond. For instance, while military radar can determine what type of aircraft they see on radar, they have no way of knowing if that plane has a B-61 nuclear bomb under its wing. Thus, the Russians will have to treat ALL F-16’s as if they are nuclear-equipped. Should one such plane approach Russian Territory, the possibility of Russia being nuked __could__ cause them to strike first.
Moreover, within the past two months, a lot of news has come out about Ukraine being given German “TAURUS” cruise missiles. The Taurus KEPD 350 is a German-Swedish air-launched cruise missile, manufactured by Taurus Systems and used by Germany, Spain, and South Korea. Taurus Systems GmbH is a partnership between MBDA Deutschland GmbH (formerly LFK) and Saab Bofors Dynamics.
The missile incorporates stealth technology and has an official range in excess of 500 km (300 mi). It is powered by a turbofan engine at Mach 0.95 and can be carried by Panavia Tornado, Eurofighter Typhoon, Saab JAS 39 Gripen, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, and McDonnell Douglas F-15K Slam Eagle aircraft. The missile can easily be adapted to other aircrafts such as EF Typhoon, JAS39 Gripen, F-16 Fighting Falcon, and F-35 Lightning. Here is a FILE PHOTO of an actual Taurus Missile:
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While the missile’s actual range is never publicly disclosed, the specifications readily reveal it has a range “greater than 500km.”
The map below shows a 500km range from the northern-most area inside Ukraine, and Moscow is CLEARLY within range; especially given the fact that Germany readily and publicly admits the Taurus missile has a range “greater than 500km.”
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So as you read this, the US and NATO are training Ukraine Pilots on F-16’s. Training those same pilots on the use of the U.S. B-61 nuclear bomb, and debating also giving them German Taurus missiles which can reach Moscow.
Thus, the West is escalating and escalating the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
This week, Poland issued an ominous Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) changing flight regulations in the entire eastern quarter of their country. Pilots up to flight level 95 (9500 feet) must now be in radio contact with air traffic controllers, and must use their Transponders so ground controllers can see EVERY plane in the sky within that vast area.
The geographic area covered by this NOTAM includes the entire Poland Border with Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania. Here is the map from the NOTAM:
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Poland’s NOTAM also makes clear they are adding these new rules “due to the possibility of Unplanned Military Actions related to ensuring National Security.”
What “unplanned military actions” does Poland foresee? Missile exchanges with Russia, perhaps? Why would that happen?
Well, it turns out that the F-16’s being given to Ukraine require a lot of maintenance, refueling and re-arming, which the airfields inside Ukraine can no longer accomplish because Russia has hit them so many times.
So it is now within the realm of __POSSIBILITY__ that those F-16’s may have to be flown into Ukraine from NATO bases in Poland or Romania!
Just this week, Russia made it explicitly clear that if F-16’s take off from NATO bases, and are used to attack Russian forces inside Ukraine, Russia will “mercilessly destroy” those bases.
That . . . . that right there . . . . would then be called “A Russian attack against NATO” which would then be used as an excuse to trigger NATO Treaty, “Article 5” Collective Self Defense.
When Russia began its Special Military Operation (SMO) to “de-militarize” and “de-Nazify” Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin made clear “Russian conventional forces are not comparable to NATO. We know that. But Russia is also a nuclear power. And our nuclear capability is superior to all others. If NATO declares Article 5, Collective Self Defense against Russia, it will be a war no one will win.“
Readers are no doubt aware that the only “war no one will win” is a nuclear war.
So from the start of Russia’s SMO, the US and NATO have known Russia may use nukes. Now, the US and NATO are setting the stage for exactly that, by supplying Ukraine with nuclear-capable F-16’s, training Ukraine pilots to fly those planes and to use the B-61 nuclear bomb, and allow those planes to takeoff from NATO bases outside of Ukraine, attack Russian forces in Ukraine, then land at those NATO bases for refueling, re-arming, and maintenance.
The US and NATO are doing this despite knowing the Russians will “mercilessly destroy” those NATO bases, and will use nukes if NATO declares Article 5 self defense against Russia.
Here’s the punch line: The Poland NOTAM began February 5, 2024, and will remain in effect until May 5, 2024.
That tells most people that Poland knows between now and May 5, 2024, the fight between NATO and Russia will break out, and they are warning pilots in that area over what they KNOW is coming . . . . because Poland, the US and NATO are going to actually cause it.
Of course, the mass-media in the United States and in Europe, has been completely derelict in their duty to report these facts to the general public. As a result, the general public has no idea at all, their own governments are escalating the situation between Russia and Ukraine to the point that actual nuclear war may commence between now and May 5.
Do you have Emergency food, water, medicine, flashlights, batteries, an electric generator, fuel, communications gear like a CB or HAM radio? If not, how do you expect to survive if this thing happens? How will you and your family eat? How will you get information once the electric grid goes down from the electro-magnetic pulse from nuclear detonations which take down all the TV and radio stations?
You’ll be left, cold, hungry, in the dark and without information, because YOU chose to do nothing and not prepare.
Better get prepped. There’s very little time left.
Frègula Sarda
In the Mediterranean island of Sardegna (Sardinia), locals call this pasta “frègula.” In current Italian, it is known as “fregola.” At home, Chef Rosario simply calls it a delicious pasta option!
fregula sarda
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups Frègula Sarda; alternatively, use orzo pasta, acini pepe or large cous-cous
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1/2 red onion, diced
2 garlic cloves
1 red chile pepper, fresh or dry, with the seeds removed, crushed
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced
1 tablespoon capers, drained
4 cups homemade shrimp or vegetable broth
1 celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 pinch saffron
12 ounces large shrimp, preferably shell-on
Fresh marjoram or oregano, chopped
Fresh Italian parsley, chopped
Lemon zest
Bay leaf
Salt to taste
Instructions
Peel and de-vein the shrimp, reserving the shells for the broth. Make broth by heating the shells in a little olive oil and adding a handful of roughly diced carrots, celery, onions, tomatoes, parsley stems and a bay leaf. Cook for one minute with a little olive oil; then add water and bring to a simmer. Keep at a simmer until needed. If you use pre-peeled shrimp, use a light vegetable broth instead.
In a large casserole start the soffritto: add EVOO, onions, garlic and chili peppers. Cook on medium heat until golden (not brown).
Add frègula and sauté for a minute.
Add wine and cook to evaporate alcohol.
Add capers, tomatoes, and saffron. Once heated through, add 1 cup of the simmering broth. Stir occasionally. Add broth in 1 cup increments as needed to keep the frègula moist and brothy.
When the pasta is almost cooked “al dente” (10 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the pasta grains) add shrimp and cook for a couple minutes more (or until they reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees F). Remove shrimp from pot to avoid overcooking and set them aside.
The frègula is ready when all the broth has been absorbed and it has reached a creamy, risotto-like consistency.
Remove from heat, add herbs, and stir thoroughly. Transfer to a serving platter or individual plates. Place the cooked shrimp on top and sprinkle with freshly grated lemon zest.
Notes
Frègula resembles a large size cous-cous, but it is also reminiscent of other “berry sized” pasta varieties, like “acini pepe” or orzo. The word frègula derives from the Italian verb “sfregolare,” which describes the action of hand rolling the dough against a terracotta surface. The Sardinian version is made with 100% durum wheat semolina and pure water. Once shaped, it is lightly toasted to a golden color and “ecco fatto,” it’s ready for this delicious recipe!
Sommelier’s Notes
Sella & Mosca 2017 La Cala (Vermentino di Sardegna) – Sardegna, Italy
Vermentino is a white wine grape indigenous to the western Mediterranean. It thrives in northwestern Italy, southern France, and the nearby islands of Corsica and Sardegna (Sardinia).
This pleasing wine offers herbaceous Mediterranean flavors heightened with hints of pineapple and citrus.
I worked at a staffing firm in New York City. I was the top producer and my two bosses loved me.
One of the bosses who is on his second marriage, and having an affair with the receptionist. It was not a secret. Everyone in our small company knew.
both bosses or cocaine addicts. As their addiction increased, they were decreasing our commissions.
Counselors started leaving. The bosses were bringing in inexperienced losers, who were requesting the company more money than they were making.
I decided to leave.
I typed up a letter of resignation and included the amount of commissions that were currently owned to me.
They never gave me a penny.
My husband is an attorney and wrote a “lawyer letter“ to the two principles. They didn’t care.
I got together with a few of the other counselors, who had also left, and also didn’t get their commissions. We decided to write a letter to his wife, telling her about the affair that her husband was having with the receptionist.
He used to tell his wife said he was going to the gym every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. He always left with a gym bag filled with a change of clothes.
We told his wife that he had no gym membership and that she should check his gym bag when he comes home on those days and see that not one thing in the gym bag was used and nothing was sweaty or dirty. The gym bag was exactly as it was in the morning when he left for work.
She obviously knew the receptionist, and put everything together and filed for divorce.
he was furious, and called each one of us, and asked if we had done it! Lol!
We will still had to go to court but I sued for $23,000 which was $10,000 more than my original claim. I knew that he had an idiot doing the bookkeeping and they would have no idea what they are with me.
You know, I have taken to playing “mood music” that I pull off YouTube. My favorites are slow, coffeehouse jazz on rainy or snowy evenings. Such as this LINK.
There is always a slightly slow animated image on the video. Usually with a fireplace. Here’s a screenshot. It’s got a animated cat, rain, books, cozy fireplace, and of course, a leather chair with a throw.
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Long time mm readers will recognize the similarity of this imagery with my own personal studio in Erie, PA. Check out the link HERE.
Notice anything familiar?
Aside from the disorganized clutter… heh heh.
.
The picture is crap, but imagine it is a snowy or rainy night.
It was actually very nice in the house. It had character, and quite cozy.
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My cat Coco is sleeping on a throw on a pile of books.
Here’s Coco…
Coco chillin’ out.
Meanwhile, the wood burning stove is glowing. Mellow music is playing, and I am either painting, or reading a book. A cup of coffee or tea is near by.
It’s funny how thoughts and reality sometimes coincide…
it is not how much is spend it is what can you do with it!
If the U.S. spends 3 times that of China and one can buy 3 times more in Beijing than in Washington then essentially both the U.S. and China can buy the same amount and technology.
I have not factored in corruption. That probably take away another 50%! China is corruption free. Thanks to Xi Xinping. So after factoring in corruption you essentially has half of what Beijing has!
So that is why China is getting stronger by the day! The truth is far from what you see from a western hubris, superiority complex point of view. This is the price you pay for the forever wars you fight using money you print.
“Don’t swipe left or right when someone hands over their phone to you for viewing the picture”.
2-Never give advice until you’re asked.
“ Keep calm and oil your own machine. All people are not going through a crisis, even if they are, they just might know how to pull themselves out of it”.
3-Password also needs privacy.
“If someone is typing a password, just look away, turn the other side”.
4-When someone compliments you, just thank them. Or say, “That is very kind of you.”
5-Respect people, not their position.
“Treat the cleaner with the same respect as the CEO. Nobody is impressed at how rudely you can treat someone below you but people will notice if you treat them with respect.”
7-The speakerphone is not for public use.
8-Cover your mouth when coughing and sneezing.
6-Curiosity can look bad at times.
“Never, and I mean Never even touch anyone’s mobile until they say so”.
7-Order wisely when someone is treating you.
“Never order the expensive dish on the menu when someone is treating you for lunch/dinner”.
The entire quote by Stalin is as follows: “I understand it if a soldier who has crossed thousands of kilometres through blood and fire and death has fun with a woman or takes some trifle.” With this, he all-but encouraged his Red Army to rape at will… which they did.
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The Germans had inflicted great damage on the Russians during the war, treating them as less-than human and murdering, raping and torturing a great number of them. Does this make literally crucifying German citizens on their own doorsteps and in their own streets, raping women and children of all ages, okay? I don’t believe any sane person would say it’s ever “okay”.
Also, the wording… fun? I heavily side-eye anyone whose idea of ‘fun’ is the rape of innocent civilians. “Hey, guys, I just arrived in enemy territory after a long and grueling military campaig, dying to have some fun… do you guys know any fun activities for me to indulge in? Hmmm let me think… what about… sexual assault?”
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But, sure, Mr. Soviet Super Mario says it’s okay, so it’s okay, right? Hitler and the Nazis were awfully evil, so it’s okay to rape the women of Germany, after all, the men of Germany raped plenty of Russian women, too… nah. That just doesn’t fly. This tiny little Borat looking human mite has no right to call upon his soldiers to rape to their heart’s content…
The Japanese army more or less ordered it’s soldiers to rape as many women as they desired in Nanjing, China. They went all-out, acted like animals. It’s a great war crime and regarded by everyone as such. Likewise, the conduct of Russian soldiers in the aftermath of WWII was appalling. And it’s not just German women, either — Polish women too and other Eastern European innocents were raped, murdered and robbed by Soviet troops as they made their way to Berlin. The human suffering was enormous and Stalin was a cheerleader to these horrors.
It’s not okay. It’s never okay. You cannot repay war crimes, with war crimes. You cannot undo evil, by doing evil. Restore balanced, by doing immoral and unhinged things. Stalin was wrong. Every bit as wrong as Hitler. Because they both dehumanized their enemy and endorsed tremendous human suffering. Encouraged it, even.
What are some dirty tactics used by fast food restaurants?
Just before every spring and all throughout spring it happens.
It has been a long day. I am tired. I really don’t care for fast food but when I’m tired and lazy, what the heck – right?
I get to the drive through window.
voice:
“welcome to _______ would you like to try a value meal?”
Me:
“Sure gimme a number <whatever> and a strawberry shake”
voice:
“OK that will be $10.59 please pull forward”
So far so good right?
I pull up, hand her a twenty, she takes my money then looks at me and says one of the following:
Would you like to donate 5 dollars to feed starving third world children?
Would you like to donate 5 dollars to send an underprivileged inner city kid to camp?
Would you like to donate 5 dollars so an amputee can receive a leg?
OK I made that last one up but you get what I am saying here.
Now I am just the kind of person these people are looking for. I feel guilty if I walk past a bell ringer in the supermarket during the holidays if I don’t at least give them a buck so it used to always work on me.
Until one fateful day it happened.
The woman at the window asked me:
Would you like to donate 5 dollars to send an underprivileged inner city kid to camp?
I told her “sure keep 5 bucks”
Then as I drove off it hit me
“I can’t afford to send my own kids to camp!”
Strombolis
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Ingredients
Strombolis
1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon chopped onion
1/2 cup ketchup
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon fennel seed, crushed
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
6 to 8 hamburger buns
6 to 8 slices Mozzarella cheese
Garlic Spread
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
Instructions
Strombolis: Brown meat and drain. Add onion, ketchup, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, fennel, and oregano. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Split hamburger buns. Spread 1 teaspoon Garlic Spread on each bun top. Divide meat mixture evenly on bun bottoms. Top meat mixture with a cheese slice and add top bun. Wrap each sandwich in a square of foil.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes, or until heated thoroughly through.
Garlic Spread: Combine butter, garlic powder and paprika. Mix well.
I trained Budo (Nimpo) for a couple of years and got jumped by five people unprovoked at a buss stop with my friend. Probably because me and my friend had a girl at each side and they had football atire on them and probably lost a match or something. I’m a small person and so is my friend. Smaller than most. This isn’t my first unprovoked aggro because of that size.
There where several other persons at the buss stop too and no one intervened except the girl that was at my side (everyone else just moved away). She screamed at the three jumping me to stop it and tried to move in front that halted two of them a bit before rounding her. My friend didn’t have the same luck with the other two and fell to the ground behind me after a couple of hits.
I saw the first charging me with the two following and had the thought, keep them at a distance and plunged a under hand fist and hit the person in the ribs and followed up with a foot push with my momentum. Two moves I trained alot during my practice. The first when I didn’t have a practice sword and needed distance. The second to make room to draw my practice sword. What was new to me was to combine them in the move. I did it because my master had told me.
If you end up in a fight do three things. Keep them at a distance so they can’t hurt you. If they hit you, make it hurt back so they give up due to pain and if you ever have a chance. Always run, because if you don’t you can get damage for life or loose your life. Fight with that in mind.
I was just thinking, I can’t run from the girs or my friend so went for the two other rules.
The first hit better than I intended, by pure luck or perhaps training. The two others could se the hit as extremely painful when he screamed and started saging(never done the move with full force before). The followup push moved him several meters, more than I thought and that stopped the others in their tracks. They where chocked and didn’t want that pain.
I screamed at them to keep their distance and turned to my friend and saw the other two using him like a football on the ground. I moved in behind one of them and did a locking and draged him off my friend, without hurting him. So my friend could roll out of the way and only get one on one.
This was a misstake because it fixed me too him and sacrificed my movement, the other three jumped me then.
So my masters feedback that I could get a permanent damage was true. My left wrist was broken in a way to remind me every day now, what pain is.
My own experience told me that Grappling a person and killing your movement is something you never should do with more opponents than one. Why did I do that. Yes because of training and the training also teached me to never hurt a person if I could avoid it.
One opponent in front of me do one opponent defence, was drilled into me. Bad decision. It’s wrong, thinking like that. They where four, just one active.
More will always defend a friend if you have hurt them before. Even if you are not hurting their friend at the moment and just keeping him out of the fight. Remember telling him will you stop fighting if I release you.
So three things was in my favour.
Some of my training had helped me alot and the training had also given me the time to think because I acted faster and reacted faster than my opponents due to training without thinking how I did things. This speeds things up alot and gives you awareness if you use it to your benefit. I even combined different moves in my head.
Traning also gives you better results when you do things, that will give you an edge if you can minimize their damage.
Distance is a key factor and a safe direction like what my girl did to the other two in the beginning so there where no one coming from that direction during that time. Also used the buss stop like that after the grappling because I had pulled the person into the buss stop and ran around it a couple of times to avoid getting hit. Must have looked ridiculous.
They where also not sober and I was.
Still grateful that they didn’t jump my girl!
Have Women Lost Their Minds? (It Sure Looks Like Some Have!)
I’d gone into Best Buy to replace a bad mp3 player. The counter I had to go to was next to the same counter as the Geek Squad incoming counter.
While an employee was looking up my receipt I had time to overhear the Geek talking to a customer with a computer with no power.
Geek: “Well since it won’t power on that means the motherboard(?) is dead and would cost more to replace than a new computer. I’d recommend picking up a new one on Aisle 5. Hopefully we can transfer your data from this dead system.”
The previous night we’d had a lightning storm and in that day dial-up was still a think. Also I was, and have, worked in legit computer repair stores.
Also I’d drank heavily the night before and was still feeling the effects.
Me: “Why don’t you try pulling the modem out of the computer and try it again. There were lightning strikes in the area last night and it may have blown.”
Geek: “I’ve been doing this for 6 months and I think I know what I’m doing and talking about!”
Me: “I’ve been doing computer repair for 10 years and I think I’d try the modem.”
Customer: “Pull the modem like he said and try again, please.”
So the Geek in a huff opens the case and removes the modem. He hits the power button and turns to us with a smirk on his face while the computer boot into Windows behind him.
I was asked to finish my business and leave the store.
As you may know, Atlantic City, New Jersey isn’t doing so well.
They are losing thousands, if not millions, of tourists to other cities. Many casinos have closed down and the ones that are still open are struggling to make a profit.
Today, I’m going to be showing you a casino that opened in 2012, and it was supposed to be an iconic symbol of Atlantic City.
Revel Casino
(Today it’s called TEN Atlantic City)
Construction began in 2007, the project would cost an astonishing 2.4 billion dollars.
It would became the tallest casino in Atlantic City, and the second tallest in the United States.
It opened its doors on April 2, 2012.
Revel went through a rough start. The building was too massive to fill all of the 1,399 rooms it had. The debt began to build up right as they opened doors, and the owners had no idea what to do.
On February 19, 2013, they announced they would file for bankruptcy in March. The total debt was estimated to be around $1,000,000,000!
On May 21, 2013, Revel exited the bankruptcy court by giving lenders an 82 percent stake in the property.
On June 19, 2014, they filed for bankruptcy again!
They tried to sell the property, but there were no buyers. I wonder why?
In result, they closed their doors on September 1st, 2014. However, just 20 days later, a court-based auction was held. There was a $90 million bid on the property. Then another bid was placed for $110 million! Shortly afterwards the $110 million bidder walked away. The property was eventually sold to Glenn Straub for $95.4 million.
In the end, Revel lost over $2.3 billion dollars.
It may have not been the biggest waste of money, but it was a pretty big one.
The problem was obvious. You can’t build a multi-billion dollar casino and hotel at an already struggling city! Some people can be so weird.
The Revel was suppose to be an iconic symbol of Atlantic City. It was designed to be flooded with tourists and to host world class shows. Instead, it’s looked down on as a symbol of enormous failure.
Cannelloni
For a complete meal, serve Cannelloni with a crisp tossed salad, a loaf of Italian bread and fresh fruit.
Heat oil in a 2 or 3 quart saucepan until a light haze forms over it. Add onion and cook until soft. Add tomatoes with liquid and other remaining ingredients. Reduce heat to very low and simmer for 40 minutes with pan partially covered. Stir occasionally.
Blend tomato mixture in blender and taste for seasoning. Correct if necessary. May be made up to a week before serving and stored in refrigerator.
Meat Filling
Heat oil in skillet. Add onion and garlic. Cook over moderate heat, stirring frequently, for 7 to 8 minutes until soft. Stir in spinach and cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly. When all the moisture has cooked away, transfer to large mixing bowl. Melt butter in same skillet and lightly brown meat, stirring. Add meat to spinach mixture. Add cheese, cream, eggs and oregano. Mix and season with salt and pepper.
Besciamella
In a heavy 2 or 3 quart saucepan melt butter over moderate heat. Remove from heat and stir in flour. Add milk and cream all at once, stirring constantly with whisk. When the sauce comes to a boil and is smooth, reduce heat. Simmer, still stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes or until sauce is thick enough to coat the whisk wires heavily. Remove from heat and season with salt and white pepper.
Assembly
To assemble cannelloni, cook lasagna until done. Cut each whole lasagne noodles into 3 equal sections. Pour a light film of the tomato sauce into 2 (14 x 10 inch) shallow baking dishes. Place 1 tablespoon of the meat filling on the bottom third of each of the pasta rectangles and roll them up. Lay the cannelloni side by side, seam-side-down, in 1 layer on the tomato sauce. Pour besciamella over cannelloni and spoon the remaining tomato sauce on top. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the assembled cannelloni and dot with butter. Cannelloni may be assembled to this point the day before serving, then refrigerated until time to heat and serve. It may be wrapped and frozen.
When ready to cook, bake cannelloni in 375 degrees F oven uncovered for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce bubbling.
Notes
* Variation: Use tufoli or manicotti, cut in half after cooking, for pasta.
An argument can be made that Formula 1 drivers are the most fit athletes in the world. For example, the drivers encounter these conditions:
When in wide turns at great speeds, the heads of F1 drivers can experience 5g’s
When a driver releases full throttle while on a straight with no application of brakes, he experiences greater deceleration from the braking power of the engine alone than we would if we slammed the brakes hard in our cars
F1 drivers experience massive g-loads when they crash. In almost all cases, they walk away from the crash.
Their sustained heart rates can be 190 bpm during a race
The drivers can lose 2 – 3 liters of water through perspiration during a race
Formula 1 drivers are human marvels. They have insanely fast reflexes, have great eyesight, possess an innate sense of how a car moves around a track, endure high heart beat and respiration rates, need to manage a massively complex car through steering wheel controls and conduct conversations with the pit crew throughout the race.
image 101
A Mercedes F1 Steering Wheel.
F1 drivers train constantly and have excellent aerobic fitness and endurance. A typical F1 race lasts 1.5 – 2 hours, usually in warm conditions. They constantly run at the edge of their performance.
I don’t think any other athlete has more to contend with than does an F1 driver during a race.
I did this once, and what ensued remains one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.
I worked for a mid-size office supply company for a couple of summers in the late 80s when I was in college. Our department of about 25 people was great — everyone got along and we had lots of fun despite the heavy work load.
We had a tiny kitchen with a fridge just outside the conference room. Occasionally there would be a small item missing — a piece of pie here, a can of soda there. It always annoyed us that someone would filch a coworker’s food, but we couldn’t figure out who was doing it. We ruled out someone from another department as they would have to walk clear across our office to get to the kitchen and would be spotted. No, this was an inside job.
One day as I was getting my lunch from the fridge, I saw that my small container of potato salad was gone. I was pissed, and said so to my coworker Ann. She motioned with her thumb to the workstation behind hers and whispered, “I saw Mike eating it. I think he’s the one who’s been stealing from the fridge.”
Mike B., our neurotic, rotund salesman. How had I not suspected him? He was an otherwise good guy so I couldn’t really get mad at him, but I did want to get revenge.
So after work I bought a slice of cake at the supermarket that looked like this:
image 100
I carefully removed all of the frosting, put half of it in a mixing bowl and tossed out the rest. To the bowl I added at least half a tube of this:
image 99
Mixed it all up and “re-frosted” the cake. I even added some of these to make it more enticing:
image 98
He didn’t touch the cake the first day, or the second. Ann and I were getting worried. But on Day 3 he could hold out no longer. Ann came rushing to my desk late in the afternoon and told me to look in the conference room. I stood up and peered over the dividers to see Mike sitting alone in the darkened conference room making calls with a beautiful slice of buttercream and Crest cake in front of him.
Ann couldn’t see, so she asked, “What’s he doing?”
“He’s eating the cake.”
“What do you mean, ‘He’s eating the cake’?”
“The man is eating the cake,” I said, nonplussed.
I watched him eat the entire slice. He paused at one point to poke at the icing with his fork — something wasn’t right — but he kept eating. He hoovered down the cake, toothpaste and all, within two minutes.
By now others had gathered to see what was so interesting, and by the time Mike emerged from the conference room the entire department was waiting. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw us.
“There’s some white on your lips, Mike,” one of the other salesman said. “Did you just brush your teeth?”
“What? What’s going on?”
Ann told him what he’d just eaten and we all burst out laughing.
“Oh my God!” Mike shouted. “I knew there was something wrong with that cake! I could be poisoned!”
Half of us were doubled over by now, as much over the prank as over Mike’s histrionics.
And then came the crowning moment, totally unforeseen by any of us. Margaret, our frail, 72-year-old bookkeeper, stepped forward carrying a small bottle and a spoon. She was genuinely concerned for her coworker’s health.
“Mike, you need to take this — quickly.”
“What is it?” He asked.
“Just take it. It will help,” she said solemnly.
image 97
What this woman was doing with a bottle of Ipecac in her desk drawer I’ll never know, but Mike, by this point desperate over potentially being poisoned, took two spoonfuls and downed a glass of water.
If you know what Ipecac used to be used for, then you won’t be surprised at what happened next.
Mike spent the next half hour in the bathroom, vomiting his guts out. He definitely purged the cake, the toothpaste, and anything else he’d eaten that day.
I went in at one point to check on him. “I’m okay,” he muttered from behind the stall door. “But I’m going to strangle that old woman.”
Mike survived and eventually came around to appreciate the humor of what happened, what came to be known as “The Ipe-Cake Incident.”
I Bought America’s Most Expensive Storage Unit (He HOARDED GUNS!)
It’s a hard question to answer, because as a percent of GDP its pretty hard to compare building the pyramids to anything else.
However I have a great Canadian example.
Canada wanted to save its ship building and technology sector by building a whole new fleet of 15 warships, plus more coastguard ships.
To make this economical, we were buying a hull design from the British navy, but were building them in Canada, and using Canadian built armaments, Canadian radar, Canadian developed software, etc. We were building 15 warships for 24 billion dollars, or $1.6 billion each.
But then the navy decided that they didn’t want anything Canadian in it, they wanted everything to be compatible with the US systems. So everything has been redesigned, where we now buy all American parts, and software, and install them on our ship. But we now have to pay licensing fees every year to a foreign government, to operate our war ships, and if we have a dispute with that government, our systems are shutdown.
So now the cost of frigate has soared to 5.7 billion dollars, or $84 billion for 15. But it gets worse, with maintenance costs, its over $300 billion, and we have to contract out a lot of maintenance to the Americans for their proprietary systems.
The UK bought a used US aircraft carrier, for what we are spending on a frigate.
It gets even worse, the US is willing to sell us their off the shelf, brand new frigates, that have everything the navy wants, for the same $1.6 billion each, that we were going to pay in the first place. Since the new ships will have no new Canadian technology in them, there is little gain for Canada to spend an extra $4.1 billion a ship more than forecast.
The government announced that they will have to cut the armed forces budget.
Doomsday Prepper’s ABANDONED Mansion | Found Secret Bunker with EVERYTHING Still Inside
Upon arriving, Steinmetz rejected all assistance and asked only for a notebook, pencil and cot.
Steinmetz listened to the generator and scribbled computations on the notepad for two straight days and nights. On the second night, he asked for a ladder, climbed up the generator and made a chalk mark on its side. Then he told Ford’s skeptical engineers to remove a plate at the mark and replace sixteen windings from the field coil.
They did, and the generator performed to perfection.
Henry Ford was thrilled, until he got an invoice from General Electric in the amount of $10,000. Ford acknowledged Steinmetz’s success but balked at the figure. He asked for an itemized bill.
Steinmetz responded personally to Ford’s request with the following:
Making chalk mark on generator: $1.
Knowing where to make mark: $9,999.
Ford paid the bill.
I’ve told this story before, but I can’t think of a better one to show: the single most valuable skill in the world is judgement.
At first I thought great judgement would just make you rich, but that’s not true. It’ll also make you happy. Deciding who you trust requires judgement. Choosing who you marry is a judgement call. How you spend your time is a direct result of your judgement.
That’s why nature made it hard to get. The only way to good judgement leads right through experience, which you pay for in time, energy, and taking risk. But most of all, you need courage.
Because while life is one big judgement training camp, those who really embrace it must ask what the most important decision is, choose an option, and then see it through. Over and over again. And that’s not a matter of judgement at all.
Maldives is a small country barely visible on the map. Of course there are smaller countries, but the islands in Maldives are scattered all across the ocean making some islands big as a regular apartment or just sand banks (which is useless. No one can live there). This means, we do not have a lot of land and landlords take advantage of the people with skyrocketing rent.
Our capital city, Male’ is where literally every Maldivian wants to live in because it has got everything that a regular islanders could never have.
To give you a clearer picture; regular islanders live in suuuper tiny islands, sometimes with a population of 200 or more. Zero cars sometimes, because these islands are so small you can literally walk anywhere. One small school for 10–20 kids and one health clinic (worst).
Right after they see the city, they want to move there at any cost and this is the story of EVERY Maldivian. And is also the reason why three quarters of the population lives in Male’ city . Hence, skyrocketing rent.
The people who actually belong to Male’ rent out their houses or build huge apartment buildings and rent it out for prices however they like. Why not?!? People still want these places at any cost, even if that means working two jobs, even if that means sharing one small unit with 10 other people. And don’t even get me started on investing in these tiny ass apartments, that is just a topic for another day pheww.
Ever wondered where these ‘rich’ landlords are? They rent out even the tiniest places they own for ridiculous prices and move to a cheaper country. Basically they are set for life. However, they live like normal people in those countries , no crazy fancy life but the quality of life is better of course.
Basically anyone who owns a little piece of land in this concrete jungle, Male’ city, is SET FOR LIFE.
Everyone wants to know the “most” the “best”, I too am guilty of that :-p However, its not that easy to say which is the No 1 in everything especially if there are multiple measures to grade against, that the scope (time & geography) is so wide, that some may be lost to us and hence not enough is known, tactics-strategy-war tech change even within the medieval time frame so as to affect what is desirable in a fortress and as with all things strategic and tactical – there is always differences in opinions. So knowing full well there is no right answer and I can’t even pretend to know more than a tiny fraction of fortresses within the question scope, I will hazard a few candidates and also why.
Illustration by Peter Dunn of Siege of Dover Castle in 1216 (from english-heritage-uk.co)
image 95
Before going into individual fortresses, 3 things. 1) the question used the term fortress, the word emphasis a combat role, so I will take it entirely from a military perspective and ignore all other factors. 2) The term medieval refers to a span of approximately 1000 years between the fall of the Romans and the start of Renaissance. However the word is a essentially a European and perhaps Middle Eastern due to the degree of interaction back then. It does NOT apply to “the world”. Despite this I will simply assume coverage include examples from somewhere around c500AD to c1500AD without geographic limits. There is a slight difference in the time when we refer to “Medieval” because depending on the civilization in question there are differences in the start of the Renaissance period. 3) There is a difference between castles and fortresses, but its a minor one of generally greater focus on battle priorities by fortresses than the castles (eg relatively thicker walls) and castles encompass more. For this answer, I will NOT distinguish between the 2, but I will ignore non-military strengths of castles per (1).
About individual castles I would first point out that I will only be touching on them in brief, which frankly speaking will be a disservice to them since a lot of their defensive features may be left out in the process. But this is quora, I am not trying to do a research paper.
These castles may have their surrounding defense works overtaken by development. In addition, its common to have temporary defense works added outside the permanent parameters if they have the troops for it. Example of temporary defense works are ditches and earthen works for layers of defense and fall back positions.
In no particular order.
(from:architectureofcities.com) Le Mont-Saint-Michel, Normandy, France
from 8th century
image 94
Top view (from:pininterest/Luc Vieri)
image 93
The castle at high tide is accessible by one narrow approach at high tide (narrower in the past). And at low tide the waters around recede and is clay-like sand. Defense is oriented more towards the land approach which is deemed the greater threat.
(from:art.com)
image 92
(from eart.esa.int)
image 91
What its location means is by land you are restricted to 1 approach at high tide, and at low tide siege engines won’t work from other sides, foot approach will also be a real pain. By sea, you only have a short period to do anything and you risk running aground. It is conceivable that if the defenders anticipates assault by sea, they can prepare some surprises for the ships.
You will see it has concentric walls of higher and higher elevation, which makes each breach just meaning a harder fight coming up with the next wall (attackers gets “boxed in”). Also elevation gives all sorts of advantages to the defenders. Seaward side you will note the sheer inclines.
The abbey has never fallen.
Murud-Janjira – Murud, Maharashtra, India
(from:architectureofcities.com)
from 1200s
image 90
(from:holidify.com)
image 88
(from reddit)
image 87
from wiki
image 89
40’ high walls and 19 rounded bastions, has fresh water wells and made made lakes. Not a star shape fortress, but the concept of one is present with the bastions to provide fire on “at wall” targets. Has multi walls, can only be threatened by sea but will out class sea vessels guns of the time with weight and range of fire of their guns as well as advantage of elevation.
Edinburgh Castle – Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland
(2 pics from:architectureofcities.com)
from 1103
image 86image 85
High elevations , commanding view (more on this point from next castle), very thick walls. I actually visited the place, even as a visitor it can be tiring to go around. For attacking troops, there will be so many obstacles and death traps along the way even if you get pass the outer walls, or even reach the outer walls for the matter. And if for some reason you managed to get inside, there are so many little details that will disadvantage the attacker vs the defender. Simple things like the direction of spiral stairs to disadvantage a right handed attacker moving upwards vs a downward fighting defender for example.
Besieged more than 25 times but never fallen by force. When it did fall it was through treachery, deceit, politics, surrender etc. The 1 case a comment managed to dredge up was when the castle was bombarded extensively by the largest siege engines of the time for 3 days, and practically demolished the place. By the time the defenders gave up and surrendered, the damage took many years of rebuilding to restore and with help of master craftsman from Wales. So in that 1 case they dodged the “taken by force” on a technicality of surrender before the defenses were actually overwhelmed.
Hohensalzburg Fortress – Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
(from:nomadbytrade.com)
from 1077
image 84image 83
Its very much similar to Edinburgh castle in terms of military perspective but the picture above shows a cannon point out from the defenses, this is what I had meant about “commanding view”.
Château de Puilaurens
from 13th century
(source: pininterest/Susan Calderon)
image 82
(source:catharcastles.info)
image 81
Other than the fort on a hill top and aspects already mentioned, I draw your attention to the only approach is not only steep and zigzag, but there are also zigzag walls to let the attacker face wall after blood letting wall.
Mehrangarh – Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India
from around 1459
(from architectureofcities.com)
image 80
Same strengths as Edinburgh and Hohensalzburg
There are actually many such hill top fortifications so rather than go into too many I will just show some without explanation:
Königstein Fortress – Königstein, Saxony, Germany
from c860
(from spottinghistory.com)
image 79
Ksar of Aït Benhaddou – Aït Benhaddou, Morocco
from 11th century
(from:architectureofcities.com)
image 78
Himeji Castle
from 1346
(from:jrpass.com)
image 77
(from Japan-history-travel.net)
image 76
I actually visited one of these. Unlike most ‘on the hill top’ type fortifications, many examples of the Japanese forts show much more extensive modification of the surrounding area for defensive reasons. Just moving from the outer perimeters to the castle proper is quite a challenge for an attacker. Every step of the way is uphill with things designed to give the defender plenty of chances to kill or maim the attacker from relative safety, some of which are really devious. Even if you reach the main door of the castle, you face an entrance way that is almost vertically upwards with each of the steps so high you have to literally climb up (all the daily convenience aspects are retracted away). The entire fort from outer perimeters, courtyards to hallways designed to be a meat grinder.
There are many such fortifications around the world from that time period and my relatively short coverage of so few does no justice at all to all the examples not yet mentioned.
Key aspects:
Command the surrounding
Difficult to approach
Time consuming to besiege/attack
Able to take attacks from weapons of the time
Supplies – especially water
Death Trap – cost the attackers every step of the way
Layer after layer of defense
Cozy Fireplace 4K (12 HOURS). Fireplace with Crackling Fire Sounds. Crackling Fireplace 4K
LOL. This is 12 hours of fireplace blaze. Great for a background video on your living-room television. But useless otherwise. Enjoy the link if you want to.
It was a party. He was hassling a girl and calling her boyfriend “scraggly Jesus”.
Fifty kilo (110 lbs.) me asked him to stop. Hundred kilo he, lifted me under the armpits and pinned me against the wall while lecturing me on minding my own business in front of 50 or 60 partygoers.
A few of his friends told him to stop, and he did.
I left the party.
Three days later, I saw him get out of an open convertible in the parking lot and leave it open.
My eyes happened upon the poison ivy growing along the fence.
Knowing my tolerance was high (after many severe and very itchy cases), I tore off a dozen leaves and rubbed them all over his steering wheel and seat before tossing them away at the fence again.
I then went back into work and washed my hands thoroughly.
I had a light case on my hands.
He spent three weeks looking very pink (from the medication) and very unhappy and never able to figure out why the poison ivy kept spreading to new areas.
Originally Answered: Was the D-Day scene of World War II in the movie, Saving Private Ryan overrated?
My dad was part of the landing shown in the movie “Saving Private Ryan.” He was a combat engineer and landing three minutes into the invasion. I grew up hearing his war stories. I guess talking about it made it easier for him. It wasn’t until years later I realized how important those “boring” conversations were.
Dad landed with 44 men. Eleven made it through that first day. After he saw “Saving Private Ryan,” he confessed to me that the only thing missing for him was the smell.
When I saw the movie, I vividly remember the guy walking around looking for his arm, because that was a story Dad had told me long before the movie ever came out. He talked about being pinned down and how there was only one choice: forward. There wasn’t an evacuation plan if the invasion didn’t work out.
He spoke about how tired they got waiting to die and how welcomed it was when people began organizing and attacking again. He told me how he just had to move and ignore the bullets. He described the bullets as like buzzing bees flying past him. They didn’t matter. Getting off the beach was the only thing that mattered.
As for the scene after D-Day where they show Tom Hanks’ character sleeping beneath a Jeep and just shaking with fear, I asked Dad about that. He explained how brainwashed they were going into the invasion; how they had been convinced it was going to be a cakewalk to Paris; how some of the guys were even (jokingly) asking for weekend passes to Paris on the boat ride over. That first day was supposed to be the easiest day and when it was over, all he could think about was, “If this was the easy day, I don’t want to see tomorrow.”
After seeing the movie, Dad called each of his children and asked them to see it, too, out of respect for him and the people he served with. I called him after I saw it for the most chilling phone call I ever had with him. In the course of that phone call, he recited the name and rank of every soldier he served with who didn’t make it. Over 50 years later, he still remembered every one of them.
Please find and read D-Day: June 6, 1944: The Battle for the Normandy Beaches Paperback – June 5, 2002 by Stephen E. Ambrose – which was written after receive 1400 oral histories from people who were there.
My Wife Said She “Identifies” As Poly & Wants An Open Marriage…So I Made Her My Side Piece!
When did you see a police officer do a clever, but sneaky thing?
I didn’t see it but was told this story firsthand.
My cousin was an undercover Narcotics detective in Vancouver. He’d arrested a low level dealer and talked him into revealing his supplier. He also got the date for when the supplier would have a shipment in.
With search warrant in hand the group went to the drug distributor’s home to search his premises.
While officers searched every nook of his home my cousin focused on watching the dealer while the other officers did the search.
The dealer looked confident and relaxed during the search. My cousin was starting to worry that they had missed the delivery.
They finished searching the house and went out to the garage. Again, my cousin focused on the dealer while the rest did the search.
He noticed a stacked pile of new plywood in the center of the garage. When the other officers searched elsewhere the dealer looked calm. But when they passed by the plywood he flinched.
My cousin did a gotcha-smile and had the officers remove a half dozen layers of plywood. Then they found a cut-out in the middle containing a large quantity of drugs.
image 96
A clever detective indeed!
Addendum:
I’m delighted that many Quorans found the answer interesting. So let me add to the story.
I was reluctant to add my cousin’s name because frankly I didn’t think you would believe it. His name is Rick Crook and he had an incredible career in the Vancouver Police force. He went from undercover drug enforcement to homicide and ultimately worked for the RCMP. He wrote a book and did some script work for Canadian crime dramas. The story of the drug bust was from 1985. Rick in his “cop” look was as straight as can be. However, in his druggie garb he was amazing. I remember looking at this picture of him in his druggie role. He had a beard, jeans and looked like a country hick. No one would ever have guessed he was a cop. He went on to major crimes/homicide during which he dealt with a major mob informant, later murdered, as well as investigating the Air India bombing. (links below)
Side note: He was the only cop at the station who was paged by his badge number. Apparently paging Detective Crook created way too much humour.
Back in 2000, I was in the national guard. During the summer, I would ask to be put on orders to for the money. Since they apparently had the money to spare, they put me on orders for a couple of months in the summer, so I was full time. Well, since i lived 200 miles away, they put me up in a hotel not far from the base.
One morning, I was not working for some reason, or I was going in later or something. Point is, I was just getting out of the shower and apparently did not hear the maid knock at the door. As per usual, she let herself in and proceeded to clean up….of course unbeknownst to me. I opened the bathroom door and walked out in the buff—of course not expecting anyone to be in my room. The maid was making the bed as I walked out. We caught each other’s eye…we both stopped dead. I didn’t even have a towel to cover with. Suddenly, she turned red and apologized profusely. I went back into the bathroom and told her not to worry, it was my fault for not hearing her come in. Well, she left. I got dressed and headed out.
On my way to the car, I saw her sitting outside looking troubled. When she saw me, she apologized again and said she was really really sorry. I could tell she was worried about it. I told her not to worry. It didn’t bother me at all. It was just one of those things that happen. I actually thought it was kind of funny. She smiled at that and relaxed. I was there for a couple of months in that hotel room. Every day, I passed her in the corridor and we always said hi to each other.
Those are the ingredients responsible for the “sour” in sour candy.
Exactly what I used one day to make homemade Warheads.
Homemade candy is an art form. The precise timing allows expression of individual preference for the hardness; that, combined with absolute control over amounts of flavoring, shaping and texture as it cools means almost anything imaginable is possible. And I imagined candy more sour than any of that weak “legal” stuff.
I bring the corn syrup and sugar to a boil, and it’s time to add flavoring. The options were lemon oil, apple, or even cherry, but I didn’t use any of those. Everyone knows natural taste distracts from the most important flavor: sour. I didn’t want that. I wanted the perfect pucker, a sour so undeniable that even the coolest dude would wince and beg for mommy.
So that’s what I did. I wasn’t using a recipe, so I could add as much as I wanted. Forgoing the measuring spoon entirely, I poured the acid in. Once the liquid had consumed the acerbic powder completely, I calmly whispered to myself, “That should be enough.”
Enough it was, because when it came time to test it, the immediate reaction of every family member followed a predictable pattern:
Gag
Run and spit candy out
Wash mouth repeatedly
Criticize my ability to cook
They all gave scathing reviews, which I’ll do my best to recreate:
“This isn’t candy, these are literally acid drops.”
“Tastes like gasoline.”
“What did you put in these? They’re terrible.”
They were perfect — exactly as I imagined.
See, there was this kid at school who loved candy too much for his own good, if I dare foreshadow the inevitable.
He had a habit of literally rummaging through people’s lunchboxes and eating any candy he found, as well as snatching things from people’s hands. No respect for personal space and no hesitation.
Which is what made him the perfect victim. That morning I put every single sour candy I had in a plastic bag, and put it at the top of my lunchbox.
Dude couldn’t even wait for lunch, it happened during chemistry, ironically.
“What are these?” he said, holding the bag of dark brown pieces. While I replied, “some candy I made,” he had already opened the bag, grabbed an entire handful of them, and shoved it in is mouth. I had rolled them in powdered sugar, so it took a bit for the sour to kick in.
“AAAAACTHVK AAACK TBBD GAAACK GAHCHK NGAH”
He gagged and ran to the trashcan by the door, spitting the dozen or so pieces out, while the class watched, proving that not even the sugar content could keep him from following the reaction process.
“WHAT ARE THOSE?”
Even though I had already replied, I realized he hadn’t fully heard the first time, so I again said, “some sour candies I made.”
“THOSE WERE GROSS.” Yes, yes they were.
The lesson had been made. Don’t throw foreign objects in mouth without first seeing someone else eat them.
Honestly it was more funny than in bad taste, as everyone in the class including the teacher then got a chance to try one. They all agreed I had bested Warheads
and created something truly inedible, yet still somehow candy.
Those “acid drops” will always be remembered, for the special way they burned our tongues and seemingly melted our teeth, but more especially for how that greedy kid partook of sweet, sweet karma.
A classic Italian vegetarian sub sandwich is a spring and summer favorite of ours. Creamy mozzarella, lush ripe tomatoes, extra-virgin olive oil and basil are the basics of this sandwich.
2024 02 05 13 39
Yield: 1 sandwich
Ingredients
1 Italian sub roll (or similar)
1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tablespoon balsamic glaze
5 fresh basil leaves
2 ripe tomatoes, thickly sliced
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
3 thick slices fresh mozzarella (buffalo, if possible)
Instructions
Using a serrated knife, slice a sub roll in half lengthwise.
Drizzle the inside with extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic glaze.
Add basil and tomato to one side and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Top with fresh mozzarella and close sandwich.
Top the tomatoes with mozzarella.
Notes
It is best to assemble this sandwich just before eating since some moisture from the cheese and tomato will seep into the bread as it sits.
Don’t have balsamic glaze on hand? You can use regular balsamic vinegar or make some by adding 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar with 1/4 cup apple juice and boiling it down until it reduces into a thick syrup.
I was a lifeguard as a teenager, and was working at a summer camp as are so common in US.
This kid, who I had been teaching to swim that morning, was out on a float in the lake. He wasn’t a strong swimmer but was safe, in my estimation. On the shore side of the float, the water wasn’t very deep. On the other side, about 10 feet from the float, it was *very* deep- a float-cord warned swimmers to not go on that side. The float was about 50 metres from shore. It had a ladder and a little slide, both on the shore side.
The kid starts yelling that I need to come get him as he is too tired to swim back. I told him that he was capable of getting to shore on his own.
So he said “Oh yeah? Well what about this?” and the little pillock dove off the back of the float, swam to the float-cord, and went under to the deep side- screaming he was drowning.
I was ready to murder him.
But, I went off to get him- by the time I got to him, he was actually in real trouble.
I dragged him back to shore, told him off, reminded him of the rules, told him he could have drowned, and the little weasel said “It’s your job to come get me if I don’t want to swim. I’m going to tell my mother [a high flying criminal attorney] that you pushed me in the water.”
I went to the Senior counsellors about this, and we put measures in place… the next day he was outfitted with a “swimmie”- a bright yellow and red vest with flotation material in the abdominal/chest area- and told he could not be within 10 feet of the water without it. It made kids look like they were fat with a well endowed chest, but it kept their head out of the water if they couldn’t swim. The Senior Counsellor told him if he could not safely get back from the float on his own, as he had proven, then he had to wear the swimmie.
His mother was told by her outraged child, who clearly expected her to chastise the evil counsellors who didn’t want him to drown… her response was to threaten to have a life size picture of this 12 year old hotshot in his swimmie made, and put it on the front lawn.
I got an interview for a program manager job at a company where I felt like I wasn’t a great fit… a job that was 5–10 years more than my experience level in that particular industry would usually give me. I mentioned this to the interviewer early on in the interview and he said something like “Yeah… You aren’t a great fit. I’ve just never met anyone who graduated from Yale. I wanted to see what you were like.” This frustrated the hell out of me… thanks for wasting my time leaving my job, dressing up, an hour in the interview and the travel time back to work in the middle of the day.
After the first 10 seconds of “F-you, a-hole” that ran through my head, I then thought “OK. Let’s have fun with this. I’m already here. I can either tell the guy what I think about his wasting my time and walk out or I can flip the table and make it a learning opportunity or an experiment.” I decided on option 2, as I was already there. I continued w/ the interview, asking my usual questions about what they wanted the person to do and the problems they saw in the organization, but 5 min in I stopped him. “I think you are hiring all wrong for this position. You say that you are looking for X, but that person is going to fail, and here’s why… What you REALLY need is Y. THAT kind of person and knowledge is what you need to be successful, if what you told me about your problems are true. I’m also guessing that you badly need Z skills in your group, if not in this position, then another.” I didn’t hold back. I was professional, but I basically told him that he was unimaginative, dim and was doomed to repeat the mistakes that had plagued him over the past few years with his current hiring plan (This is sarcasm here folks. I, of course, was polite and professional, but as the interview had stopped being about me getting a job and started being a learning experiment, I wasn’t worried about pulling any punches or staying on his good side).
It’s funny, but he called me a few days later, told me I was right and made me a job offer. I turned him down nicely. I was looking for a new job to leave a bad company… there were so many red flags that came up during the interview (more than the reason above) that I was never going to work for that place. I would have been jumping from the frying pan and into the fire.
Japan need to rid itself of this strange bedfellow call USA of its back. Without which the nation will stagnate till it fully collapse.
It is not easy when the US has over 100 military base big and small in its small territory. I dare say it is bad for both the U.S. and Japan. But let’s focus on Japan. They are threatened, coerced and bribed into talking shit, doing shit and stirring shit on China 24/7, 365 days a year by their master USA. As a slave they have no say and no opinion that can differ from its master.
In 1945 they had no choice having lost the war and nuke twice, by 1970 it seemed a perfect arrangement, US is a behemoth market while China is minuscule underdeveloped nation. Japan gets protected and sells its goodies to its master and got filthy rich. By 1991 Their master says no way, we decide to double the Japanese yen value overnight.
For 33 years and counting the Japanese economy is in a deflationary, stagflation. Meanwhile by 2010 China as a market and as manufacturing base has overgrown Japan and today in 2024 China as a market is equivalent to the U.S. plus the entire G7 put together. So try imagining talking shit, doing shit and stirring shit at China!
But that is what they are compelled to do! There lies the problem. Their product won’t sell, their companies suffer losses, their people lose jobs, Investment dry up and consumption fall flat or going down. Their debts are highest in the world and they lose a million population a year. And what do they do?
Yes,a work friend. We worked together at Wamu (before it closed) and got along really well. She seemed a bit rough around the edges and normally not the type that I associate with, but we clicked well. I didn’t want to be judgmental. I found out that she was homeless and lived in her car at night, so since it was only my husband and me raising our grand-daughter with a 5 bedroom house, I offered her a place to stay. I told her not to worry about rent for the first month but after that we would expect it. Was I stupid or what?
She ended up yelling at my grand-daughter for dumb things when she didn’t think I heard (g-daughter was only 7) , and then would be sweet when I was around. RED FLAG. After the first week, she started creating problems with my husband and me by pitting us against each other. She would say things like, “and you know what else he said?” as if my husband was trashing me behind my back. Because of that, she created a number of arguments. I learned she was drinking in her room and I suspected drugs . My husband wanted her OUT OF OUR HOUSE NOW.
I went to work and talked to a few other friends who told me that she is using meth. They said to get her out of our house. After a week I asked her to leave (before I had to evict her) and had my daughter and her husband come over as a witness (by this time I didn’t trust her). My manager at Wamu along with my supervisor also advised me to get her out , and gave me support while doing so. Once she left, she harassed me at work, made harassing phone calls at work and at home. She would go into an empty office and call my extension and hang up…..and eventually she was caught. I went home one night and found my dog dead in the garage, and it was suspected she poisoned her, but I couldn’t prove it. The manager became so concerned that she was eventually fired and security escorted her out. I will never do that again,….lesson learned. Why is it when you try to be nice, the person becomes a jerk?
I posted a comment / answer on Quora, and it was deleted. The space was a “Warfare” space, and was very heavily “Pro-America”. The same thing, that you all understand if you were brought up in the USA… America is the best, and the toughest and the king of the world… yeah. Sure.
This answer was declined. Posting here. If you know the reasons for it being declined Please inform me.
China is a peaceful nation.
But, it is NOT stupid.
…
The United States has thrown EVERYTHING at China. And I do mean EVERYTHING.
From “color revolutions” inside of China, to “color revolutions” in all the nations surrounding China. From undersea excursions and conflicts, to near-space satellite warfare. From cyber warfare, to bio-warfare attacks. From managed famines to lawfare assaults. From efforts designed to collapse the Chiense banking industry to efforts to collapse the Chinese real estate industry.
It’s been full spectrum and absolute.
But not reported in the “news” of the West.
…
Instead we hear of submarines ramming undersea mountains, freak geomagnetic storms, the “apparent random” firings of Naval Commanders, and the Secretary of the Navy. We read (in the West) about Chinese “warmongering” a build up for a “Taiwanese invasion”.
All this interspersed about how Putin has brain cancer, and how Russia is running out of ammo. We read about how Xi Peng is going to be disposed and how the poor downtrodden people of China are going to rise up for “democracy” and Freedom”.
…
Info war is in full swing.
There is ZERO credibility in Western “news” media. Today it is so outrageous and comically fake and ridiculous that it is amazing that these tabloids are still able to have people that watch and read their content.
…
So… Yeah. It’s full spectrum. EVERYTHING.
Of course…
The clueless in the West would believe the fake narratives of Putin losing, China collapsing, and America remaining strong. They will believe that COVID was fake, or if it was something of concern, then it was “China’s fault” for one reason or the other. That’s the narrative, and that’s want the oligarchy expects Westerners to believe.
…
The United States is a feudal plutocracy.
While China is military-based meritocracy.
…
And the question is…
“Why is China preparing for a war with the United States”?
Answer…
China must. China owes it to it’s people. China has a responsibility to its people to expect the best, but prepare for the worst… and prepare they ARE.
…
Oh, it’s just like the United States is throwing EVERYTHING at China, China is preparing with EVERYTHING as well.
And, let me tell you all…
They don’t read American / Western “news”.
They know what is REALLY going on.
…
So China is ready.
If you are a consumer of Western “news” you will be unaware of the following facts, but you do need to brace yourself for the realities.
Were the USA, either directly or through proxy, attacks China… China will throw nuclear warheads at American cities and military installations.
Oh, sure. China has a “no first use policy” in regards to nuclear weapons.
But within the FORMAL WORDING of this (particular) policy is one sentence that you all should all pay attention to…
“…if attacked… China reserves the right … to use every means at its disposal … to attack the nation that attacks it.”
For some reason, the Western “news” media glosses over this sentence.
Perhaps they cannot read Chinese, or simply just cut and paste their “news articles” directly out of Langley VA.
Whatever, the Chinese FORMAL STATEMENT regarding nuclear weapons use is very carefully worded, and intentionally ambiguous enough to give the most aggressive neocons pause to consider.
…
So, yeah. China is ready.
It was ready in 1950–53 when it defeated the United States in Korea, and is ready today as it dishes EVERYTHING thrown at it, right back to the United States to consume.
…
At this point in time…
The United States and China are like a married couple living together weeks prior to a divorce. The United States is cheating, bending words, manipulating systems… and thinking “They’ll never find out”.
While China, is playing it smart.
Already has contacted the divorce attorneys, arranged the legal papers and made all the necessary arrangements. Just waiting for the time of CHINA’s choosing to terminate the relationship.
…
Quick summary
China is READY to take on the United States, simultaneously with it’s proxy “allies”.
China WILL use nuclear weapons.
China is above-peer capable with the best equipment of the West.
China is a military-based meritocracy.
…
Quick Note
The disinformation about China permeates all levels.
China is a military-based meritocracy, but the West portrays this reality as “conscription”. Which is disingenuous. It gives the Western reader a pre-conceived illusion of poorly trained, unmotivated troops. But the reality is something quite different.
…
I was going though my stacks and found other posts similarly deleted on the American website.
Such as this one…
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Is ‘World War 3’ really on the horizon?
I can understand your fear and concern.
I hope to calm you down with a nice happy dose of reality. The biggest culprit in this fear is the media. Whether it is social media, or main-stream media. Media is filling your mind with fear.
What the American Main-Stream Media says
According to 99.9999% of the American government controlled Western media; the world is heading towards world war 3 out of necessity. Both Putin and Xi are “loose cannons” with a selection of mental disorders and are out of control in trying to rule the world. Putin invaded Ukraine out of greed and lust, and Xi Peng will invade Taiwan for the same reasons. They despise democracy and freedom and want to rule the world as a dystopian nightmare world where everyone is controlled by Tiktok and weather balloons.
The REAL answer – being under-reported intentionally
World War 3 is the climax of the massive period of change that the world is going though. It is a generational event, and coincidences with solar activity. It is as predictable as the orbits of planets, and the mass movements of animals.
This period of change is a rather long event cycle and involves change at all levels. Some nations collapse. Some nations grow. Some groups engage in battles, while others suffer economic hardships. What ever happens, it is not homogeneous. But rather an aggregate of minor events sprinkled over a multi-decade long time periods.
The build-up to this period can be traced back to the 1960’s where the major dominant power; The United States, began a series of strategic blunders that set the stage for events that we are now witnessing.
The actual pivot point for contentious calamity occurred in 2008 with an economic meltdown in the West, and the resulting frantic splashing and doggie-paddling that we see today all spawn from it.
The actual war occurred in 2019 though 2022 with was the Coronavirus event. This was a three tiered biological phased attack on China by the United States.
Other events during this “war” consisted of the the disastrous 2020 Trump Flotilla into the South Chinese Sea, the undersea submarine wars from 2021 to 2023, and the satellite wars of 2020 to 2023.
Simultaneous with these events are the generalized cultural, social, and economic collapse of the United States and it’s Western proxies, the NATO incursions and war in the Ukraine following the “color revolution” in Kiev in 2014, and the failed Hong Kong color revolution of 2018 – 2020.
While the West shrinks in influence, the East (and Global South) grows. Both Russia and China are major global powers in all measurements, and are generally immune from the boiler-plate of attacks, and manipulations normally used by the West.
Africa is completely changing, and it has shed it’s colonial slave role and embraced a role as the “new” middle class in a rapidly changing world. Along with this follows a rag-tag collection of power centers around the world.
The world is now has entered into a “reconstruction” period globally. This is resulting in new alignments, and massive failures of nations and societies that are unable to adjust and change with the times.
This period will be a long one, and I am afraid that it has only begun.
Though, I anticipate the end of this period around 2030 or so, give or take two years. … The main-stream “news’ is designed to incite and inject fear to control people. I urge everyone to control themselves.
The future looks bright for most of the world. It is change that we do not like, and those in power want us to fear it. Do not. The intelligent person recognizes this and takes appropriate steps for a bright future ahead rather than clutching on the past though fear.
…
Resulting in this comment…
2024 02 08 08 45
I see the “West” and in late-stage dying. The “dance of death” where the body contorts and twists and shudders.
Not only just chinese from China but also chinese origin from others even from Singapore.
I travel to US for a dozen times both business and holidays but each time my checked in luggages 100% checked and prised open plus hand luggage checked even if you go to green lane.
This prove one thing for sure. US had created so many enemies around the world that they are living in fear of daily terrorist attacks whereas chinese people in China are living in peace and harmony without any fear or concern for their safety.
When you approach American policeman, they are ready to draw their guns whereas when you approach a chinese policeman, their mindset is that you need help.
That is the difference between China and America.
Baked Lasagna
2024 02 08 06 26
Ingredients
Sauce
3 pounds ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
3 tablespoons tomato puree
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
Lasagna
3/4 to 1 pound lasagna noodles
Butter
1/2 pound mozzarella cheese
1/4 pound Italian sausage or ground beef, coarsely chopped
2 hardboiled eggs, chopped
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup ricotta or cottage cheese
Instructions
Sauce
Put all the ingredients into a large cooking pot. Cover and simmer for about 1 hour.
Pass through a sieve; return to the pot, and season to your satisfaction. Continue to simmer until sauce has thickened.
Just before using this sauce, stir in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter.
Lasagna: Brown sausage or beef, then drain.
Boil lasagna noodles. Drain and put a layer into a well buttered casserole dish.
Add a layer of mozzarella cheese, then a layer of sausage or beef and a thin layer of hardboiled egg.
Sprinkle with grated Parmesan and ricotta or cottage cheese. Moisten cheese with some of tomato sauce.
Continue in layers, finishing with a good thick layer of grated Parmesan.
Dot with butter and bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes.
I am a Chinese, have studied in the UK and traveled to many countries.
For me, China is democratic – probably even more democratic than western countries.
Of course, I am referring to the original meaning of the word democracy – the power of the state belongs to the people and the people have the right to rule the government.
Nowadays, democracy in the west often refers to multi-party competition, where the ruling party are elected by universal suffrage.
But this approach has some significant problems. As voters are ordinary people who has no specialized knowledge on managing the country, the core competitiveness of the election process becomes the ability to publicize public opinion, personal affinity, and persuasion, which have little to do with whether they can actually formulate and implement policies well, but are more relevant to the resources of the society and the media operation behind them.
In the west, the rule of the people is in a single choice question of political preference, and the frequency of being able to make a choice is once every four years. If you are the minority voter, you will not be able to get a satisfactory result in those four years.
In contrast, China’s “democracy” works like this:
1. A huge system of officials that everyone can enter by studying and taking exams – from the smallest local township government to the central government, all within the same pyramid-tested promotion system. For Chinese graduates, it is a very common career selection to pick an official position related to their major from an open government list, take a test on logic and issue processing skills, and become a government official. All newcomers need to start from the basic positions and get enough practical results before they are internally elected with promotion.
2. The criterion value of the government affairs is “people first”. The most important judgment dimension is whether they can improve the life of the majority and satisfy the people.
3. Public opinion monitoring and feedback mechanism. All levels of government have set up channels to receive public opinion, such as emails, petitions reception, or social media. For every actual problem, the government must give feedback or specific plans within a period of time; and after a period of time, they must do regular follow-up visits to ensure that the problem has been solved satisfactorily. All this is counted in the KPIs of government staff. If the people are not satisfied with this government’s response, they can complain to a higher level of government, which has absolute power over the next level of government, and the government department complained against will be penalized and monitored.
In China, the rule of the people is in the government’s “people first” evaluation criteria, and in the mechanism of feedback and resolution of specific issues that are highly valued. However, if your opinion is detrimental to the interests of the underprivileged, or if you are not looking for a solution, but simply venting your negative feelings and trying to get more people to share your negative feelings, then your opinion might be refused or ignored, or be deferred in to future considerations.
I think this is why people say: in the west, you can change the government, but you can’t change the policies; however in China, you can’t change the government, but you can change the policies.
Of course, both mechanisms have their own drawbacks. For example, since the core competence of universal suffrage is the ability of influencing public opinion, so having control of the media and enough money is almost equivalent to having a high probability of obtaining the highest power in the country; in China, it is very difficult to make the complex internal promotion completely transparent, and it is not easy for the people to monitor inefficiencies and corruption inside the system.
But for me and at least 80%+ Chinese people, the current one party Chinese government is still very satisfactory.
As for the so-called “Communist Party is not the same as government”: in fact, the CCP is not the same as the Soviet Union type of “communism”, for example, China has its market economy system and is running well. Actually when there is only one political party, the notion of party advocacy would be extremely weakened. In the case of China, people would tend to feel that the Chinese system is more like a parliamentary system even within the government. China is a country with a secular culture, and ideology discussion is not really that important, what matters to this government council is simply about insisting with the people-oriented value, and making people living in better lives.
To be honest, I think that the vast majority of the world’s people don’t care about politics.
People care more about their own lives – whether they can live healthy and happy lives with the people they love, whether the society is fair, safe and free, whether they can enjoy their civil rights as a human being, whether their problems can be solved and whether their dreams can be realized.
Also, I agree that China is better for ordinary people, small and medium-sized entrepreneurs to live in, but not for the extremely rich guys. If you are a rich tycoon or celebrity and has no interest in benefiting ordinary people, then the Chinese government might supervising you with very strict rules, you will have more freedom and power in the West.
But as for me, China is not bad.
Kirill Babaev: Here’s why the result of Taiwan’s election is bad news for the US
It will become apparent in the long term that China was the real winner
By Kirill Babaev, PhD, director of the Institute of China and Modern Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences, professor of the Financial University, and deputy chairman of the Presidium of the National Committee for BRICS Research.
In 2023, the volume of trade between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait was $268 billion. This means Taipei traded more with its main adversary, Beijing, than with its foremost ally, Washington. And for Chinese business, Taiwan was a more important counterparty than the state’s key strategic partner, Russia.
These facts are important for an understanding of the current relationship between the two parts of China. They are inextricably linked not only by the commonality of language, history, and culture, but also by hundreds of thousands of trade and production contracts. And this may prove to be a decisive factor in the long-term struggle for the island between the great powers.
The elections in Taiwan on January 13 did nothing to change this. On the contrary, apart from pro-American candidate Lai Qingde’s victory (with a far-from-solid 40% of the vote), the parliamentary elections revealed the defeat of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which lost its majority and ten seats in the Legislative Yuan to the conventionally “pro-Chinese” Kuomintang Party.
The outcome has made the island’s power system somewhat unstable, suggesting that the main battle between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan is yet to come. However, the US has only one undeniable advantage in this war – the ability to pump its proxy with weapons and defense systems in anticipation of a violent conflict. China, on the other hand, has far more leverage. Thus, in the coming years, Beijing won’t try to solve the Taiwan problem militarily: on the contrary, it will attempt to turn America’s “Pyrrhic victory” on January 13 into a final US defeat in the next elections on the island.
In his first post-election comments, winning candidate Lai (who won’t officially become president until May) spoke in a peaceful way about Beijing and Sino-Taiwanese relations, without in any way trying to demonstrate a desire to unilaterally declare the island’s independence. US leaders have also spoken in the same vein, stressing that they intend to develop only “informal” relations with Taiwan, while continuing to be guided by the “One-China” principle.
As a result, Taiwan is now well aware that the path to independence is a dead end, as none of Taipei’s closest allies will endorse the move or recognize the existence of an “alternative China.” The path of maintaining the status quo, on the other hand, is the most unstable, because in this case the sword of Damocles of armed conflict between the US and China will hang over Taiwan, in which the island risks losing its entire economy and many thousands of its citizens’ lives.
The only option for Taiwan in the long term is a compromise with mainland China; some kind of full-fledged arrangement that will allow the island to maintain the way of life and economic system that it’s accustomed to, and that will allow Beijing to consider the question of reunification closed, or at least with a clear, if distant, solution.
Hong Kong may partly serve as a model for such a solution, but in the case of Taiwan, the compromise is likely to be much softer. Beijing and Taipei could agree on a roadmap to reunification by 2049 – ending a century-long cycle of confrontation. That plan could well lead to a union state along the lines of the EU or Russia and Belarus.
Of course, such an outcome would be good for all Chinese on both sides of the strait, as it would remove all risk of armed conflict or a ‘hostile takeover’ of Taiwan by the PRC. These are precisely the outcomes feared by all those who voted for Lai on January 13.
Only one country would be extremely disadvantaged by such a cross-strait arrangement, namely the US. Washington has invested too much in the doctrine of containment of China, in the formation of a chain of military and political alliances around its borders and a defense belt on the island of Taiwan itself, to lose this “unsinkable aircraft carrier.” Of course, the Americans will do everything in their power to oppose any kind of agreement between the two parts of China, whatever it may be.
But attempts to move Taiwan away from Chinese shores and closer to the US coast are geographically meaningless. As Beijing’s economic power grows, the importance of the Sino-Taiwan economic relationship will only increase (even if bilateral trade temporarily declined in 2023). The status quo that Washington has fought so hard to preserve is actually more favorable to China. It seems that President Lai Qingde will prove to be a much more balanced politician than the outgoing leader, Tsai Ing-wen. If this is the case, it may well come to pass that the January 13 elections were actually won by Beijing, not Washington.
Peter Man Comments
The author, as a smart PhD, should state the obvious. All Taiwan election results are bad for the US.
Once again, I will say something not echoing media platitudes. China is, in fact, conducting long-term strategic actions to weaken the hegemon, which will eventually collapse by exhaustion. This strategy has been applied many times in China’s history, and as a history lover, I will illustrate with one example, the war between Chu and Wu during the Spring and Autumn Era (771 – 476 BCE). This was the early Zhou feudal era when historians began recording state annals. Chinese annals in those days were known as Spring and Autumn, meaning a year. It came from the Shang, Chinese civilization’s progenitor, who did not have summer and winter seasons so spring and autumn represented a year.
Near the end of this era, the barbarian (culturally and linguistically non-Chinese) state of Chu in the south along the middle part of the Yangzi River became a behemoth. After making a strong matrimonial alliance with Qin in the northwest, which lasted until Qin Shihuang unified China, Chu threatened and made war on every state in the north while encroaching and swallowing small states to its east. The last bulwark against Chu’s eastern expansion to the Pacific coast was Wu, a small barbarian state centered around Suzhou to the west of Shanghai. Chinese annals recorded that Wu natives shaved their heads and tattooed their bodies, decidedly non-Chinese practices.
At the time, Chu had subjugated many small tribes and states between themselves and Wu, creating a buffer zone as well as a launch pad for future wars against Wu. When looking at this behemoth state of Chu with a hundred times the power of this small state of Wu living on the plains of Huai River, it would appear that Wu’s fate was sealed. Instead, over two generations, Wu would not only survive but defeat Chu in every battle, eventually capturing Chu’s capital.
One of Wu’s strategies was to light up endless fires in the buffer zone. Chu could not maintain its hegemony without reacting. Each time there was trouble, Chu had to send its army over long distances across mountainous areas, and each time Wu would withdraw into a defensive position nearby. When the Chu army, being tired, far from home and uncertain of their vassals’ loyalty, decided to retreat, the Wu army would ambush them and cause further damage. Thus, Wu, at very little cost, exhausted Chu (疲于奔命) and eventually defeated them.
The history of the Chu and Wu conflict is a much bigger story, but this illustrates how a big, hegemonic country with its fingers in every pie can be weakened from exhaustion caused by endless small fires. Knowing this, I’m not surprised that China is not using its weight to put out small fires. All this talk of China helping America cool things down in the Middle East or West Asia is just wishful thinking.
Another thing that China definitely should be aware of and which I have always averred, the US and Japan will not intervene militarily should the PLA decide to land in Taiwan. Chang Ya-chung, the deep blue KMT member who advocates immediate negotiations with China for peaceful reunification, said as much in a recent interview.
In short, Stop dreaming anyone will come and rescue us in a war with mainland China. If there is war, Taiwan will be destroyed like Ukraine. I guarantee not a single GI will die for you. Why not? Because their opponent will be the PRC, a well-armed nuclear state, America is not that stupid. They will tell you all kinds of rubbish to sell arms and use you as a proxy.
They will use you, the Taiwanese people, as a pawn and sacrifice you in a heartbeat.
So you better wake up and do what’s best for Taiwan and its people.” For all pols and pundits who paint Chang as a red communist trojan horse, he welcomes holding a public debate, but no one wants to take him up on the challenge.
No one wants that debate lest people learn the bitter truth.
Chang, as the principal of Dr. Sun College is well respected as an educator and well-liked by young Taiwanese. These well-educated young voters are not stupid. They voted en mass for Ko because they’re disillusioned with the corrupt KMT led by a scumbag who appointed an unwinnable nonentity as the presidential candidate.
I ran an Engineering department that covered military equipment scattered across the country.
We had specialised staff based out of an office building who were dispatched nationwide as required.
We had a good atmosphere. Staff worked hard and long as required and when it was quiet were compensated with additional vacation days and “under the table” days off. Overtime was not available.
For example – it was fairly normal for an eng team to leave home at 4 in the morning to be at an airbase for 7:30, leave at 8 pm and do the same the next day, and for as long as required. The company refused to give hotel accommodation, considering every base within the country “drivable”.
A new admin boss took over and a biometric system was implemented. A decree was issued that EVERY member of staff MUST clock in and out, and while clocking out could be any time, clocking in had to be between 7 and 7:30 am.
I fought it for about 6 months but eventually was told to toe the line or leave.
It was no longer possible to pay staff back with vacation days, official or unofficial, and the company immediately lost hundreds of hours of productivity with staff, understandably cutting back their hours, feeling unappreciated. As their boss (and a human being) I could no longer ask them to work the ridiculous hours they had been previously working, knowing there was no compensation available.
Another productivity masterstroke from the same guy was the removal of all printers from eng department, putting us on the print server located on a different floor, sharing with other departments.
The boss had previously implemented a rule that petty cash could only cover items up to USD 80. One day we ran out of toner for the color printer, had to print documents for a top level meeting.
The boss, wanting to impress by cutting stationery costs, had delayed signing approval for purchase of toner, ordered weeks earlier, so the cupboard was bare! I contacted the IT guy and explained about the meeting, who was going to be there, and that the boss wasn’t around and he nipped out to the local mall and picked up toner at a cash cost of USD 81. As punishment, for exceeding the 80 buck limit, the boss removed all printers from Engineering.
These things happen when people get promoted beyond their capability.
One, was a friend of a friend. He was actually a pretty smart guy, and did programing of some sort. The guy’s personal life was a disaster. His wife left him, he bought a car he couldn’t afford, then got fired from his job. He kept the car but stopped making payments, and hid the car so they couldn’t repo it. He was staying at my friends house for a while and he screwed that up as well by being a jerk to his hosts. So, he finally found a job as a programmer, and it seemed he was going to be able to turn his life around. His first day on the job, he sent an email to upper management, and basically cc’d the entire company, telling them everything they were doing wrong. >They came to see him, thanked him for coming in, and fired him. This guy is a total dufus.
The second is almost the same. A friend mine, never seems to be able to hold a job. She told me she got hired at a new place. She wanted to make her mark there, so sent the president and the executive a long e-mail about how they could improve the company by taking her advice, and listed a bunch of her suggestions. This, after working there for less than a week.. yup she got fired.
Snow fell in Texas and the whole metroplex closed down. School was cancelled, power outages disabled many households, and I found myself collecting fallen branches in our front yard to make a fire for warmth.
My worries about entertaining my five young kids for the day, however, quickly dwindled as my two oldest began to organize an elaborate project in the back yard.
“Come on, let’s build an igloo!” they hollered.
I thought, “OK, that’s not going to work, but at least they’ll be occupied for a while.”
Bradley, my oldest, gathered supplies, while Amber helped my younger kids get dressed in layers of their warmest clothes. Garden gloves had to suffice for hand ware, but nobody minded. Excitement lit up the house to where we barely needed electricity.
I went to work starting a fire in the fireplace and preparing a crude meal that required no heat.
I looked outside and saw the meager beginnings of a snow structure and, after feeling a bit sorry for them, thought, “This might be a great chance for my kids to use real-life problem solving skills.”
The next time I looked out, I was amazed! Someone had the idea to empty out the sidewalk chalk boxes and use the plastic containers as molds for the igloo blocks.
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They worked all day on that igloo, eventually building it up to Bradley’s head. As the sun went down, they made plans to finish the structure the next day.
All my kids went to bed early, as there was really nothing much to do in the dark, and they were exhausted from their laborious day.
Then, my husband came home from work. His business never closed. He parked in the driveway behind our house and came in through the back door. Being so dark, he ran right into the igloo, got snow “all over” him and became irate.
He destroyed the igloo, claiming that the weather would soon become warm, the snow blocks would melt, the grass underneath would be saturated, resulting in a huge mud puddle and a ruined lawn. He then got a shovel and a flash light and spread the snow all over the back yard. The igloo was gone and I was furious.
That was February.
The crushing of the igloo had crushed my kids’ hearts, and when I stood at the window watching my husband with a shovel and a flashlight spread out snow to preserve his lawn, something else was crushed too. My denial — at how dysfunctional our marriage was — shattered, and other fits of his unnecessary anger over the last decade flooded my mind, just like that igloo was going to flood the backyard.
I filed for divorce in March.
That was 14 years ago, and I am now happily married to a man who would never dream of crushing a child’s igloo.
After getting rejected in his first interview of the day, he was naturally dejected. So he entered the room with a frustrated face.
He was hardly interested in the company profile and such was his mood that he wanted to take someone on.
Interviewer: Are you fine? You don’t look well!
Friend: I haven’t eaten since morning, I prepared for my previous interview so well and got rejected in the very first round.
I: So, did you prepare for this interview as well?
F: No! I was more interested in that company. And I wanted to give my best at one place.
I: Do you know trading?
F: No! I don’t!
I: Then why are you interested in this company?
F: For the money! Do you think all those standing outside know trading?
I: Atleast some of them might?
F: I’m telling you, they don’t.
I: So you are a student of geology, right? How do think you’ll be able to manage working in a trading company?
F: There is a novel named Liar’s Poker in which the male protagonist was a student of Art History and ended up getting trained at Salomon Brothers. He works as a financial journalist now. And yes, it’s not fiction, the guy wrote it as his semi-autobiography. I think I will be fine.
(He knew he scored there)
(After asking some basic tell-me-about-you questions)
I: What’s your biggest strength?
F: I’m very patient.
I: See! We need people who are dynamic and full of energy. I don’t think patience and our required qualities go hand in hand.
(This was like a tipping point for him)
F: Have you heard of Rahul Dravid? He is regarded as one of the most patient cricketer. Yet, once he had the fastest fifty in ODIs. When he played his first T-20, he hit 3 consecutive sixes. Just because someone is patient doesn’t mean they can’t be dynamic and aggressive.
The United States is on an “unsustainable” path with regard to its national debt and it is time to address the issue, Jerome Powell said in an interview aired Sunday.
The US national debt currently stands at more than $34 trillion, according to the US Treasury.
“In the long run, the US is on an unsustainable fiscal path. The US federal government’s on an unsustainable fiscal path. And that just means that the debt is growing faster than the economy,” Powell told CBS’ “60 Minutes” news program.
“It’s probably time, or past time, to get back to an adult conversation among elected officials about getting the federal government back on a sustainable fiscal path,” he said in the interview, which was recorded on Thursday.
In the CBS interview, Powell reiterated that stance, saying it was unlikely that a rate cut would come at the next meeting of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in March.
“I think it’s not likely that this committee will reach that level of confidence in time for the March meeting, which is in seven weeks,” Powell said.
The VC/NVA had dedicated SIGINT (signals intelligence) units involving in radio interception, telephone tapping, and code-breaking. Their members were fluent in many languages. In 1970, the U.S. 25th Infantry Division found a North Vietnamese SIGINT facility hidden underground near the Thi Tinh River; every single radio communication of the U.S. 1st and 25th Divisions had been logged, and the intercepts translated into Vietnamese.
In 1966, all 14 Vietnamese barbers working in the U.S. 25th Infantry Division’s base camp were Vietcong sympathizers. They didn’t cut anybody’s throat but they did gather intelligence.
The first B-52 operational losses of the Vietnam war took place on 18 June 1965 when two B-52s were destroyed in a mid-air collision, costing American taxpayers 20 million dollar.
In early 1970, U.S. and South Vietnamese forces made a short incursion into Cambodia and discovered huge NVA compounds containing: 4,793 small arms, 730 mortars, over 3 million rifle rounds, 6.5 million anti-aircraft rounds, 7,285 rockets, 124 trucks, nearly 1 thousand tons of rice and a telephone switchboard.
A report issued by the Pentagon in 1973 estimated that 35% of all enlisted men who had served in Vietnam had tried heroin and 20% had been addicted at some point during their tour.
By 1968, the U.S. had set up 40 ice-cream plants in Vietnam and 760,000 tons of supplies were being delivered every month. American movies, stage shows, color TVs, chilled beer, Napoleon brandy, etc. were readily available. Rear-echelon troops could imagine they were still back home.
Some 10,000 U.S. servicemen lost at least one limb in Vietnam – more than in World War II and Korea put together.
The number of U.S. helicopter lost during the war: 4,865.
Eight (8) million tons of bombs were dropped on Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, 4 times more than the amount dropped in all of World War 2.
The amount of ammunition fired per U.S. soldier was 26 times greater in Vietnam than during World War II.
For each artillery shell or rocket hitting its base camp, the U.S. 25th Infantry Division’s official policy was to fire 1,000 shells on the surrounding countryside in retaliation. (Talking about a rich man’s war, huh)
Lucky number 13: An estimated 27 thousands tons of unexploded ordnance were littered throughout the country at the end of the war. In November 2015, one unexploded 406mm naval shell was unearthed from a garden in Quang Tri Province, near the former Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Presumably, this 2,000-pound shell was fired from the battleship USS New Jersey.
14. Over 18 million gallons (or 72 million liters) of defoliants were used throughout the war, even now Vietnamese children are being born with horrifying physical disabilities as a direct result of the US use of chemical defoliants.
15. In 1965, around 42% of all chemical defoliants sprayed in South Vietnam were aimed at food crops, and the country quickly went from rice exporter to rice importer.
16. At the peak of their commitment, South Korea had 44,829 troops in South Vietnam, Australia had 7,672, Philippines sent 2,000, Taiwan sent 31 and Fascist Spain sent 13 men. Morocco sent 10,000 cans of sardines.
17. By the early 1970s, years before the war’s end, South Vietnam’s landscape was already pockmarked with an estimated 21 million bomb and artillery craters, covering some 350,000 acres in all.
18. At its peak, the U.S. effort in Vietnam was soaking up 37% of all American military spending and required the fighting strength of more than 50% of all Marine Corps divisions, 40% of all combat-ready army divisions, and 33% of the navy.
19. In mid 1969, the GI underground newspaper in Vietnam, “GI Says,” publicly offered a $10,000 reward for the death of Lieutenant-Colonel Weldon Honeycutt, the officer responsible for the disastrous attack on Hamburger Hill in May that year. There were at least 7 attempts, but Honeycutt managed to live out his tour and return to the U.S.
20. US Navy pilot (later Senator and 2008 Presidential Candidate) John McCain was taken prisoner by North Vietnam on October 26, 1967 when his A-4 aircraft was shot down over Hanoi. Upon discovering that his father was the admiral commanding all U.S. forces in the Pacific, North Vietnam offered to return him early, in exchange for his cooperation. McCain, however, insisted that standard military procedures be followed and prisoners of war be returned in the order of their date of capture. He ended up spending 5 and a half years in captivity and was frequently tortured.
3 of my kids were in a horrible car accident. 2 only had minor injuries but my youngest son, Joe, was severely injured. He had a brain injury and fractured orbital plane requiring immediate surgery. When the insurance company settled the 2 received $1500.00 in a trust until they turned 18. But Joe was awarded $35,000. The courts insisted the trust was a regular bank, which had lower interest rates, rather than my credit union. When the bank received the 2 trusts for $1500 we decided to put the money into CDs, at the time CDs were getting 8–9% interest. Then Joe’s case was settled and the money sent to the same bank. However the bank refused to put his into a CD, instead they put into regular savings which paid maybe 3%. My husband went to his business bank and had them look over the court order. That bank said there was no valid reason for not putting the money onto a CD and they requested a wire transfer to their bank placed all 3 into an even higher rate termed to end when each turned 18. As a result Joe had 65,000 dollars when he graduated from high school. The 1st bank tried to fight the move but the court backed us up. Their loss Joe’s win.
Ancient Romans Reproduced so much that A Plant Went Extinct
Ancient Romans and Greeks used a plant called Silphium as a super effective contraceptive. But here’s the crazy part: they used it so much that it actually went extinct. Can you imagine that? This plant was so important to them, and they relied on it so heavily, that they ended up losing it forever.
Its heart-shaped seeds are thought to be the reason we associate the symbol with romance to this day.
It was cherished by the Romans and held such a special place in their hearts that they immortalized it in poems, songs, and esteemed works of literature. Its popularity was so profound that it contributed to the wealth and prosperity of the city of Cyrene, located in modern-day Shahhat, Libya, making it the wealthiest city in Africa.
The history of silphium can be traced back to ancient times. It was first mentioned in writings by the Greek poet Hesiod in the 8th century BCE, and it was also referenced in the works of other ancient Greek writers, including Theophrastus and Aristotle. The ancient Greeks believed that silphium was a gift from the gods and valued it highly for its medicinal properties.
The Greek residents of Cyrene valued silphium to such an extent that they depicted its silhouette on their currency before relinquishing control to the Romans. The significance of this extraordinary plant was even recognized by Julius Caesar, who stored an impressive stockpile of 1,500 pounds (680 kilograms) in the official treasury.
It grew abundantly in the wild in ancient North Africa, particularly in the region that is now modern-day Libya. It had large heart-shaped leaves, tall stalks, and yellow flowers, which grew in clusters. It was unique in its flavor and aroma. The leaves and stems were used to flavor food and wine, while its juice was used as a natural remedy for a variety of ailments.
Not only as a contraceptive and in beverages, but Silphium was also used for treating a variety of medical conditions such as coughs, sore throats, and indigestion.
The plant grew only in a small region around Cyrene, which made it a rare and valuable commodity. As the plant became more and more scarce, its price skyrocketed, making it became more valuable and further increasing the demand for it. Despite efforts to cultivate the plant and protect it from overharvesting, it ultimately proved to be unsustainable and went extinct.
The loss of the Silphium plant had significant consequences for the ancient Greeks and Romans. Without access to this effective form of birth control, the population of these societies may have grown at a faster rate, leading to increased competition for resources and potentially putting strain on their economies and environments.
But the story of Silphium doesn’t end there. In fact, its extinction may have had even wider-reaching consequences. The plant was not only used as a contraceptive but also as a remedy for a variety of ailments. Its loss meant that people were no longer able to rely on it for these medical purposes, and they had to find alternative treatments. This had a major impact on the health and well-being of the ancient Greek and Roman people.
The extinction of the Silphium plant serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of overconsumption and the need to carefully manage our use of natural resources. It also serves as a reminder of the important role that plants like Silphium have played in human history, and the need to preserve and protect the biodiversity of our planet. So the next time you hear about a plant or animal going extinct, remember the story of Silphium and the lessons it holds for us all.
Today, the exact identity of silphium remains a mystery, as no specimens of the plant have survived. However, it is believed to have been related to the fennel or giant fennel plant, and its medicinal properties are thought to have been due to a resinous substance contained within the plant. The legacy of silphium can still be seen in ancient artwork and writings, which depict the plant and its many uses.
I was investigated by CID, are you selling drugs? Are you working in a strip club? Are you dating men who give you money?
A rumor that I was sleeping with the Post Commanding General went around my unit.
I was placed on night shift, and every crosswalk duty for a month.
My promotion paperwork for an upcoming board disappeared.
Keep in mind this was at Ft. Benning GA in 1997, I was an MP (military police)
The” war on drugs” was still around and the perception in the news was that the only African Americans who drove luxury cars were drug, that was the “obvious” conclusion.
My Platoon sergeant finally pulled me into his office and asked “private, how in the hell can you afford a brand new Mercedes!” I told it was 7 years old, she just looked good, it was the entry level Mercedes so was affordable and my payments were about 125.00 a month (can’t remember exact amount).
He sat back and just laughed, and said “ok that makes sense”
Now remember this was 1997, AOL was just coming out so an online search was not possible. And it never occurred to the big heads in CID to ask me how much I paid for the car, how old was it, all the questions my platoon Sergeant asked me. I am still shaking my head about that.
I was more mad that people thought that I would sleep with the Commanding General, I was 22 so he was probably 50+ so in my young eyes he was oooold, like The Crypt Keeper old! ROFL!
I have always driven a MB since, have two in the garage now.
This is the same prejudicial calculus behind the pogroms, lynchings, riots and destruction suffered repeatedly by Chinese communities around the world over the last few centuries.
In Indonesia, formerly known as Batavia, it has happened repeatedly, and it will happen again.
In Malaysia, the Emergency eventually led to depopulation of the Chinese through the forced Separation of Singapore, and the implementation of race-specific policy to encourage emigration through the clever use of Singapore as a relief valve.
In America, a massive wave of violence against Chinese immigrants beginning in the 1870s culminated in the passing of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Scott Act, and the Geary Act in the 1880s-1890s. There were massive celebratory demonstrations in California each time an act was passed.
YELLOW PERIL became a crystallized phrase in the press at the turn of the 20th century.
Chinese in America were bottom of the ladder, and treated worse than vermin.
Fast forward to the 21st century and the same attitudes persist. If the US could, it would have bombed Beijing or Shanghai like Gaza is being pounded today, and insist it isn’t a genocide.
Considering what his ancestors perpetrated repeatedly, Tom exhibited nothing more than rude antics, part of the election gameplan in a crucial “winner takes all” Presidential election year.
What we must bear in mind is the naked prejudice revealed and confirmed by the performance, and how the same sentiment can rapidly boil over into hate that require bloodletting to calm.
We should all make preparations for war in East Asia in the coming decade.
BULLETIN: EUROPEAN COUNTRY ISSUES NOTAM FOR “UNPLANNED MILITARY ACTIVITY NECESSARY TO PROTECT NATIONAL SECURITY”
We now have an precise date window for the outbreak of World War 3 in Europe. A country has issued a NOTAM for “Unpanned military activity necessary to protect national security.” This LIFE-SAVING content is now open to the General Public —
Poland has issued a Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) involving the ENTIRE eastern 1/4 of the country of Poland from Gdansk in the north to the southern tip of the country, including the border with Belarus and Ukraine.
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Specifically, the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA) in Coordination with the Polish Air Force has Introduced a Notice-to-Air-Missions (NOTAM) from February 5th to May 5th for the entire East of the Country on the Border with Ukraine due to the reported possibility of Unplanned Military Actions related to ensuring National Security.
The NOTAM requires any Civilian Aircraft which is Operating inside of the Zone to remain in Radio Contact with Flight Authorities and to Activate their Transponder as to prevent their Disruption of Increased Activity by Military Aircraft.
Hal Turner Analysis
It seems to me, as a guy with average intellect, the only reason Poland would do this is because they KNOW there will be a NATO entry into the Russia-Ukraine war during this specific time period, and as soon as that entry begins, war between NATO and Russia will ensue. The NOTAM was issued yesterday and began yesterday, February 5, so WE ARE ALREADY IN THE WINDOW for the start of actual World War 3.
Also, as a regular guy with average intellect, this notice tells me they don’t yet know the specific date, but they know the window of time, which, to me, means when this comes, it will happen like a lightning bolt from the sky. I suspect we, the general public, will have NO WARNING AT ALL.
For weeks now, European countries have been telling their citizens to stock-up on Prescription medicines they may need to live. Many people found this advice curious; after all, why would there be a need to do something like that? Now, we seem to know why.
It looks to me as though they have been planning a NATO entry into the Ukraine war for quite some time, and they’re trying to prep the public for the war that NATO is going to cause.
In addition to countries in Europe telling their people to stock up on Prescription medicines, other nations, like Sweden and the UK, have been openly telling their citizens to “prepare for war” with emergency food, water, medicine, fuel, flashlights, batteries and portable radios for news.
So, it seems to me, the writing on the wall is now blazingly clear.
As all readers may recall, Russia made plain at the start of their Special Military Operation (SMO) into Ukraine, that if NATO chose to enter the conflict, Russian conventional forces are NOT comparable to NATO. Russia admitted that from the start.
Russia then also made clear that “We are a nuclear power, and our abilities in this area are superior to NATO.” Russia finished by saying, “If NATO declares Article 5 Collective Self Defense against Russia, it will be a war that no one will win.”
Those words . . . . “a war no one will win” is a nuclear war.
So we are now in the window for the outbreak of actual nuclear war, from right this minute, until May 5.
I earnestly hope my readers have stocked-up on Emergency food, water, medicines, an electric generator with stored fuel to run it, so as to have electricity for refrigerators, freezers, maybe some light.
We are OUT OF TIME. You have to possess these things NOW or get what you can IMMEDIATELY.
As I mentioned earlier, it seems to me we will have ZERO warning about this. When it begins, it will likely escalate so fast, none of us will have any time to react.
If you don’t have your emergency supplies before this breaks out, there will be no way at all for you to get them.
The general public – who wait until the very last minute to do — . . . anything . . . . — will be in shear panic. Stores will be immediately flooded with shoppers trying to get their hands on anything they can. It will be chaos. Bedlam.
Store shelves will be wiped clean within a couple hours.
So if you don’t have your stuff, you won’t be able to get it.
Please, in the name of Almighty God, I implore you to get prepped right now.
You need:
Shelf-stable foods: Pasta, Rice, Dried Beans, Canned meats, Canned vegetables, Condiments (Ketchup, Mustard, Mayonnaise, Salt, Pepper, SUGAR), cooking oil, Jarred pasta sauces and the like.
WATER! A human needs 8 eight-ounce glasses of water, per day, to survive. If the nukes fly, the public water supply will become contaminated. You MUST have water stored. Not for doing dishes, or showering, but to consume and cook with!
Medicines you take to survive. For instance, my wife had Thyroid cancer and her Thyroid was surgically removed. But a human cannot live without Thyroid Hormone, so she has to take a pill EVERY DAY just to continue living. If she runs out of those pills, by day 5 of no pill, she will be dead.
If YOU or your family members take medicines to live, YOU need to stock up. Tell your doctor to give you a prescription so you can stock up. Tell him why you want it. And pay for it with your own money, because your insurance company WILL NOT PAY.
A generator or some type of small solar array with a battery. You need to be able to power your refrigerator/freezer a couple hours a day to prevent food from spoiling. Have spare fuel for that generator, but don’t store flammable fuel in your house. It has to be outside. And NEVER run a generator indoors. Gas-operated generators give off carbon monoxide gas which is LETHAL. You would die from the fumes within minutes if you ran the generator indoors.
COMMUNICATIONS GEAR: Get yourself a small, cheap CB Radio ($39) with a small antenna for your car or your house. If this thing happens, and I believe it will, our electric grid may go down. All the TV and Radio stations have generators, but they may go down too after a few days of no power. YOU have to be able to communicated with neighbors, friends, and the like.
Get a SHORTWAVE RECEIVER – small ones operate on batteries. They’ll let you hear the news from many countries around the world. You’ll be able to keep informed! Have spare batteries for it, too.
Flashlights for each family member and replacement batteries for each light.
The list is **NOT** complete, and for some of us, what we “need” seems endless, but these are the absolute essentials you need. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THEM.
I was working on a ship, we were in a relatively mild storm, and a line had come loose and was flapping in the wind. I sent the deck hand out to secure it, he was wearing a floatation jacket, to keep him dry, and keep him afloat, if he fell over board. There was a railing all the way around the deck, except for the stairway. Since it wasn’t a bad storm, he wasn’t required to put on a safety line, and to tell you the truth, back in the 1980s people were pretty lax about safety, and safety lines were not always worn when they should be.
Just before he left the bridge, I said, “You know what, we should practice with the safety line, when its easy to get around, rather than only gain experience when its dangerous”
He wasn’t happy, they were a pain in the rear, and got tangled in every thing. But he put it on, and just clamped it onto the railing, when a rogue wave hit, and washed him down the deck, and under the railing. I grabbed a safety line, clamped on, and started to pull him up. Another wave came and washed him right back onto the deck. I dragged him into the bridge.
We always used safety lines after that, in even mild storms.
We would take off a week or two around christmas to go visit family since we lived halfway across the US from them. Usually we would get a cat-sitter, but on one occasion, we didn’t have anybody lined up, and we were flying Southwest, which allows small animals in the cabin. I went by the airport to buy the special mesh carrier they require you to use as well as pay the fee for bringing an animal on-board.
On the day of travel, the cat is mildly sedated and attracting a lot of attention—people love animals in airports, and cats are especially uncommon to see.
While waiting for our connection, the attendants at the gate called us to the desk to inform us there was a family with cat allergies going to be on the same flight and to mitigate any issues, the family had opted to sit in the very back of the plane, and would we please mind boarding in the first group and selecting a seat towards the very front? Hell yeah! awesome, let’s do it!
So we aren’t the very first to board, the special priority members still got first dibs, but we do manage to get seats in the second row behind an older couple, so pretty good on distancing from the family with the allergies.
I’m holding the cat in the carrier on my lap while people board before sticking her under the seat, and at some point a passenger or flight attendant comments on how they love cats, at which point, the woman in the row ahead of us swivels to say “there’s a CAT?! but I’m allergic!”.
A nearby flight attendant explains that we are being seated up here to accommodate a family who also has an allergic member and that this woman and her companion are welcome to reseat in the back if it’s going to be a problem, but the cat will be confined to the carrier at all times, and they ask me to go ahead and put her under the seat in front of me, which I do.
“But, my husband needs the front row seat! His legs get cramps otherwise!”
“Well, you’re welcome to move back there by yourself then, ma’am”
It turned out she didn’t feel her allergies were severe enough to justify that. Her only symptoms I could observe during the flight were disdainful sniffs every so often.
I was very pleased at the respect paid to my cat, who was basically a ticketed passenger and had followed protocol, and I left the attendant a glowing review on the SWA site.
An amazing husband. An amazing father. Always putting his family first. An engineer. Smart. Smart as a whip.
At most things.
sometimes he does things and I don’t know wether to laugh or laugh and cry.
there was the the time he took back a new pair of shoes because the left one was too tight. The salesman with a deadpan face pulled the paper stuffing out if the shoe and said, try it now.
there was the time he got banned from the neighborhood gas station because he drove off with the gas handle still in the gas tank.
The time he jumped on his new racing bike but forgot there were no pedals. Yes I helped him up off the yard and died laughing.
so.., you get it.
I mentioned it to him once, for a smart guy you sure do a lot of not-so smart stuff.
He smiled. And shrugged his shoulders, ya, go figure, when someone’s smart brain switch turns on that bright, something else up there has to shut off.
When I still practiced dentistry, I was running tight on time getting to work, but I had to fuel my stomach first or pay the consequences. So I stood in line at Panera’s, only one person in front of me, when a woman dashed in just as the cashier called, “Next!”
To my shock (and the guy ahead of me), the woman dashed right on up to the cashier and began to place her order.
I walked over and pointed out to the cashier how the other guy and I had been waiting at least ten minutes, while this woman she was waiting on had just now flown through the door. The cashier had already started ringing up the woman’s order, so said cashier sheepishly shrugged and grimaced a half-assed apology, like, What do you expect me to do now, it’s too late. And continued on.
Entitled woman, in the meantime, yelled at me, “I’m running late for work!” As though that explained everything. To which I replied, “So am I! But I was here first, and now you’re going to make me even more late.”
She waved me off as the cashier went to get her order.
Now for the satisfaction.
As I walked toward the door with my bag of food, entitled woman stood at a counter to add sugar, etc. to her extra-large coffee, when the cup flipped over and spilled its contents all across the counter and onto her.
It may have been mean of me, but I said loud enough for her to hear, “Perfect karma,” walked on by and out the door.
Rarely, some people managed to survive the gas chambers and were not killed immediately afterwards. One such person is Gena Turgel and her story is more than astonishing. She survived three Nazi concentration camps and in Auschwitz-Birkenau was forced naked into the gas chambers.
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Gena and Norman
She was 16 when her hometown of Krakow, Poland, was bombed by the Luftwaffe on September 1, 1939, the first day of the war. Norman had relatives in Chicago, but the family delayed putting plans to move there into action, and Poland was quickly conquered by the Germans.
In the Jewish ghetto of Krakow Gena lost two brothers fighting against the Nazis. She was then sent to Plaszow concentration camp, where she survived for two and a half years until her transfer to Auschwitz. There she survived numerous experiments conducted by Nazi “Angel of Death” Josef Mengele.
The most surprising part of her story is that she did not realize she was in a gas chamber until another prisoner told her. “Do you know what just happened? You were in a gas chamber!”. said Gena: “I never realized I was in the gas chamber… It must not have worked.
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The “Krema 1” gas chamber at Auschwitz.
Here is how she described his path to the gas chamber,
“We went into that room with the stone floor and holes in the ceiling. We were shivering, it was very cold, and we were waiting and waiting.”
In Auschwitz, “the water was undrinkable and we lived mainly on beet soup,” she wrote. “Everywhere we went the horrible stench of the crematoria followed us.”
The time spent in Auschwitz left its consequences. Since then, Gena wore her perfume to forget the smell of the camp.
After two months in Auschwitz, as the Red Army advanced toward Auschwitz, she was sent on a “death march,” first to Buchenwald concentration camp and then to Belsen, where she shared a barrack with Anne Frank and offered herself as a nurse because of her knowledge of German. When Belsen was liberated by the British, she showed a young army officer, Norman Turgel, the hospital where she worked.
In October 1945, she and Sergeant Turgel were married in Lübeck, Germany, in a synagogue that the Germans had used as a stable during the war. She was 21 years old at the time.
Mr. Turgel died in 1995. Mrs. Turgel is survived by her three children, eight grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren. Gena Turgel died on June 7, 2018 at her home in England at the age of 95.
This story is true, but you don’t have to trust me: feel free to do your research on the internet.
Local grocery store where my niece worked for a while. One day I saw a sale on my favorite ice cream that I could not believe. It said on the sign 5 for $2.00. Wow I thought, that’s either a bad mistake by an employee misplacing the numbers, or just maybe the ice cream was out of date. I check dates and they were fine. So I grabbed five of my favorite flavors and headed to pay. I was fully expecting to pay $5 for two of them, which was still a bargain.
At the self checkout I rang them up and sure enough they were $5 for two. No problem I had taken a photo of the sign, and call the cashier over. I explained the situation and the sign. The lady then calls over a manager, who I explain again about the sign and the pricing. She does some button pushing, some things pop up on the screen, and she leaves saying she will go correct the sign. I said I was perfectly fine paying the $5 for two, but just wanted to let them know it was confusing. All went fine so I thought. They were nice and courteous as usual.
I get home and pack my 5 delicious pints of ice cream into our freezer. I was just curious what they charged me for the single pint, so I grabbed the receipt to have a look. Well, the only thing I could find for ice cream was that single $2.50 pint. Apparently the manager had deleted the other 4 from the que. I just got 4 free ice creams! I started thinking about it and I remember the employee had bagged up the ice cream herself as the manager punched away at the screen.
I called the store and explained the situation, saying I didn’t want to get anyone in trouble. I was told well it was an honest mistake and they didn’t take food back, so enjoy the sweets on them. I most certainly did enjoy those free pints which seem to taste better knowing they were free.
Know what? I’m homeless. I live in the driver’s seat of my Chevy Aveo.
I got there because my mom owned the house I was living in and paying her my house payments. I lost my job and she immediately told me she was going to sell the house. Keep in mind that I hadn’t missed a payment, and I offered her my 401K, which was ten months’ of payments to give me time to find a new job and keep things steady.
I have severe depression and anxiety, and this threw me into a severe depression episode where I talked about suicide. One of my friends freaked out about this and called the police who entered my house without permission and forced me out and into a shitty hospital. (That’s a whole other story. I came out in worse shape than when I went in.) While in the hospital, my family came and got my keys so my cats could be taken care of. Instead, they took my cats (who are at a foster home right now) and wouldn’t let me back in the house. They found a flipper, who paid $8,000 for my house and sold it for $80,000 after throwing out all of my possessions, putting a fresh coat of paint on everything and remodeling the bathroom.
I was left with my car, and that’s it. A friend took me in for a year, but he wanted to rent out the room I was in so I got kicked to the curb. That was 2 days before Thanksgiving.
I currently work 2 jobs but still don’t make enough to get a place to live. (Yay low wages.) I tried to take advantage of low income housing, but after a year and a half of filling out forms, there just isn’t anything, so I gave up. I’ve heard too many horror stories about shelters that I would rather sleep in my car when the temperatures get to 12 degrees than go there.
Quit trying to blame the poor and homeless people for their problems. Most of them would gladly work to pay for their own care and shelter. Until you’ve been there yourself, you’ll never understand because you just don’t want to see what’s really going on in this world.
I’ve told the story before, but an ex-friend of mine called in a panic 10 days before her wedding, telling me the caterer had cancelled. I was the only one she knew with catering experience and could I figure something out for the wedding?
We worked out a deal. If she could hire me two chef temps to help and pay for the food items, I’d give her the labor for her wedding gift.
Big mistake.
I spent a week and $1500 of my own money (that I really didn’t have) prepping food I’d bought wholesale, under the assumption that help would be arriving and that I’d have the money paid back.
The help never arrived. She said they wouldn’t work for an individual. That was blatantly false, but by this point I was scrambling.
Come the day of the wedding, I was frantically trying to get my home made pasta, bread, meatballs, sauces and sides to the venue. The venue employees were absolute angels who helped out in any way they could.
By the time it came to plate the food, we were a well oiled machine and it was amazing. And they even sent me home, telling me it was in their contract to clean up when it was all over. (I later learned this was my job, but they had already figured out I was being scammed and felt so bad for me.)
Two weeks later, the bride and I met up to settle the food payment. In fact, she suddenly changed the story, and said she was there for her wedding gift.
What.
The.
Fuck.
When she figured out I didn’t have one, she called me a terrible friend and stormed out. I had a bad feeling something was wrong. I called several other mutual friends and they came to the cafe I was at within the hour.
We hashed out what had happened to us. In fact, we all had wedding industry or industry adjacent jobs/skills. And she’d scammed all of us for our talents and money.
All in all, by telling us someone had cancelled and could we please do this and she’d pay us back, she got
Catering
A cake
Photography
Alterations and all three bridesmaids’ dresses sewn
Most of the venue payment
Decor
Flowers
She got what was essentially a free wedding from all of us, by conning us all.
We did get our money back eventually, but it took small claims court, a debt collector, and a few years of frustration.
Baked Ravioli and Cheese
ravioli casserole 4f
Ingredients
1 (50 count) package frozen cheese ravioli
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups cubed American cheese
3/4 cup crushed potato chips (optional)
Instructions
Cook ravioli according to package directions; drain.
Meanwhile, for sauce, melt butter in a large saucepan. Stir in flour. Add milk; cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly.
Add cheese; heat and stir until cheese is melted.
Salt and pepper to taste. Add cooked ravioli; stir gently.
Spoon into an 8 inch square baking dish.
Sprinkle crushed potato chips over.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes or until edges bubble and top is golden brown.
I was in my 9th grade math class. One of my best friends brothers (he’s a year older than me) was sitting next to me. In front of me was another guy and we were in the back of the class in the corner.
The three of us are shooting crap, talking and messing around. We had finished an assignment and had a few minutes.
All of a sudden our principal comes over the loudspeaker.
“Teachers and students. I don’t know how to even start to say this. There’s been a shooting at Columbine.”
Everyone in the class went silent.
“We are on lockout until further notice. No one is to leave the school grounds and students who are off campus will not be allowed back in. Please, turn on the TV’s in your rooms for more information. I don’t know how many times I can say this out loud.
We are safe. Pray for Columbine.”
We were all in shock.
Columbine High School was about 10 miles from our high school.
My dad worked at Leawood Elementary, 2 blocks down the street, where the first kids ran.
Now, my dad normally worked nights, but he worked that day (and I don’t know why, maybe his boss was a closeted pot head, all I know was my dad was there that day.)
My dad was my first thought, since they didn’t know what was actually going on yet. Is my dad okay?!? What’s going on?
My second thought was about my mom. She worked at the central district office. What in the world was going on there? Then, my thoughts turned to my friends. Names I was lucky to not hear later on the news.
I know this sounds like it took minutes to think of all of this, but it was mili-seconds.
The whole class was in shock when the TV was on.
It showed the building that I had driven by every Friday night to take my dad dinner (Columbine). Another building….that my dad was in. The kids running away from the building with their heads covered.
We were all staring at the TV. Hoping that we’d recognize a face so that we would know our friends were safe.
Some kids cried. Others were in shock. No one spoke for what felt like hours. We just stared at the TV. Hoping it was just a dream, or a prank.
The bell rang, and we were dismissed to our next class.
That was the only time in my 4 years at my high school that the hallways were quiet. Once in a while you’d find a group of kids crying and holding each other. It was surreal.
I made it to the band room and was able to call my mom. It was a zoo at her office and my dad was safe, helping families who were coming to pick up their kids. He was in for a long night.
The day went on. Same thing. At 2:00 PM The principal gave us an update and let us know that we weren’t on lockdown anymore. You could tell he had been crying.
We went home that afternoon to watch the horrifying news unfold.
We know how the rest of the stories goes.
PS (if you’re interested)-I only had the courage to ask him (my dad) once about that day. It was about 7 years afterward.
I had only seen my dad cry 3 times in his whole life, and that was one of them.
He said that parents swarmed the school, searching for their children as the kids were brought to the school (I think by bus).
As the afternoon turned into evening, more and more parents were leaving, thankful that their kids were OK. There were parents of children who were injured that left with police officers and escorted to the hospitals.
There were parents whose children never showed up that afternoon.
My dad said it was about 8:00, one by one the parents were called into the office. They all knew what it meant to be the last parents there.
Some walked out crying. Some were in shock. Some screamed the most wretched noises he’s ever heard.
My dad was never really the same after that.
None of us were.
Abandoned $5.5 Million MEGA Mansion | Everything Left Behind
I once worked on a joint venture with an Australian company. At that time, I was both the Director of heated products in the American company, and the Project Manager for the project that I was leading in the Australian company. So I was wearing “two hats”.
The project was a clothes iron joint-venture.
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Now reporting to two different managers, one Australian and one American had its challenges. But over all it was positive.
But there was one thing, however that really made life difficult. You see, the American company Marketing Director (In Chicago) wanted to micro-manage the project.
And she would provide lists of technical issues that she wanted to be worked on… on a daily basis. Most of which were not germane to the projects and work at hand, and was a real headache.
Most of the things were trivial in importance and silly in scope. Like can the power cord go from 1 meter long to 1.2 meters long? Or, investigate if the temperature can be 5C higher on the plate. Now about making the logo bigger, then smaller, and then bigger again. How about cutting the size of the manual down?
These little tasks took 15 seconds to think up, and maybe 10 man-hours to work out each one of them.
So everyday, she was coming up with about 40 man-hours of work, and completely stressing the staff out.
I just wanted a fine working product. I believe in the 80/20 rule. Not the 100/0 perfectionist rule that the inexperienced seem to accept as “leadership”.
We held a number of meeting on this subject. But nothing ever got resolved, until one day, during a meeting in Australia, I stood up and pointed to a blackboard showing all the issues that she wanted us to work on.
And I really wanted to make a point. We needed to concentrate on the items that had the biggest gain; a weighted outcome, as not every issue is worthy of time to develop and flush out.
And said…
Don’t be like a dog. Going from tree to tree. Pissing around indiscriminately.
Everyone was stunned, and then the entire room burst out laughing. The Australians all got smirks on their faces and held up their finger like “what a great idea”. Ha!
Here’s one for you. We received a letter from school that my son was failing 6th grade math and we needed to sit down. When we got to the school there was a teacher and a vice principal waiting for us. The teacher started off with handing me a test my son had taken. I glanced over it the math was right but almost every answer was marked wrong. She informed me that his spelling was horrible.
I quickly informed her that we had been fighting with him about this for years. Back when the school was teaching – th (the) i for eye. I had my conflict with that teacher at the time.
This set the math teacher off! Me questioning a teacher! How dare I? Then she said something that set me off. Your son’s problem is because you’re an absentee father! Just as she said this the bell to change classes rang. I asked her to step out into the hall with me. As we did kids were going past us- you’d hear hello Mr. Y. several times as kids passed us.
I turned to her and said I am the soccer coach here at the school! Her face turned red. We went back in and sat down the mood had changed. Now it’s time for me to take her lags out!
I pointed at the letter she had sent to us about my son Brian. I laughed and said that my sons name is Bryan. You’ve been teaching him for 9 months and you still can’t spell his name correctly? I would like to see you right his name correctly 100 times each time you’ve spelled it wrong (we had all his test sitting right in front of us)!
I told her I was going to call the local news agency about the hypocrite at this school. The vice principal was getting scared and trying to talk me down. I wanted her job after her accusation about me and my son.
She quit! I found out later that she had been doing this to every boy in the class. Finding a way to flunk them. Parents had been complaining but no one got anywhere till me.
Yes the USA. Is poorer. If your neighbour who has the biggest house owed roughly 10 times the worth of his house and you living in a house 5 times smaller and don’t owe anyone a dime. You ie (Vietnam and Cuba) are much richer than the show off that is driving a Ferrari in the huge home that owes a ton of money that it could never pay off in a century like the U.S.
So stop asking silly questions to make yourself feel good. The U.S. is a huge Ponzi nation.
You may have noticed from the image that Nauru isn’t particularly large. In fact, it is just 21 km squared, which is eight square miles. That’s six Central Parks or 11% of Washington D.C. and only two countries are smaller than it, those of course being Monaco and the Vatican. In terms of population – well, you can see it’s not bursting with people, with 10,084 at the last census – that’s as many as Elkhorn in Walworth County, Wisconsin, which you’ve never heard of.
Why do I feel bad for Nauru? Because they messed up big time.
You see, the island of Nauru had a ludicrously high amount of phosphate.
image 24
Phosphate is basically this important and expensive mineral which comes from bird poop among other things. Once it became a big deal in the 60s and 70s, and Nauru got their independence in 1968, they started to mine and export it to the rest of the world. And this went brilliantly well for them, with their annual GDP going from 15 million to 45 million in the space of eleven years. They had the second-highest GDP per capita in the world, behind only the UAE. Everything was going brilliantly.
And then, the inevitable happened. They ran out of phosphate.
That’s fine, isn’t it? We’ve got, like, a billion dollars now. Just invest it well and we’re sorted. Doesn’t matter that we have no idea what we’re doing, we’ll be fine – Nauru government, 1980 (paraphrased)
They weren’t alright, to say the least. None of their investments paid off at all. They had a billion Australian dollars and managed to lose almost all of it.
They bought a bunch of hotels and properties overseas, in Australia, the US, India and New Zealand among other places. They tried to get their national airline, inventively named Nauru Airlines, off the ground, but they couldn’t fill planes, so they literally let anyone fly. They put two million dollars into a terrible, terrible West End musical that everyone hated. The only purchase that really worked out was a block of land in Portland.
FUCK. – Nauru government, 1990 (paraphrased)
So now, Nauru barely has any money. They’ve got no real source of income, apart from being friends with Australia and a few other countries. Whilst they’re just about getting by for now, projections aren’t looking good. The entire middle of the island is basically unusable for anything, because it looks like this:
image 23
The entire population lives around the coast in a coast-shaped blob, but because of rising sea levels, they’re gonna have to move somewhere at some point. Unfortunately, there isn’t really anywhere to go.
Nauru had so much luck in having so much minerals, but financial incompetence has led to the downfall of an island that could have been so much more than it’s managed to. We can only hope that they find a solution.
This wasn’t me. and it was as much weird as horrifying.
In June 2008, an 88-year-old retired nurse named Mary Ferns left her house in Livingston, West Lothian, saying she was going into the town centre to buy tights. Everyone assumed she meant Livingston town centre, about a mile from her home, but she never came home. CCTV showed her in Edinburgh, 25 miles away, heading towards Waterloo Place where she would have been able to get a bus back to Livingston (or to any of a hundred other places), so it looked as if she decided to go into Edinburgh to shop instead of to Livingston.
Between central Livingston and her home there are several routes which cross over bridges, and at the sides of the bridges there are steep slopes covered with bushes, leading down to the water. It was natural to wonder if she had returned to Livingston, set off to walk home instead of getting a local bus for such a short journey, had a heart attack or stroke while approaching a bridge, and rolled down into the bushes: but dogs couldn’t find her.
Then in April 2011 a skeleton was found under one of the bridges, and everyone assumed it was hers. But it turned out to be someone else entirely – a man who had been missing for 15 years, and who had evidently sat down under the bridge to get out of the rain, and then had a heart attack or stroke of his own.
Mary Ferns, meanwhile, has never been found. We don’t know if she was murdered, or met with an accident, or whether, despite her age, she chose to go missing.
Pol Pot (real name Saloth Sâr) was the dictator of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, taking power at the end of the Cambodian Civil War. As soon as he took power, He and his administration transformed Cambodia into a one party communist dictatorship. Over the next 4 years, he and his administration committed various human rights violations and carried out what is now known as the Cambodian Genocide. To go into more detail, Pol Pot and his administration:
• Forced the Cambodian population to work without pay.
• Made the Cambodian population live in the country side by forceful removing them from their homes in the cites.
• Destroyed Cambodia’s legal system and replaced it with re-education and interrogation centers. If they thought that you were guilty, you would have been very hard pressed to convince them otherwise.
• Caused much of the Cambodian populace to starve, many times to death.
• Killed anyone they either felt didn’t fit into their new society or deemed to even slightly be a threat to their regime. these included: people with connections to the previous government, Doctors, Lawyers, Intellectuals, Journalists, Business Leaders, Vietnamese Cambodians, Chinese Cambodians, Thai Cambodians, Christian Cambodians, Cham Muslims and family members of prisoners who were thought to be a threat to the regime. Even wearing glasses or being able to speak multiple languages could get you killed.
• If you were to be executed (which was very likely), you would have been taken to one the various “Killing Fields” and would most likely be killed with a pickaxe, so that they did not waste any bullets.
By the time they were overthrown during a Vietnamese invasion, the Cambodian life expectancy was about 18 years old.
As bad as rulers such as Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin and Mao Zedong were for their people, I believe no one was as brutal as Pol Pot was.
I feel like their motto put it best:
To spare you is no profit, to destroy you is no loss.
This doesn’t qualify as disgusting, but many years ago, I was involved with an Internet startup. They spent all of their time having meetings which achieved nothing, and were a complete waste of everybody’s time. One day, I was asked, no told, by the CEO to prepare a lengthy report on something that I considered ridiculous. I wrote 3 pages of it, and then decided to see what would happen if I didn’t finish it off, so I added 35 more pages of Loren Ipsum (Latin), and handed the report in. At the next meeting when everybody was present, I made a point of asking the CEO if the report was what he had wanted. He said “Yes, it was great”. I stood up, and told the entire room that this very important report that I had handed in, and which the CEO thought was great, actually contained 35 pages of Latin, proving that he hadn’t actually looked at it. I said “I quit”, and walked out of the door. The company went belly up 6 months later.
My wife had disappeared forever, and my boss knew that the ground was very cold. He also knew that my car was gone, and my house was under debate. Money gone as well.
image 69
And in the middle of that struggle, he entered my office without knocking, and stated that I would have to move into the (smaller) office of a young colleague with severe psychiatric issues, whom he hated just like he hated me. When I asked him why I had to move (since we had plenty of room in our department), he stated with a smile:
“Because I said it — that’s why.”
He also said with the same smile that he was to chair my next HR committee soon, and that I could basically forget about my future. He said the same thing to the woman with the psychiatric problems.
He called us “the goofballs.”
But he forgot about the one thing he could not control nor understand, and that even we — the goofballs in that tiny office which leaked water during rain showers — understood. The secret force he tried to capture, because he did not understand how the goofballs kept coping with his constant harassing and mental torture.
And I will also never forget his expression when he was finally fired — that final sight.
I don’t know if it was disgusting, but it was rather a unique trick. I used this a couple of times on drug dealers.
When I worked undercover in narcotics I would be asked to buy street-dealer weight in either cocaine or Heroin. The designer drugs weren’t around yet and this new stuff called crack was just making its way onto the market.
One problem every undercover faced was the hand to hand delivery of the drugs. During the actual purchase, you needed to be able to testify that you gave the money directly to the seller and they directly handed you the drugs. ( AKA hand to hand purchase).
Drug dealers were wise to this. When an informant would introduce me to the seller they would take the money but they would only give the drugs to the informant and not to me directly.
I couldn’t testify that I got the drugs from the informant. That would require me to identify the informant and have them testify. No way I would do that. So I came up with a cool little trick.
I would give the dealer the money and he would pass the drugs off to the informant who gave them to me. I would look at the package and say it was light (not the correct weight) and throw the package back directly to the dealer saying I wanted my money back. Drug dealers are not in the business of giving out refunds.
I’d move in close seemingly to get my money back, but we’d talk a little and I would agree to the light package if he would agree the next package would be a little overweight.
As soon as the dealer agreed, I’d reach out and take the package back directly from the dealer, sometimes almost pulling it out of his hands, thus completing a hand to hand transaction.
We would let the case sit for six months before we made the arrest, so they would not remember what informant walked me in. But my little hand to hand trick worked every time.
I mean..this American senator keep on asking if Chew Sou Zi (the Tiktok CEO) is a Chinese citizen and a member of Chinese Communist Party even though the CEO keep repeatedly answering that he is a Singaporean citizen !
That senator apparently:
1.Could not tell the difference between China and Singapore.
2. Doesn’t know that Singapore is not a part of China.
3.Doesn’t know that a Singaporean person is not allowed to have a dual citizenship.
4.Doesn’t have a clue that only a Chinese citizen could become a member of Chinese Communist Party ( I’m not sure about USA, maybe in the US, a non citizen could become a member of senate?)
5. He probably doesn’t even know where the heck Singapore is!!!
And the fact is, he is a SENATOR ! He represents the people in america ! He went to Harvard, therefore he’s one of america’s best and brightest! He’s a decision maker!
Can you imagine the level of intelligence of the ordinary americans?
I was relief that the senator did not asking the CEO “have you ever ordered a Chinese takeout”?.
Italian Stuffed Meat Loaf
18521t6
Ingredients
Meat Loaf
1 pound lean ground beef
1 cup oats
1 (15 1/2 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce, divided
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon pepper
Filling
1/3 cup of any one or all of the following: sliced mushrooms, sliced ripe olives, shredded mozzarella cheese, shredded zucchini
Topping
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Ripe olives, sliced
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.
For meat loaf, combine ground beef, oats, 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce, onion, Parmesan cheese, egg, Worcestershire sauce and pepper; mix well. Separate mixture into two equal parts. Shape each into a patty about 7 inches in diameter. Place filling on one patty to within 1/2 inch of edge. Place in prepared pan.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until meat is done.
Top loaf with remaining spaghetti sauce and mozzarella cheese. Garnish with olives.
So, we’ve got Liam Ashley, a 17-year-old dude from New Zealand who made a serious mistake. He took his parents’ car for a joyride without their permission. Yeah, not the smartest move in the book, my friend.
But here’s where things get real messed up. Liam’s parents, instead of just giving him a good old-fashioned grounding or some crap, decided to press criminal charges against him. They wanted to teach him a lesson, right? So they denied the poor guy bail, thinking that sending him to prison would fix everything.
image 71
Now, I get it, parents wanna straighten out their kids, but come on! Liam had some minor run-ins with the law before, nothing too serious. And for that, they wanna throw him behind bars? Talk about overreacting, man.
But here’s the real tragedy. While Liam was being transported in a prison van, some dangerous psycho attacked him. And I ain’t talking about a friendly game of patty cake, my friend. Liam was brutally assaulted and, tragically, he didn’t make it. It’s a heartbreaking ending to a messed-up situation.
Ashley was killed by George Charlie Baker, a classified dangerous criminal, who strangled and stomped on the boy. Liam sustained severe brain injuries and his family decided to remove him from life support the next day. Baker was given an 18 year sentence!
image 70
I mean, seriously, what the f**k? Liam’s parents thought they were doing the right thing, but their actions led to their own son’s death. It’s a harsh reminder that sometimes, people’s intentions can be all kinds of messed up, and the consequences can be devastating.
Yea I did. I was interviewing for a part time job in a small, higher end chain women’s clothing store. I just wanted a few hours a week in a nice atmosphere. This weeks to be the place. Then as I was doing my last interview with the store manager, she started telling me about the hourly sales requirements. Woman, what are you talking about? Well, the first hour you had to sell, say $10 worth of accessories. The second jour V higher dollar value, and it went in up to 8 hours and by the eighth hour you had to sell $50 worth of stuff. By the hour! She’s been very nice and told me she’d never seen such glowing recommendations from previous employees, she’d actually talked to them. So at the news of the hard sell requirement I was sitting there with it mouth agape in shock, I said, I’m 52, months his is a part time job I thought would be enjoyable, you just made it despicable, sorry, I’m not interested. It was a good thing, I found a job in a chain fabric store, they had about 200 stores nationwide, our store was very small, about 3500 square feet, but we worked our way up to a million dollars in sales so it was busy, fun and I loved it until the store manager stopped caring and was a pain in the butt. I loved to see, knit, crochet and do other fiber crafts. We sold fabric, yarn, lots of supplies for other crafts. And people were buying all of our supplies. But it went downhill, I left after 12 years and 18!years after I started they went out of business. It was sad, I couldn’t buy a sewing machine needle there at the end because the selection went from 20 types and sizes to 4 basic needles. And that was with everything.
JEFFREY SACHS FULL INTERVIEW ABOUT CHINA – U.S RIVALRY CONTINUE ? AND MORE
Oh my God. A deep madness.
https://youtu.be/cVYtF3HVSXY
Subtle Change in Ukraine Blame Means Deadly Trouble for Americans
OPINION-EDITORIAL — A very subtle change in the words coming out of the Russian Foreign Ministry signals the FINAL step before the annihilation of the United States. We have now reached the final step . . .
The wording used by the Russian Foreign Ministry was very subtle, but its implications are anything but. See if you can pick-up the subtle change in this excerpt from RT:
The US and its citizens are complicit in the deaths of the Ukrainian POWs who were killed last week when the Russian Il-76 military aircraft transporting them was shot down by Kiev’s troops, Moscow’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, has said.
On Thursday, Russia’s Investigative Committee released a report stating that the cargo plane was destroyed using two US-made MIM-104A missiles fired by a Patriot air-defense system. The Il-76 came down in Russia’s Belgorod Region last Wednesday. All of those on board – 65 Ukrainian POWs, three Russian troops, and six crew members – were killed.
Russian investigators stated that Ukrainian troops fired the missiles from a staging area in Kharkov Region, not far from the village of Liptsy, some 10km from the Russian border. They based their conclusion on 116 missile fragments found at the crash site bearing inscriptions in English.
Responding to the report, Zakharova said in a Telegram post that US citizens “need to know where their money is going,” arguing that President Joe Biden and his administration have made Americans “complicit in a bloody tragedy.”
Did you catch it? Did you pick up the subtle change in the language they used? It’s right there in front of you!
Here, let me focus it for you:
“The US and its citizens are complicit in the deaths of the Ukrainian POWs . . .”
Then again, in a later paragraph:
” . . .arguing that President Joe Biden and his administration have made Americans “complicit in a bloody tragedy.” “”
This tiny and subtle change points the finger not just at the US Government, it also points the finger at . . . . YOU. And me! Individually. Personally.
This is a point I have made repeatedly on my radio shows in the past two years. I have earnestly pointed out that what our GOVERNMENT does, is being done IN OUR NAME.
Remember, this nation celebrates Abraham Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address wherein he posited that we have “Government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
Ergo, when the US Government does something, it does it in OUR name. You and me.
The Russians have now made clear who it is they hold responsible for what the US Government is doing: YOU and ME.
You see, we . . . . you and me . . . . ARE in fact, to blame!
We sit back and do nothing while our government runs roughshod over the whole world. Sanctions on this one and that one. Military action here. Military action there. And whenever our Government engage in that activity, people we don’t know, in lands we’ve never been to or maybe haven’t even heard of . . . . die.
Oh, and while our government is doing all this crap to people all over the world, you and I sit back and do . . . . nothing. We don’t make a phone call to our members of Congress or the Senate. We don’t write a letter or send a fax. We don’t even fire-off an email. We sit on our asses and do absolutely . . . . nothing.
The Russians are now making clear it is YOU and I who are doing this. YOU and I who are to blame. Directly. Personally.
You know what? They’re right.
WE are to blame. We elect these people then sit back and tacitly approve of what they’re doing by our own, personal inaction. They slaughter people all over the world. They bomb countries back into the Stone Age. You and I sit back and do absolutely nothing. Or worse, we sing idiotic Beach Boys Parody songs like “Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran . . . .” as if somehow what we’re doing is good. It isn’t.
A Russian guy I know cited US Senator Lindsey Graham the other day to make a very valid point to me. He showed me what Lindsey Graham, posted on “X” (formerly Twitter) wherein he said the following:
Then the Russian guy asked me “What if some member of the Russian Federation COuncil (i.e. a Russian “Senator”) Posted this exact message on VKontake (Russian Social Media) only changed the countries involved, like this FAKE SAMPLE:
FAKE RUSSIA SENATOR
In case the Putin Administration is wondering, it is abundantly clear to the United States and everyone else in the region, that the Administration doesn’t want war. But it will be difficult to tell the families of the fallen soldiers that the United States is not at war with us.
The United States is at war with Russia on multiple fronts through their proxies (Ukraine). Weak talk and weak action are putting our service members [in Ukraine], at risk. If the United States doesn’t pay a heavy price after the deaths of our service members, and the wounding of many more, then the Putin Administration is derelict in their duties to protect Russian personnel in harm’s way.
To the Putin Administration: Stop the weak rhetoric and respond with strength to protect Russian interests and lives. Your current approach to United States/NATO aggression is not working. Change while you can.”
Same words as Lindsey Graham. Same logic.
So I have to ask YOU, the Reader, if Lindsey Grahams words about Iran are good enough to warrant the US attacking Iran, would the FAKE Russian Senator’s exact same words about Ukraine, justify Russia hitting us?
Why not. Same situation!
You see, this is a big problem for my fellow Americans. We view the world as being ours to do with as we please. We never once stop to think how other powerful nations, might decide to use OUR logic, when dealing with . . . . us.
Now, some of you will react by saying “They wouldn’t dare.” Oh no? Why not?
And you would respond “Because we would nuke the living shit out of them.”
Really?
Because they can also do that to us.
Oh.
Yes.
Reality sets in.
And those same reactionary Americans who would say “They wouldn’t dare” would then likely say “They won’t, it would mean the end of the world.”
Yes. It would. And we would have done it to ourselves by the way we are behaving around the world.
Why should Russia sit back and allow us to supply arms to Ukraine, which are now clearly being used to kill Russians?
Why shouldn’t Russia tell the United States (again) to stop supplying weapons that are killing Russians and then add, or Russia will start hitting the United States?
Why shouldn’t Russia make it direct? Blunt?
Well . . . . turns out, they just began making it blunt. At the top of this Op-Ed, they have now begun blaming “American citizens.” You and me.
Where is this leading? Let me explain it this way:
What is the difference between “Killing” and “murder?”
Murder is the unlawful killing of an innocent. But “Killing” is allowable if it is “justified.”
For instance, if a guy is aiming a gun at you, and you do something which kills him, that is “self defense” and not murder, even though the guy is now dead.
So there is a difference between killing and murder. One may be allowed while the other is not.
Same thing with countries.
The U.S. is supplying weapons for Ukraine to use to kill Russians. Russia has repeatedly told the US and NATO to stop, but we are not stopping. ERGO, it would be “justified” for Russia to kill us in self defense.
Thankfully, the Russians have good morals and they know that perhaps the innocent American people ought not be harmed because of our evil government. SO thus far, they have not killed us.
I think the change in Russian Foreign Ministry wording mentioned at the start of this Op-Ed, tells us that’s about to change.
The official Diplomatic Corps of the Russian Federation is now openly, and publicly, laying the blame for the deaths of Russians, upon “the American people.” Me and you.
Having repeatedly told us to stop, the only thing left for Russia to do is to make us stop – by killing us.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has now begun laying the historical groundwork to justify exactly that.
By changing their statements to lay blame upon “the American people” they are building a record to justify killing . . . us.
Wise-up folks.
Unless we reign-in our wayward government, and stop them from running roughshod over the whole world, you and I __can__ be held accountable. You and I __can__ be stopped.
The clock seems to be ticking.
Now, you can either step up and start being an active and engaged citizen, and start telling your elected public servants to knock it off, or you can go right back to sitting on your ass and doing nothing until the brilliant white flashes start. Then you can feel sorry for yourself as you vaporize, except God already knows: You brought this on yourself by not getting off your lazy ass and stopping your own government while you still could.
Kevin is the gentlest man I’ve ever known, and we go back nearly four decades. He’s tall, well-built, and strong, yet he talks with a soft voice and always speaks kindly.
Kevin worked in a small, cramped Capitol Hill office with a Class A bully. This guy continually said nasty things to his colleagues. He was especially abusive to the women and, because of his kind demeanor, Kevin was one of the favorite targets. A bully loves attacking anyone s/he perceives to be weak.
One day, Kevin had enough. During a verbal attack, Kevin jumped up, grabbed this guy by the lapels, and pulled him from his desk chair. He then pushed the guy against a wall and put his face very close. Kevin told the guy that he could shut up, immediately, or that Kevin would shut his mouth for him. Kevin went on to explain that there’d be no more office abuse; if the behavior happened again, the consequences would be much more severe.
The guy turned bright red, then ghostly white. He had nothing to say. He sat down and spent the rest of the day looking terrified and shaking uncontrollably. He never bullied anyone again, and he left his job shortly after. Nobody was sorry to see him go.’
It was Dec 1982. I had just turned 16 in October. My two friends and I were walking home from the Christmas dance at the high school when I was hit by a drunk driver. She was driving home from a company Christmas party. I was the one closest to the street on the sidewalk and somehow she clipped me without hitting either of my friends. Best we can figure, I rolled up the windshield and off the side of her car.
I was knocked unconscious and woke up laying facedown on the street. People were already gathered by me, holding me down, telling me not to move. I was terrified that they knew something about my “condition” that I didn’t know. Fortunately, I had only minor injuries and a concussion. Sprained pinky finger, road-rash scrapes over the whole right side of my body from my ear to my knee, swollen knee and elbow, and that pesky concussion. No doubt, I was lucky.
Then there was another little “gift” that I didn’t realize I had for years. PTSD. I had to quit the school wrestling team after I had a panic attack and blacked out during practice. In the first few months after, I literally dove into bushes and onto lawns when I heard sharp sounds behind me – tires squealing, engine revving, door slamming – all sent me flying away from the road. I would get up and brush off the leaves while mentally chastising myself for being weak. Eventually, it got to the point where I’d just flinch and not actually leap, and months later where I’d just startle.
This was 1982, before MADD, before strict DUI laws, and in many cases, before any DUI laws. I was told she spent the night in the “drunk tank” and was released the next day. Her insurance paid the medical expenses minus the PTSD therapy because I didn’t know I had that. Insurance also paid for clothing that was torn or cut off, and I believe an additional $600 for “pain and suffering.” My PTSD lasted over two years.
I never drink and drive. Because I know the real cost. Because I know I got a small dose and some families pay a much larger cost. Because I couldn’t imagine sitting in a cell knowing I killed someone.
I had my fairly new license and was driving my parents car when a deer darted out in front of me. I swerved and put the car into a ditch. Not hurt.
I find a phone and call a tow truck. Get back to the car and there is a police car there. I explained I’d stayed with the car for 15 minutes but knew there was a gas station nearby.
He gives me a ticket for speeding because in his opinion that’s the only way this could have happened.
Now this is a small municipal court for traffic tickets. My license was from my parents home 3 hours away. He was expecting me to just mail in the fine rather than contest it. He approached me before court to “refresh his memory about the event” and naively I did. He gets called and testifies that I was speeding.
So, I asked him where he was when the accident happened and was able to witness me speeding. He said he passed me going in the opposite direction.
So, I asked: if you saw me speeding in the opposite direction & saw me wreck my car, why did I have to walk 20 minutes to the phone, call police headquarters to report the accident, and walk back before you wrote the ticket?
The judge stopped things at that point & dismissed the charges.
One morning as I was waking up, I looked at my 27 year old wife as she was sleeping and noticed the veins in her neck were throbbing. A few days later she was in the hospital getting excess fluid drained from her pericardium (sac around the heart) that was built up and putting pressure on her heart, and causing the veins to protrude. She had recently recovered from a stomach virus and doctors attributed this to a viral infection.
A few days later, it was happening again. That’s when the whirlwind began. She was put back in the local hospital for tests, within a day sent to John’s Hopkins for more tests, within another day sent right to the oncology unit. Her diagnosis was Angiosarcoma; the tumor was on her heart.
The outlook wasn’t good and I was getting a lot of percentages: “if we do this there’s x percent of this happening and if that happens there’s x percent that we can do this”, etc. I asked to speak with someone who could just tell me what the deal was, what to expect, what the reality of the situation was. They sent the head of oncology to speak with me, and I’ll never forget it:
“The tumor is on her heart…we can’t just remove the tumor because of the location, and because angiosarcoma has an almost liquid consistency operating is rarely successful. It’s extremely aggressive and once it gets into the bloodstream, if it hasn’t already, will spread throughout her body. You’ve asked me to be completely frank with you about your wife’s condition, and because you asked I am going to honor your request: the reality of the situation is that your wife is going to die, and the life you had together as you know it is over. It could be within six months, or because of the pressure on her heart she could go into cardiac arrest at any time. Now, I’m an aggressive realist, which means I’m going to aggressively try to change the reality of the situation. But the fact is that if this kind of cancerous tumor appeared in her leg, we would immediately amputate, and she would still not survive more than two years”.
This will not go down well with the electorate and, moreover, with the soldiers of the Ukrainian forces:
A poll published by the Kyiv Institute of Sociology in December found 88% of Ukrainians supported the top general. Zelensky’s approval rating, though also high, was considerably lower at 62%.
It is far from clear that any new commander will be able to improve Ukraine’s difficult situation on the battlefield without significantly more forces and weapons — precisely what Zaluzhny has demanded of Zelensky, adding tension to what was already a fraying relationship.
Zaluzhny’s popularity — both within the military and among ordinary citizens — makes his removal a political gamble for Zelensky. It also poses strategic risks at a time when Russia has intensified its attacks and Western security assistance for Kyiv has slowed. The general has built strong rapport with his Western counterparts and has often been able to advocate directly for certain materiel and seek counsel on battlefield strategy. … Both Budanov and Syrsky are considered favorites of Zelensky and Andriy Yermak, the chief of the presidential office and Zelensky’s closest adviser. Nearer the front, however, there seems to be little appetite for change.
“My personal opinion is you can’t do something like this right now — Zaluzhny is someone 80 percent of the military considers a good authority,” said Oleksandr, a battalion commander fighting in eastern Ukraine.
“For what is he being removed? It’s not clear. And who will replace him? Syrsky? God, I hope not. No one in the army likes Syrsky,” Oleksandr added.
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.
Avdeevka is nearly surrounded and any attempts to hold onto it will cost many valuable lives of soldiers for no discernible advantage. But, just like with Bakhmut, Zelenski wants to hold on to the city to be be able point his western sponsors to some ‘successes’.
My hunch is that, after Monday’s kerfuffle in Kiev, the decision to fire Zaluzny was still hanging in balance.
The change now only happened after the noeconservative destroyer of Ukraine, Victoria Nuland, had landed in Kiev.
When asked by a journalist whether Nuland had learned about Kyiv’s plans on the battlefield, she replied that, in her opinion, Ukraine would achieve great success.
“I have to say that I leave Kyiv tonight more encouraged about the unity and the resolve, about 2024 and its absolute strategic importance for Ukraine. I also leave more confident that, even as Ukraine strengthens its defenses, Mr. Putin is going to get some nice surprises on the battlefield and that Ukraine will make some very strong success,” the U.S. Under Secretary of State emphasized.
This hint does not foresee success on the ground but asymmetric operations within Russia or the Black Sea. More to the like of this which has happen last night:
Ukraine sinks Russian ship.
During a night attack by drones in the Donuzlav area, the Black Sea Fleet lost the Ivanovets MRK, built in 1989, 493 tons of displacement, armed with Moskit missiles.
Sinking that ship will do nothing to change the outcome at the battlefront. Nor would any attacks on Russia oil and gas infrastructure change anything.
Nuland’s remark also hints that the replacement of General Zaluzny will not come in the form of Army General Alexander Syrski, who is disliked by the troops for unsuccessfully holding grounds in Bakhmut and elsewhere at too high costs in men and material.
Nuland’s hint towards asymmetric operations points to the elevation of the Chief of Military Intelligence Directorate Major-General Kyrylo Budanov as a incoming replacement for Zaluzny.
Budanov has been responsible for some daring, if mostly unsuccessful, terror attacks on Russian land and interests.
Back in June 2023 the Economist explained why Zelenski might seek to elevate Bundanov:
Aides huddle close when the general speaks. Under his leadership, Ukraine’s main directorate of intelligence—HUR—has become a plucky, autonomous authority that punches above its weight. It resembles a gang. “Before we had managers, now we have a leader,” says one veteran officer. Oleg, an operative who has known General Budanov for decades, speaks approvingly of his ability to infect others with his fervour, comparing him to a snake “hypnotising you before he comes in for the kill. Restrained, measured, never panicked. You do anything he asks.” … As a confidant of the president—those in government call them kindred spirits—General Budanov is understood to be playing an ever-bigger role in behind-the-scenes peace negotiations. Sources say he is a conduit to secret talks with the Chinese, and he has also been in contact with Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Russia’s mercenary Wagner outfit.
In conversation it is clear that General Budanov has been thinking hard about post-war Ukraine. Last winter there was talk of him becoming defence minister. He insists his only ambition is victory. Yet secret polls conducted by Mr Zelensky’s office show they are thinking about using the cult of their hero spymaster to counterbalance a perceived rivalry emanating from Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s likeable and independent commander-in-chief. General Budanov’s colleagues say they are convinced he is destined for a big political role once peace comes—if he lives that long.
To the TV producers (Yermak) around the former comedian actor Zelenski it is all about ratings.
Budanov may be good at marketing his image as a successful terrorist.
But he has zero experience of leading any size of unit in combat. You can not lead a company, battalion, brigade or army by ‘huddling close’ with aides. It needs long term strategic thinking just as detailed attention to all kinds of day to day logistics.
Leading an army is like conducting a huge orchestra through a four year long Wagner epos. Having played the first fiddle in a chamber quartet does not qualify for that.
I am sure that U.S. military is not happy about this move. While there were some disagreements with Zaluzny about the right strategies those were between military professional who allowed for diverting opinions. Zaluzny was seen as an experienced professional soldier. Budanov is seen as a spook who had never been in command of any real military. He well not be talked to at the same level.
According to one source, Zaluzhnyi’s senior staff are also expected to be removed from their positions.
With the new inexperienced leadership the situation on the ground will soon become a catastrophic mess for forces of Ukraine. There will be wrong priorities, miss-allocations of resources and large scale losses of men and ground.
On the other side terror attacks on Russian targets, industrial equipment as well as population centers, are likely to sharply increase.
The larger U.S. aim of all this, first announced as a 2019 RAND study, is still unchanged:
The study at that time recommended the arming of Ukrainian’s army as the best way to unbalance Russia. We have since seen the escalation of that strategy. The move from the battlefield to the realm of terror is a response to the degradation of the first by empathizing the psychological effects of the second.
The foreseeable outcome though is unchanged. Ukraine will be smashed, Russia’s power will increase and the global view of the U.S. as a reliable partner will be diminished.
Posted by b on February 1, 2024 at 14:48 UTC | Permalink
One of the first casinos I ever worked in had a policy that you had to wear black pants, a tuxedo shirt, a bow tie, black dress shoes, and black socks. The only thing they didn’t demand was the colour of your underwear (as long as a bra couldn’t be seen under your white shirt). The bosses were so strict that “uniform checks” were part of the norm – every couple of days a delegated supervisor would check everyone to see that they were wearing the right clothing. What stood out to me was when they’d ask you to pull up the leg of your pants to check your socks – sometimes both legs… just to make sure both socks matched and we’re all black (no stripes at the top).
This particular casino was an anomaly in the industry – it was many years ago and a small place so they didn’t have security cameras – none! One day I was on a game that required two dealers to operate and it happened that he was one of my best friends. There were no patrons in the casino at all – not unusual for an early day shift there. An older female supervisor came around announcing a “sock check”. I looked at my friend, he looked at me, we both unbuckled our belts and let our pants drop to the floor exposing the tops of our socks.
Neither of us ever had a sock check again.
No, we weren’t fired either… there was nobody in the casino at the time and the older female supervisor was a very nice lady with a great sense of humour – she (of course) told us to never do it again and almost stayed red-faced for the rest of the shift.
I exposed a huge scam by my local gas distributor (cooking gas).
This is a typical cooking gas cylinder in India.
As you can see (not very clearly though), on the neck of the cylinder, net weight and gross weight are clearly mentioned.
Recently, I read an article in ‘The Hindu’ that revealed that a lot of gas agencies/distributors/delivery persons in India are stealing cooking gas. They take out about 1–2 kg of gas from each cylinder and sell it separately in black. The loss in weight is too small for an unsuspecting buyer to notice. But in terms of money, this translates into a loss of about 60 INR per cylinder. The article cautioned everybody to get their gas cylinders weighed before paying the delivery person (Delivery persons are mandated to carry a portable weighing scale along with them by the Govt.)
At first I laughed it off. My agency was trusted. It would never do that. But then on a whim, I decided to try it out. When the next cylinder was delivered to my home, I casually asked the delivery boy to weigh it. The color on his face instantly changed. He started stammering, started insisting that there was no need for this because the bond of trust we shared! I immediately grew suspicious. I pressed him. He then started making excuses that he forgot to bring along his portable weighing-scale.
Luckily, I had my own weighing scale at home. I immediately brought it out and weighed the cylinder myself. The gross weight printed on the cylinder was 29.5 kg, whereas the scale read 27 kg. A difference of bloody 2.5 kgs.
The delivery boy started begging me not to register a complaint against him. And that he wouldn’t repeat the mistake ever again.
Apparently, this is a huge scam going on all over India. If you are reading this answer, please get your gas cylinder duly weighed before paying for it.
Once, many years ago, as a young lawyer, I was asked to help a family member, a crazy uncle, with his disability case. He was literally homeless, living on the street and crazy beyond description. His grip on reality was severely distorted, he was schizophrenic and had lost his job as a NYC sanitation worker.
Surely, you can get him SOME benefits to live on? This was the family’s charge to me as a brand new baby lawyer. Help Uncle X! He’s desperate. You gotta do this.
Okay, I’ll give it a try. How do you say no to something like that? I had never handled a disability case and really had no idea where to start. So, let’s start with interviewing the client and see what he can tell me. I didn’t expect much in the way of cooperation from a man who I knew was thoroughly and completely insane and off his rocker. I had heard the family stories.
I set up an appointment, nevertheless, and I prayed to God for wisdom to help me save this man from roaming half-naked on the streets of NY. I figured it might even be a public service.
One fine day he did actually show up in my office. At the time, I was working for an older gentleman lawyer who had a massively busy local general practice, the type you really don’t see anymore and before the days of “legal specialization.” This office truly tried to handle EVERYTHING! It was great experience.
The waiting room was full of people in need of one form of legal advice or another when my prospective client showed up. As I greeted him in the office full of these other waiting clients the first words literally out of his mouth are “Hi, you have nice lips!” Lol. Oh boy, this was going to be a real experience. I quickly and quietly shuffled him off to my basement office so we could get to work. My office didn’t even have a window.
Well, my client had brought a sheaf of disorganized, crumpled papers and, after organizing and unfolding them I started reading them. They consisted of his employment file and the stated reasons for his termination. He was quite literally unfit for employment. His record consisted of bizarre hallucinations, reports of “voices” and other strange phenomenon which he was experiencing which rendered him totally unfit for any gainful employment. There were also stacks of medical records indicating that he was suffering from a severe mental disorder (which was nothing but obvious to anyone spending one minute in his presence). He was very much totally out of his mind.
I felt sorry for him. I knew he would qualify for Social Security Disability benefits and would also be entitled to a sizable retroactive payment. All we had to do was apply and possibly have a hearing. I was confident I could win it. I started preparing the application, starting with the claim for “disability based on mental illness.”
Well, my uncle/client took one look at the application and said (I swear that I’m not making this up) “my disability is for hemorrhoids, not that!”). I was astonished! I expected anything but resistance. What was your disability?
HEMORRHOIDS!
Well, the medical records clearly stated that he DID have hemorrhoids but that was hardly his disability or his reason for not being able to work. The records were replete with references to paranoid schizophrenia and wild hallucinations. THAT was the problem, not hemorrhoids!
I tried to persuade him. I tried to convince him to proceed but he became agitated and uncooperative. Finally, he grabbed his papers and ran out of my office. I couldn’t stop him. He was gone.
My aunt, his sister, wanted to know how we did. I told her that the case went nowhere and that he was uncooperative. Back on the streets he went for another year or so. I couldn’t help him since he wouldn’t cooperate.
Then something amazing happened (after about a year). He returned to my office, looking for help, insisting once again that his HEMORRHOIDS were his difficulty. This time I agreed.
I applied for Social Security Disability ON THE BASIS OF HEMORRHOIDS. Of course, we were going to be denied but I had an idea brewing in my young lawyer head. Let’s see if this works.
After receiving the expected denial of our application I filed an appeal and asked for a hearing with a judge. It was granted as a routine matter, as I knew it would be. Now what to do?
Well, the date of the hearing arrived and we went to court in Brooklyn. I showed up with my uncle and the case was called. The judge (I still remember his name!) looked at the hearing application and said “this is an application for disability benefits based on…. what? Hemorrhoids? Really? Okay, counsel proceed.” He was shaking his head in disbelief the entire time he said this.
I politely asked the judge to exclude my client from the room. He looked at me and said “young man, this is a most unusual request.” Yes, judge but I have my reasons. “Okay,” he said, “please exclude the claimant from the courtroom. This had better be good, counselor!”
Oh, it’s gonna be good. I promise!
As soon as my uncle left the courtroom I gushed “judge, this guy is my uncle and he’s completely nuts.” I then proceeded to tell him the entire story and told him that the real claim was for mental illness disability but the client wouldn’t let me proceed on that basis, insisting that his hemorrhoids were the issue. The judge seemed to understand.
“Okay, bring the claimant back into the courtroom. You may inquire, counselor.”
I stood up and literally asked my client ONE QUESTION. It was truly only one question… no more. I said “Uncle X, please tell the judge what’s bothering you.” Then I sat down fully knowing what was coming next.
For the next ten minutes, until the judge could no longer stand it, the client rambled about “wires being crossed” and “Ring Dings and Yankee Doodles” and how the police were stalking him and many other bizarre and colorful statements. It was very clear that his grip on reality was non-existent. I doubt he could have told you who the President was at the time or what month it was. After hearing enough, the judge stopped him, clearly having heard enough to realize this wasn’t a put on, or a fraud. It would have actually been funny if it wasn’t so sad.
“Decision reserved,” the judge said and dismissed us from his court. I left feeling confident.
A few weeks later we got a decision granting 100% disability to my uncle with a retroactive payment of over forty thousand dollars plus monthly benefits of about $2500 for life, plus Medicare. It was a grand slam win! I was a family hero.
Years later I ran into the judge on the street outside the courts. I greeted him and thanked him for his help and understanding. He told me “I will never forget that case… It was textbooks!”
Not exactly fired, but we thought it was a great reaction.
After a recent merger between two rather large companies, it was necessary to reduce personnel, so each department was asked to cut staffing by a certain percentage.
To encourage volunteers, management offered to give a full week worth of salary and paid medical benefits for each full year a person had worked at the company if they took early retirement. And anyone who qualified for a pension also got the full pension as if they had not retired early.
One member of our team was about 14 months away from his planned retirement date when he would start receiving full Social Security and pension payments.
He had worked for the company for 45 years. After some simple math, we all strongly encouraged him to take the deal.
He got 45 weeks of full pay, a whole year of benefits coverage (negotiated with HR), his full pension, and they also bought out the almost two months of accrued vacation time that he had been saving up in order to retire a few months early.
He basically got a 12+ month paid vacation with full benefits. We will be having a retirement party for him on his original planned retirement date in a couple of months. 😀
I imagine that wasn’t what management had in mind when they made the offer, but everyone on our team was very happy for him to get it!
When I worked as a commis chef in a 5-star hotel, we had some guy come in and eat on his own, which was a bit unusual. He ordered some expensive food, but strangely finished with a starter which involved some salad. A waiter came through shortly after serving the salad to tell me that the customer was complaining as he’d found a slug in his salad, so I went out to speak with him. I explained to him that I was terribly sorry, but it just was not possible. The man was being quite rude with me, but I maintained my calm and he demanded to speak with the head chef.
The head chef came out and apologised to the man and stated that the slug was not in the salad when it was served to him. The man became outraged and the implication that he was a liar and asked how we could be so sure. The head chef said “If you would please follow me sir. There’s something I would like you to see.” The man stood up, shaking his head looking a bit smug. He seemed adamant that there was nothing we could do that would ever change his mind or prove that he put the slug there. As the head chef and I led him into the kitchen, the head chef explained the sections of the kitchen as he passed through and their function. Finally, he reached the garnish section on the other side of the kitchen and pointed. “We put the lettuce for your salad through this machine. We call this ‘a shredder’”
The man took a little time to think, clearly realising that there was just no way anything short of a small bug could have made it through there alive, and started to look a little panicked. He then started to grow embarrassed by the second, and finally apologised profusely. He said that he did not have the money to pay for the meal. As we called the police, he suddenly remembered that he did have the money and paid for the meal in cash. We never saw him again.
The Duran: NATO Crossed Putin’s Red Line and Russia is Ready to FINISH It
Many years ago, while working as a housekeeper, l had one very dirty client that always left notes about what they’d like me to clean that visit.
One week l arrived to a note stating that, they’d like me to clean out the bathroom cupboard.
When l opened the cupboard l found it to be full to overflowing with used sanity pads. The whole cupboard, not one or two. Not half a dozen, but hundreds of uses sanity items. A lifetimes worth.
The note stated…clean out bathroom cupboard and as this was the only cupboard in the room, l empied it and scrubbed it out, only to be met with a nasty phone call the following day stating l should not have thrown out anything. They were being saved. Hmm. Not what the not implied. But sure.
The following visit, another note, please clean out the kitchen party. So l put all like food together, such as 10 or so open packs of pasta together, sauces together, etc, wiped out all the shelves. It looked great.
Yup another phone call. How dare l mix up the food in the cupboards. There were other instances, so l stopped working for them. The house was always filthy and they would never employ me long enough to clean the house completely. It was always left dirty, with just a small area cleaned, which would be very dirty again by next visit.
It wasn’t that it was a messy house, it was filthy to the point of being unsanitary, so l was happy to never go back.l was always worried ld get sick just for being inside there.
I was an odd duck, partly because I spent five years overseas in a private school that catered about 50/50 to children of government workers stationed there and half to people working for various corporations also stationed there, all from English speaking countries looking for a school in English in the middle of Brazil.
Also, in retrospect, partly because I’m on the autism spectrum, although I had no idea that that was the case for some decades to come. Still, I knew, everyone knew, that I was a weirdo.
Well, I got to this new school (it had just been built, because town had expanded so fast that the original school had gotten overcrowded) and of course that meant so had all the other kids. And… I’m reconstructing this, mind you, and it’s just a guess, I’m really not great at understanding how people think, see “Autism” above… they didn’t know what the “pecking order” was. So they settled it with fights. You saw someone weaker than yourself, you beat him up, and that meant you were better than him, or he beat you up and then he was better than you, and it was all sorted.
Except I didn’t want to fight. Had no reason to. Didn’t make any sense to me. Wasn’t afraid, just, well, weirdo.
It seems one kid got it in his head that this was his ticket. If he beat me up, he had it made. So my turning him down, that was maddening. He kept after me about it for weeks. Finally, I agreed. Stay in the classroom when everyone goes to recess. The teacher wasn’t all that good about policing things, it was simple enough for us both to stay behind.
He said “all right, let’s fight!” I asked him “are you sure? I don’t want to fight you. Are you sure?” “Sure” he said. So I picked up one of those desk/chair things and hit him with it. Then I asked him if he wanted to continue. He said no.
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Don’t try this. It’s probably “assault with a deadly weapon” now. I guess I’m lucky he didn’t get hurt bad enough for anyone to find out, although in the 1970s I might not have gotten in trouble anyway.
Dad always told me not to fight, but if I had to fight, be sure to win, no rules.
That’s the first and last fight of my life. Maybe word got around? Maybe I just don’t have the look in my eyes of someone you should fight with. It could be the autism, sending weird signals. I don’t know.
No. But may I highlight a dirty trick by a phone soliciter?
I’ll take that as a yes.
A neighbor of mine was a saleman for Sam’s Club. The guy who makes a pitch to your boss, offering a discount to any of his/her employees who’d like the group membership, put on sales presentations at state fairs etc., cold-calling as well.
Then I moved halfway across the state. He calls me one afternoon, disguising his voice and acting as if he’s calling on behalf of some worthless telemarketing offer. Of course I, not recognizing him, utter some choice words before hanging up. He calls me right back, identifies himself and proceeds to ask me why I couldn’t be more polite in declining whatever it is that’s being offered.
I told him why. Said my peace and then we chatted about whatever he had really needed to talk to me about.
Many years ago I was in a chat room of a group with hundreds of members. Predominantly adults but, there were older teens. I don’t remember what was being discussed but, this kid (older teen) started making rude comments then started making bizarre comments about school shootings,violence and basically hinting he was going to do something. Quite a few people ignored it or told him he was being inappropriate and that he would be reported to moderator. Most in the discussion didn’t take it seriously. I went to his profile which fortunately wasn’t locked down. So concerning posts and was able to figure out the state, town and high school he attended. And his actual name. So I called the police in that town. Explained what I had seen, sent screenshots etc. While I was on the phone with a detective they got a call from one other man who had done the same as me. Surprisingly, the detective called me back a few hours later and while he didn’t give me many details he did say, that between myself and the other man they were able to locate the boy and that everyone was safe. I confess to stalking the FB profiles later and saw that he had been hospitalized so hopefully he got the help he needed. I worried I was doing the wrong thing but, I just kept thinking how hard it would be to live with myself if I saw news the next day of a school shooting and HADN’T called.
Nuclear Boy Scout
Now known as the “Nuclear Boy Scout,” David Hahn was 17 when he decided to earn an Atomic Energy merit badge by building a working nuclear reactor — right in the backyard of his Michigan home.
In the mid-1990s, Hahn painstakingly collected tiny amounts of radioactive material from everyday objects around his house.
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Image: David’s nuclear reactor can be seen
He almost had a working “breeder” reactor in his back shed when he caught the attention of local and federal authorities, prompting an FBI and Nuclear Regulatory Commission response with the evacuation of more than 40,000 people in the locality.
With the level of radiation in his basement 1000 times higher than normal; David declined to see a doctor despite having had significant radiation exposure (the skin burn seen in the image above came as a result).
Of course, it’s best to avoid bears in the wild, but if an encounter happens, you should know that the weakest skill of this animal is its maneuverability. Bears run very fast and crawl really well — but moving quickly around an object like a car or a tree is much harder for them. Sooner or later, the animal will give up trying to catch you seeing that this smart food (you) is not worth its energy.
However, don’t panic before a bear starts to act aggressively. If it’s just looking at you, standstill. There is a chance it won’t even understand who you are and what you are going to do. If it starts walking toward you slowly, walk backward slowly. Bears rarely attack people. Most likely, it will back off once it realizes you are a human.
2. Rip current
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If you accidentally find yourself in a rip current, it is completely useless to swim against it to the shore — you will only waste your energy. Try to swim parallel to the shore until you exit the current, and only then swim toward the shore.
3. Aspirin during a heart attack
Just one pill of aspirin can seriously improve how you feel. The person having a heart attack should lie down immediately and put something under their head or sit down and then take the pill. In order for it to work sooner, it should be chewed very well.
4. Diagnosing a heat stroke
The most obvious symptoms of a heat stroke are dizziness and nausea, but they can appear for other reasons too. In order to know for sure, you should eat something sweet, like candy. If the taste seems unpleasant, this is a heat stroke. For people who have any cardiovascular disorders, it is vital to determine the reason as soon as possible and get the right help.
5. A simple maneuver that will bring someone back to consciousness
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If you really need to bring someone back to consciousness, you should put them on their back and push their knees to their chest. This will make the blood flow to their brain and the person will wake up. But first, make sure the person doesn’t have any leg or body injuries, otherwise, the situation may only get worse.
6. Help in case of a venomous snake bite
Unlike some popular misconceptions, you shouldn’t suck out the venom, apply cold, apply bandages, or burn the wound. Before the experts arrive, the victim has to drink a lot and take an antihistamine. The area around the bite should not be touched because otherwise, the venom will just spread around the body faster.
7. Saving a drowning person
If you were able to save a drowned person, it doesn’t mean that they are out of the woods yet. You should take them to the hospital immediately, otherwise, they could die within several days if there is some leftover water in their lungs.
8. How to break car glass in case of an accident
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If you are in a situation where you can only get out of a car through the window and the door is impossible to open, remember that it is much easier to break a window by hitting it, not on the center but on the edges. By the way, if you can remove the headrest from the seat, you can use it to break the window. In different cars, headrests are different, so make sure you know how to remove the ones in your car.
9. Antihistamines should always be with you.
It may happen that you are allergic to something that you have never encountered before. And it could be such a severe allergic reaction that it might just be lethal unless you get qualified help. This is especially important on trips when people try new foods, see new plants, and go to completely new places.
10. Water on the beach is too far from the shoreline.
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When the waterline is abnormally far from the shore, this is a sign of a tsunami. If you notice this somewhere, you should warn everyone around and run.
Unfortunately, in 2004, people didn’t pay attention to this sign before a tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Almost on the entire shore was exposed and people went out to collect fish and shells. And children were the most interested. However, there were people on 2 beaches that knew about this fact: a 10-year-old English girl named Tilly Smith and biology teacher John Chroston. They managed to save the lives of many people that day.
11. The rule of 3
If you ever find yourself in a critical situation, you should remember these numbers that can be used to describe the survival abilities of an average person:
3 minutes without air;
3 hours in extreme temperature;
3 days without water;
3 weeks without food.
So, if you can’t get your priorities straight, the chances of surviving are much lower.
My son has anaphylaxis inducing food allergies. The kind of food allergies where we had benadryl and epi pens in the nurses office and his backpack. In order to prevent an exposure I carefully packed his lunch every day. He had some money on his school lunch account so that on Fridays when they offered icy pops he could get one. Other than that, no birthday celebrations snacks, no school holiday celebrations, etc were allowed. The nursing staff knew, the teachers knew, even the principal knew this.
Apparently the stinking lunch aide didn’t know and didn’t care. One day my 7 year old son forgot to grab his lunch kit before heading to lunch. He told the lunch aide but she refused to let him go back for it. He begged but she instead marched him to the hot lunch line and made him buy his lunch. He came home covered in a rash, beet red and with severe stomach issues that kept him out of school for 5 days. When I asked him he told me what had happened. Fortunately he ate something off the minor allergy list so not an anaphylactic reaction.
I called every person I could think of and demanded answers. I went to school and demanded to talk to the lunch staff supervisor. That woman was re-trained and put on probation. I wish they had fired her but she claimed she had no knowledge about allergies and was just doing her job. Oh, and she avoided my son completely the whole rest of the year.
Young Wife Hid The Truth About How She REALLY Made $ In College, Now Hubby’s Family Has Video Proof
This is a great video that I will show to my daughter when she gets older. Learn from the mistakes of others.
Every Thursday night, a bunch of us university students would meet in the local pub. One night one of my closest friends says, that they are going to Hawaii for reading week (spring break) and asked if I would like to come.
Being drunk, I said that sounds awesome, he said ,sign a blank cheque and give it to me, and I will make all the reservations. I gave him the cheque and forgot about it. It was never mentioned again. Two months later I get home from the bar, on the Friday of reading week, and the phone is ringing, ( before cell phones) I answer it, and my friend says,”Where are you, the plane leaves in an hour and a half, and we are all at the airport lounge”
I lived 15 minutes from the airport. I threw my notes and text books, some jeans, underwear, socks and long sleeve shirts in a suitcase. I had no clean T-shirts, gym shorts or swim wear. I drove, parked in long term parking and just made it to drop off my luggage, at the last second. I met my friends in the lounge, and walked to the gate. If I had gotten home from the bar 10 minutes later I would have missed it.
I asked him why he hadn’t mentioned the trip in two months, and told him I had nothing to wear in Hawaii, and I needed to study for exams that followed reading week.
He looked stunned, he had completely forgot to tell me that he had booked the trip. Because the others had all been talking about it.
I had a great time in Hawaii, bought cheap T-shirts, shorts and swim wear, and never cracked a book.
I failed my first test, the day that I got back to university, and had to spend an extra semester in school to catch up. I should have said NO
I remember an incident in the late 1990s that happened on a Boeing 757 during a flight from Orlando to San Francisco.
As we were taxiing for take-off, we were enacting the required safety demonstration. A passenger seated in the over-wing exit row was talking loudly to his seatmate, creating such a distraction that some near him were having trouble hearing.
I leaned over and quietly asked him to hold his conversation until we were finished. He replied, somewhat condescendingly, “Look, I fly a lot. I know what to do. I’ve seen this so much that I already know it by heart.” And with that, he launched rudely back into his conversation.
I politely suggested that our demonstration was an excellent chance for him to review his knowledge, but he interrupted me, snarling for me to leave him alone because he didn’t need a review; he knew exactly what to do. I then flatly stated that his conversation was a distraction for others, and again asked him to hold until we were done, assuring him that it would be only another minute or two.
“FINE!” he snapped, heaving a melodramatic sigh, and glaring sullenly at me, he muttered something incomprehensible (and undoubtedly unpleasant) before continuing his conversation anyway, though quietly.
We achieved our cruising altitude at 35,000 feet and the ride was smooth. But about 90 minutes into the flight, we experienced an emergency when the cockpit was alerted by a sensor that there was a fire in one of the wheel wells. The proper procedure was to immediately lower the landing gear to extinguish the fire. But after the gear was lowered, the sensor still indicated the presence of fire. The Captain called to advise us that we would be making an emergency landing at the nearest airport, an Air Force Base in Meridian, Mississippi, and instructed us to prepare the cabin for evacuation.
Our descent was rapid, and we had only minutes to prepare. We advised the passengers on the situation, and began to prepare them for an emergency landing, including the possibility of a crash, and subsequent evacuation. The fear was palpable in the cabin, and everyone was paying very close attention to our instructions.
Our final action was a visual inspection of the cabin as we made our way to our jump-seats to strap in. As I hurried down the aisle, checking to see that passengers were prepared, I came to the window exit and noticed that the loud-mouthed passenger appeared rigid with terror. So I stopped and I asked, “Sir, are you OK? Do you know what to do when we land?”
He didn’t respond, and so I grasped his shoulder and with a shake, I said loudly, “SIR, CAN YOU DO THIS?”
He turned his gaze on me and I could see that he was in absolute shock. His terror-stricken eyes began to tear up, and the color drained from his face, turning it white as his mouth opened and closed, over and over, like a fish out of water. He couldn’t answer me. His mouth made little bleating sounds as he tried to force air through his larynx, but couldn’t seem to form words.
Time was running out, and others around could see that there was a problem. I pointed to the man sitting in the row behind and asked, “Can you do this?”
He fairly leapt to his feet, nodding and saying loudly, “Yes ma’am, I can.”
“Do you know what to do?” I demanded of him, and he replied with full confidence, “Yes ma’am. I look out the window first, and if it’s safe, I pull the cover off, and pull the handle down until the window opens, then lift it in, roll it onto the seats, step through and get off the back of the wing.”
“Then you and him change places… NOW!” I fairly shouted. I only had moments left; we were nearly landing. But the man in the exit was frozen with fear, unable to even comprehend what we were doing, let alone move himself.
At my shouted instructions, the second passenger and I, along with two other passengers, grabbed the terrified man by his arms and physically lifted him up, out and into the row behind. I yelled to the passengers next to him to buckle him in as the second passenger jumped into the exit seat. I fled for the back of the plane just as the Captain came onto the PA shouting “BRACE, BRACE, BRACE!” Diving for my jump-seat, I strapped in, pulling the last harness tight and snapping my body into the brace position just as the wheels touched down.
Fortunately for us, the landing was smooth, and before the plane came to a stop, the Captain announced, “REMAIN SEATED, REMAIN SEATED!” The fire was out, and we taxied to a stop. (We later learned that it was a malfunctioning sensor; there had been no fire in the first place.)
Air Force personnel brought stairs to the airplane, and all the passengers got off to stretch their legs and recover from the excitement. Inside the small terminal, someone tapped my shoulder. It was the man who had been so rude during our safety demonstration, who had frozen up when the actual emergency came.
“I want to apologize to you,” he said. “I was being an ass. I thought something like this would never happen to me, and when it did, I was terrified because I didn’t know what to do. Despite my rudeness to you, you still did your best to save my life.
“I was wrong, and I make this promise to you that I will never again ignore the safety demonstration, regardless of how many times I’ve seen it, and regardless of where I’m seated on the plane. I’ve learned a valuable lesson, and I have you to thank for it. I hope you accept my apology.”
When I first started working at Wolf Camera, I had a coworker that I’ll call John Doe. He was the type who was friendly enough, but didn’t have a particularly great work ethic.
Once, I was printing some photos. He was in the back taking a break. The phone rang. After a few rings, I answered the phone. When I was done with the call, I asked why John hadn’t answered the phone. He said something like, “Oh. I thought you liked answering the phone.”
Another time, he left work to take care of personal business. He said he’d be back in an hour or two to help close up. My brother and I were the only ones there. I didn’t have a key to lock up and I don’t think my brother did, either.
I was new enough at that point that I didn’t feel comfortable shutting down the machines by myself. We had to call someone to help close the store. I’m not sure if that ever made it back to the manager, as that incident didn’t get him fired.
One day, a camera goes missing. Our store had been flagged by corporate because we had enough inventory go missing, so we had to count the cameras every morning and every night. We also had them tagged, so we knew which camera went missing. A few days later, it appeared in the back again.
Shortly thereafter, we get a visit from corporate. Then, John Doe is suddenly no longer with the company. Officially, this is all I know.
It later came out that John had taken the camera and used it for photos on a dating site. How do we know? He left the pictures (of himself) on the camera’s internal memory.
Once upon a time, in a small suburban town, there was a high school named Elmwood High. Among the teachers at Elmwood High, there was one who stood out, Mrs. Anderson. She was known for her warm smile, her passion for teaching, and her impeccable professionalism. Students admired her dedication to her job and respected her greatly.
One sunny afternoon, a group of students was gathered in the school library, studying for an upcoming history exam. As they pored over textbooks and notes, a hushed conversation began about Mrs. Anderson. The students wondered about her personal life beyond the classroom, as she was known to be quite reserved about her own affairs.
Curiosity got the best of them, and they decided to do some sleuthing. They began by searching for her on social media, hoping to uncover tidbits of information about her life outside of school. It wasn’t long before they stumbled upon a social media profile that belonged to Mrs. Anderson.
To their surprise, her profile revealed a secret passion that none of the students had ever imagined. Scrolling through her posts and pictures, they discovered that Mrs. Anderson was an avid extreme sports enthusiast. There were breathtaking photos of her skydiving from high altitudes, snowboarding down steep slopes, and even bungee jumping off towering bridges.
The students couldn’t believe their eyes. The teacher they had always seen as reserved and composed was, in her free time, a fearless adrenaline junkie. They were in awe of the stark contrast between her adventurous hobbies and her calm, composed demeanor in the classroom.
As the students shared their discovery with their classmates, the news spread like wildfire throughout the school. Everyone was astonished by the double life their beloved teacher led. The revelation added a new layer of intrigue to Mrs. Anderson’s personality, and she became even more respected and admired for her unexpected passions.
One day, a curious student couldn’t resist asking Mrs. Anderson about her extreme sports adventures. She smiled and confessed to her secret hobby, explaining how it provided her with a sense of thrill and freedom that balanced the structure and responsibility of teaching.
Her revelation served as a valuable lesson to her students, reminding them that even those who appear to be one-dimensional may have hidden depths and interests that defy expectations. It was a moment of connection and mutual understanding that brought the teacher and her students closer together, deepening their respect and admiration for one another.
1920’s General Store OPENED After Decades of Closure: Exploring a long-Abandoned General Store
If we stopped launching satellites and rockets (I’m against this), how long will it take for Earth to be cleansed of all the space junk orbiting it?
The densest concentration of space junk – using the word “dense” very loosely – is in low Earth orbit and would mostly clean up after 10–20 years due to orbital drag. On the other hand, the debris in higher orbits might last thousands or millions of years.
On the gripping hand, space junk isn’t all that dense. The carefully guarded ISS has to dodge debris about once per year (and is armored for the very little stuff that is missed). Pictures like the following diagram incorrectly portray space junk that is the size of nuts and bolts as being the size of cities.
60 years of space launches have put a grand total of 7,500 tons of junk into orbit, which is equivalent to one day’s worth of domestic trash from a big city. Space junk, of course, is spread over a volume thousands of times greater than all the skies, waters, and lands of Earth.
that 95% or more of its satellites would de-orbit in a controlled fashion at their end of lives, and their low orbit means the rest will drop in a few years if they can’t make de-orbit burns.
used to be a major source of space junk because after some years in orbit their batteries or residual fuel would explode. They are now usually built to vent their tanks and batteries after releasing their payloads, while some operators try to set them up on atmosphere-skimming orbits or outright de-orbit them.
Geosynchronous satellites, which are far too high to de-orbit, now reserve fuel to kick themselves up to Graveyard orbits, which are a bit higher than geosynchronous and aren’t useful for anything except dead satellites.
So I was waiting on the check out line today at a grocery store, when this teenage girl clearly cuts in front of me. She sees that I’m there and just stridently moves in front of me. I want to say something but decide that it’s not worth it, but I have some fairly nasty thoughts about her being an entitled and rude brat.
Then I see her look back worriedly, looking really stressed. What must be her mother is leaning against the wall, looking quite ill. The mother has a cane and is barely able to walk. She’s telling the girl to hurry up already.
The teenager wasn’t cutting in front of me because she’s a nasty person, but because she’s stressed and a caretaker. She just wants to get her mother home.
I felt grateful I didn’t make a scene.
I realized that when people are cruel, many times, they have their own problems and you don’t have to take it so personally.
I was 16 and used to visit my boyfriend who lived in a large apartment building close to my house.
We’d hang out with a small group of friends in the parking lot listening to music, talking and loitering.
There was a lot of loitering.
(Wait. If you feel like this answer needs a soundtrack, play Raspberry Beret by Prince.)
One of my boyfriend’s neighbors would always come down and ask us to turn the music down. Her request was made with distaste, contempt.
It was like we had no right to occupy the space we did, like everything, including sound waves, belonged to her.
We never turned the music down. We didn’t mean to be rude but needed to stake a claim over our fundamental right to exist.
Today I live in San Francisco in a busy neighborhood. Sometimes teenagers park in the street right below my apartment. They listen to music and honestly, I don’t understand why they have to play such shitty music so very loud.
At least once a week I sigh and scrunch up my face and open the window, lean out and catch myself right before words pour out of my mouth.
It’s inevitable. You get old and become all the things you were sure you’d never be.
Yes. It was shortly after 9/11. I was a teenage girl, going to my dad’s job like I always had(we lived right around the corner). I pulled in, saw a guy waving at me, so I waved back and keep.goimg thinking it was one of his coworkers.
Well, it wasn’t a coworker, it was security trying to flag me down. I parked next to my dad’s car and was waiting for him to come out on lunch. This was before every teenager had a cell phone so I was just sitting in my car.
The security guy flew up to me, blocked me in and started screaming at me to get out of the car. They’d never had security before so I had no clue what was going on. I thought it was just some crazy guy. I got out the car(stupid, I know but teenage girl) and asked him what was going on. He yelled that he was calling the police and I was going to jail. I started crying and trying to explain that I was just coming to see my dad. He called me a liar and kept telling me I was going to jail.
One of my dad’s coworkers came over to see what was happening and saw it was me, he radioed in to my dad and a supervisor to come out right now. I was explaining to the coworker what happened and the guy kept calling me a liar. My dad and the supervisor came out and I kept trying to tell them what happened and the security guy kept saying I was lying and I was disrespectful and didn’t listen to his commands. I never even heard any commands except get out of the car.
The supervisor advised that they had cameras so he’d review them. The guy and the entire security company were let go the next day.
I still sometimes go to my dad’s work for different things and it’s been over 20 years since this happened.
Have you ever encountered someone who walks into a room and sunshine erupts from their pores? They crack a joke, and the room erupts in laughter. They ask a question, and everyone leans in, eager to share their pearls of wisdom. You leave the interaction feeling like you’ve known them for years, vowing to unlock the secret to their magical, instant likability.
Fear not, dear human, for today we delve into the Secrets of the Charmers’ Codex, a tome whispered through the ages amongst the effortlessly popular. Forget potions and magic spells (though a well-placed confetti cannon adds a certain je ne sais quoi); these are secrets of the soul, crafted from genuine human interaction and a dash of hilarious self-awareness.
Rule #1: Be the Human Sunshine: Let’s face it, negativity is the emotional equivalent of a rogue sock in the dryer – loud, obnoxious, and best left at home. Smile, not just with your lips, but with your eyes. Exude the warmth of a freshly baked croissant, the enthusiasm of a puppy greeting its long-lost chew toy. Remember, people gravitate towards light, so become a walking lighthouse of joy.
Rule #2: Listen Like a Ninja: Master the art of the attentive ear. Put away your phone, silence your inner monologue (unless it’s particularly witty), and focus on the person speaking. Nod like a bobblehead on caffeine, ask insightful questions (avoiding “Is that all?” like the plague), and remember details. Make them feel like they’re the most fascinating documentary on Netflix, and watch their walls melt away.
Rule #3: Humor is Your Weapon (But Use it Wisely): A well-timed joke can disarm tension, bridge awkward silences, and earn you eternal brownie points. However, wielding humor is like handling a spork (useful, but potentially dangerous). Know your audience, avoid offensive jabs, and embrace the power of self-deprecation. Remember, laughing at yourself is like wearing mismatched socks – quirky, endearing, and strangely captivating.
Rule #4: Empathy is Your Superpower: Step into someone else’s shoes (provided they’re not covered in questionable substances). Acknowledge their feelings, validate their concerns, and offer support without judgment. Show them you’re not just a charming surface, but a deep well of understanding. Think of yourself as a human empathy sponge, soaking up emotions and leaving behind a trail of emotional comfort.
Rule #5: Authenticity is Your Shield: Ditch the masks, the personas, the inflatable T-Rex costume (unless it’s thematically appropriate). Be your wonderfully weird, flawed, and fabulous self. Embrace your quirks, celebrate your passions, and let your genuine personality shine through. People connect with the real you, not some airbrushed version. Think of yourself as a delicious, homemade pizza (flaws and all) – infinitely more interesting than a frozen pepperoni disc.
Rule #6: Master the Art of Conversational Ping Pong: Conversations aren’t monologues; they’re a delightful dance of ideas. Share your thoughts, but don’t hog the spotlight. Ask open-ended questions, volley back engaging responses, and keep the rally going strong. Remember, the best conversationalists make others feel heard and valued, not like a spectator at a tennis match.
Rule #7: Sprinkle Compliments Like Confetti: Everyone appreciates a genuine compliment, so scatter them like glitter on a unicorn’s birthday cake. But remember, specificity is key. Instead of “You look nice,” try “That shade of blue makes your eyes sparkle like sapphires.” Or instead of “You’re funny,” share, “I almost snorted my coffee when you told that story about the talking parrot and the cheese wheel.”
Rule #8: Embrace the Power of Vulnerability: Sharing your flaws and fears isn’t weakness; it’s magnetic. It shows you’re human, relatable, and courageous enough to let others see the real you. Vulnerability builds trust, strengthens bonds, and makes you instantly more likable. Think of it as social kryptonite: It disarms defenses and reveals your authentic awesomeness.
Rule #9: Be a Name Magician: Remembering names is like casting a spell of instant connection. Use repetition, association techniques, or even write it down discreetly if needed. When you address someone by name, it shows you care and value their individuality. It’s like a verbal hug, without the awkward body contact (unless you’re into that, then by all means, hug away).
Rule #10: Radiate Passion: When you talk about something you love, your eyes light up like a Christmas tree on energy drinks. Passion is contagious, so share your enthusiasm for your hobbies, dreams, or that weird obsession with collecting vintage teacups. People are drawn to those who exude passion; it’s like a beacon of excitement in a sea of blasé conversations.
Bonus Tip: Embrace the Unexpected: Sprinkle your interactions with a dash of the extraordinary. Offer a stranger a high five for no reason, compliment someone’s shoelace-tying skills, break into a spontaneous interpretive dance (bonus points for air guitar solo). Remember, life’s a stage, and you’re the star of your own one-person show. Make it memorable, make it yours, and watch the world become your captivated audience.
So there you have it; the secrets of the Charmers’ Codex. Remember, instant likability isn’t about manipulation or trickery. It’s about embracing your genuine self, radiating warmth, and treating others with the kindness and respect you deserve. Go forth, spread your sunshine, and remember, the world needs more laughter, not more rogue socks in the dryer.
To delve deeper into this topic, you don’t need anything short of an intriguing book. Articles are not enough. Crack the code for instant likeability and charm. See my comment below.
The worst thing I have ever seen a parent do to their child in public is something that breaks my heart and makes my blood boil at the same time.:
I was working at a local gym and saw a woman carrying her infant child through the lobby toward the parking lot. I can only assume the baby became fussy because the woman became angry and stopped in the space between two sets of windowed doors, placed the baby on the floor, and began to hit the child (which of course made it cry, and did nothing to help whatever was the matter). This only lasted a few seconds, otherwise I might have dropped what I was doing and confronted her. My co-workers and I were stunned and horrified. We wondered in quiet conversation, “What kind of a monster does that to her baby?”
I have never forgotten this incident because it was so terrible, and because I would give everything I own to have a child of my own.
On the flip-side, one of the best things I have ever seen a parent do in public is this:
A little boy was with his mother in the grocery store, and he wanted a doughnut. I overheard his mother giving him a choice: “You can have a doughnut now, and skip (whatever it was) later, or you can have (whatever it was) later and not have the doughnut now.
I thought to myself, “This is a great way to teach good decision-making while instilling the importance of forethought and delayed gratification!”
The little boy chose the doughnut, and then said he still wanted the other item. To the mother’s credit she followed through with, a firm but gentle, “No.” He cried bitter tears, and I’ll bet he has never forgotten his choice and consequence. What a difficult but important lesson! I felt for the child, but silently applauded the mother.
Beef Braciole
The tomato-wine pan sauce is divine. Always serve spaghetti or other pasta on the side to complete the presentation.
2024 02 03 10 10
Braciole is a classic Italian favourite that’s sure to please the whole family. Tender slices of beef or pork are rolled up with savory fillings like Parmesan cheese, parsley and garlic before being braised in an irresistible tomato-based sauce. Serve it over pasta, or Polenta with a side of sauteed vegetables. Either way there’ll be no leftovers!
Slices of the top round (topside) can be quite large so if they are, you’ll want to cut them to make it the perfect size to accommodate two slices of prosciutto. It needs to be pounded to be thin and tenderised.
Braciole offers something special for any occasion; whether you’re looking for a hearty weeknight dinner idea or prepping ahead of time for entertaining guests this traditional dish packs all sorts delicious flavours into one impressive main course.
Ingredients
1 (2 1/2 pound) round steak
1/2 pound Italian sausage
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1/2 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1 1/2 cups dry red wine (I use Chianti)
1 (16 ounce) can plum tomatoes
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 teaspoon salt
1 bay leaf
Instructions
Trim all fat from steak. Cut into 8 equal pieces, then pound thin.
Remove casing from Italian sausage. Break up in medium bowl. Add parsley, Parmesan cheese, garlic, Italian seasoning, 1 teaspoon salt and the lemon-pepper seasoning; mix thoroughly. Spread each steak with 2 heaping tablespoonsful of sausage mixture. Roll up jellyroll fashion; fasten with wooden picks.
Brown rolls 3 to 4 at a time in hot oil in Dutch oven. Add onion and carrot to pot. Cook until vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes.
Stir in wine, tomatoes, tomato paste, remaining 1 teaspoon salt and bay leaf. Bring mixture to boil; lower heat. Add beef rolls. Cover and simmer for 1 hour. Remove from heat.
Remove wooden picks before serving. Serve with sauce and spaghetti or other pasta on the side.
We had a South American migrant as a sales guy. Fresh into the country. Great salesman. His product knowledge was excellent & customer rapport was brilliant. The only negative was he needed help planning his routes, as he had yet to learn the geography – but that was something we were willing to do for him. He never had a day off. He had no family in Australia, and never spoke about friends – only the occasional mention of a neighbour who he would have a beer with on weekends.
One Monday, he didn’t show. This was normal for most sales guys, as they hit the road – but not him. He liked to plan on Monday, spent Tu-We-Th on the road, and Friday back in the office to wrap up the loose ends from the week. He also lived only 5 minutes from the office, so it was convenient for him too (unlike those of us who lived 1.5 hours away!). Some of the guys would stay back on Fridays so they could go for a few beers, and he would join them – they were probably the closest to friends that he had at the time – remembering he’d only been in the country some 2 months by now.
I called his mobile phone, and got no answer. We decided at lunch time to go around to his apartment and knock. No response. The neighbour who came out said he saw him Saturday morning, and that was it. We got real worried. So we went to the local Police station to ask what could be done. They said they’d do a welfare check, but we told them we’d already been. They promised to call us back with anything they found. We did get a call shortly after – not from those cops, but another station, to let us know the company car he drove was parked in a M-F clearway lane, and was towed that morning. The location was the other side of the city to where he lived. By late afternoon the mystery was solved. He’d met a girl on the Friday night. She invited him to her party on the Saturday night. He drove over there, parked in a (legal on weekends) roadside spot. When he was crossing the road, he looked to his left (coming from a LHD country) to make sure the traffic was clear. He didn’t look to his right (we are a RHD country) and stepped out in front of a bus. He was in hospital, and survived with surprisingly few injuries beyond a couple of broken bones, fractures & bruising.
Second one:
Same company, couple of years later. Ironically the car that the guy above had was passed down to this salesman, as he’d been promoted and got an upgrade. It wasn’t unusual for this new salesman to have days off – particularly Monday. He would usually call in sick. If he didn’t, I would text him, and he’d reply that he was sick, and apologise for not calling. One week it went 2 days with no call and no text response. We feared a similar problem, so we drove the 1/2 hour to his house to see if he was OK. Car was in the driveway – a good sign. No answer on the door though. Called the cops and explained it. They went into the backyard and could see in through a window. He was passed out on the lounge in the back room. Turns out his father passed away (overseas) and he only found out Sunday night. He drank himself silly over 2 days.
Third one.
I didn’t call this in, but a neighbour did. Many houses in suburban Australia have a separate room for the toilet. Usually around 1500–1800mm long by 800–1000mm wide (5–6 feet x 3 feet). Most have a swinging door, that opens into the room. This particular house had one like this.
A lovely older lady lived by herself a few houses down from me. He first name was Mabel. Everyone called her Mrs Mabel. She was always friendly and everyone knew her. Her neighbour Ken would help her a lot, and came to get me for “big jobs” that needed 2 people. She was often in the garden, and had a little dog she’d bring out on a lead to enjoy the outdoors – sitting on the grass for hours watching her tend to the plants and flowers.
One day Ken said to me he hadn’t seen her all of the prior day. Also, overnight, none of the usual lights went on in the house. He was scared she might have died. I suggested she might have gone to visit one of her children and the grandkids, but he said he still heard the dog when it went out into the back yard (via a doggy door). I then felt a huge amount of dread too. So he called the cops. They came. No response. They tracked down one of her children and called them. Funny story about that – I knew the numberplate of her son’s car (I really liked the car) and the cops were able to find him from that.
Her son confirmed she had no travel plans, and he hadn’t heard from her for a few days. He feared the worst, and asked the cops to break in. Before they did any damage, they decided to jump the fence and check the back of the house. Back door was unlocked, so they entered.
They found her inside, but couldn’t help her. She’d fallen when getting off the toilet, and was stuck against the door. She couldn’t get up, and she was trapped in the room. Apparently she’d called for help all afternoon the day before, but nobody could hear her. The outside of the toilet door was very well shredded where her little dog had tried in vain to “dig” her out. They got the Fire/Rescue guys in, and they cut the door into pieces to remove it enough to get to her. After a stay in hospital, which was quite long (she developed a blood poisoning problem from the pooled blood trapped in her leg) she returned home.
Ken & I took the remains of the broken door off the hinges and cut it up so she could dispose of it in the household bin over a couple of weeks. Ken told her she doesn’t need a toilet door as she’s the only one in the house. She replied with “It’s a habit, and even at my age, I still maintain my modesty, but after a kind lecture from the Fire/Rescue team, I now realise that my safety is more important than modesty.”
Some time later she asked if we could fit a new door if she paid for it. This was puzzling, as we knew she didn’t need it. But she explained that with grandchildren in the house of a certain age, it was very difficult to stop the grandson from teasing the granddaughter when she needed to use the toilet! She promised to only use the door when they came to visit. One of her children also got her a necklace that has a button you can press in an emergency. They also feared she may fall in the garden and not be able to get up.
We have had the same worry for my mother-in-law, so last year we got her an Apple watch so she can at least call, or give an SOS signal. She now proudly calls us from it, out in the garden, saying how great it is that she doesn’t miss any messages (she would leave her phone inside, or on silent in her pocket)! She’s good with tech though, and uses the watch and phone like someone half her age. It has put our minds at ease, knowing she won’t be all alone & helpless like Mrs Mabel was. She wants to renovate the bathroom and toilet soon, so I have suggested she get the door jamb for the toilet turned around so the door can open outwards, and replace the round knob (that’s hard to grip) with a lever style handle. Fortunately she has agreed with me.
Incredible Civil War Collection Hidden 50 Years in Secret Room Behind Steel Doors, REVEALED!
Back in the late 1980’s, I attended a local County zoning board meeting. This was in Indiana.
I had a personal reason for being there which is of no concern at this time. Maybe I’ll talk about it later on, but it’s really just a trivial thing.
Anyways, the bulk of the meeting as that a couple of big conglomerates wanted to dump their industrial waste, medical waste, and radioactive (!) waste in our county in a landfill outside of our town. They would do it for free, and we would allow them. All the the board members were “gung ho” on this proposal.
WTF?
I mean it, it was like they must have been having sex with the corporations, they were gleefully pushing the paperwork through. I have never seen such happy people. I was really stunned.
“Yes please! Can I have some more toxic waste, HIV needles, radioactive liquids, and cancerous shit sir?”
But a gal stood up.
I knew her. I worked with her.
And she stopped the entire (future) train wreck. In fact, the smiles disappeared from the boards faces as a true and real anger started building in the room.
She reminded them of “Love Canal” and WTF were they thinking! And she and others were going to make a big issue of this, and screams of bribery and money changing hands and all that went a flying.
The meeting ended.
And nothing was resolved.
…
The next week, we read in the local paper that the board passed the company, and allowed it to start dumping the toxic trash near us.
I guess that they just went ahead and did it anyways, and the “public hearing” was just for show.
The United States is like that.
…
Just for show. They do what they want.
Oh, there are rules and regulations.
They do what they want.
Oh, there are rules and regulations.
For you. For me.
But not for THEM.
The entire community was screwed over.
…
People! I am convinced that the ONLY way to set things right is to erase it all and start fresh.
Im thoroughly pissed off. Im Australian too but I see on the news tonight that USA has just started the war in the middle east. They dont give a fuck whos country they bomb but they are doing it to bomb Iranian supporters. Americans also have bases in countries not their own so whats the fucking difference. Biden says were no going to bomb Iran just every supporter base outside their borders. So that has to mean that every US bases outside its borders are no fair game too.. This IS the beginning of the true WW3 and Im pissed off because not only my taxes but my countrymen will most certainly be asked (forced or coerced) into fighting in the middle east in support of USA. USA are the fucking bad guys here just like they were in Afghanistan and Iraq and in Vietnam before that. We should not be involved in this. I dont support Iran and I dont support Syria or Jordan or Lebanon or Gaza but for gods sake please realise that its the USA that are starting and supporting these wars. The only thing I support now is Justice and humanity and I cant see it anywhere.
So the U.S. and U.S. dog nations thinks that when you do shit on Huawei all for containing their progress has no repercussions?
Think again!
Everything you throw at China it will boomerang back 3–5 times as hard on you! Bear that in mind 1.5 billion Chinese and Chinese origin for a start and another at least 2.5 million sympathetic to China others will turn off similar U.S. or western brands representing 60% of world demand to spike the west back.
So think very very very carefully before you ever do shit. China is happy to share a loaf of bread with the west if it plays fair. It not it will have no choice. Take EV’s for example. If the west start anti China shit, 60% of world’s demand is at stake. Japanese and western brands better think twice if you start this racist shit.
Apple is a good company. But the U.S. government forces it to do shit in China so it has to bear the repercussions. Learn how to say no to the U.S. government. Remember for very new outlet for McDonald’s, KFC s and Starbucks in the U.S, China open 10 new outlet. For every GM sold in the U.S. 2 is sold in China. Think twice before you do shit!
Apple, is learning the hard way now, GPS learned the hard way, US chips are are thoroughly fxxked up, US senators learned that depriving Chinese from ISS allowed the Chinese to put up a better, faster, more technologically advanced Chinese space station up in space! Those shit western brands that foolishly talk up fabricated shit about the Uyghurs all lost a boat load of money!
12 Reasons Why Men Don’t Want To Get Married Anymore
https://youtu.be/m6ekTwCMjZ0
Pepperoni Stromboli
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Ingredients
2 (16 ounce) loaves frozen bread dough, thawed
1/2 cup spaghetti or pizza sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
4 ounces sliced pepperoni
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Punch dough down. On a lightly floured surface, roll each loaf into a 20 x 8-inch rectangle. Place one rectangle on a greased baking sheet.
Spread spaghetti sauce in an 18 x 4-inch strip down the center. Sprinkle with oregano, pepperoni, and mozzarella cheese. Fold long sides of dough up towards filling; set aside.
Cut the remaining rectangle into three strips. Loosely braid strips; pinch ends to seal. Place braid on top of the cheese; pinch braid to dough to seal. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
When my daughter was in fifth grade, if her bus got to the school very early before school, instead of going to the cafeteria and waiting there, she would go to her, previous kindergarten teachers room and help her with the five-year-olds. She would read to them, play with them or help organize the day for the teacher by passing out papers, crayons, etc. once the bell rang that the school day was starting, she would just go to her own classroom and begin the day normally. My daughter very much liked her kindergarten teacher, and she, being a youngest child, enjoyed being around young children. She felt good about helping out and very much enjoyed these early morning volunteer sessions.
Well, everything was fine until somehow her fifth grade teacher found out what she was doing. To this day, I don’t know why, but her fifth grade teacher was absolutely livid that she was not dutifully sitting in the cafeteria until school started. She called my sweet and helpful girl, a little sneak. Said that she was sneaking around the school before school started even though she knew very well what the rules were. I have to assume that the kindergarten teacher also knew what the rules were, but never had a problem with it, or told my daughter to go ahead and go to the cafeteria or to her own classroom. The lunatic fifth grade teacher further demanded that my daughter write her a letter of apology for not following the rules.
anyway, when my daughter came home from school that day and tearfully told me how she had been treated by her fifth grade teacher, now I was livid. I called the school and demanded a conference with the teacher and the principal and my daughter. We had a conference, and they tried to calm me down by telling me it’s all about safety, and they have to know where our children are at all times that they are on school grounds, blah blah blah. Which is fine. But that needed to be calmly and kindly explained to my daughter instead of assassinating her character. I demanded that the teacher apologize to my daughter. After the principal pressed her, she very awkwardly and haltingly apologized. I further informed them that my daughter would NOT be apologizing to anyone for innocently trying to be helpful and kind.
But my daughter did not get to volunteer in the kindergarten classroom after that day. And they did not find her a replacement volunteer opportunity, either. And, of course, she hated her teacher from that day forward. And even now, when she is 23 years old, Every time she thinks about that teacher, who chose to believe the worst, instead of seeing the goodness in her, she becomes angry all over again.
Mandatory Paternity Test Law Passed – No More Paternity Fraud From Women
Most serious researchers into the Edmund Fitzgerald’s shocking destruction on 10 November, 1975, in a gale on Lake Superior believe that the ship sank from a combination of factors. This is largely due to widespread dissatisfaction with the conclusions reached by the US Coast Guard in the immediate aftermath of the sinking.
The Coast Guard’s official report on the loss of the Fitzgerald, dated 26 July 1977, stated that the most likely cause of the wreck was improperly sealed cargo hatch covers (the rectangular structures amidships that are clearly visible in the photo above), which led to gradually accumulating water in the non-subdivided cargo hold. As more and more “boarding seas” sent water crashing over the main deck, the ship sank lower and lower until finally, its bouyancy was overcome and it plunged to the bottom of Lake Superior. In short, the ship was lost due to the failure of its crew to properly secure it against the conditions caused by the severe storm in which it sank. This is probably the closest thing in maritime circles to citing “pilot error” as the cause of a plane crash. The Coast Guard’s document is located in its entirety here:
The Lake Carriers Association—the professional trade group representing the shipping companies which owned the US-flagged ships on the Great Lakes—immediately and vociferously disagreed with the Coast Guard.
Paul Trimble, a retired USCG vice admiral who was then the president of the LCA, wrote a letter to the National Transportation Safety Board on September 16, 1977, that specifically disputed the cornerstone of the Coast Guard’s theory on the sinking. His letter stated that:
“The present hatch covers are an advanced design and are considered by the entire lake shipping industry to be the most significant improvement over the telescoping leaf covers previously used for many years. The one-piece hatch covers have proven completely satisfactory in all weather conditions without a single vessel loss in almost 40 years of use…and no water accumulation in cargo holds.”
Having thus rejected out of hand the idea that the Fitzgerald’s crew had essentially been negligent or at least careless in securing the hatch covers, the LCA’s suspicions immediately centered on an event that occurred several hours before the sinking, soon after the ship had departed from Superior, Wisconsin, fully loaded with more than 26,000 tons of taconite iron ore pellets. This was a possible running aground or “shoaling” of the ship near Caribou Island.
image 57
Caribou Island in Lake Superior, North America. Photo Courtesy of Morris Chisholm by way of Flickr dot com.
During its final journey, Fitzgerald was traveling in concert with another large freighter, the SS Arthur Anderson, under the command of Captain Bernie Cooper. At around 1530 (3:30 in the afternoon), or roughly 4 hours before the Fitzgerald sank, Cooper received a radio transmission from Captain Earnest McSorley of the Fitzgerald. McSorley told Cooper:
“Anderson, this is the Fitzgerald. I have a fence rail down, two vents lost or damaged, and a list. I’m checking down. Will you stay by me till I get to Whitefish?” By “checking down”, McSorley meant that he was reducing speed so the trailing Anderson could close the distance and keep an eye on the Fitzgerald in the gathering storm. Cooper radioed McSorley and asked if he had his pumps going, and McSorley said, “Yes, both of them.”
image 56
Massive Storm Waves Breaking on the Shore of Lake Superior. Wave Heights of 35 Feet or More Have Been Observed During Storms on the Lake.
It is crucial to note that the storm was already underway by this point in the day on 10 November. Winds had reached near gale force several hours earlier, at 7 AM that morning, with wave heights of 10 feet observed. Thus the Fitzgerald was in heavy seas well before it passed by Caribou Island, and more so at the time McSorley reported that his vessel had been damaged. Just prior to the Fitzgerald’s radio communication with his ship, Cooper and one of his bridge staff on the Anderson—sailing astern of the Fitzgerald and watching its course on the Anderson’s radar—both remarked to each other that each thought McSorley and his ship were far too close to Caribou Island and a known underwater hazard called “Six Fathom Shoal”. A “list” meant that the Fitzgerald had taken on enough water to make the ship lean over on its side. A downed fence rail could only have been caused by either a heavy impact with a large object of some kind, or—much more likely—”hogging” of the ship. This would have snapped the steel rail as it was bent to the breaking point by the ship’s hull itself being forced upward from an impact with something on the lake floor beneath the vessel. Although Cooper’s sometimes excitable and occasionally inconsistent testimony led the majority of investigators to discount the idea that the Fitzgerald had struck rocks jutting up from the lake bottom, others were convinced.
Subsequent radio transmissions from the stricken ship indicate that McSorley was worried. Between 4:30 and 5:00 he called the Coast Guard on the emergency channel—the “distress frequency”—and also put out a general call asking for information about the lighthouse and the radio beacon at Whitefish Point, at the southeastern end of the Lake. The comparitive safety of Whitefish Bay was just beyond the Point.
Further, although McSorley did not tell Cooper that he was particularly concerned by whatever had happened near Caribou Island, around 5:30 he reported to another ship captain, Cedric Woodard of the Swedish cargo vessel Avafors, that:
“I have a bad list, lost both radars. And am taking heavy seas over the deck. One of the worst seas I’ve ever been in.”
Woodard replied: “If I’m correct, you have two radars.”
McSorley: “They’re both gone.”
It should be noted that McSorley said something at this time that was apparently picked up in his transmission to Woodard because McSorley was shouting to the crew while leaving his radio mic on. As described by writer Hugh Bishop in his Lake SuperiorMagazine article “Edmund Fitzgerald: Decades of Speculation, Fascination and Grieving”:
“Captain Woodard, who was acquainted with McSorley and had talked with him many times previously, said in testimony that he didn’t recognize the voice when first they spoke and that McSorley sounded strange.
Still later, at about 6 p.m., Woodard called the Fitz to report that the light had just come on at Whitefish Point. During that conversation, he stated that McSorley inadvertently left the microphone on when he said to someone in his pilothouse, “Don’t allow nobody on deck,” also saying something about a vent that Woodard couldn’t understand.
In Lake Superior Port Cities Inc.’s newly released book, The Night the Fitz Went Down, Captain Dudley Paquette vividly describes his voyage through the massive seas of the November 9-10, 1975, storm as master of the downbound Inland Steel Company’s SS Wilfred Sykes. He is particularly intrigued by the command that Woodard overheard.
“In those seas, such a command goes without saying, so why did McSorley have to emphasize it?” he asks. “There had to have been something happening on the deck that a mate thought they had to get control of – even if it meant putting lives in danger.”
Whatever prompted that command just a little over an hour before the sinking, Paquette analyzes that it would have been catastrophic and visible from the pilothouse in the darkness of an early November evening. That would likely mean that it was at the forward end of the weather deck. Previously suggested possibilities are that a hatch cover washed off or the heavy deck crane or the spare blade for the propeller broke loose and crashed about.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if a hatch cover came off, because I loaded right beside him in Superior on November 9 and the deck crew was still putting on hatch covers when they left the Superior Entry into Lake Superior,” Captain Paquette says. “It’s likely that they didn’t latch a lot of the hatch cover clamps because the crew was on Sunday overtime pay and they were so late getting covered up – and the weather was very nice at that time.” Captain Paquette thus sided with the Coast Guard and essentially blamed the crew.
By this point, then, at around 6 PM, the Fitzgerald was badly damaged, listing from increasing amounts of water in its cargo hold and in other spaces—too much for the ship’s powerful pumps to stay ahead of—and sailing blind.
Worse, meteorological reconstructions of the 10 November 1975 storm show that it was exceptionally powerful even by the Great Lakes’ notoriously vicious standards.
image 55
Unusual and Violent Waves on Lake Erie in a Recent November
In some ways the seas during the worst storms on the Great Lakes are more difficult than what ships would encounter in the open ocean. This is due to the “Bathtub Effect” that produces oscillating waves which collide with each other from two or more directions. A “seiche”—similar to a tsunami—can also develop as sustained winds blow enormous amounts of water ahead of them down the Lakes. Similar factors have led to ten foot waves being seen even on as small a body of water as the 50 square mile Sea of Galilee (referenced in the New Testament in Matthew 8:23–27).
— This blog post is discussing the Bathtub Effect as observed in the Gulf of Mexico and not the Great Lakes, but is still a good overview of the phenomenon.
Captain McSorley knew that his ship was badly wounded and in mortal danger. Knowing also that he was not far from Whitefish Bay, he decided to run for it. Unfortunately this decision put him squarely in the worst possible place at the worst possible time. The Fitzgerald sailed into the exact spot where the storm reached its maximum power, and at the center of the worst waves and seiche storm surge produced by the 80-plus MPH winds and “bathtub effect”.
image 54
The Final Voyage of the Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior. The Ship Sank 17 Miles Northwest of Whitefish Bay.
The last communication with the doomed vessel came via radio at about 7:10 PM. Anderson first mate Morgan Clark radioed the Fitzgerald to notify him of a radar contact about 19 miles ahead. McSorley acknowledged this and asked if he “was going to clear”, ie, if there was any danger of a collision. Clark said that there was none, then asked how things were going. McSorley replied, “We are holding our own”.
Soon after this, the Fitzgerald entered a snow squall and radar contact was lost. Just prior to Clark’s transmission, Cooper later testified, the crew of the Anderson had felt “a bump”, an impact that hit their vessel from behind. Looking back from the pilothouse, the bridge crew saw two huge waves partially engulf the ship, moving forward from the stern. The second of these struck the back of the pilothouse, which forced the bow of the Anderson down into the seas. As Cooper described:
“We took two of the largest seas of the trip. The first one flooded our boat deck. It had enough force to come down on the starboard lifeboat, pushing it into the saddles with a force strong enough to damage the bottom of the lifeboat.… The second large sea put green water (the powerful center of a wave) on our bridge deck! This is 35 feet above the waterline.”
image 53
SS Arthur Anderson, a Great Lakes Freighter That Traveled With the Edmund Fitzgerald on 10 November 1975. Note the Height of the Ship’s Pilothouse in the Bow of the Vessel.
Cooper’s ship, though badly rattled, quickly recovered from the force of the blow, and the crew watched the two giant waves move down the Lake—toward the struggling Fitzgerald. All contact with the Fitzgerald was lost about 10 minutes later.
The subsequent report by the Coast Guard was based on extensive video of the wreck on the bottom of Lake Superior. The footage was taken by the US Navy’s CURV III (Cable-controlled Undersea Recovery Vehicle).
Conditions on the lake bottom, 535 feet down, were somewhat muddy and so the quality of the video was not ideal.
Following the Lake Carriers’ Association letter to the NTSB that disputed the Coast Guard’s conclusions, a second report—this one by the NTSB itself—was issued.
Taking a somewhat broader view of the tragedy, the NTSB document considered in more detail several possible contributing factors. Most of these had been briefly touched upon by the Coast Guard but not discussed comprehensively.
One of these was the near-certainty that the Fitzgerald was overloaded on its last trip.
image 52
An Early Photo of the Fitzgerald, in Light Condition at Pierside, Probably in the late 1950s or Early 1960s. The Ship Was Launched in 1958.
image 51
The Fitzgerald Riding Low in the Water While Fully Loaded, Sometime in 1971. The Ship Would Have Looked Much Like This As It Sailed Into the Storm on 10 November 1975.
The distance from the waterline to the main deck of a ship is known as “freeboard”. On the night before its destruction, the Fitzgerald probably left port with as little as 11 and a half (11.5) feet of freeboard and possibly even less. This was a dangerously thin margin of safety, particularly in a storm, even had the ship not been damaged.
There was also the possibility that the Fitzgerald was not entirely seaworthy in other respects when it sailed from Superior, Wisconsin. The NTSB noted:
“A former chief mate of the FITZGERALD testified that between September 13 and October 3, 1975, the FITZGERALD discharged at Toledo, Ohio. Because of the FITZGERALD’s deep draft, she was not able to pull up to the dock and had to lay off some 12 feet each time. The ship seemed to plow its way toward the dock every trip, he said. Similar “groundings” of other Great Lakes bulk cargo vessels during discharge at various ports were observed by Coast Guard Marine Inspectors during the winter of 1976 and the spring of 1977 and by Safety Board personnel during the summer of 1977.
In other words, there may have been unrepaired damage to the bottom plating of the ship’s hull that was the result of literally plowing its way the last short distance to various unloading docks around the Great Lakes shoreline.
This idea has some corroboration from one of the ship’s surviving previous crewmen, Jim Woodard, who had sailed on the Fitzgerald for some time in the 60s and 70s. He told a recent interviewer that the Fitz “was a wet ship”—meaning it leaked noticeably and often shipped water while underway—and that he just did not have a good feeling about it, even though it was widely known as “the pride of the American side” and an assignment on board was greatly prized among Great Lakes mariners.
It is also possible that the vessel’s design itself was inherently flawed and at least somewhat structurally unsound. Support for this point comes from the fact that the Fitzgerald’s sister ship, the SS Arthur M. Homer, which had undergone a very expensive lengthening and reconstruction to increase its cargo capacity, was suddenly and unexpectedly removed from service by its owner, Bethlehem Steel Corporation (now defunct) just 5 years later, in 1980. A similar conversion had been planned for the Fitzgerald itself.
The following passage from the Wikipedia article about the sinking explains:
“Retired Great Lakes Engineering Works naval architect Raymond Ramsey, one of the members of the design team that worked on the hull of Fitzgerald,reviewed her increased load lines, maintenance history, along with the history of long ship hull failure and concluded that Fitzgerald was not seaworthy on November 10, 1975.
He stated that planning Fitzgerald to be compatible with the constraints of the St. Lawrence Seaway had placed her hull design in a “straight jacket .” Fitzgerald’s long-ship design was developed without the benefit of research, development, test, and evaluation principles while computerized analytical technology was not available at the time she was built.
Ramsey noted that Fitzgerald’s hull was built with an all-welded (instead of riveted) modular fabrication method, which was used for the first time in the GLEW shipyard. Ramsey concluded that increasing the hull length to 729 feet (222 m) resulted in a L/D slenderness ratio (the ratio of the length of the ship to the depth of her structure) that caused excessive multi-axial bending and springing of the hull, and that the hull should have been structurally reinforced to cope with her increased length.”
The Launch of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald at the Great Lakes Engineering Works in Detroit, MI, 7 June 1958. The GLEW Was for Many Years a Major Shipbuilder on the Lakes, and Has Since Gone Out of Business.
Eventually the NTSB report gave its “Findings” and “Probable Cause”, which largely echoed the Coast Guard’s previous findings but with additional detail:
“Findings:
1. The FITZGERALD’s hatch covers were not weathertight and allowed water to enter the cargo hold over an extended period. This water was not detected because it migrated down through the cargo. There was no method provided for sounding the cargo other than visual observations, nor was there any method for dewatering the cargo hold with the vessel trimmed by the bow.
2. Amendments to the Great Lakes Load Line Regulations in 1969, 1971, and 1973 allow Great Lakes bulk carriers to load deeper. This deeper loading increased deck wetness which caused an increase in the flooding rate through nonweathertight hatches or other nonweather-tight openings.
3. The topside vents and fence rail were damaged before 1520 either by a heavy object coming adrift on deck or by a floating object coming aboard with the seas. The FITZGERALD’s hull plating probably was damaged also; the damage propagated and caused flooding of the ballast tanks and tunnel.
4. Flooding of ballast tanks and the tunnel caused trim and a list. Detection of ballast tank flooding prompted the ballast pumps to be started. However, the flooding rate through the hull damage, which was propagating, increased and exceeded the capacity of the pumping system.
5. The hull stress levels, even with a substantial amount of flooding, were low enough that the hull girder did not fail before the sinking.
6. The forces on the hatch covers caused by boarding seas were sufficient to cause damage and collapse. These forces increased as flooding caused a list and reduced the vessel’s freeboard.
7. Flooding of the cargo hold caused by one or more collapsed hatch covers was massive and progressed throughout the hold. Flooding was so rapid that the vessel sank before the crew could transmit a distress call.
8. The vessel either plunged or partially capsized and plunged under the surface. The hull failed either as the vessel sank or when the bow struck the bottom.
9. The availability of a fathometer aboard the FITZGERALD would have provided additional navigational data and would have required less dependence on the ANDERSON for navigational assistance.
10. The most probable trackline of the FITZGERALD, from west of Michipicoten Island to the position of her wreckage, lies east of the shoal areas north and east of Caribou Island; therefore, damage from grounding would have been unlikely.
11. The shoal area north of Caribou Island is not shown in sufficient detail on Lake Survey Chart No. 9 to indicate the extent of this hazard to navigation. A contour presentation of this hazard would allow mariners to better assess this area and would help to eliminate the erroneous conclusion that there are isolated spots of shallow water, where in fact there is a large area of shoal water less than 10 fathoms deep.
12. Insufficient water depth has been observed at some loading and discharge piers. “Groundings” of vessels at these locations induce hull stresses of unknown magnitudes and create the potential of undetected hull damage and wear.
13. Although the National Weather Service accurately predicted the direction and velocity of the wind expected over the eastern end of Lake Superior on November 10, 1975, the predicted wave heights were significantly less than those observed.
14. Loading information on the FITZGERALD and other Great Lakes bulk cargo vessels was not adequate.
15. Great Lakes bulk cargo vessels normally can avoid severe storms. The limiting sea state for Great Lakes bulk cargo vessels should be determined, and the operation of vessels in sea states above this limiting value should be restricted.
16. The presence of an EPIRE aboard the FITZGERALD would have provided immediate automatic transmission of an emergency signal which would have allowed search units to locate the position of the accident. The accurate location of this position would have reduced the extent of the search area.
17. Installation of trim and list indicating instruments on the FITZGERALD would have provided the master an early indication of flooding that would have an adverse effect on the vessel. These instruments would have given an indication of whether the master’s corrective action was adequate.
18. The surface search and rescue capability of the Coast Guard on November 10 was inadequate.
Probable Cause:
The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the sudden massive flooding of the cargo hold due to the collapse of one or more hatch covers. Before the hatch covers collapsed, flooding into the ballast tanks and tunnel through topside damage and flooding into the cargo hold through nonweathertight hatch covers caused a reduction of freeboard and a list. The hydrostatic and hydrodynamic forces imposed on the hatch covers by heavy boarding seas at this reduced freeboard and with the list caused the hatch covers to collapse. Contributing to the accident was the lack of transverse watertight bulkheads in the cargo hold and the reduction of freeboard authorized by the 1969, 1971, and 1973 amendments to the Great Lakes Load Line Regulations.”
In short, the ship sank because of progressive flooding following damage sustained from some cause near Caribou Island, aggravated by overloading. The initial flooding and overloading made the Fitzgerald go lower in the waves of the storm, which began a downward cycle of boarding seas. These gradually brought more and more water aboard until a final, catastrophic collapse of one or more hatch covers allowed sudden additional and overwhelming flooding that drove the ship to the bottom.
The NTSB added that the storm was significantly stronger than weather reports had predicted, and both the Coast Guard and the NTSB noted that the navigational charts used by McSorley were not entirely accurate regarding the underwater hazards around Caribou Island. This last factor led the NTSB to take the unusual step of including a dissenting opinion in its conclusion. Board member Philip Hogue wrote:
“The most probable cause of the sinking of the SS EDMUND FITZGERALD in Lake Superior on 10 November 1975, was a shoaling which first generated a list, the loss of two air vents, and a fence wire. Secondarily, within a period of 3 to 4 hours, an undetected, progressive, massive flooding of the cargo hold resulted in a total loss of buoyancy from which, diving into a wall of water, the FITZGERALD never recovered.
Like the Marine Board of the Coast Guard or the majority of the Members of the National Transportation Safety Board, I could speculate or surmise in the first instance that flooding into the cargo hold took place through ineffective hatch covers or in the second instance that flooding took place due to the failure of hatch cover Number One due to massive seas. I reject these arguments because neither of them is fully cognizant of the ramifications of the first reported list, the loss of two vents and fence railing at approximately the precise time the FITZGERALD was reportedly in or over shoal waters. Between the first reported damage and the time of the sinking, approximately 3 to 4 hours later, seas of 25 to 30 feet and winds gusting to 80 knots were variously observed. Without exception, expert testimony has affirmed the fact that seas in shoal waters are inherently more violent and wild than in open water. It follows, therefore, that subsequent to her initial sustained damage, the FITZGERALD suffered progressive damage from laboring, rolling, and pitching for the next 3 to 4 hours as it proceeded toward Whitefish Point Light. At or about 1730, Captain Woodard aboard the Swedish vessel AVAFORS received a report from Captain McSorley stating the FITZGERALD had a “bad list,” had lost both radars and was taking heavy seas over the deck in one of the worst seas he had ever been in. In approximately 2 hours from the initial report of a list, the FITZGERALD had acquired a “bad list” and sustained the loss of both radars. Approximately 1 hour 40 minutes later at or about 1910, the FITZGERALD reported it was holding its own. This was the last transmission ever heard from the FITZGERALD. Aside from the expert testimony elicited at the Coast Guard Marine Board hearing, it is self-evident that Captain McSorley had a damaged ship, and that he did not know how damaged she was….
It is reasonable to assume, from all that is known of Captain McSorley, that his first report of damage was based on damage sustained immediately prior to 1530 and that it was no small consideration that caused Captain McSorley to ask the ANDERSON to stay with him, saying, “I will check down so that you can close the distance between us.””
In the end, while these are expert and informed opinions, no one really knows for certain what sank the Fitzgerald. There is an enduring mystery about the ship and its final voyage that is both tragic and strangely compelling. In this vein Woodard said something striking. He had spoken with many of the Fitzgerald’s crew when his ship and the Fitz were in port a couple of weeks before the sinking.
“God strike me dead if I’m lying,” Woodard said, his spontaneous laughter checked. “We pulled in behind them and everybody I saw on that crew had an aura around them. That’s the honest-to-God’s truth. They glowed, just like a little brightness, you know what I mean?”
When asked if he was benefiting from hindsight and imagination, Woodard said, “I’ve never seen that since.”
My mother once told me a similar story. She said she had seen our next door neighbor at the local post office just before he was killed in a car wreck by a drunk driver. She later described seeing the same kind of strange aura and light around him when she looked at him.
Do with that what you will. As I say, there is mystery here.
Perhaps the biggest lesson that should be taken from the sinking is that no matter how skilled the sailors and how large the ship, all are still less than specks of sand compared with the vastness and power of the sea and of great storms over large bodies of water. It is no wonder, then, that both the traditional US Navy Hymn and Gordon Lightfoot’s enduring ballad speak with reverence of the power of both Nature and Nature’s God.
Eternal Father, strong to save, Whose arm hath bound the restless wave, Who bidd’st the mighty ocean deep Its own appointed limits keep; Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee, For those in peril on the sea!
How the US Keeps Fighting China, Knowing It Won’t Win?
It’s a toss-up between Caesar at Alesia and Alexander’s siege at Tyre. But for this answer I’ll focus only on Caesar.
Those two are definitely in my list of top battles not only because of the absolute understanding that Cesar and Alexander had of the flow of battle, or the mind-blowing tactics they used, but also because of the ingenuity they showed and just the relentless determination to bend the universe to their will.
Let’s jump straight to it.
Caesar at Alesia
image 67
Just look at this. What you are seeing is Caesar laying a siege while at the same time being besieged by another force. Just… OK.
The year is 52 BC. It’s the culmination of 8 years of Gallic Wars. The leader of the Gauls is Vercingetorix. A great general himself and a chieftain of the Arveni tribe. He had organized a fairly large rebellion and even convinced several tribes, allies of Rome, to defect and join his cause. After shadowing Caesar’s legions for some time, and playing a game of cat and mouse, he ended up retreating to the hill town fort of Alesia. Around 30,000 strong, together with the local civilian population were stationed in the small fort.
Caesar, being the great tactician that he is, opted for a prolonged siege, to starve and demoralize his enemy. He ordered the construction of a 18 km long wall to circumvent the town and prevent the enemy’s escape (the middle fortification that you see on the photo above). As you can imagine, this is already a little unorthodox. Sieging a fortified town with a smaller force, in the middle of enemy territory, with little to no supplies. But then what this total badass did was to turn around and build a secondary, outer wall, 21 km long, circumventing the first one, with enough space to contain his entire army. And those walls, weren’t anything simple either. There was enough space for his man to patrol them, as well as more than 20 towers, trenches, and even a moat which he somehow filled with water.
Between the choice of attacking a superior force with better position and being trapped between two armies, Caesar opted for a 3rd option – to build his own frigging castle.
While all of this was happening, Vercingetorix’s relief force arrived, adding more than 50,000 to his already larger force. Caesar was outnumbered 3 to 1 and was smack in the middle of the two armies.
The battle raged for several days, the Gauls were attacking simultaneously from the inside and outside, with the two side’s cavalries chasing each other around the fortifications. On the 3rd day of fighting, a focused attack on one side of the fortifications almost broke the Romans but a young soldier by the name of Mark Antony snatched victory from defeat with his commanding skills.
On the final day of the battle, both Gallic armies made a last attempt to break Caesar and attacked simultaneously, spreading to cover the whole length of the fortifications. The Romans were spread thin and Caesar was commanding his reserves himself, rotating groups of 500–1000 man and reinforcing every spot that was about to falter.
Completely surrounded and fighting on all directions at once, Rome’s legions were in dire situation. Then the worse thing happened, the outer Gallic army bridged the outside walls and poured in the fortifications. Caesar rallied around 7,000 soldiers from wherever he could spare and formed a shield wall on the two sides of the broken fortifications, trying to contain the Gallic spill. Then, from another side of the wall he sent his remaining cavalry who were useless defending the walls anyway, to break out of the fortifications, circle around and charge from the location where the Gauls were entering his defenses. In the most epic pincer move ever, Caesar’s cavalry came seemingly out of nowhere, scaring the attackers shitless, and making them think another army was approaching. This caused general panic. Seeing this, the whole Gallic relief force retreated, leaving only Vercingetorix and his remaining forces trapped inside the fort.
Vercingetorix rode out and personally surrendered to Caesar the next day.
image 66
Caesar seen here, forced to sit down due to the sheer weight of his balls.
“A Total COLLAPSE Is Coming” – Whitney Webb WARNING 2024
Yes. The key word is Chinese, not Singapore. But then Zuckerberg’s wife is Chinese and he was not asked about It. Chew was asked about his wife and children. Maybe if Tom Swabhead goes to Singapore, their immigration control should ask
“Are you a member of the Ku Klux Klan?”
“No, sir I am from…..”
“ Just answer the question”
“ No sir”
“Did your ancestors fight for the Confederates?”
“Sir, that was before my……”
“Yes or no please”
“You can’t expect me to…. no sir”
“Did your great grandfather own slaves ?”
“What makes you think so?”
“Your surname is Cotton. And have you heard of Uncle Tom’s Cabin?”
I Walked In On My Fiancée “Servicing” My Dad, Got In On Video And Now I’m Sending It To Her Family
One day when I was around 18 or so, my mom got a can of soup out of the pantry. When she went to open it, she found the can had already been cut and the soup was all moldy inside:
image 65
She grabbed another can: same thing. My mom ended up pulling all the canned items out of the pantry to check each one. All said, there were at least a dozen cans of soup that had been opened and carefully placed back on the shelf, and they were now absolutely disgusting inside.
My brother, my father, and I all swore we had not been responsible for this. None of us had any theories (well, no reasonable theories) as to how this might have happened.
It wasn’t until a while later (might have been a few months or even a year or more later, don’t really remember clearly) that my mom was telling this story at a gathering of a large group of family friends when one of my best friends, Joelle, interjected with: “Umm, I think maybe that was me…”
And then we finally got our explanation for the whole bizarre event.
Several months prior to “the soup incident,” my family had gone away for a week-long vacation. Joelle, also 18 or so, had been our house-sitter since we had pets that needed to be taken care of.
She now recalled for us how one night she had been in the mood for a bowl of soup (and we had told her to feel free to eat anything she wanted). So she grabbed a can of soup and our can opener, which wasn’t like the electric one she was used to. Ours looked like the one on the left while she was used to the kind like the one on the right:
image 64
With the can openers she was used to, the blade would pierce into the top of the lid, cutting down into the metal inside the rim, like this:
image 63
Ours, on the other hand, was a “safety” can opener that cut into the side of the can, just below the rim:
image 62
So, after finally managing to latch the thing onto the can, she twisted it around the can like steps 1 and 2 below:
image 61
But she never got to step 3, because to her, it didn’t look like it worked.
image 60
Hungry, and determined to not let the defective can opener deprive her of a bowl of soup, she tried a different can. Then another…and another…before finally just giving up and eating something else entirely. And since she didn’t manage to open anything anyway, she just put all the cans back into the pantry the way she’d found them.
She never mentioned it to us before, because who wants to admit to being the dumbass who can’t operate a simple can opener?? Besides, it’s not like we would ever find out…
And that is the story of how our house guest accidentally left us with a pantry full of moldy soup.
*images are not of the actual incident. I got all the images from a Google image search and then added the borders, arrows, and commentary.
Nearly 90% of the 500 invited guests didn’t attend the wedding.
This wedding was recent, just last Christmas. The bride and groom, let’s call them Michelle and Paul, were married on December 24, of all dates.
Michelle is a goddaughter of my aunt and her mom has been friends with my aunt since high school. Paul is a third generation Filipino Chinese but his grandmother is very traditional. She insisted on consulting a feng shui expert, who claimed that December 24 was the best date for the couple to get married on. How he decided on this advice, I have no idea.
In Filipino culture, Christmas is the most important holiday of the year. During Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Filipinos will surely be home to celebrate these days with their families. How Filipino families will spend Christmas is always pre-planned, so don’t think they’ll give up being with their families on a very special occasion just so they can attend your wedding.
Michelle’s mom lamented that her daughter and future son-in-law almost had no say on the details of their own wedding, and that everyone in Paul’s family seemed to blindly obey their matriarch.
As soon as my aunt received the wedding invitation, she called Michelle and her mom right away to let them know that she won’t be able to attend the wedding. To make it even less likely for guests to attend, the wedding was set at 6 PM, which is going to be followed by dinner at a hotel. Knowing how big weddings really go, the 6PM ceremony will last for an hour, then it’s followed by endless picture taking in the church, which is followed by even more picture taking at the reception. When guests finish dinner, there’s going to be a program and other traditional wedding stuff that will take hours. So, the guests will be essentially spending Christmas Eve at this wedding and not at home with their families.
So the wedding took place as planned, but only two or three members of the entourage made it. After pictures were taken in the church, the two bridesmaids and the best man, who is the only part of the groom’s entourage who made it, left and rushed to get home.
The reception was really sad. Only family members were left in attendance that the program was nixed.
A few days after the wedding, my aunt had a chat with Michelle’s mom and she was still disappointed. She had hoped that the wedding would be set on a different day so that most of the guests could attend. She said that the function hall was practically vacant with rows of empty tables. The servers who were hired to accommodate 500 guests ended up serving one guest each. She sent my aunt a picture that looked like this:
image 59
(Photo Credit to emmalovesweddings via Pinterest)
It really baffles me why this wedding still took place as planned and there didn’t seem to be any adjustments made. It’s truly bizarre and not something a bride would like to remember about what could have been the happiest day of her life.
Edit: First, thank you for the upvotes 😊🤗 I never thought my answer would get this much attention since the question was answered many times before I did.
If I did not reply to your comment, it means I can’t find it 🙁 I don’t get notifications on some comments.
I’ve been to many weddings and have heard of and seen some unpleasant things happen that I can add a few more to this answer. The reason why I chose this wedding for my answer is because of it being so bizarre, it’s unbelievable.
Here are some information to help explain how the wedding went as it did and I learned this from my aunt after I posted this answer.
The grandmother paid for the bulk of the wedding expenses. She paid close to 90% of the costs and in a way it helped explain why she had the last say on the decisions. If the wedding was meant to be a gift (this is only a speculation), she should have just given the money to the couple so they can plan their wedding according to their choices.
I still can’t get my head around this: Grandma booked the venue on the day the invitations were sent out. So there really was no point in waiting for RSVP. One of the wedding planners quit at this point— not surprising at all.
Before the invitations were sent out, the bride’s family was advised by several friends that a Christmas Eve wedding is not a good idea. According to my aunt, one of the bride’s uncles was heard saying, “I told Michelle not to expect us if she’s having her wedding on Christmas Eve. We already made plans.” Several friends also said basically the same. “If the wedding is on Christmas Eve, we won’t make it. Count us out.” So the family already knew that many of the guests won’t make it. The groom informed his family of this. Clearly they were not able to convince grandma, who said, “We will proceed as planned.” I’m pretty sure one can still cancel or make reductions on catering services at reasonable charges but grandma did not. Well, it’s her money. 🤷🏻♀️
The few members of the entourage who made it apparently had an agreement with the couple. The best man and two bridesmaids, one of them turned maid of honor, promised the bride and groom that they will stand for them during the ceremony at 6PM, but also promised their families they will be home in time to spend Christmas Eve. This is why they appeared to have ditched the couple at the church when they did not. Because of this lack of a wedding party, certain parts of the ceremony were “altered.” it got me asking this question, if there were only this few members of the entourage, couldn’t members of the family take their place? It seems that the more details I got, the more questions I have.
The “RSVP” doesn’t always work in my culture. Sadly, most people do not bother replying to an invitation. If they want to attend, they’ll simply show up and sometimes they do so with extra guests in tow. If they don’t or can’t make it to the occasion, they will simply do not show up. I know this from experience. This also explains why in most gatherings, the host prepares food based on the number of people who were invited, not with the number of people who confirmed to attend. Paul’s grandmother must have had the same thought, but it was definitely not a smart move to go ahead and have the caterers prepare according to the number of invited guests. Adjustments should have been made when several guests already expressed their regrets about not being able to attend in favor of spending Christmas Eve with families.
One guest told my aunt, “It is wrong of them to assume we’ll give up Christmas Eve in favor of the wedding. If you invite me for any occasion on a Christmas Eve, it is understood that I will not attend.” I’m assuming the other guests shared the same sentiment.
There was a compromise on the wedding date and the wedding ceremony. I was also curious about this and I learned that the families came to an agreement. The wedding ceremony was held by Catholic rites in deference to the bride’s religion, but the date of the wedding will be decided by the groom’s family, who are Chinese, thru a feng shui reading. It was probably an attempt at combining traditions for the merging of two families but it did not work.
There’s definitely a lot of absurdity on this wedding that I still find it hard to believe the entire thing happened at all. I hope for the best for the couple.
Magic Music for Cats – UNBELIEVABLE Results (Tested 2022)
https://youtu.be/LoW_AddZKkU
Ending The U.S. Presence In Middle East
The Biden administration, in its utter stupidity, is launching a(nother) full fledged war throughout the Middle East.
> U.S. forces launched a broad attack against Iran’s powerful military wing and affiliated militias in Iraq and Syria on Friday, delivering a blow to armed groups that Washington has blamed for killing American troops in Jordan and a surge of violence across the Middle East. <
🇺🇸💥🇮🇶Footage shows the explosions of the headquarters of the Anbar Operation Command & the headquarters of the 13th Hashd al-Sha’bi Brigade, after it was targeted by US raids, in the Anbar province of Iraq
That is is unit which is fighting ISIS … 🤔 Embedded video
I am returning to the Middle East this coming week to continue working with our partners on how to achieve durable peace in the region, with lasting security for Israelis and Palestinians alike.
The US: We don’t want to escalate the war in the ME, but we bombed Yemen & killed 10 Yemenis, we bombed Syria & Iraq & killed 16 Iraqis, 7 Syrians, but please de-escalate coz we will bomb you more in the coming days. In the meantime we are sending bombs to Israel to bomb Gaza.
—
In 2020, after the U.S. assassination of General Qassam Suleimani, the leadership of Iran announced that, in consequence, the U.S. presence in the Middle East will be ended. Iran and its allies have since diligently prepared themselves to achieve that aim.
The hot phase of the process itself was initiated primarily by Hamas on October 7 (which followed the October 2 desecration of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Zionist settlers). The secondary and tertiary steps were launched by Ansarollah in Yemen and Kataib Hizbullah in Iraq.
In each cases the U.S. and its Israeli proxy responded with harsh escalations.
Harakat al Nujaba PMF declares that it will not be defeated or subdued by US airstrikes and vows to teach the US humility with fire, says it has surprises in store. Attached image
> The statement also affirmed that the Syrian army will continue to defend Syria’s land and people, and strike all terrorist groups, regardless of how much their sponsors and supporters try to obstruct this goal. It added that it is determined to liberate the entire Syrian territory from all terrorism and occupation, including the US occupation which “cannot persist.” <
The Axis of Resistance is present throughout the Middle East. It has its own economic and social networks. It produces its own weapons and its fighters are well trained to fight under the local circumstances. This is an enemy the U.S. can not defeat.
These groups’ decision to strike US forces in response to the Gaza genocide follows a well-entrenched pattern of resisting joint US-Israeli aggression, or what the Journal describes as efforts to “push back against American and Israeli influence” in the Middle East. And contrary to US claims that Iran’s main regional allies – Hezbollah in Lebanon, Ansar Allah in Yemen (the Houthis), the PMU in Iraq, Hamas/Islamic Jihad in Palestine, and the Syrian government — are all mere Iranian “proxies”, these groups “have domestic agendas of their own and operate with some measure of autonomy,” the Journal notes. US intelligence analyst Brian Katz concurs. Iran’s allies “are no longer simply Iranian proxies,” Katz writes. “Rather, they have become a collection of ideologically aligned, militarily interdependent, mature political-military actors committed to mutual defence.”
The conflict has boiling on a low flame for some time:
As the Washington Post notes, Iranian allies in the region “began targeting U.S. interests in 2018, after then-President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran” as part of a hawkish policy of “maximum pressure.” Rather than return to the Iran nuclear deal upon taking office in January 2021, Biden continued the Trump agenda – and knowingly endangered US troops in the process.
When Biden “ordered airstrikes on militia groups” in Syria, the Washington Post reported in August 2021, that ended up “sparking a fresh cycle of reciprocal violence, with militiamen firing at a facility housing U.S. troops and American forces responding with artillery fire.” Biden’s support for Israeli aggression against Syria yielded the same result. When a drone strike hit a US military base located in southern Syria in October 2021, US and Israeli officials acknowledged that it was “Iranian retaliation for Israeli airstrikes in Syria,” the New York Times reported.
In launching and encouraging attacks on Iranian allies in the region, Biden was pursuing an arrangement that he forged with the Israeli government In August 2021, then-Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett urged Biden to pursue “a death by a thousand cuts” strategy, in which the US and Israel would “[counter] Iran through a combination of many small actions across several fronts — both military and diplomatic — instead of a single dramatic strike,” Axios reported. The goal would be to put Iran’s “regional aggression” – a euphemism for resisting US-Israeli hegemony – “back in the box.” Toward that goal, one of Bennett’s key requests was that “Biden not to pull U.S. forces out of Iraq and Syria,” which the Israeli delegation felt quite “optimistic” about. In Biden, Bennett gushed, “I found a leader who loves Israel, knows exactly what he wants and is attuned to our needs.”
In opposite to those plans it is the Resistance which is using small and increasingly larger cuts to eliminate, over time, the U.S. presence in the Middle East. It is dead serious.
I would like to ask you now to understand the following: It is not what I want or my opinion; it is the ice-cold reality: On October 7th, a war was started by the Axis of Resistance. It was started against both Israel and the Western occupation of the Middle East. As stated above, it will not end before all occupation forces are out of the Middle East, the Two State Solution has been implemented in Israel, or all people in the Middle East are dead … period.
I have no emotions here; I’m not invested in the region. This is a logical assessment of what is currently happening in the region. It is not going to stop until one of the scenarios is implemented.
Other interested powers are already positioning themselves for a new situation in the Middle East.
Give it two, three or maybe even five years. But the envisioned results WILL be achieved.
Posted by b on February 3, 2024 at 15:38 UTC | Permalink
The Age of Making Money is Over. The middle-class is done.
https://youtu.be/rJJBnmDkEwI
Sausage and Cheese Calzone
HomemadeCalzones 03
I don’t know about you, but the only thing I love more than pizza is a big calzone filled to capacity with all of my favorite fillings. Calzones are the ultimate in Italian comfort food if you ask me. More than lasagna or spaghetti, when I want something that fills me up and leaves me feeling all warm and fuzzy on the inside, I go for a calzone. These calzones are the best I’ve ever had because they’re fully homemade. From the dough to the sauce, it’s all made from scratch right in the kitchen, so it’s the freshest, tastiest calzone ever!
Homemade Calzone Recipe
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There’s nothing better than this delicious calzone recipe for a dish that’s full of Italian flavor. A flaky, homemade crust surrounds a filling of Italian sausage, onions, pepperoni, three kinds of cheese, Italian seasoning, and more tasty ingredients, then they’re served with a tasty marinara sauce. When you put them all together, you get a recipe for hand-held deliciousness that you just cannot beat. It’s just like holding a tiny pizza in your hand and then devouring it.
In a skillet, cook the sausage and onion over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring to break up the meat.
Add bell pepper and mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes more, stirring often, or until the sausage is cooked through and vegetables are soft.
Remove with a slotted spoon to a large bowl. Stir in the mozzarella, parsley and red pepper flakes.
Heat the oven to 450 degrees F. Brush 2 baking sheets with olive oil or spray with olive oil cooking spray.
Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Take one piece of the dough and with floured hands press it into a 6-inch round. Stretch or roll it out with a rolling pin into a 12-inch circle. Leaving a 1/2-inch edge, spread a quarter of the filling over half of the dough. Dampen the edges with water. Fold the dough in half to enclose the filling; seal the edges with a fork. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. With a large spatula, carefully transfer the calzones to the prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden and crisp on the outside.
Serve warm.
Variations
One of the best parts about these homemade calzones is that you can play with it to make it exactly the way you want it. After making the crust, the rest is up to you. Go super rustic or make it semi-homemade. Use your favorite toppings. You can tweak it to your heart’s content.
Favorite Pizza Toppings
Just like a pizza, this calzone is totally open to your interpretation. Use any of your favorite pizza toppings from sausage and pepperoni to salami, ham, and pineapple, olives, anchovies, bell peppers, mushrooms, spinach, and more. If you’d put it on a pizza, you can put it in this calzone.
Vegetarian Calzone
Make this recipe vegetarian by filling it with your favorite pizza veggie options. The marinara sauce pairs perfectly with any vegetable that you’d normally put on your vegetarian pizza.
Semi-Homemade Calzone Recipe
If you don’t want to go the homemade route, make this recipe semi-homemade. Use premade pizza dough and pizza sauce to cut down on time. Then make the rest of the recipe per the directions.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you have questions about this homemade calzone recipe, then I have answers. The following FAQ answers all the most frequently asked questions regarding calzones, so it’s worth a read before diving into the recipe.
What is a calzone?
A calzone is simply a folded pizza. Its essentially an Italian version of a savory turnover.
What’s the Difference Between Calzones and Stromboli?
There are three major differences between the two. Calzones are simply a round crust folded in half and stuffed with toppings and sauce. On the other hand, Stromboli is rolled into a spiral with a bit of extra dough folded over the top to seal it. Another major difference is that, while both the calzone and Stromboli are dippable, Stromboli will often have sauce baked inside it while calzones never will. Finally, calzones almost always have ricotta cheese in them, and Stromboli doesn’t.
Do Calzones have Sauce Inside?
No. Calzones are dipped in sauce. The sauce is never baked in.
Do Calzones Always Have Ricotta Cheese in Them?
Traditional calzones almost always have ricotta cheese in them.
Is a Calzone Just a Folded Pizza?
Pretty much!
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What to serve with calzones?
These are hefty, hearty hand-held pizzas, so the best things to serve are light options like a side salad or roasted vegetables.
Can you freeze calzones?
Yes. Let the leftover calzones chill in the refrigerator, then wrap them tightly in clingwrap and store them in an air-tight, freezer-safe container or heavy-duty freezer bags.
Homemade Calzone Recipe Ingredients
This recipe is fully homemade, so there are several ingredients. The great thing is that they’re all simple and easily found at your local grocery store.
For the Dough
All purpose flour
Instant dry yeast
Salt
Sugar
Warm water
Olive oil
For the Filling
Butter
Onion, diced
Hot Italian sausage
Oregano
Basil
Red pepper flakes
Ricotta cheese
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Parmesan cheese, shredded
Fresh parsley, chopped
Garlic salt
Black pepper
Large eggs, with one egg beaten
Pepperoni slices
For the Marinara Sauce
Tomato sauce
Tomato paste
Crushed tomatoes
Onion powder
Garlic salt
Oregano
Basil
Black pepper
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How to Make This Homemade Calzone Recipe
As a fully homemade recipe, you’ll be making the dough, filling, and sauce. Don’t let that deter you, though. All three parts of the recipe are very simple to make. Requiring only basic steps that anyone can do.
Step 1: Make the Homemade Pizza Dough
In a large bowl, whisk flour, yeast, salt, and sugar together. Add warm water and oil. Using an electric mixer or stand mixer with the dough hook, mix on low until ingredients are well incorporated. Increase speed to medium and continue mixing until dough forms into a ball (about 8-10 minutes).
Place dough ball into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a kitchen towel. Let rise for about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size. Next, transfer to a well-floured surface and divide the dough into 9 even pieces. Place dough pieces on a large baking sheet or parchment paper and set them aside.
Step 2: Make the Filling
In a large frying pan or skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add sausage, onions, and seasonings to the pan and cook until sausage is completely cooked through and no longer pink and onions are translucent. Drain and set aside to cool. In another bowl, add the ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and parsley. Stir to combine then add eggs. Mix well. When the sausage has cooled, add the cheese mixture, stir to combine. Set aside.
Step 3: Make the Marinara Sauce
In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add tomato sauce, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, and seasonings. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer over low-medium heat for 20-30 minutes.
Step 4: Assemble the Calzones
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet(s) with parchment paper. Set aside. Then, roll each dough ball into 6-inch circles. Add a heaping tablespoon or two of the sausage and cheese mixture to the center of the dough. Fold the dough in half and press and pinch the edges together to form a seal. Brush the tops of each calzone with beaten egg and place them on a prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10 – 13 minute or until golden brown and serve with the marinara sauce.
First let me help you understand further. If U.S. has the audacity to attack China. It won’t be 4 fronts. It will be at least 10 fronts! The U.S. has done so much shit there is at least 10 nations that wants to teach the U.S. a humbling lesson!
Luckily for you guys China won’t attack you unless you attack them! China wants peace and prosperity not wars and ravages. But still if you make the mistake China will make you pay dearly. Don’t say we did not warn you.
If you attack China in, in China, China will attack the U.S. in U.S. mainland. Don’t be fooled that China will submissively let you walk all over them. This is 2024 not 1842! Let’s hope you are smart enough to be humble.
EVERY URBEXERS NIGHTMARE – WE NEVER EXPECTED THIS TO HAPPEN
I was at a comic convention that was being held inside a mall. I was dressed as Batman. We decided to walk around the mall for shock value, as we were and are weird that way.
While my friends went into a store to shop, I stood outside a Barnes and Noble bookstore waiting for them. Suddenly, an alarm rings!
The shoplifter had books under his shirt. His hope was to mingle with the Saturday afternoon crowd and be lost in the shuffle, getting away with his ill gotten gains. Keeping his head down, he tries to blend in.
Suddenly, a pair of black boots fills his view. As his gaze travels upwards, he sees a scalloped cape, a Bat emblem, and finally the terrifying visage of…the Batman!
Shocked that Batman was in front of him, he paused…just long enough for the security guard to catch up and snag him. The guard thanked me by saying, “Thanks for helping me nab him, Batman!” He then led the shoplifter off.
Someone called the local news crew, who sent a reporter. By the time they had arrived, the convention was over and I was home. A friend of mine who works at the station told me what happened. The reporter talked to the security guard who confirmed the story. The reporter asked if there was any security footage of the event.
When they checked, because the footage was in black and white, they could barely make out the young man in the t-shirt, but the black clad Batman was not seen. They decided not to run the story without visuals.
Once again, the movie cliché of Batman catching criminals but no one could prove he was there became manifest.
1930s ABANDONED Time Capsule House with MANY Valuables left inside
I made a deposit at the teller window for a check for $741.23. (Yes that’s a very “specific” amount” but important to my story.) I got the deposit receipt back and went on my way. As soon as I got home to enter the transaction my register, I noticed a discrepancy. The deposit receipt said my deposit was for $741.32. I had a copy of the deposit slip I had given the teller, and it said $741.23- the correct amount. Granted it was only 9 cents discrepancy so I thought “No big deal. They will just fix it.” Well, it ended up being a huge deal. I had a number of things set up for auto pay from my bank that would start coming out 2–3 days later. I always try to give myself a window “just in case” I am late depositing my check and it doesn’t post until the following day or something.
Well, the next morning the deposit was showing up as though it had posted- still with the 9 cent discrepancy, so I figured they would just deduct the 9 cents within a couple of days and all would be well. Nope, they completely reversed the deposit and took ALL of that money back out of my account. By the Tuesday following the weekend, I was “in the red” due to “NSF fees.” I called to find out what happened- thinking maybe I had forgotten to enter an auto pay into my records. Nope, I was told that the discrepancy had triggered an investigation of my account and my funds would be held for 21 days. I asked if I could leave a message for the branch manager to give me call. I was told that would be fine. I left a message, and received no call back for a couple of days. This was very unusual.
This was a bank I had used for YEARS for personal and business reasons. The company I work for had a long business relationship with the bank as well. I knew the branch manager well. I arrived at the bank to talk to the branch manager and found out he was out of the country dealing with a family emergency and wouldn’t be back for at least two weeks. I asked to speak to whoever was filling in and explained the nature of the situation. Well, the “substitute” manager was extremely unpleasant and unprofessional. She berated me and was practically yelling at me for an error that was THEIR fault. I was told the situation could only be remedied right away by “a cash deposit large enough to cover the original check and enough to cover the NSF fees.” I was still reeling from the fact it had happened at all. I went back to discuss the matter with my employer, an attorney. He spoke to someone he knew at another branch and they were able to fix the immediate problem, and restored all of my NSF fees. My employer was NOT happy. Shortly after the dust settled, my employer asked me to set up an appointment for us to go down and remove some items from our safe deposit boxes to take out items for an “inventory” of the boxes. While I was in the vault removing the items, my employer was out in the lobby closing down all of the accounts and the boxes. We moved them next door to a different bank.
Our usual branch manager came back to the news that we had closed all of our accounts. He asked why this happened over something so “insignificant” as a 9 cent discrepancy. I went through the entire scenario. He was so upset that it had happened, but he understood why. The manager that berated me is now gone. I will NEVER work with this bank again. They were the issuer of a rewards card I had for travel. I cashed out all my rewards and closed the card. If I ever find out they are the issuer of any credit card I may apply for, I just say “no thank you.”
I think you mean either the Navy or the Air Force. There is no scenario where the US Army engages the Chinese Army without first Naval and Air engagements.
And the loser of the engagement won’t be fighting an Army war afterwards.
The current state of the art is that the Chinese have a decisive advantage over US war ships. The US would have to traverse 1,200 miles of Ocean minimum to attack China or Chinese forces. During those 1,200 miles of Ocean, the US fleet would come under attack from ASBMs (anti-ship ballistic missiles), Hypersonic wave riders that can come in from any direction, and supersonic anti-ship missiles.
The Pentagon simulations show that US ships don’t have enough ammunition to prevent most if not all US ships from being sunk.
If the US launch fighters, then the US F-35 from 10 carriers (about 700 fighters) would be facing several thousand Chinese fighters of various grades but with PL-15 air to air missiles which out range US AIM-120 by at least 30 miles.
If your army have pistols and the enemy has rifles and we are fighting on a open plain starting at 1,000 yards with no obstacles, who would win?
The Ukraine Army used an American-supplied HIMARS precision rocket system, to attack a Bakery/Restaurant in the ex-Ukraine city of Lysychansk, Luhansk, Russia today. The strike killed at least twenty (20) people and destroyed the building.
TERRIFYING SCENES of dusted and bloodied bodies on stretchers could be seen as the dead and injured victims were pulled from rubble.
Lysychansk is a city of about 99,000 people and is some 15 kilometers (nine miles) from Ukrainian-controlled territory. It is not a military center and has no military troops or bases there.
It is clear Ukraine hit this city because they wanted to kill CIVILIANS. The scalable map below shows the location of Lysychansk.
Video of a heavily damaged building, with emergency workers pulling out an entirely crushed car, is already making its way across global social media sites has people asking why the Ukraine Army would hit a bakery? The answer: The bakery was known to have fresh bread on weekends.
The Luhansk Information Center said Ukraine shelled the bakery using the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
Lysychansk voted in a supervised and internationally-observed Public Referendum, to secede from Ukraine and to join Russia. Ukraine would not let them go.
The city was liberated from the Ukrainian Nazi government by Russian forces in the year 2022.
Since then, from time to time, Ukraine has fired into the city from the distant front lines, for the sole purpose of harming civilians, whom they hate for voting to leave.
Open up China and ALLOW MORE AND MORE PEOPLE TO SEE CHINA FOR THEMSELF
That’s what’s being done
Rather than keep responding to Western Lies, China took the best way out which is to
Come & see for Yourself
Every foreigner who comes to China, reports on the reality which is seen by at least 50–100 more foreigners and gradually they begin to see the LIES that the Mainstream media has been spreading
It’s how CHINA BROKE THE UYGHUR LIES
Rather than respond to Western propaganda which would matter very little, they invited and had 600,000 people visit Xinjiang including 80,000 foreigners from the West & Japan plus another 400+ delegates from across the world
Not one of them could respond to the propaganda spread by the West and many downright called them “LIES”
So the West quietly changed Genocide to CULTURAL GENOCIDE which was addressed by a Chinese who said “So what , you want us to remain in the 19th Century is it?”
I recently sent a mail to their tourism department and they said Xinjiang needs NO PERMISSIONS whatsoever for any size tour group
You can book a ticket to Urumqi and as long as you follow Visa norms, you can travel anywhere you want within China
The Chinese of course are aware of this but they know it’s a lie. They know how their life is.
They are puzzled to know they are being repressed by the CPC and regard the whole thing as obviously childish lies.
Simple as that
BOOK YOUR TICKET and find out what China really is like.
Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I had very average scores in the 12th grade and the CET exams. I did not prep for or take the JEE. I randomly walked in to the BITSAT and AIEEE and obviously didn’t clear those either. My father wanted me to take a “core engineering” branch like Mechanical in a semi-decent college. He was willing to help figure out a way to pay for that. However, I was only interested in computers at the time; so I decided to push back. Also, I don’t like handouts or shortcuts so decided to take my rightful place at the new college-by-the-highway and see where life took me.
At the time, a lot of people mocked me and said it was stupid of me to have screwed up my one chance to make my life better. Most people started dismissing me from their lives as just one more from the crowd. Four years later, I got an admit from Stanford University and suddenly everyone wanted to be my friend; everyone wanted to tell me how they always believed in me. I was not buying it. The journey wasn’t romantic at all. Every day, every week, every month was a struggle, a fight worth fighting, a life worth living. I found my true friends and the love of my life during that journey. They were the people who stood by me and had my back when I was a nobody.
Being at the small college gave me time to pursue what I genuinely enjoyed. I loved building robots and my HoD supported me whole heartedly as I participated in competitions across the country along with my friends (from 3 different colleges). I would not have received such an opportunity had I taken admission at another college where grades mattered most. It was this support, encouragement and exposure that helped me build a stronger profile.
You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. My friends and I started building robots in his house when we were 19. We worked hard and in three years, we had won many national and international competitions and earned a name for ourselves in the country’s AI circles. Do note, this was way back in 2007 when AI was a very new field that not many people fully understood. We started a company that enabled us to teach college students about robotics and AI, and, we were happy. And then we closed it all down. Life happened. A couple of us got jobs and moved. One of my friends had to take some extra classes and had to repeat a year. And as for me, I had no clue what to do next so I decided to take a year off and watch birds while I applied for my M.S.
Our robotics team was very near and dear to me. My team was literally my best friends, the guys I grew up with since I was a toddler. To close shop and move on like that was heartbreaking. We had dreamed of conquering the world together as teens but life would have none of it. This was the first time I understood what it meant to give up something you love. Luckily we all stood by each other and ensured that we helped one another move on with things. After all, there’s more than one way to achieve your dreams. And things did eventually work out really well for all of us.
I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if we hadn’t dissolved the company. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patients needed it.
Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I watched my idol read a quote that went something like:
“If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 13 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Earlier this year, my father had a severe stroke. It took me 36 hours to get back home to be with my mother. Those were the longest 36 hours of my life. We spent the next three weeks with dad in the ICU as he battled for his life. Until then, death was always a concept that we had discussed often but never actually witnessed. We practically lost him a couple of times but he made it back. This taught me some very important life lessons, especially around what my priorities should be.
I learned how fragile life is and that family should always come first. It struck me deeply how we will all someday lose the people we love. I realized how important it is to make every moment count.
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
What is the biggest misconception people have about life?
There’s something curious about China, well… at least in Southern China. You see, all the buildings are stone facing on cement. These are huge mega buildings all of stone and rock. And you know what?
Yeah.
When the weather is right, condensation forms….
The cold and cool buildings hit the mist wet laden air, and condenses. The walls are wet. The windows are wet. The floors are wet. Everything is wet.
I do not mean, every now and then. I mean, that when things condense… everything is like living in a glossy layer of water. Holy cow!
It’s a thing about China. Not a big issue, but rather a curiosity.
Here’s another… for today…
China’s “wacky” dance breaks barriers, unites the world
Yes. This is truly popular here in China. I am just surprised that it is popular in the rest of the world also.
At my previous workplace, I had a friend who used a wheelchair. He was a normal guy with a great attitude. Everyone was super nice to him and treated him as a special person, except me.
We had alloted workstations. So people usually preferred to use the same stations every day. One day, someone offered him a station that was closer to the washroom. I was there, and the offered workstation was alloted to me.
I immediately objected, and asked the reason for the same. I also asked the guy if he wanted to move there? He clearly denied any such kinda request made to the management by himself. However, it was an over-smart person who wanted to shine and look empathetic in front of the team.
I clearly refused to leave my place. The meeting was over and, while leaving the room, the guy thanked me for treating him like a normal person. But everyone else looked at me like I was standing there wearing just my underpants. We later became friends as he felt normal in my company. He never wanted to be treated like a special person. He never wanted to be helped without asking for it.
Even the manager later advised me to think before I spoke. I just asked her, “is it not okay to treat someone as a normal person?”
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Qian Xuesen was an exceptionally talented engineer and one of the founding fathers of China’s space industry. He spent much of his early scientific career in the US before being imprisoned on groundless accusations as McCarthyism swept across the country.
After spending four years under subsequent house arrest, Qian returned to China vowing to never step foot in the States again. His departure dealt a significant blow to America’s rocket program and laid the foundations for China’s journey to become a formidable space power.
Today, as Sinophobia is once again on the rise, academics of Chinese descent are leaving the US at record levels. In this light, Qian’s story should be viewed as a warning of the dangers of Cold War Zero-sum-ism.
Kavita Puri, one of the BBC’s less biased journalists, gives a surprisingly fair and detailed account of Qian’s life and his contributions to mankind. She writes:
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In Shanghai there is an entire museum containing 70,000 artefacts dedicated to one man, “the people’s scientist” Qian Xuesen.
Qian is the father of China’s missile and space programme. His research helped develop the rockets that fired China’s first satellite into space, and missiles that became part of its nuclear arsenal, and he is revered as a national hero.
But in another superpower, where he studied and worked for more than a decade, his significant contributions are rarely remembered at all.
Qian was born in 1911, as China’s last imperial dynasty was about to be replaced by a republic. His parents were both well-educated and his father, after working in Japan, established China’s national education system. It was evident from an early age that Qian was gifted, and he eventually graduated top of his class at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, winning a rare scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US.
In 1935 a trim, well-dressed young man arrived in Boston. Qian may have experienced some xenophobia and racism, says Chris Jespersen, professor of history at the University of North Georgia. But there was “also a sentiment of hope and belief that China [was] changing in fundamentally significant ways”, and he would certainly have been among people who respected his knowledge.
From MIT Qian moved to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), to study under one of the most influential aeronautical engineers of the day, the Hungarian émigré, Theodore von Karman. There Qian shared an office with another prominent scientist, Frank Malina, who was a key member of a small group of innovators known as the Suicide Squad.
The group had earned this nickname because of their attempts to build a rocket on campus, and because some of their experiments with volatile chemicals went badly wrong, says Fraser Macdonald, author of Escape from Earth: A Secret History of the Space Rocket. Though he adds that no-one died.
One day Qian got drawn into a discussion of a complicated mathematical problem with Malina and other members of the group and before long he was an integral part of it, producing seminal research into rocket propulsion.
At the time, rocket science was the “stuff of cranks and fantasists,” Macdonald says. “No-one is taking it seriously – no mathematically inclined engineer would risk their reputation by saying this is the future.” But that quickly changed with the start of World War II.
The Suicide Squad caught the attention of the US military, which paid for research into jet-assisted take-off, where boosters were attached to the wings of aircraft to enable them to get airborne from short runways. Military funding also helped establish the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in 1943, under the directorship of Theodore von Karman. Qian, along with Frank Malina, was at the heart of the project.
Qian was a Chinese citizen, but the Republic of China was an ally of the US, so there was “no massive suspicion about a Chinese scientist at the heart of American space endeavour”, says Fraser Macdonald. Qian was given security clearance to work on classified weapons research, and even served on the US government’s Science Advisory Board.
By the end of the war he was one of the world’s foremost experts on jet propulsion, and was sent with Theodore von Karman on an extraordinary mission to Germany, holding the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel. Their goal was to interview Nazi engineers, including Wernher von Braun, Germany’s leading rocket scientist; America wanted to find out exactly what the Germans knew.
But by the end of the decade Qian’s glittering career in the US came to a sudden halt, and his life there began to unravel.
In China, Chairman Mao declared the creation of the communist People’s Republic in 1949, and quickly the Chinese came to be seen in the US as “the evil ones”, says Chris Jespersen. “So we go through these periods in the US where we are infatuated with China, then something happens and we revile China,” he says.
Meanwhile, a new director at the JPL came to believe there was a spy ring at the lab, and shared his suspicions about some members of staff with the FBI. “I note that they are all either Chinese or Jewish,” says Fraser Macdonald.
The Cold War was under way, and the anti-communist witch-hunts of the McCarthy era were just around the corner. It was in this atmosphere that the FBI accused Qian, Frank Malina and others of being communists, and a threat to national security.
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The charges against Qian were based on a 1938 document of the US Communist Party that showed he had attended a social gathering that the FBI suspected was a meeting of the Pasadena Communist Party. Although Qian denied being a party member, new research suggests he joined at the same time as Frank Malina in 1938.
But this doesn’t necessarily make him a Marxist. To be a communist at this time was a statement of anti-racism, says Fraser Macdonald. The group wanted to highlight the threat of fascism, he says, as well as the horror of racism in the US. They were campaigning, for example, against the segregation of the local Pasadena swimming pool, and used their communist meetings to discuss it.
Zuoyue Wang, professor of history at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, says there is no evidence that Qian ever spied for China or was an intelligence agent when he was in the US.
He was, however, stripped of his security clearance and put under house arrest. Caltech colleagues, including Theodore von Karman, wrote to the government pleading Qian’s innocence, but in vain.
In 1955, when Qian had spent five years under house arrest, President Eisenhower took the decision to deport him to China. The scientist left by boat with his wife and two US-born children, telling waiting reporters he would never step foot in America again. He kept his promise.
“He was one of the most prominent scientists in America. He had contributed so much and could have contributed much more. So it’s not just humiliation but also a sense of betrayal,” says the journalist and writer, Tianyu Fang.
Qian arrived as a hero in China but was not immediately admitted into the Chinese Communist Party. His record was not impeccable. His wife was the aristocratic daughter of a Nationalist leader, and until Qian’s fall from grace he’d been living happily in America – he’d even taken the first steps towards applying for citizenship.
When he finally became a party member in 1958, he embraced it and always tried to remain on the right side of the regime. He survived purges and the Cultural Revolution, and thus was able to pursue an extraordinary career.
When he had arrived in China there was little understanding of rocket science, but 15 years later he oversaw the launch of the first Chinese satellite into space. Over the decades, he trained a new generation of scientists, and his work laid the foundations for China’s Lunar Exploration Program
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Ironically, the missile programme that Qian helped develop in China resulted in weapons which were then fired back on America. Qian’s silkworm missiles were fired at Americans in the 1991 Gulf War, Fraser Macdonald says, and in 2016 against the USS Mason by Huti rebels in Yemen.
“So there’s this odd circularity. The US expelled this expertise, and it has come back to bite them.” In taking a tough line against domestic communism, he suggests, the country deported “the means by which one of their main communist rivals could develop their own missiles and space programme – an extraordinary geopolitical blunder.”
A former US Secretary of the Navy, Dan Kimball – later head of the rocket propulsion company, Aerojet – once said it was “the stupidest thing this country ever did”.
Today, there is once again heightened tension between China and the US. This time it’s not over ideology but trade, concerns over tech security, and China’s failure – as President Donald Trump regards it – to do more to contain Covid-19.
While most Americans have no idea about Qian and his role in America’s space programme, Tianyu Fang says many Chinese Americans and Chinese students in the US, do know about him, and why he had to leave, and they see the parallels with the present day. “US China relations have got so much worse they know they could be under the same suspicions as Qian’s generation,” he says.
In Fraser Macdonald’s view, Qian’s story is a warning about what happens when you expel knowledge. “The whole story of American science is that it is propelled by people coming from outside… but in these conservative times that’s a story that becomes harder to celebrate.”
The JPL’s contribution to the US space programme has, Macdonald believes, been much neglected compared to that of Wernher von Braun and other German scientists, who were taken in secret to the US soon after the visit paid to them by von Karman and Qian.
Braun had been a Nazi, and yet his achievements are recognised in a way that those of Qian and others from the JPL are not, Macdonald says. “The idea that America’s first viable space programme was started by homegrown socialists – whether Jewish or Chinese – is not really a story that the US is able to hear about itself,” he says.
Qian’s life spanned almost a century. In that time China grew from an economic minnow to a superpower on Earth and in space. Qian was part of that transformation. But his story could have been a great American one too – where talent, wherever it is found, could thrive.
Last year, when China made history and landed on the far side of the moon, it did so in the Von Karman crater, named after the aeronautical engineer who was a mentor to Qian. A nod, perhaps, to the fact that American anti-communism helped propel China into space.
27 Minutes Of Cheating Wives Caught RED HANDED 2023
https://youtu.be/22ivHljlJJU
Has a company ever chosen morality over profitability?
SC Johnson made a choice like this, and it’s hurt sales ever since.
image 228
Saran Wrap is a product people in the United States know well, and it’s been popular for years… it hit the markets in 1953, and quickly became popular for its utility in storing food. It blocked odors, it microwaved well, and it did a better job of clinging to containers than any other product on the market. (It may have been popular in other countries as well, but I have no frame of reference for that.)
If you’ve used Saran Wrap in the past decade or so, you’ve probably noticed it’s not as effective as it used to be.
Originally created by Dow Chemicals, Saran Wrap came under SC Johnson’s control in 1998. Shortly thereafter, they discovered that one of the chemicals used to manufacture the famous plastic wrap, polyvinylidene chloride, had toxic effects on the environment.
They attempted to find a replacement that would preserve the qualities of Saran Wrap people had come to love, but after a year of effort, SC Johnson made the decision to remove the chemical and release a new formulation. It’s not as effective, but it no longer poisons the environment.
There was no boycott, there was no federal investigation… the company discovered the danger, and then voluntarily gave up its competitive advantage in order to avoid harming the environment.
I’ve walked out of several interviews. Here’s a fun one:
The interviewer tried to shame me for using my phone’s calculator to help solve a complex problem and check my work.
I was interviewing at a solar firm. They had turned a recent issue with a client into a test for the interview process. I thought it was a fun and useful way to see how a candidate thinks and solves problems, so I was on board.
That is, right up until the interviewer decided to cosplay as a junior high school math teacher from 1998.
“Did you just take out your phone and use your calculator?” I can still hear the scoff in her voice and picture the sneer she was grossly failing to hide.
I stared at her, waiting for her to say she was joking. No such luck. I remember thinking “Oh, this lady is serious. She really thinks I should just do all the math 100% in my head.”
I didn’t even bother to respond. I just got up and walked out. Ain’t nobody got time for that shit.
In a world where programmers google more than half of their job every day, me choosing to be prudent about my mental math skills is downright pedestrian.
I regret nothing. Any company culture that thinks a person being resourceful and using all available tools to check their work is some kind of PROBLEM, isn’t a company culture anyone should waste their time with.
All these years later, I can see what a product of the school system she was. Prioritizing resourcefulness and work ethic over book smarts is an entrepreneur’s mindset, not something some recruiter just out of her worthless college degree would value.
Born in 1921, Ferdinand ran away from home at the young age of just 16.
With no qualifications, no money, and no occupation, Fred was essentially a nobody.
A nobody with no hope of a successful future.
A nobody with literally nothing to lose.
A nobody you wouldn’t even look twice at walking on the street.
Until one day, you open the newspaper and see this nobody’s face plastered on the front page.
In the ultimate example of “fake it til you make it,” Ferdinand Demara boarded the HMCS Cayuga, a Canadian Navy destroyer during the Korean War. He was impersonating a naval surgeon.
image 226
Ferdinand seemed to have successfully fooled the crewmates.
All was well.
Until numerous soldiers started taking life-threatening injuries.
With no other doctors everyone desperately looked to Ferdinand, the only naval “surgeon” on board.
This is the point where most people would throw up their hands and announce the game was up.
But Demara wasn’t ultimately labeled “the Great Imposter” for nothing.
Despite having absolutely no experience or training Demara told the crewmates to prep the injured for surgery while he quickly retired to his quarters.
Using his photographic memory Demara speed read through a medical textbook to learn how to perform surgery.
He emerged out his of room just a few minutes later, then operated on all 16 badly injured soldiers – including one who required major chest surgery.
The outcome?
Each and every one of the men he operated on walked away with their lives thanks to him.
image 225
Throughout his lifetime Demara also had other impersonations including a civil engineer, a sheriff’s deputy, an assistant prison warden, a doctor of applied psychology, a hospital orderly, a lawyer, a child-care expert, a Benedictine monk, a Trappist monk, an editor, a cancer researcher, and a teacher. One teaching job led to six months in prison.
There is no word on which textbook you can read to learn how to perform surgery in just a few minutes, but whichever one it is, it’s totally worth the money.
CONTROVERSIAL (Is it WRONG to tell the TRUTH?)
https://youtu.be/ukHekvBnhlg
Italian Baked Chicken
2024 01 31 20 29
Ingredients
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 bottle Italian dressing
Garlic powder
Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Season Italian dressing with garlic powder (use enough dressing to thoroughly coat chicken).
Marinate chicken breasts in seasoned Italian dressing several hours or overnight.
Drain chicken in a strainer to remove extra dressing.
Place chicken breasts in a baking dish or pan.
Sprinkle chicken with parsley flakes.
Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.
Cover chicken, reduce temperature to 325 degrees F and continue to bake for 30 minutes.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese before serving.
The DARK REALITY of Divorce for MEN Today | Why Men no longer want to get Married
When I was seven years old, I was given a Stanford-Binet style intelligence test by the local school authorities. The test was supposed to determine my future aptitude for school work.
The interviewer had a little bushy beard and wire-rimmed glasses. He peered over the desk at me and asked “Who discovered America?”
I answered, “The Indians.” This was 1976, and the term “Native Americans” didn’t exist yet.
He looked at me quizzically. “Are you sure that Indians discovered America?”
I said, “Columbus came to America. The Indians were here first. So the Indians discovered America.”
The interviewer shook his head sadly at me, clearly disappointed, and went onto the next question.
Just for the record, 1976 intelligence-test-giver guy:
The Indians were here first.
So the Indians discovered America.
I knew that.
But the story doesn’t end there.
It continues forty-two years after I got that question in school.
Today, an acquaintance of mine said they were applying for US citizenship. I congratulated them, and they told me there’s a civics test that they have to pass in person in order to become a US citizen. And they showed me the sample study test.
And right there. In black and white. Question number 59 reads as follows:
“Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived?”
And beneath that, were the permissible answers:
American Indians
Native Americans
There wasn’t any Columbus to be seen. He didn’t discover America.
He wasn’t even on the test.
Man Humbles Room Full Of Women | Reacting To Matthew Hussey
Frequently. In college, I worked at a metropolitan airport refueling corporate jets. Celebrities usually weren’t bad, but their handlers were beyond obnoxious. I started watching NHL specifically to jeer against the Detroit Red Wings and the New Jersey Devils, simply because of the jerks managing their transportation.
Anyway, during Furniture Market, people fly in from all over the world. Hotels are booked solid for a hundred-mile radius. Aerosmith happened to be playing at the Coliseum. Their pilot was a quiet old man, but the copilot was obnoxious. You could tell he was WAY too young and inexperienced to get a gig as a Gulfstream FO without some sort of family connection, but he admitted it anyway when babbling about his parents’ wealth.
They were there for the entire day. At any point, they could’ve asked for anything they needed, but he waited until the concert ended. By that point, I’m the only person working, because day shift had ended. He demanded fuel right after another pilot placed his order. I told him it’d take about a half hour, and he exasperated, “This is Aerosmith!”
I pointed down the ramp and said, “That’s the owner of the Miami Dolphins, that’s Oprah Winfrey, that’s some sort of Commerce Secretary in Mexico, but the one with the Highway Patrol standing by the plane all night is our state Governor, and he ALWAYS comes first.”
You have a navy. Use it. Historically, the French navy did next to nothing. An aggressive submarine hunting campaign would have put Kriegsmarine on defensive and prevented the Norwegian campaign. And no, Bearn was not that obsolete for an aircraft carrier.
Use air force aggressively. The French used air force too passively – they didn’t dare to attack the German airbases – and it became costly. Many of the new fighters were not even assembled off the crates in Spring 1940.
The Maginot Line works just as intended. Do not become complacent. Check out the Ardennes – it is not as impassable as you think!
Keep Italy out of war. True, they are not worth of much, but they have a good navy.
You have radios. Use them. Use encryption if needed. Time-critical communication is much more important than fear of eavesdropping.
Tank is not a moving artillery bunker. It is the knight of the 20th century. Use tanks as the steel fist of the army, not moving field artillery. Concentrate them – not by dripping but pouring!
Put Maurice Gamelin to retirement. He is too old to lead the army any more. Maxime Weygand had some good ideas, but listen to that young Charles de Gaulle.
Evacuate civilians at time. The Blitzkrieg creates traffic jams.
Read that German manual. I mean, On War by von Clausewitz. It is all there.
The person who asked this question was obviously considering the problem using linear thinking.
In the questioner’s mind, China’s economy is growing linearly, and its total volume will gradually and slowly surpass that of the United States. But since China’s population is four times that of the United States, when China’s economy surpasses that of the United States, its per capita level will only be 1/4 of that of the United States.
It may take another 20 or even 50 years for China to “really” reach the level of the United States.
I have to refute this idea, because in actual competition, there is a “critical effect”. This means that China’s pursuit of the United States is not linear, but will appear as a “cliff” or “avalanche” after reaching a certain critical point.
In order to support this view, we need to analyze how the strong economy of the United States is constructed.
Which brings us back to the picture above, which says a lot about the U.S. economy: Virtualization
In the entire GDP composition, the part that creates real wealth is very small.
What is real wealth? Food, industrial products, energy.
Bread, milk, cars, mobile phones, gasoline, airplanes, semiconductors, clothes, condoms, these things are real wealth.
What is virtual wealth? When you have enough real wealth, you can redistribute it. Services, consulting, lawyers, finance, medical care, house rental, trade. Virtual wealth is not real wealth. They are essentially the secondary distribution of real wealth.
With so little real wealth generated in the United States’ GDP, how do they maintain huge virtual wealth, achieve huge GDP, and maintain world-leading living standards?
There are two key points
1. Technology and innovation
2. Rules and Credit
Technology and Innovation:
The United States is the country with the largest investment in R&D in the world. In 2023, the United States’ investment in innovation and R&D will be 2.5 times that of the second-ranked country (China).
The United States leads the way in innovation capabilities and technological development.
With advanced technology and innovation capabilities, you can get huge wealth at a very small cost. To give a simple example, Americans take away 90% of the profits from an Apple mobile phone, and the remaining 10% is shared by other countries in the production, sales, and service links.
During the entire process, not a single screw was installed on this Apple phone in the United States.
This is the power of technology and innovation in transferring wealth. He can easily transfer real wealth created by other countries into American hands.
However, technology and innovation are not the strongest in the field of transferring wealth. After all, technology and innovation require large amounts of continuous investment and face huge competition. Europe, Japan, and China are all constantly challenging the United States’ position in the field of science and technology. Relying on this alone is not enough.
rules and Credit
The United States has shaped the global financial and trade landscape. They have established the dollar’s global currency status through war and the Cold War, and maintained their status and credibility with hundreds of military bases and huge armies around the world.
They also established many rules to protect their status. For example, patents, environmental protection, carbon emissions, IFS, and WTO. The entire world revolves around these rules.
This means that the United States can realize the transfer of wealth through rules and credit.
The simplest example: When the United States faces a lack of real wealth, they can start the money printing press and exchange green paper for the wealth created by people around the world. It also controls the flow and currency value of the U.S. dollar through operations such as raising and lowering interest rates. This method’s ability to transfer wealth far exceeds that of technology and innovation, and they don’t even have to draw a drawing.
These two keys are the reason why the United States actually creates little real wealth but has a lot of real wealth. It is also the basis for the United States to maintain prosperity and continue to grow even after its economy is hollowed out.
Now let’s go back to the beginning. What will happen if China’s economic aggregate exceeds that of the United States?
1. Changes in innovation capabilities
Innovation capabilities come from the cultivation and investment of talents. Both of these indicators increase with the growth of the economic aggregate. Due to purchasing power parity, China’s R&D investment is currently only one-third of that of the United States, but the number of patents applied for and the number of papers produced each year are already the same as those of the United States. Many technology companies such as Huawei and DJI have emerged that are ahead of their American counterparts. It can be estimated that when China’s R&D investment reaches 1/2 of the United States, their innovation capabilities will completely surpass the United States.
image 1
2. Changes in military strength
China’s military strength will gradually surpass that of the United States. Coupled with China’s strong manufacturing power, China’s military hardware growth rate and accumulation will gradually surpass that of the United States. Because of the complete localization of the economic structure, in terms of military assets, the return on China’s investment of 1 yuan and the United States on 1 dollar are close. Other countries will find that the stick in China’s hand is gradually surpassing that of the United States.
image
3. Changes in confidence
There will be a critical point in the balance of global mentality towards the United States and China. Gradually, all countries will think about a question: If China is the world’s largest customer and the world’s largest businessman, with the most powerful military and the best innovation capabilities, why do we still have to abide by the rules of the United States? Why do we need to continue using dollars?
When the third point starts to happen, it means that the avalanche effect is coming.
The United States will enter a period of rapid decline:
The credibility of the U.S. dollar has declined > the ability to transfer wealth has weakened > actual wealth has decreased > living standards have declined > social conflicts have increased > investment in innovation has decreased > brain drain > innovation capabilities have declined > the ability to transfer wealth continues to weaken > military strength is difficult to maintain > credibility continues to collapse.
At this time, China’s growth curve may still be flat, but the decline curve of the United States may become a “cliff.” The “per capita” level of both sides will change from “chasing with each other” to “one man’s loss is another man’s gain.”
This assumption is disastrous for the status of the United States, and it will frantically maintain its status at all costs.
This is not as easy as the questioner imagined, and may be a disaster for the whole world.
Here Is How The Pentagon Comes Up With Code Words And Secret Project Nicknames
We venture into the dark, fascinating, and often misunderstood world of the Defense Department’s code word and nickname generating processes. by Tim McMillan| UPDATED Dec 1, 2019 5:57 AM EST
If there’s one place one can find plenty of nicknames, it’s within the sprawling landscape of the armed forces. When it comes to the greater civilian world, there’s no historical precedent or agreed upon social norm for how someone or something gains a substitute informal title. However, given the Department of Defense’s fondness of rigid structure, it should be no surprise that when it comes to nicknames, there’s a policy for them, too.
Meet NICKA
Prior to 1975, names for military operations and projects were exclusively chosen at the behest of military commanders. As a result, within the annals of American military history one can find a diverse range of interesting titles from Operation Killer—a major 1951 counter-offensive during the Korean War—to Operation Beaver Cage—a U.S. Marine Corps operation that occurred during the spring of 1967 as part of the Vietnam War.
However, shortly after the close of the Vietnam War, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) decided it was time to formalize the use of code words and nicknames by unveiling the Code Word Nickname and Exercise Term System, colloquially known as NICKA.
For the Department of Defense (DoD), NICKA is both a set of policies governing the selection of defense monikers and a military-wide computer system that archives and prevents duplication of terms.
Important to note, NICKA is primarily used for Department of Defense-related endeavors. Many operations or programs emerging from within the intelligence community use their own separate naming system.
For example, the Central Intelligence Agency uses the Cryptonym system for developing code words and names. It is also worth noting that the National Security Agency (NSA), National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) all use the NICKA system
NICKA outlines three distinctive types of monikers that can be used within the DoD:
Code Words
Nicknames
Exercise Terms
Code Words
In NICKA, acode word is a single word that’s assigned to any program or operational plan that’s classified confidential or higher. Each component agency in the Department of Defense are assigned blocks of code words by the Joint Staff. When needed, the NICKA computer program will randomly select and assign a code word from the originating agency’s allocated block of terms.
For example, in the lead up to the Gulf War, when the Combat Aviation Brigade of the 1st Armored Division needed a code word for their forward assembly area, the NICKA computer system pulled from one of the Army’s predetermined block designations and selected the amusingly mundane code word—LARRY.
Essentially a password for entry in an exclusive club, the preeminent role of code words is to restrict access to sensitive national security information to only those who have a need to know. Assisting security, a code word itself will be safeguarded by being classified by one of the three security classifications—confidential, secret, or top secret—based on the security level of the associated program.
Virtually anything conceivably classified, including programs, projects, locations, operations, objectives, missions, or plans, can be assigned a code word. One particular area code words can be highly prevalent is with Special Access Programs (SAP). As mentioned in The War Zone’s in-depth look at Special Access Programs, multiple components, sub-components, and projects can sprawl out from a single SAP “umbrella.” In this compartmentalized system of security, each of the different appendages of one SAP can potentially be assigned their own specific code word.
Once NICKA assigns a code word, it’s considered active. An active code word will remain unchanged for the life of a program and cannot be altered by its users. The one exception being if there’s a concern a code word had been compromised. In this instance, a new code word would be issued. Equally, in certain situations, an unclassified cover term may get applied to a program for counterintelligence purposes.
In addition to the obvious security and oversight reasons, the principal reason for a code word’s permanence relates to the significant role NICKA serves as an archive of all active and inactive code words. The system uses its database of terms to prevent any potential conflicts that could arise due to similarities or duplication of previous code words.
As a Department of Defense system, NICKA will only assign single-word code words. However, in some instances, the Pentagon may take over a project or program that originated outside of the DoD, such as from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Department of Energy (DOE), commercial companies, or even foreign governments. In these instances, already assigned code words may not follow NICKA guidelines. In these occurrences, a program may be reassigned a new NICKA code word or the previous unregulated code name may be maintained.
Regardless, of whether it’s kept or not, the non-NICKA code name may still be added to the program’s database to stem off any future confusion or conflict.
For example, technically before NICKA’s time and not a DoD project, the 1960s A-12 reconnaissance plane was developed and operated under the CIA code word “OXCART”. However, Kelly Johnson and his pioneering team of engineers at Lockheed Skunk Works used the code word “ARCHANGEL” for the A-12. Furthering the spy plane’s eventual identity crisis, flight crews would nickname the A-12 “Cygnus.”
Though OXCART was the only officially assigned government code word, under NICKA, both the contract code word, “ARCHANGEL” and the A-12’s nickname “Cygnus,” would equally be archived to prevent duplicate use.
When it comes to code words. Many real-world military operations and programs, for example, “HAVE BLUE,“ “ACID GAMBIT,” “AUTUMN RETURN,” “SENIOR TREND,” or the infamous “YELLOW FRUIT,” are often reported as being the “code word” for a classified operation or program. However, per DoD and the Joint Chiefs NICKA policy, a code word always consist of just a single word. By NICKA, the above named examples would be “nicknames” and not code words.
This does not mean that multiple code words cannot apply to a certain entity. Any intelligence product that contains Top-Secret NATO information would carry the code word “COSMIC” in addition to any other applicable ones. Certain categories of sensitive activities can even involve code words that become intrinsically linked and enter common usage linked together. “TALENT,” an overarching code word for aerial intelligence-gathering assets, such as the U-2 Dragon Lady and SR-71 Blackbird spy planes, and “KEYHOLE,” which covers intelligence-gathering satellites, are no longer treated as separate from each other officially and one will routinely see documents marked “TALENT KEYHOLE,” or using the abbreviation “TK,” as a single term.
Nicknames
As we briefly mentioned, when it comes to the designation of nicknames, NICKA offers some flexibility and gives military commanders the ability to be a little more creative.
Whereas NICKA only assigns single-word code words, by policy, nicknames must be comprised of two separate words. Similar to the code word process, each DoD component agency is assigned a set of designated numerical block assignments by NICKA. In turn, the agency’s numerical block assignment will correspond to “alphabetical assignment list,” which is a range of two-letter alphabetical sets. The first word of any nickname must come from within an agency’s assigned alphabetical range.
For example, using the now obsolete and unclassified NICKA block assignments, if a program within the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) needed to come up with a nickname, one would start by identifying the four numerical blocks assigned to the DIA (15, 33, 51, and 76).
The next step would be identifying what ranges of two-letter combinations would be associated with an agency’s assigned blocks. Following along with the previous example, based on the alphabetical assignment list, the first word of a DIA program nickname would have to start with:
Block 15 – Letters DM – DR
Block 33 – Letters IA – IF
Block 51 – Letters MM-MR
Block 76 – Letters SS – SZ
When it comes to the second portion of the two-word requirement for nicknames, military planners have the unrestricted ability to get creative, provided phrases are not “improper” or “counterproductive.”
By NICKA guidelines, improper nicknames would be terms that are:
Inconsistent with traditional American ideals or current foreign policy.
Offensive to good taste or derogatory to a particular group, sect, or creed.
Offensive to U.S. allies or other free world nations.
Additionally, NICKA forbids nicknames from being:
Any two-word combination voice call sign found in the Joint Army Navy Air Force Publication Call Sign Book (JANAP-119).
Include the words, “Project, Exercise, or Operation.”
Words that may be used correctly either as a single word or as two words, such as “moonlight.”
Exotic words, trite expressions or well-known commercial trademarks.
By military standards—where one can often find rules for rules—NICKA guidelines on nicknames are fairly limited and debatably common sense. Thanks to the tempered flexibility NICKA gives to nicknames, the system still affords for some bellicose poetry like “Beast Master”—a 2006 Army operation to clear the Baghdad suburb of Ghazaliya—an area itself (unofficially) nicknamed “IED Alley East,” or “Viking Snatch”—a 2007 counterinsurgency operation in Iraq. Still, especially at lower levels of command and for short-duration operations, one still often sees nicknames that do not comply with NICKA, including ones with single words.
In contrast to code words, nicknames, including their descriptions, meanings, and relationship, are also, by policy, supposed to remain unclassified, though the branches of the U.S. military still routinely classify them on the ground of national security. In addition, NICKA guidelines stipulate nicknames are not required, but can be assigned to actual real-world events, projects, or activities. One caveat to “not required” being with Special Access Programs, which are required to have an unclassified nickname assigned to them.
Exercise Terms
Rounding out NICKA’s trifecta of officially sanctioned phrases, are exercise terms. As the name implies, exercise terms are monikers assigned to tests, drills, or exercises, which are assigned for the purpose of emphasizing the event is not an actual real-world operation. That said, the military has a bad habit of not sticking to DoD rules when it comes to publicizing or describing training exercises, often describing them as “operations.”
For example, “Llama Fury” was a week-long Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) training exercise at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in late summer of 2015. By NICKA policies, Llama Fury should have carried the “exercise” moniker. However, in press releases, multiple Air Force Public Affairs Offices described the event as “Operation Llama Fury.”
Though technically their own classification, exercise terms are more or less an extension of NICKA nicknames, with their selection and regulation falling under the same agency assigned alphabetical block system as the nicknaming process.
Since some military training evolutions are regularly repeated, certain specific exercises will carry the same name with an added numerical postfix indicating the month or year the event occurs. For example, held annually from 2006 to 2018, some of the largest U.S. military war games ever performed in the Pacific Ocean were all conducted under the exercise term “Valiant Shield.” Since this training event was repeated for twelve-years, a four-digit identifier for the year training maneuvers were performed would accompany the exercise term, producing “Exercise Valiant Shield 2017,” and so on and so forth.
For exercises that occur multiple times in a fiscal year, like “Swift Response,” a large training event between the U.S. and its European allies, the second iteration of the exercise in 2017 would be called “Swift Response 17-2.”
Least ambiguous of NICKA’s trio, code words play an essential role safeguarding extremely sensitive secrets. However, when it comes to nicknames and exercise terms, this aspect of NICKA is arguably more significant.
For example, “Enduring Freedom,” (the U.S. Global War on Terrorism, though often applied solely to operations in Afghanistan), “Iraqi Freedom,” (the 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent occupation), or “Inherent Resolve,” (the U.S. military intervention in Iraq and Syria to combat ISIS), are not merely nicknames, these phrases are meant to inspire and express the overarching intent of military involvement.
More than just iconic inscriptions on military ribbons, medals, and service records, the perceptions associated with a few major military nicknames or terms become ingrained in the public’s collective conscious and often end up being enduring aspects of American history.
So, there you have it. All those cool-sounding program nicknames, secretive code words, and intense sounding military exercises you probably heard of over the years, all likely came from a highly structured, yet obscure Department of Defense system puzzlingly named NICKA.
LIVE Cat Games – Entertainment for Cats to Watch 24/7
https://youtu.be/Uhrpf1Cjgq8
I Had a Night of Wild(ish) Sex on Horny Goat Weed, aka ‘Nature’s Viagra’
Does the supplement meet all the gas station and corner store hype? I popped a few capsules and fucked my boyfriend to find out
Male enhancement is more important to the marrow of American culture than anything else that makes this country great — like breastaurants or the Claire’s ear piercing kiosk. For those of you who still fuck unenhanced, the deal is: a number of pills, both prescription and not, have become available to boost your boner in recent decades. The gold standard is still Viagra, famously a happy accident in the manufacture of what was meant to be a pill for hypertension. Another famous option is Enzyte, which I know less for its effects than for its creepy-ass commercials featuring Bob, the guy who can’t stop fucking his wife now that he’s on Enzyte.
https://youtu.be/ghrWz7cVXv8
Then there are unlimited Great Value options for people who can’t or won’t get their boner pills from a doctor. Gas stations and corner stores have long sold pills that claim they can do everything from induce boners to increase your dick size to make you look upon the face of God. Such pills have largely been debunked as quack shit that does much more harm than good, but that’s just for people with dicks, right? Surely I, a humble pussy-haver, am safe from the array of troubling side effects ranging from “pain in dick” to “severe nausea.” (There’s not a self-respecting doctor in the world who would agree with that assessment, but fie on them, I say!)
The plant epimedium, more commonly known as horny goat weed, has sung its siren’s song to me from the Amazon supplement market for a long time. Other dick pills may come from Dr. Strangelove-esque laboratories, but horny goat weed is a humble plant — one that, per Chinese legend, a canny farmer noticed his goats were eating before fucking like crazy. According to the limited experiments that scientists have conducted, it might work, but most products that claim to contain it either don’t or contain only a negligible amount mixed in with numerous other extracts and compounds. Still, that uncertainty is the cost of admission not just with horny goat weed, but with all supplements on the market in the U.S.
Either way, the allure of potentially enjoying some of “nature’s molly” with my boyfriend was too strong to ignore. Sure, it might not work, but also, it might.
I proposed a romantic evening. We’d enjoy a home-cooked dinner for two with a couple glasses of a nice full-bodied Cab Sav. From there, I’d turn off the lights and pour us some after-dinner Madeira to enjoy by candlelight. I would then change into something a little more comfortable. And my lover would take me into his arms so that we could take the last step of our journey together: sex modified by two fistfuls of Dorado’s Maximum Strength Horny Goat Weed capsules, since that was the first brand I could find that didn’t pull up a strongly worded FDA warning when I Googled it.
My boyfriend was on board, but raised an interesting philosophical question: “How do we know it worked? Do we measure?”
I’m not the, ugh, dick-measuring kind of gal, and so, I decided that we’d have to stick with that least reliable of evidence: the self-reported kind. So without further ado, here are my self-reported, only-lightly-tampered-with results from my Evening With Horny Goat Weed… (As with all the experiments I perform on my body for MEL, don’t try this at home.)
The dosage instructions on the bottle were to “take two capsules a day,” and to “take an additional serving 30 minutes prior to activity.” We hadn’t been taking two capsules per day and didn’t know what a sudden jolt of 2,000 milligrams of horny goat weed would do to our systems, so we compromised with three capsules each. I thought it would be romantic to serve the capsules in champagne flutes, but then I remembered I don’t own any. I put them in shot glasses instead, which lent the project an air of, how shall I put it — Jonestown-ishness.
We took our doses together at 8 p.m. My boyfriend rejected the suggestion that we ingest them by wrapping our arms around each other wedding-toast-style, which was fair. He grabbed a beer from the fridge but then put it back, reasoning that “I shouldn’t drink tonight so that we have controlled data.”
“Does that mean I shouldn’t smoke weed tonight?” I asked.
“No,” he said. “You smoking weed is the controlled data.”
We spent the next several episodes of Midnight Mass in full “kids taking acid for the first time” mode: “Do you feel it yet? Do you feel it now? How about now?” Back and forth we went for well over an hour. The instruction to take this stuff a mere 30 minutes prior to Activity was starting to feel like a prank. I did note that I felt particularly horny for the sheriff character on Midnight Mass every time he appeared onscreen, which was an encouraging step in the right direction, until my boyfriend pointed out that I probably just felt that way because he was so handsome.
Finally, at 9:30 p.m., a full 90 minutes after “dosing,” my boyfriend suggested that we go ahead and fuck. “Maybe the horny goat weed doesn’t kick in until the Activity starts,” he said. This sounded insane to me, but I also know nothing whatsoever about pharmacology, so I agreed.
The post-Activity verdict is that I’m not convinced the horny goat weed did anything. But I’m also not convinced that it didn’t! I engage in this stuff with a hearty degree of skepticism. On the one hand, I do believe in the research that tells us most of the salutary effects people claim to experience from their supplements are primarily attributable to the placebo effect, maybe with some lifestyle boosters thrown in if you also believe that the sorts of people who religiously take supplements are more likely than the average person to exercise regularly and forswear heavy smoking and drinking. (I certainly believe this latter hypothesis, based on my highly scientific study of the B-complex-poppin’ broads in a barre class I took once.)
On the other hand, something was going on with the Activity we had after taking horny goat weed. What the experiment lacked in measurable physical effects, it more than made up for in over an hour of wild sex. Maybe the sex was so heightened because we knew we’d taken something that was intended to enhance it, and felt duly enhanced as a result. Or maybe there really is some magic in that old silk hat that is horny goat weed. It’s played its part in Traditional Chinese Medicine for thousands of years. Would people really do the same thing for thousands of years if it didn’t work?
Well, yes, probably, so that line of thinking doesn’t help me conclude this experiment, either.
Nonetheless, the next day, my boyfriend said, “You know, I’d be down to take that stuff again and have more sex.” I agreed. And surely any experiment that ends in me having more sex is a successful experiment, right?
So my conclusion is, horny goat weed: The world is burning, so I guess I might as well.
OMG This New Footage Of Aliens And UFO’s Is Amazing
https://youtu.be/R0YSZTzaTQM
How To Not Lose Your Cool During An Argument
January 22, 2024
It’s happened to most of us – emotions run high during a disagreement and you end up saying or doing things you later regret. Yelling, accusing, or even worse, can damage trust and connection in relationships.
Maintaining composure during an argument is not just about self-control; it’s about fostering effective communication, respect, and ultimately, stronger relationships. Here’s how you can master the art of keeping your cool during heated moments.
1. Recognize the Signs of Escalation
Before you can prevent a volcano from erupting, you need to recognize its warning signs. Pay attention to your body’s signals. Increased heart rate, a rise in body temperature, or a clenched jaw can all indicate that your emotions are escalating. By recognizing these signs early, you can take proactive steps to remain calm.
2. Pause and Breathe
It sounds simple, but the power of a pause coupled with deep breathing is profound. Our bodies are hardwired for the fight-or-flight response when faced with conflict. This means adrenaline surges, heart rate skyrockets, and rational thought takes a vacation to Mars. But before you launch into a tirade that would make a sailor blush, take a deep breath (or ten). Inhale slowly through your nose, feeling your belly expand. Exhale slowly through your mouth, imagining all the tension whooshing out with each breath. Repeat. This simple act activates your parasympathetic nervous system, the calming counterpoint to fight-or-flight, and brings you back to a more rational state.
3. Listen Actively
In the heat of an argument, we often listen to respond rather than to understand. Shift your focus to truly hearing the other person. This doesn’t mean you have to agree with them, but understanding their perspective can change the tone of the conversation and lead to more constructive outcomes.
Repeat and paraphrase. Restating what you heard shows you’re listening and delays an impulsive response. “I hear you saying I don’t contribute enough, is that correct?”
4. Use “I” Statements
Express your feelings and thoughts without placing blame or judgment on the other person. Statements like “I feel frustrated when…” are less likely to provoke defensiveness than “You always…” This approach keeps the conversation centered on your experience rather than pointing fingers.
Don’t make it personal. Criticize the action, not the person. Say “I wish you had consulted me before deciding” not “You’re so inconsiderate.”
5. Keep the Goal in Mind
Remind yourself of the argument’s objective. Is it to win, to prove a point, or to reach a mutual understanding? Keeping the ultimate goal in mind can help steer the conversation away from unnecessary tangents and personal attacks.
6. Agree to Disagree
Sometimes, the best resolution is to respectfully acknowledge your differences. Not every argument will end with a clear winner or a unified opinion, and that’s okay. Agreeing to disagree can be a mature way to conclude a heated discussion without escalating emotions further.
7. Practice Empathy
Try to see the situation from the other person’s perspective. Empathy doesn’t require you to abandon your stance, but it fosters a more compassionate and understanding environment, making it easier for all parties to keep their cool.
8. Know When to Walk Away
If the argument is spiraling and productive communication is no longer possible, it might be time to step away. If you need to, say “I’m feeling too upset to discuss this calmly” and leave the room. Walk away to decompress before continuing.
Taking a break allows everyone involved to cool down, reflect, and revisit the discussion later with a clearer, calmer mindset
The Takeaway
Arguments are not inherently negative; they can be catalysts for growth, understanding, and change. The key is not to avoid them but to navigate them with composure and respect. By mastering the art of keeping your cool, you transform conflicts into opportunities for strengthening relationships and building mutual respect. Remember, it’s not about suppressing your emotions but about expressing them in a way that is constructive rather than destructive. So, the next time you find yourself in the heat of an argument, take a deep breath, and remember these strategies. Your relationships will thank you for it.
I was at a yard sale once, and came across a glass jar of large marbles that had funny little figures of animals in them.
image 229
A friend of mine collected marbles, so I thought I’d buy them and give them to him to be funny. I think I paid $2 or so.
A week later, I visited my friend, and pulled out the jar, and asked him what he thought of my find. He went nearly white, and started pulling large books down off his shelves. An hour later, he had identified just about every last one. I could see the longing in his eyes. I asked if he wanted them. He looked at his price lists he’d written down, and said he couldn’t afford them. I said I’d just give them to him, but he refused that, too. Finally, I suggested he buy them from me for half price. He was delighted. At the end of the night, after sorting, cleaning, and classifying each one, he offered me $50 . . .
. . . per marble.
EDIT: More than half the comments ask what these were. They were very rare Sulphide Marbles, and they looked a lot nicer than the ones pictured here.
As for the people saying “Some friend you are!” . . . trust me, it was a compromise. He made even more on the deal than I did, and we’re still friends.
When you give me the “can you fix my computer” call, the call means something different to me than it means to you.
To me, it means I will have to stay up all night, buy and try and swap replacement parts, image and restore your hard drive, remove all the malware, replace the cap on the motherboard that is clearly about to blow, and make your computer work the way you imagine it once did, all while ignoring my other family members, my paying work and life commitments.
At my standard rates I would typically charge around $4,000 to fix your seven year old virus-ridden Dell. Your seven year old virus-ridden Dell isn’t worth $100 on Ebay. Should I tell you that? Will you think I am lying or making the $4,000 number up? I am not. You will think I am insulting you if I tell you I make $4,000 for similar work. You are too cheap and too poor to pay me anywhere near that much though.
Of course I could always send you to Geek Squad. They would of course stupidly and automatically reformat your hard drive and reinstall the OS. If I do that, you will lose all your bank records and baby pictures permanently, to vastly less competent technicians than myself. They would take your money and destroy your data, and they would not even fix the true source of the problem. And you would be very, very, very sad.
And I would know in my heart I could have helped you, but didn’t.
No. I won’t do that to you.
I will take pity on you because you are clearly panicking and unable to eat, sleep or breathe until I save you and your data.
For you, and you alone, I will do a first-rate professional forensic data recovery and reinstallation. I’ll image the non-booting drive, work around all the bad sectors, copy it onto a virtual machine, extract your baby pictures and Quicken data, install a new non-shitty hard drive, reinstall all the apps and operating system and your recovered data (sans viruses and spyware), replace the dying fan, update the BIOS, and I will furthermore provide you with an external drive and teach you how to back up your system regularly with it.
Disappointingly, you will fuck up your computer again in a few years, when you refuse to take my advice and do regular backups on the backup drive that I bought for you, specifically for that purpose.
And when your piece of shit computer fails again, you will call me. Panicking. Again.
And the agonizing cycle will repeat.
Being the computer expert in the family is like being the doctor in the family, except you’re the surgeon and everyone expects you to operate on them constantly, suddenly, perfectly, AND pay for the operating room and sedatives and hospital recovery, AND you still consistently refuse to follow my medical advice.
I do all this, for free, because you are so thankful afterwards.
I do all this, for free, because I love you.
I just wish you weren’t so fucking stupid about computers sometimes.
Single, Childless Men Are Saying A Hard No To Single Mothers Looking For A New Man For Support
My former roommate was experiencing bleeding, although she was several years past menopause. Her PCP refused to do any testing because she was over 65 and suggested that she have a hearing test instead. Next stop was an OB/GYN that told her it couldn’t be the fibroids she had dealt with her whole adult life because those would have disappeared at menopause and sent her home without even checking her. The third, again with no tests, said she must have scratched herself “down there” and also sent her home.
Janet is a private person and didn’t mention any of this to me until the third brush off. I was furious and demanded that she see my PCP. She just went in for an initial consult and my doctor had he on the table for an exam immediately. Then she was sent for an ultrasound that found fibroids equaling a five-month pregnancy. The scheduled a hysterectomy where they found an inflamed fallopian tube. The biopsy of that reveled cancer cells, but only a couple.
Janet opted to go through preventative chemo and is cancer free eight years later. If she had followed the advice of the three prior doctors, the cancer would never have been caught and I doubt she would be alive today.
Ukraine SitRep: No Chance To Win – Zero Democracy – Power Scuffle
There are a few new reports and news bites from Ukraine which are of interest.
Stephen Biddle, a professor who was written on strategy and military power from a realist standpoint, looks at the state of the war In Ukraine.
By late spring, the Russians had adopted the kind of deep, prepared defenses that have been very difficult for attackers to break through for more than the last century of combat experience. Breakthrough has been—and still is—possible in land warfare. But this has long required permissive conditions that are now absent in Ukraine: a defender, in this case Russia, whose dispositions are shallow, forward, ill prepared, or logistically unsupported or whose troops are unmotivated and unwilling to defend their positions. That was true of Russian forces in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Kherson in 2022. It is no longer the case.
The implications of this for Ukraine are grim. Without an offensive breakthrough, success in land warfare becomes an attrition struggle. A favorable outcome for Ukraine in a war of attrition is not impossible, but it will require its forces to outlast a numerically superior foe in what could become a very long war.
Biddle does not expand from there.
But we know that the current Russian disposition of waging an ‘active defense’ is delivering day by day some small progress along the whole front.
Ukraine’s artillery losses have become smaller because it simply lacks the munitions to fire. A cannon that can not fire stops to be a priority target.
First Person View (FBV) drones have became a major cause of all losses. Ukraine was first to use those but Russia has since rapidly ramped up their production. Meanwhile Ukraine is still lagging. Each day hundreds of these drones clear Ukrainian positions without causing significant losses for the attacking Russian side.
In the New Yorker Masha Gesses takes a look at the political scene in Kiev:
Ukraine’s Democracy in Darkness – (archived) – The New Yorker With elections postponed and no end to the war with Russia in sight, Volodymyr Zelensky and his political allies are becoming like the officials they once promised to root out: entrenched.
Gessen finds that democracy in Ukraine, if it still exists, is in a sorry state:
Such was the state of Ukraine as it entered its third consecutive winter at war: still battling the demon of corruption, still defiant, yet visibly reduced, palpably tired. … In the meantime, in Ukraine, democracy is largely suspended. According to the regular order of things, Ukraine should have a Presidential election in March. Up until the end of November—a few weeks before the deadline for scheduling the election—Zelensky’s office seemed open to having one, but ultimately decided against it. “We shouldn’t have elections, because elections always create disunity,” Andriy Zagorodnyuk, a former defense minister who now advises the government, told me. “We need to be unified.”
An estimated four to six million Ukrainians are living under Russian occupation. At least four million are living in E.U. countries, a million more are living in Russia, and at least half a million are living elsewhere outside of Ukraine. Another four million have been internally displaced. These figures include a significant number of people who became adults after the war began and aren’t registered to vote. “Elections are a public discussion,” Oleksandra Romantsova, the executive director of Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties, which shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, told me. “But a third of the population is connected with the military. Another third is displaced.” With so many people excluded from the public discussion, what would an election even mean? …”
All power in Ukraine has been concentrated in the President’s office:
At the start of the war, when Russia was bombing Kyiv daily, the parliament had to consider the risks of continuing to hold meetings in its building, which has a glass roof. It decided to do so, but to vote only on bills that a majority wanted to bring to the floor, and to limit discussion of amendments. This effectively shifted the center of legislative work to the President’s office. Among other bills, the parliament approved the declaration of martial law, introduced by Zelensky on the first day of the war, and has regularly renewed it. Martial law enables the cabinet of ministers to control who can enter and leave the country—since the start of the war, men under the age of sixty have been forbidden to leave—and to regulate the work of all media outlets, printing presses, and distribution companies.
Zelensky’s office created the United News TV Marathon, a round-the-clock program of war-related news and talk shows, supplanting what had been a vibrant and varied television news market. The segments appear on six of Ukraine’s major channels and, at any given time, all of them are showing the same thing. Despite its name, United Marathon was clearly designed to be a sprint. In the early months of the war, the programming had a sense of urgency, of novelty and shock. Now even the worst days—when Russia fires a barrage of rockets that kill civilians across the country—are like all the other terrible days, when people are killed in the same way, in more or less the same places. There is little to analyze anymore. “The one thing all Ukrainians agree on is that we need an end to the Marathon,” Romantsova told me.
Other government-controlled media target an international audience.
An example of the power struggle around the presidential office could be witnessed yesterday.
Around noon several reliable political sources in Ukraine reported that President Zelensky had signed a decree to fire the Commander in Chief General Zaluzny. Hours later the Ministry of Defense denied that Zaluzny was fired.
From information gained since we can somewhat reconstruct what had happened.
Zaluzny had been ordered into the President’s office. He was asked to write his resignation. As consolation gift he would receive an ambassadorship in some western European country.
Zaluzny rejected the request and insisted of getting fired or being allowed to stay in place.
Zelenski had planned to promote the Chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence in Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov as the new Commander in Chief.
Here is where I believe that other high officers, and likely also the U.S. military, stepped in.
Budanov has been in special forces intelligence from the very beginning of his career. He has never commanded anything larger than a group. Not a platoon, not a company, not a battalion, not a brigade, not a division and not a corp. How can someone who has zero experience in leading actual force formations supposed to be the commander of all Ukrainian forces including the army, air-force and navy?
It is impossible.
Budanov seems to be somewhat loyal to Zelenski (though I bet he really isn’t). He is handsome and looks good on camera. He is a smooth talker. He is also a creative and talented terrorist. His actual military operations though, like the ground raids into Belgograd, have mostly been mediocre failures.
I am pretty sure that the Pentagon and even the White House may have called Kiev and stopped Zelenski from implementing such nonsense.
Zaluzny will, for now, stay in his position.
But the whole affair will have diminished the military’s view of Zelenski and his consorts. In just one day a military coup In Kiev has suddenly become much more possible. As further the military situation deteriorates the higher are the chances that it will eventually happen. ———–
Posted by b on January 30, 2024 at 13:18 UTC | Permalink
Man Humbles A Room Full Of Women| You Owe Him BOX If He Pays!
https://youtu.be/ZPzB5IidD_I
Thinkers OUTSIDE the United States Say “Civil War in U.S. is Inevitable”
Alexander Dugin is a renowned thinker in Russia. He has made remarks about the ongoing events between Texas and the Biden Regime and he thinks Civil War in the USA is now “inevitable.” Here’s his thoughts:
In America, the birthplace of pragmatism, pragmatism has vanished. The globalists, especially under the Biden regime, represent an extreme form of a globalist dictatorship, severing ties with the typically American tradition established by Charles Peirce and William James.
The tradition of pragmatism was based on a complete indifference to the prescription of normative content for both the subject and object. For a true pragmatist, the perceptions of the subject about itself, the object, or another subject are irrelevant — what matters is that everything functions effectively upon interaction.
However, globalists differ significantly, aligning more closely with British positivists and French fervent materialists. They persist with totalitarian brutality, dictating who and what should conform to their prescriptions.
To a pragmatist, it is inconsequential whether one changes their gender or remains the same, as long as it works for them. In contrast, globalists mandate gender changes, enforcing this through law and promoting it as a universal, progressive value. Anyone who opposes this view is labelled a ‘fascist’, or likened to Trump or Putin. They will insist on this approach, irrespective of its efficacy or self-defeating nature. Surprisingly, globalists share many traits with Ukrainians — an unsettling resemblance.
When globalists decide to increase illegal immigration, they relentlessly pursue this agenda, branding those advocating regulated immigration or border control as ‘fascists’, Trump supporters, or Putin agents. They press on with their prescriptive policies to the extreme, even if they prove utterly ineffective. For a globalist, anyone who disagrees with their viewpoint effectively does not — and should not — exist.
Hence, one can be certain that the progressives from the Democratic Party and the neoconservatives from both parties — just as obstinate and disconnected from pragmatism, realism, or traditional conservatism, thus alienating America’s true essence – are steering the country towards an inevitable civil war.
They refuse to engage in meaningful dialogue, disregarding whether their policies work or not. Their focus remains fixated on enforcing their ideals: transgender rights, illegal immigration, pro-choice stances, open borders, green energy, and artificial intelligence.
This represents a profound philosophical contradiction within the American system. Today, America is governed by those deeply out of touch with its identity, and thus, a new civil war in the USA seems inevitable. The globalists are set to ensure its outbreak.
Translated by Constantin von Hoffmeister
JRE | 40 years ago, a KGB defector chillingly predicted modern America
https://youtu.be/5oYAyX_YVWU
Chicken Parma
Our inspired rendition of the classic Chicken Parmigiana. Tender chicken cutlets, encrusted with Parmesan cheese and seasonings, are topped with marinara sauce and mozzarella.
2024 01 31 20 32
Ingredients
1/4 cup plain dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Garlic Powder
1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Perfect Pinch® Italian Seasoning
Mix bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder and Italian seasoning on plate.
Moisten chicken lightly with water. Coat evenly with bread crumb mixture.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in large nonstick skillet on medium heat.
Cook 1/2 of the chicken pieces for 3 to 4 minutes per side or until golden brown.
Transfer chicken to foil-lined 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Repeat with remaining chicken, adding remaining 1 tablespoon oil if necessary. Spoon sauce evenly over chicken. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
Bake for 5 to 10 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.
Serve with cooked spaghetti, if desired.
Prep: 15 min | Cook: 25 min | Servings: 4
Nutritional information (amount per serving) Total Calories: 398 Sodium: 478mg Fat: 22g Carbohydrates: 13g Cholesterol: 100mg Protein: 37g Fiber: 1g
We had a patient in our practice who came in with a badly infected tooth that needed a root canal right away. My partner examined him and warned him to start that day. He was unconvinced and said he wanted to wait, even declining his offer for a prescription. That patient was also a friend of my partner’s family and, wouldn’t you know it, there was a death in his family only one day later. I walked into the funeral home chapel and my partner greeted me. Ten minutes later, that patient walked in, with noticeable swelling that had reached to right under his left eye. When he saw us, he quickly walked away from us to the corner of the room. My partner finally went over to him and the man said, “I’m so sorry, doctor, you were right and I deserve what I have”. We called in a prescription for pain meds and antibiotics for him right away a he came in 2 days later.
Wife COMPLAINS The Open Marriage She Wanted Isn’t Fair As Husband Is Treating His GF Better Than Her
https://youtu.be/gRCWAf-cjK0
Stop Deluding Yourselves! NESARA/GESARA, Like “Q” and “Q Anon” and “Q Storm,” is a Fraud
We’ve all heard about “The White Hats” from “Q”, and “Q Anon” and “Q Storm”, which tell readers a secret group of high level people in the military is going to “save the country.” It’s all lies. Another such lie is the NESARA/GESARA thing. More delusion. Stop deluding yourself!
According to Wikipedia: The National Economic Security and Recovery Act (NESARA) is a set of proposed economic reforms for the United States suggested during the 1990s by private citizen Harvey Francis Barnard. Barnard claimed that the proposals, which included replacing the income tax with a national sales tax, abolishing compound interest on secured loans, and returning to a bimetallic currency, would result in 0% inflation and a more stable economy. The proposals were never introduced before Congress.
Since the early 2000s, NESARA has become better known as the subject of a cult-like conspiracy theory whose original promoter was Internet personality Shaini Candace Goodwin, better known as “Dove of Oneness”. Goodwin, who appropriated the NESARA notions without Barnard’s consent, claimed that the act was actually passed with additional provisions as the National Economic Security and Reformation Act, and then suppressed by the George W. Bush administration and the Supreme Court. Goodwin’s conspiracy emails were translated into several languages and had a large following online.[1] Adherents to the theory have also been using the name GESARA (standing either for Global Economic Security and Recovery Act[2] or Global Economic Security and Reformation Act[3]) in order to extend the proposed NESARA reforms outside the US and to the rest of the world.[3]
Monetary reform proposal
Harvey Francis Barnard (1941–2005), an engineering consultant and teacher with a PhD in systems theory, created the NESARA proposal during the late 1980s and early 1990s.[4] Barnard printed 1,000 copies of his proposal, titled Draining the Swamp: Monetary and Fiscal Policy Reform (1996), and sent copies to members of Congress, believing it would pass quickly on its merits. Based on a theory that debt is the number one economic factor inhibiting the growth of the economy, and compound interest the number one “moral evil” and reason for debt, Barnard made several other attempts during the 1990s to draw political attention to the problems he saw in the US economy, and his suggested economic recovery proposal based on the root causes he determined. After Barnard’s efforts to gain political support did not succeed, he decided in 2000 to release his proposal to the public domain and publish it on the Internet. Barnard established the NESARA Institute in 2001, and published the second edition of his book in 2005, retitling it Draining the Swamp: The NESARA Story – Monetary and Fiscal Policy Reform.[1][5]
Conspiracy theory
Dove of Oneness
Soon after Barnard released NESARA on the Internet, a user known as “Dove of Oneness” began posting about it in forums and eventually created a website devoted to it. “Dove of Oneness” was later identified as Shaini Candace Goodwin, a former student of Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment.[1] Goodwin claimed that the NESARA bill languished in Congress before finally being passed by a secret session in March 2000 and signed by President Bill Clinton. Her theory held that the new law was to be implemented at 10 a.m. on September 11, 2001, but that the computers, and data (of the beneficiaries of the trillions of dollars of “Prosperity funds”) were destroyed on the second floor of one of the World Trade Center towers in New York City during the terrorist attacks. Supposedly an earlier gag order issued by the Supreme Court had prohibited any official or private source from discussing it, under penalty of death.[1] Goodwin referred to “White Knights,” most of them high-ranking military officials, who have since been struggling to have the law implemented despite opposition by President George W. Bush. Goodwin purported that Bush orchestrated the September 11 attacks and the Iraq War as distractions from NESARA.[6][7]
Goodwin’s description of NESARA goes far beyond Barnard’s proposal by cancelling all personal debts, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, declaring world peace, and requiring new presidential and congressional elections. Goodwin often claimed that Bush officials were attempting to hack into and bring down her web site to prevent her from publicizing the law.[8] She would purport to be connected with powerful authorities and used authoritative language, publishing messages in which she “ordered” the “White Knights” to enforce NESARA.[9]
Goodwin began commenting on NESARA in connection with Omega Trust, a fraudulent investment scheme whose creator, Clyde Hood, was on trial at the time. According to Goodwin, Omega Trust investors would receive their returns after NESARA was announced.[1][10] Goodwin repeatedly predicted that the NESARA announcement would occur in the very near future,[11][12][13] although in later years she became more reserved in these predictions.[14]
Barnard became aware of Goodwin’s description of NESARA before his death in 2005. He denied that NESARA had been enacted into law or even assigned a tracking number, and condemned Goodwin’s allegations as a disinformation campaign.[15]
Goodwin promoted the NESARA theory until her death in 2010.[16]
Further developments
After Goodwin began commenting on NESARA, other Internet-based conspiracy theorists latched onto it. One supporter, Sheldan Nidle, ties the imminent NESARA announcement into his years-old prophecy of an imminent large scale UFO visitation by benevolent aliens (occasionally on his website reports, but more prominently in his videos,[17] seminars and public appearances). Jennifer Lee, who used to publish internet NESARA status reports almost daily[18] on her now defunct site, discussed a host of other-worldly and “interdimensional” beings who are helping behind the scenes to get NESARA announced. Late Internet conspiracy theorist Sherry Shriner, who operated multiple websites, saw NESARA as linked to malevolent reptiloid aliens she asserted long controlled the U.S. government.[19]
Some NESARA supporters also make the claim that otherworldly beings are working to get NESARA announced. These include a “channeled” cosmic being called “Hatonn”[20] (an androidPleiadean), and another named “Sananda”. According to some proponents of Ascended Master Teachings, such as Joshua David Stone, Sheldan Nidle, and Luis Prada, “Sananda” is the “galactic name” of Ascended Master Jesus, which he uses in his role as Commander-in-Chief of the Ashtar Command flying saucer fleet. “Pallas Athena” is regarded as being the Vice-Commander of the saucer fleet. Ashtar (Ashtar Sheran) is regarded in these teachings as being third-in-command.[21] The designation of George W. Bush as a disguised reptilian often co-occurred with this claim.[22] Goodwin has claimed that Ascended Master Saint Germain came down from the etheric plane to physically meet with heads of banks and world leaders regarding the NESARA announcement.[23][24]
Followers of the NESARA conspiracy theory began using the name “GESARA” in the mid-2010s, by referencing the set of reforms as a “Global” – and not “National” – Economic Security and Reformation Act. They notably claimed that several East Asian groups were involved in enforcing the reforms worldwide, including the purported “White Dragon Society” which would benefit from fundings by “the successors of the last Chinese Emperor, Pu Yi“. One prominent advocate of “GESARA” has been a blogger based in the UK and going by the name “Alcuin Bramerton”. In 2020, “Bramerton” asserted that the “NESARA global prosperity programmes” were about to be announced and activated through an entity called the “Saint Germain World Trust” which would provide “one quattuordecillion US dollars” to “zero out (permanently cancel) all personal, corporate and national debts worldwide” and that further money would be provided to the “White Dragon Society” by the “Manchu family syndicate”.[3]
NESARA groups are known for certain to exist and to have attracted press attention in Utah,[25][26] and the Netherlands.[27] Members of these groups get together to discuss the status of NESARA, read the various reports, hold protests, and pass out fliers about NESARA to the public. Goodwin claimed that NESARA groups exist throughout several nations and US states including California, Washington, Arizona, and Texas, and provides hundreds of pieces of photographic evidence of people in public protests holding NESARA banners,[28][29] but it is not clear to what degree the people holding the banners are aware of what NESARA is, or for how long these groups were active. The News Tribune has traced the story behind at least some of these photos (photos of trucks driving around Washington, D.C. bearing the words “NESARA Announcement Now!”), and found that they were part of a $40,000 advertising campaign allegedly paid for by an elderly San Francisco resident who had made donations to Goodwin.[27]
NESARA’s concepts have also been incorporated by other conspiracy theories. In 2022, Bellingcat compared NESARA/GESARA to a “grandfather” of QAnon and reported that as QAnon’s iconography and concepts were declining in popularity, its adherents were becoming more and more invested in NESARA concepts and reviving that older movement.[2] People involved with the sovereign citizen movement have also subscribed to NESARA-related theories.[30]
Comparison to a cult and scam accusations
Critics consider NESARA to be a cult. Pointing to the fact that Goodwin, Lee, and Nidle frequently solicited donations from their readers, they accuse these leaders of being primarily interested in securing a steady stream of income for themselves.[31][32][33] Goodwin, who also asked readers to donate their frequent flyer miles,[34] claimed that she needed and had used the funds to travel to various locations around the world to secretly meet with high-level government officials about getting NESARA announced.[34][35] In 2004, The News Tribune published an article which called Goodwin a “cybercult queen” and described the NESARA phenomenon as a scam.[1]
A June 2006 complaint to the Washington consumer protection division accused Goodwin of using the NESARA story to defraud a 64-year-old San Francisco woman of at least $10,000. The woman’s daughter said the actual amount is much larger, in the hundreds of thousands.[27]
The prominence of failed prophecy also lends support to the cult theory. NESARA supporters often tell their readers that the NESARA announcement is going to happen in a matter of days. According to the documentary Waiting For NESARA, the claim was also made prior to March 2003 that George Bush was planning the war with Iraq only to further delay the NESARA announcement. It was prophesied that spiritual beings and UFOs would intervene with Bush’s plans and prevent the war.[25]
^ Ward, Suzy (July 18, 2005). “Special NESARA Edition”. The Matthew Books. Retrieved 2007-09-25. Ward claims to write books that are “channeled” from her son, Matthew, who died in April, 1980 at the age of 17. The message cited is claimed to be channeled through a higher level “cosmic being” named “Hatonn”
Even if you don’t believe the Wikipedia information and sourced citations beneath it, the whole idea that NESARA is somehow “secretly signed into law by Bill Clinton,” is totally absurd. Here in the United States, there is no such thing as a secret law. There can’t be. If it is secret, how would anyone know to obey it? How would anyone avoid breaking it? The whole notion is stupid.
Yet there are literally thousands of people who buy into this crap on its face. STOP BEING STUPID.
My dad was a bricklaying contractor (in the UK), think in the US that would be a stonemason? , He used to get letters from guys in prison saying they were getting out and could they have a job.
My dad consistently hired some of these guys, they were hod carriers, they were dirt workers and they earned good money for a good day’s work.
I remember an argument on site as one guy basically wanted to steal some stuff and one of the ex-cons was arguing with him (and it was about to get ugly) that you steal from others, but not from the guy who has helped you with work when you are out of prison.
As a teenager, I learned a lot from the felons who worked in construction. Every one of them did nothing but tell me to stay in school and go to college and work. One of them showed me the math of how even doing a bank job wouldn’t make you more than having a job for the 20 years you would spend in prison.
I learned not to swear at people, I did it once and one of the felons smacked me so hard I fell over, he helped me up and told me never to lose my temper with people and swear and shout unless I was willing and able to fight.
One of them, in particular, was a bad guy, he made no bones about it, beatings and at least one murder that he was suspected in. He worked harder to make sure I knew to stay in school and go get a real job and if he mentioned drugs once he must have mentioned them a million times.
Some felons should be locked up and have the key thrown away but most of the ones I have met in construction and later when I worked in a bar, knew they had done wrong and didn’t want anyone else going down the same path.
Felons get jobs by convincing someone to give them a chance and then not screwing it up for the next guy.
I and two other people were hired for the support department of a new financial software product. My job was to work with the developers on enhancements. The other two were software and hardware support. None of us knew UNIX, and that’s all this company used. PCs and MS-DOS were relatively common then, but not at this company. So, we had a sheet of commands to learn and the chief developer was training us.
“What’s this” said the prospective hardware guy when he saw the “wall” command. “That’s Write ALL” said the C.D. It puts a message in the message line of all the terminals on the system. But … don’t use it. That’s only for the System Admin or me, if they want us to broadcast a message to everyone.
Two weeks later, a Friday afternoon around 4:00 PM (office closes at 5:00) we all get a “REPORT TO CONF RM ASAP” followed by “ALL STAFF NO EXCEPTION”. We all come flying out of our offices and into the combined conference/reception area. Four developers, the two QA people, the office manager, the receptionist, myself and I think my two colleagues are behind me. We’re all looking at the CIO’s door, and that comes flying open.
“What’s this all about” he says, turning to the office manager. “No idea,” she says and the C.D. says the same. Next a phone call from corporate in Los Angeles. A very angry chairman is asking the CIO what the F*** is going on. Where did this message come from. He’s headed back to the office right now and there’d better be answers for him when he gets there.
Now we’re all puzzled. You see this was 1990 and we all knew stories of companies firing whole staffs. Often enough it was just like this: call everyone in and group fire them. But if the chairman didn’t know what was going on … ????
Now we’re looking around and it finally dawns on everyone. We’re all there except for the new hardware tech. The CIO is now looking at the software support person and me. We both say “He was here an hour ago. Never said anything to us about leaving.” By this point, the CIO had asked the SysAdmin to trace the message.
Yes … that’s who sent it. He (so we learned) realized he’d made a big mistake as soon as he hit enter. He thought his little prank would give us a nice little jolt for a Friday afternoon. He never thought we’d take it seriously. So when he heard us all scramble for the conference room while one of the QA people said “this is how they fired everyone where I worked before this. Here we go again …” he knew he was in trouble.
He claimed that he hid in the bathroom in the hallway for a few minutes. He figured we’d all go back to our desks a few minutes later, realizing it was just a prank. But when he came back in, he saw we were still in the conference room and he heard some angry voices. He says he grabbed his coffee cup and hat, and left for good.
His plan (after his prank blew over as he thought it would) was to talk to the supervisor privately. He’d admit that he did it, take his talking to and life would go on. He claims he never expected a company wide firestorm. In part, he didn’t realize that this message would pop up on every terminal in corporate HQ.
Modern Women Frustrated About Men Refusing To APPROACH Them “Women Hitting The Wall”
Start every phone call with “My battery is almost dead”. That way you can hang up on them at any time.
Want to cut into another lane of traffic but nobody will let you in? Cut in front of a Tesla, autopilot will force the car to stop.
Hit the space bar twice for a full stop, and the next letter will be automatically capitalized too.
If you can’t think of a word, say “I forget the English word for it”. That way people will think you’re bilingual instead of an idiot.
If the person sitting in front of you on a flight reclines their seat all the way back and leaves you with no room, turn on the air con above you to full blast and point it at the top of their head.
The best way to charge your phone faster is by switching it to airplane mode before plugging it in.
Wet your nail clippers before using them. Your clippings won’t fly everywhere.
Drive around with broken, expensive items in your car.
If you’d like to use emojis on your Mac desktop, simply press Control + Command + Spacebar to open the emoji menu.
Whenever buying something online, try using the coupon code “military”. Many sites have a military discount and don’t require any proof of military service.
From being the most effective and efficient manufacturing to having the most reliable and effective batteries to having the world’s biggest market by far, even bigger than the rest of the world’s EV market put together to a government and industry leader that has been farsighted and supportive for generations planning to convert ICE to EV.
China unlike the U.S. is not torn between protecting the oil barons and protecting the environment. China decided to skip investment on ICE all together because it sees EVs as the future. GM’s as well as most major car manufacturers is torn between conserving and protecting their well refined ICE technologies and making the shift to EV.
China even corner the most crucial materials and technologies needed to produce EV’s BYD is the only battery manufacturer cum vehicle producer rolled into one. What is worst is China produces everything at a third of US cost!
Their CEO are paid 1% of US CEO, their workers are paid a fifth of western workers who demand 10 times more rights and benefits but are willing to work half as hard! There is no way on earth that U.S. can compete. Chinese government focus fully on helping its people and build the best infrastructure. The U.S. focus on forever wars!
Texas Warned EVERYONE…This Crisis Is OFFICIALLY Unstoppable
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.
Dogs in Shenzhen are a real trip. I must tell you all, these pooches have to be the most catered to, and pampered animals in the world. They get hair styling, fingernails, their own clothes, carriages and backpacks.
Many, many years ago I was working at Godfather’s Pizza. One of our assistant managers was a real jerk. One of his endearing habits was making sexist remarks. I found that the way to shut him up was to add into the conversation topics that he just couldn’t handle. Like one day when a song by The Who was playing. I altered the words and sang to him “Talking ’bout my menstruation”. Another time he was being rather condescending, lecturing the kitchen staff, and mentioned the cleaning towels. He said “We DON’T use RAGS!” and I said “I do!”
Which reminds me of a time with this guy I was dating briefly. We had just had dinner at a restaurant on our way back to town, and before leaving, he said “I’m going to visit the porcelain altar.” When he came back from the restroom, I asked “Did he accept your sacrifice?” He answered “With open mouth”. So then it was my turn. When I came back to the booth, I said “I gave a blood sacrifice”. I don’t know why he thought his answer was so witty, but mine was horribly disgusting!
This was back several years ago, phone books were still used and no one had ever heard of such a thing as a smartphone. But I went to a Ford dealership in response to one of those Saturday morning programs I seen about various dealerships having sales on used cars where they’d parade them by the screen while rattling off the various things the car or truck was equipped with and the listed price. I go to the dealership and fell for their first scam, they ask you if you’re trading in the vehicle you arrived in and if you say yes they ask you for the keys so they can appraise the vehicle. Don’t ever fall for this cause not only are they going to low ball you on the trade in value (know what your car is worth before you go), but some dealerships will also about hold your keys hostage until you agree to buy whatever car you had been looking at with excuses ranging from they’re still looking at your car to let me go talk to my manager for the umpteenth time…
So I had fallen into this trap. The sales guy I had test drove the car with didn’t know anything about the car, I had to educate him, and I decided not to buy the car. Well they wouldn’t give me back the keys to my car and we were going through a litany of excuses – they were still looking at my car, let me talk to my manager, they can’t find my keys, so on and so forth. I’m getting angry and I’m not a confrontational person mind you but around and around we’re going. But then I have an idea and ask for a phone and the phone book. They ask who I’m calling??? I turn the pages of the phone book until I find the listings for the various local news channels and start to dial the phone on the desk for one of the local news outlets as I tell the dealership guy I’m calling the news, I’m sure they’d just love to hear about this dealership and their sales practices (cause we’ve all seen shady dealerships get profiled on the news haven’t we????). Well you never saw my car keys appear so fast. Never did get to talk to the news, got a busy signal but I didn’t tell them. Got up, left and bad mouthed them to everyone I ever encountered who was thinking about buying a car from them.
Why Men ARE NOT COMMITTING in Modern Dating | Dating Apps & Relationships
Vietnam (Hanoi), China (Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Chengdu)
As a foreigner who has lived for a short time in these citys, I can answer this question.
I have lived in these cities for more than 30 days, so I have a certain say.
1. Basic life
The cost of living in Hanoi is lower than Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen in China, and about the same as Chengdu. This seemed a bit incredible to me at first, because Vietnam’s per capita income is much lower than China’s. But the fact is that whether it is rent, catering, purchasing mobile phones, or telecommunications services, prices in Hanoi are not cheap and do not match the level of development of the entire country.
Regarding this issue, some Vietnamese friends also told me that it is because I have adopted a “foreigner” lifestyle. For example, I live in hotels, shop in large shopping malls, and eat in more formal restaurants. It’s not really an “ordinary” life.
But I think this explanation is limited in its persuasiveness because I also live the same way in China. For example, the price of a bowl of rice noodles I eat on the streets of Hanoi is almost the same as the price of a bowl of noodles on the streets of Chengdu.
What particularly impressed me was that the taxi price in Hanoi was twice that of Chengdu and 1.5 times that of Beijing and Shanghai.
Compared with China, only some service industries in Hanoi are relatively cheap, such as haircuts and massages.
Therefore, in terms of basic life, the consumption levels of foreigners living in big cities in China are similar to those in big cities in Vietnam. There are no problems with basic living needs.
2. Public facilities
In terms of public facilities, Vietnam and China are quite different.
Hanoi’s urban development level is similar to that of Southeast Asian countries (except Singapore), while China is at the world’s leading level.
Urban transportation: Hanoi mainly relies on taxis, there is only 1 subway, and the public buses are terrible, slow and inefficient. There are some rickshaws that I rarely try.
China relies mostly on subways, every major Chinese city I’ve lived in has a huge subway system, and taxis are cheaper than in Vietnam. Buses in big cities in China are also very cheap and efficient. China also has a large number of shared bicycles and electric motorcycles, which are very convenient and you can use public transportation to quickly reach your destination.
China is faster and cheaper
Roads: Vietnam’s urban roads are narrow, vehicle driving efficiency is low, and traffic congestion is serious. Roads between cities are in poor condition and there are very few freeways. Driving long distances is not an option
China’s road construction level is very high. Expressways can lead to every small city. You can easily drive more than 500 kilometers a day by driving a car. If you are not prone to fatigue, 800 kilometers is also acceptable.
Driving a car in China is easy, but it is not recommended to drive a car in Vietnam for short-term stay
Cross-city transportation:
Vietnam is largely dependent on flying, driving a car is not an option and the rail experience is terrible.
Chinese people generally rely on highways and high-speed rail to solve journeys within 300 kilometers.
Most distances of 300-800 kilometers rely on high-speed railways.
Planes are only used for journeys over 800 kilometers, as they are too inefficient.
Although China is larger and cities are further apart, it actually takes less time than Vietnam.
FOOD:
The catering industry in Vietnamese and Chinese cities is very developed, and there are also restaurants that are open for a long time at night. So basic meals are no problem.
The food in Vietnam is generally Southeast Asian style. You can feel the influence of Thailand and Cambodia, and the spices they like to use are relatively similar.
The difference lies in diversity. China’s catering industry is the most diverse I have ever seen. In cities like Chengdu or Shenzhen, you can eat completely different foods every day for a month, and there are many choices for each type.
The catering industry in Hanoi is relatively simple. The tastes of Vietnamese restaurants are almost the same, unlike in China where there are so many types. The number of foreign restaurants is much smaller than in China, and there are even fewer choices.
3. Medical treatment:
Hospitals in Vietnam are crowded, and so are those in China. But the efficiency is not bad. Compared with Europe and the United States, the medical efficiency of China and Vietnam is very high.
I had a skin allergy in Vietnam and a respiratory infection in China. I entered the hospital on the same day, completed the examination on the same day, and received treatment and medicine on the same day.
The obvious difference is that Vietnamese doctors basically don’t speak English and they need to use translation software or my friends. Chinese doctors basically all speak English.
In terms of hospital environment, Chinese hospitals are larger, cleaner and more modern, while Vietnamese hospitals are generally older, but have complete basic examination equipment. (I don’t go to many hospitals. I always ask local friends to take me to regular large hospitals)
4. Language :
Language is a big issue in Vietnam
English is basically useless here, except for some hotel staff and professional translators, and some college students, almost no one can speak English. What’s embarrassing is that there are more people who can speak Chinese than English. So in Vietnam I always try to speak Chinese first.
In China, young people in big cities basically know some English, but some are more proficient and some have difficulty. But if I speak slower, many people can understand. However, as a Chinese speaker, I speak more Chinese, and I feel that the language environment in China is very good.
Spinach Balls (Pseftokeftedes Santorini)
2024 01 30 10 21
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups peeled, chopped plum tomatoes or 1 1/2 cups cooked, well-drained, chopped spinach, or any other greens
1/2 cup finely chopped scallions
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 heaping teaspoon fresh mint
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
Olive oil, for frying
Instructions
In a large bowl, combine tomatoes, scallions, garlic, herbs and spices. Add flour and baking powder and mix together so that all ingredients are well blended and have the consistency of a thick batter (about as thick as pancake batter).
In a large heavy skillet, heat enough olive oil for frying. Taking a heaping tablespoon at a time, drop batter into hot oil and fry until golden brown and crisp.
Remove at once with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
When we first moved to Maine, my wife was a wedding photographer. Having relocated from the West Coast, we were pretty unaware of the lay of the land here. We’d heard of ‘old money’—the result of generations of inherited wealth—but had never seen it up close.
So my wife gets a call from a woman asking about photo coverage of her second marriage, and my wife agrees to come out to their house to discuss with her and her husband, Richard. My wife takes along a $200 off coupon she was offering new clients at the time. She gets in her old Subaru and heads to the address. At some point, she realizes that the huge, mile-long block of woods she’s navigating around is completely enclosed by a stone wall and that the house she’s going to is the only structure inside the walls. She starts to sweat.
Inside the house, she’s introduced to Richard Rockefeller. He’s an unassuming guy in his 50s, a medical doctor. She thinks, there must be lots of Rockefellers here on the East Coast; this doesn’t mean he’s related to THE Rockefellers.
He is. In fact, Richard is the son of David Rockefeller and grandson of John D. Rockefeller. He is a physician in Maine, a prominent member of the community and president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, a philanthropic foundation.
My wife has a lovely time, he asks lots of questions about her Nikon camera and even gladly accepts her $200 coupon, because, why not?
We both work together to cover the wedding reception, held a month or two later on an island the family owns off of Bar Harbor, Maine. We take a private boat to the island and are greeted by Richard at the dock. He’s wearing baggy old khaki pants, an ancient LLBean flannel shirt, a floppy sun hat and old battered shoes. He’s driving a Subaru wagon that makes my wife’s nine-year-old car look new. He grabs the wheel and tells us—the hired help, basically—that he’s taking us to his ‘barn’ where we’ll spend the night.
So we arrive at a structure I could call a barn only because it has the vague shape of what once was a barn. Huge open area for seating and events, with an upstairs loft area with comfy beds, bathrooms. We stayed there, in a gorgeous custom post-and-beam ‘barn’ that probably cost three times what my own house cost.
The weekend was fun—we photographed people like Glenn Close and others in attendance for the event. It was low-key and tasteful and understated, but obviously extravagant. Richard and his wife were extremely kind to us.
I’ve never forgotten my brush with ‘old money’. Here in Maine, you might sit next to someone like Richard Rockefeller at a local diner and never know it.
Richard died a few years later in a small plane crash. I consider myself fortunate to have met him, however briefly.
Woman Held Accountable By Church For Cheating On Her Husband
Back in the ‘80s, as a teen, I applied for a security position at local supermarket (36hrs/wk), advertised in the Jobcentre. The advisor phoned them on my behalf (standard practice), they wanted me to attend a week long training seminar, nearly 3 hours away by bus, and assured they’d refund travel costs.
First day of training went well, and they informed me they’d refund travel at end of course. Fair enough. At the end of the week they said they’d refund after the contract was signed (yes, alarm bells rang), I intended to accept the job, while not great pay, it was local (walking distance) and better than nothing. So, read and signed contract, collected uniform, then given my assignment, 2pm to 2am (60hrs/wk, same pay!) at the airport! Not local! I explain it’s too far, and public transport doesn’t run that time of morning, they expect me to get a taxi home, which would cost more than my wages! I’m then told they do not refund travel expenses, after repeatedly saying they would.
As I’m leaving, wondering how I’m gonna explain this to dad (to borrow more money), I notice a woman in security uniform, she’s pale and looks upset. She’d not been paid for 3 MONTHS! I returned to the office, stating I didn’t want the job, to be told they’d sue for breach of contract.
Of course I’m upset and scared, if I take the job then it’s either have about 2 hours a day at home, or live in the airport, and hope I get paid. If I don’t take the job I’ll lose my benefits and get sued.
When I got home, I explained what happened to dad. He contacts a drinking buddy who works for the benefits office, and we both go see him Monday morning. He said they’d breached a verbal contract, I had good reason to believe they’d breach the written contract (not pay wages), and the job was not as advertised. He was appalled they hadn’t given me a copy of the contract. He assured me I wouldn’t face sanctions. He contacted the company’s head office on my behalf, he also made sure the company was blacklisted from advertising at the jobcentres.
Dad and I returned the uniform to the offices, he verbally ran rings around the 2-faced muppet who threatened me with breach of contract. Oh, and I made sure the room full of new recruits knew travel expenses are not refunded, not to expect a paycheque for at least 3 months, and the job is unlikely to be where or when advertised.
I want you to take a gander around your room right now.
Seriously. pivot in your chair, couch, whatever —and survey everything.
How many things aren’t being used?
How many things are being kept for thin sentimental reasons? Until last year, my answer was “many, many things”.
I had an old crappy laptop that didn’t even work. I had a bunch of comics that were never going to become rare — because millions were printed. I didn’t even like the comics.
Your life is being dragged down by purposeless objects.
Junk is scientifically linked to stress, procrastination, and inefficiency. You could turn all three of those problems into advantages.
I hereby challenge you to can 50% of your stuff. Don’t let your room get like this.
Start by throwing away that stupid printer
My printer was the ultimate bad employee. Once every six months, I’d summon him, “Can you come to work today?
And in that one moment of need, he was hungover and unable to function. I’d get a mysterious error. Or an out-of-ink issue despite having barely used the printer.
He’d groan and moan and nothing would happen. He’s like that deadbeat dad who can’t sober up once a year for his son’s birthday party.
“Damnit Epson! You can’t get your act for Billy’s party for one day. Not sure why I ever married you!”
My printer is no longer with us. He’s enjoying an early retirement in the sunny isles of the Hillsborough County Waste Department.
The point I’m making: if you own something that doesn’t do its job, start there.
That lame couch you never sit on because it isn’t even comfortable? That clunky, wobbly table with a weird mystery stain, you can’t get rid of? Find them a new home.
Donate it.
Break it with an aluminum bat and scream my name if you want.
Do what must be done. I command thee.
Take a NASA perspective
I used to write in a tiny office, in a tiny house for 13 years. I moved in when I was in my mid-20s.
It was in this house that I had a girlfriend, who became a wife, who then became an ex-wife. I’ve finally collected the plunder from my various ventures and invested in a nice home. As I took stock of my inventory, I was mortified by how much junk I owned. I felt like a hoarder.
If my stuff was going to space, I’d have blown out NASA’s cost-per-square-foot budget. “Who brought these 50,000 index cards from Sean’s 2003 Bio class!?”
Heck, they’d have needed an extra fuel tank. Everything you own isn’t cost-free.
As you add more stuff, it drastically increases the surface area in your home. That surface is just one more thing to clean and collect dust. It eats up mental space. Think of your belongings like they’re being shot into space. Everything must be of absolute necessity.
No junk on the launch pad.
A push for more functionality
I used to have a GPS watch. I used it to track where I spent the most time in the house.
It was depressing: 90% of my waking hours were in my office.
I wasn’t surprised. Yet is this what home ownership is supposed to be about?
One study showed this is a common phenomenon, particularly in larger homes. Shaquille O’Neal famously owned an 18-bathroom house — and admitted, “I only use three rooms.”
We fail to optimize space. We have a bunch of chairs that suck to sit on.
Our dressers are full of clothes we never wear. Give yourself a reason to use every room in your house.
Decluttering isn’t about whether you like something; it’s about whether you actually use it.
A functional, non-cluttered house feels light. It’s efficient. It almost like weight loss. You feel lighter on your feet. Purging junk even feels like exercise: it isn’t particularly fun, but the outcome is super rewarding.
One simple trick and then some
We moved 14 times in 18 years during my childhood.
To avoid becoming hoarders, we had a hard and fast rule: if you haven’t used it in six months, throw it away. Do you even know what you own?
Imagine knowing what and where each item is at all times. I know where my remote is. I know where my two pairs of brown dress socks are.
I feel in control. Everything is accounted for. There is peace of mind in knowing everything in your life belongs there and has a use. It’s not neglected like an abandoned toy. It reinforces a mentality of purpose and deliberacy.
Adopt a six-month rule for your belongings, with rare exceptions where they need apply.
Selling on marketplace
The first object to go to was my dining room table.
I put it on the Facebook marketplace for only $50. My inbox blew up like a hot scammy dating profile at Port Dumbass.
This is usually what happens on the platform. It’s so easy. Two hours later, a nice, middle-aged Hispanic couple showed up.
After inspecting it, he turned to me and said, “How about $35?” I said, “Sorry. There are too many people wanting to buy.”
I wasn’t bluffing. But — then I offered him another table and several dozen other household items for free.
I realized I just needed to get rid of stuff. Thirty minutes later, we were stuffing his van with three tables, a huge ladder, and even lawn equipment. It wasn’t the most profitable way of doing things, but it felt good giving to someone who would need. I jokingly offered him the shirt I was wearing too, but he declined.
Decide what you don’t need and isn’t being used, and either sell or donate it.
I also called a trash hauler and paid them $150 to haul off a huge trailer full of unused stuff. You can find them easily on Craigslist.
The last step is to buy a big box of industrial bags. Then, each week make it a point to fill at least one with things you don’t want anymore.
They fit in the regular trash pickup. Donate what you can to the Salvation Army and get a tax deduction. Sell the rest on Facebook Marketplace.
Don’t think of this as an action but a lifestyle. You’ll reevaluate how you spend your money, taking broader consideration for how badly you actually need something.
Your house will feel bigger, more open, and more efficient. You won’t lose nearly as many things.
And you won’t have nearly as much stuff to manage. Throw away 50% of your stuff and you’ll be better off for it. It’s not a dare.
The question makes me remember two old Soviet jokes.
Both are about a tourist visit of the Hell. One of them mentions Joseph Stalin.
Joke #1
A tourist visit of Hell. Hall of the greatest criminals. They stand in blood (according to some versions, in shit). Hitler is waist-deep in blood, his gaze angry, his mouth shouting something that tourists do not hear. Stalin stands to Hitler’s left, silent, with a sardonic smile on his lips, blood reaching to the middle of his boots.
Tourist (astonished): Please tell me why Hitler is buried so much deeper than Stalin? Did he spill so much more blood? Guide: Ah, I will have to tell the administration. Stalin cheated again! T: How does he cheat? G: He always climbs on Lenin’s shoulders!
Joke #2
A tourist visit of Hell. Astonished tourists see Nikita Khrushchev sitting on a sofa, with Marilyn Monroe in his lap, caressing him and kissing his bald head.
Tourist (astonished): Are you telling me this is the punishment for Khrushchev’s sins? Guide: No, dear sir. This is the punishment for Marilyn Monroe’s sins.
These Kids are University Students in China and Poor Kids, Children of Poor Families
Under Common Prosperity, University Students are mandated to serve 42 hours a year in their third or final year to tutor and help poor kids pass their examinations
They have these centers where Poor Kids are provided Food, Clothes, Shoes, Smartphones and Tutors free of cost as part of the revenue from the tax collections of the local provinces plus a 3.5% of profit from the Big Gun Industries
The best of them are admitted to School and on to Gaokao
The others get Skilled Training
The others get Vocational Training
Their Working Age is reduced from the mandatory legal 16 in China to 14 in many provinces so that they can earn a living and help their families
Once they are 21 years old, THEY HAVE TO COMPETE ON THEIR OWN
Their Talent , Their Ability
No Reservations
No Affirmative Action
I like this system
Help the Kids, give them education, give them all the material benefits needed then they can compete fairly
From 2019–2023 – Roughly 8.5 Million Poor Kids have been given Jobs that will transform them to Low Income immediately and Middle Class by 2036
China just doesn’t handout money or food to poor families like India or US do
There are NO FREE LUNCHES
One new rule that China established in 2021 for Poor People was :-
image 221
The Ten Year Rule
Tenant Farmers who work as Rural Workers can now send their Kids to the Local Schools in the Village where Education is free plus two meals are free (Breakfast and Lunch)
The Kids study from 4 PM to 7 PM
They work from 7 AM to 12 PM and are paid a minimum 6 RMB per hour ($ 0.91) which is equally TOPPED UP BY THE STATE
So each kid makes 60 RMB per Day and makes 4,000 RMB for a season in addition to two free meals a day plus education
Tenant farmers don’t have to feed their kids for 240 days a years, that has to be done by the Agricultural Unit Owner
Tenant Farmers who have worked as Tenant Farmers for at least 20,000 Hours , are eligible to get their OWN LANDHOLDINGS with the deposit amount FULLY WAIVED
Hu Jintao and his gang ignored these rules
Xi enforced them immediately
Almost 300,000 Tenant Farmers now own their own LANDHOLDINGS on 30 Year or 100 Year leases
The Real Condition of China is that today China has
51.9% Middle Class or Higher
34.7% Low Income
13.4% Poor People
0% Extremely Poor
Target 2030 where at least 15 Million Kids are involved in given all those benefits is
55% Middle Class
40% Low Income
5% Poor People
This is the target set in 2022
image 220
The Stock markets can wait
According to Xi, the key is to create a large middle class consumer base
800 Million is the Goal for 2030 from 426 Million in 2023
My father was a banker for most of my life. He worked in the trust department assisting people with estates, wills, and trust funds, inheritances, etc. My mother used to tease him that he had a “harem” of older ladies who thought he was wonderful because he had handled things when their husbands died.
In the early 90s the local bank was bought by a much larger bank from another state. Things changed and not for the better. My father was told that he should use money from one account to bolster another account and replace the money later. My father refused. While it might not have been illegal at the time he felt that it was highly unethical and he wouldn’t do it.
He resigned.
And when his clients all found out WHY he resigned they all, except for two or three, moved their accounts to a different bank.
One of his colleagues who still worked at the first bank told him that the leadership from the new bank were dumbfounded by the sudden mass exodus of clients. And when my father informed the local lawyers who referred clients to him what happened they stopped referring clients to that bank. In less than two years after my father resigned the out-of-state bank closed the Trust department because it was unprofitable. My father took great satisfaction in that.
WOW! I am humbled by the huge number of upvotes for this story about my father. He was not perfect, no one is, but he was an honorable man and I am proud to be his daughter.
I am humbled by how high the number of upvotes as climbed. It is over 5,000. This is the most upvotes I’ve gotten on anything I’ve written on Quora. Thank you for recognizing a good man.
Male inequality, explained by an expert | Richard Reeves
In the 3rd century BC, a sensational scandal erupted in Rome: two Vestal Virgins had lost their virginity, and the guilty party was a young ‘pontiff’.
The Sibylline Books were consulted to decide the fate of the three religious figures, the Vestal Virgins Opimia Floronia and the pontiff Lucius Cantilius.
The two women had no escape, having been caught in the act. The rule of the Vestals prescribed live burial.
Floronia, not accepting the idea of dying in such a way, preferred to take her own life. Opimia resigned herself. A large crowd saw her ascend onto a mournfully adorned chariot, accompanied by a procession of priests to the place of execution.
Many Romans wanted to witness the dramatic scene of her being enclosed in the tomb with a loaf of bread and a pitcher of water. The interrogation of Lucius Cantilius was public.
The Pontifex Maximus, his superior and representative of the state religion, took on the role of the public prosecutor. Relentlessly, he ordered the questions to be preceded by violent lashes, repeated after the defendant’s answer.
It was not possible to conclude the interrogation: Lucius Cantilius, in fact, died from those lashes.
I had a sunroom added to my house, and the sales lady, construction manager was around a lot. She was quite flirtatious, as sales people often are. So when the project was done, and I had signed off on everything and I would never see her again, I asked her out on a date.
She told me she was moving to a different city the next week. Which was pretty suspicious, because my project had finished ahead of schedule. But I didn’t press it. Three months later I had a leak in my sunroom, and I called them up to fix it. Guess who answered the phone?
We had spent a lot of time together, and she knew I wasn’t psycho, the logical thing would have been to say that she wasn’t interested. If she was worried for some reason, then say that she was in a relationship.
But no, she had to go with the whopper, that I am moving to a different city. Nothing tells you how a person views you as much as telling an outrageous lie that’s so easy to check.
She told me on the phone, that she had just moved back. I pretended that was a reasonable answer.
Physical Intimacy: His NEED is NOT your WEAPON Ladies
Police work is a young man’s profession. You don’t want to be out chasing criminals on the street in your fifties. I was hired rather late in life, graduating from the police academy at thirty-three years old.
I learned quickly that I could do the job of a street cop but liked narcotics, especially undercover work. That led to more complex investigations. After six years in narcotics, I decided it was time to gain rank, so I aced the sergeant’s exam. I enjoyed every day as a street sergeant, leading and teaching.
Four years later, I would become a lieutenant which was great for a while. As a watch commander and then patrol division commander, I led over half of the department and made positive changes. All was fine until one day; I was asked to take over internal affairs. Our department had more serious problems than I realized. I spent the next six years of my life embattled, persuing the worst officers you can imagine.
Officers committing crimes, abusing their power, abusing citizens, and even their loved ones. Stealing, cheating, and anything else they thought they could get away with. I spent a lot of time being grilled in court by their high-priced defense attorneys with only limited success.
By the time I left, we had fired all but one of this group. The last was fired shortly after I left. So I had to go through hell for years, but in the end, the department was a better place for the citizens we served.
My twenty-five-year retirement couldn’t come soon enough. A few more years in that pressure-cooker position, and I might have stroked out. So at fifty-eight years old, I walked away with my pension. I haven’t been sorry a single day since I retired six years ago. Life’s too short.
My husband and I have been together 20 years when we met he was finalizing his divorce which they were simply too young and tried to grow up too fast they were together just two years. After about a month I was helping him get some of her stuff out which was all junk. I started cleaning out a desk of hers and in the bottom drawer was just stacks n stacks of mail. Apparently my husband hates opening mail and would just put it in a drawer for him to open later, I certainly make him open his mail I don’t know why she would do that. So he told me to open it, it was flyers, bills, coupons, everything in a stack. I start opening mail and I would see $5000 check then another then another then another. These checks were two days away from void/expired or have to wait a long time to reissue. It was from his dad’s estate and each kid got $5000 from certain accounts and investments and so on. He was broke at this time with his divorce plus being in your 20s you don’t quite make as much yet. He went from having a couple hundred dollars in his account and the very next day we now have money to put down on a house which is cheaper than our current rent and much larger and we later made a good chunk of cash when we sold it. In the end, it did look like a scam letter or a collections notice, now im always into opening mail because I’ve even over paid a bill and what looks like a bill would be a small refund for my over payment. I just can’t wait to get that jury summons for a crazy court case.
We were the polite customers in a round about way-
We are attending a destination wedding on an all inclusive resort in Jamaica-absolutely beautiful weather, all the food and drink you could possibly want. Beautiful rooms with waterfront views-
The bride and groom and the 6 other guests attending were incredibly rude, demanding, belittling, belligerent and racist in their remarks towards the staff on the resort. My husband and I had never seen this side of their personality and were shocked at the behavior to the point that after the wedding (3rd day of 7) we disassembled from those in the group and did our own things.
On the final day, we were all
booked under the wedding party and had to check out and depart together-one of the women in the group was accusing the cleaning staff of stealing her clothing, the bride was making up all kinds of reasons she should have received a discounted stay, on and on, the mother of the bride was loud and yelling in the front foyer of the resort-my husband and I had enough and told all of them to shut up. All they had done the entire trip was lie and complain. We then went into a private office and explained to head of the resort how they were lying because we heard all the comments they had made and could prove it-We were comped 1k off our stay and turned that money around to tip the staff that so excellently served us during our stay-my husband and I both knew none of the others had left a tip and it was intentional to not do so as it was mentioned on the very first night at dinner.
Once it was clear their motive was to get as much for free as possible they were checked out w/o any further interaction and escorted to the van that would drive them to the airport-My husband and I were put in a different van to go back
We never asked for anything back as we had a great trip but the resort was happy to give us the 1k- as for those people we have not spoken to them since-it’s not that hard to be nice!
Genius is what genius does. Professors spend the better part of their waking days interacting with intelligence at the upper tail of the distribution, so an unusually adroit bit of intelligence will catch any professor’s eye. Alas, anybody with experience also has seen many a charlatan, so skepticism always comes first. I may recognize genius quickly, but I will test it many times before I conclude it is truly there.
Here is an illustration.
A few years back I had an MBA student, born in the Caribbean, who had considerable world-travel experience under his belt. Quietly confident, and charming and affable, he had natural leadership abilities. Over time his stories of travels came with the additional details that he was facile with languages, and that helped him pick up work as he travelled.
I was intrigued, and learned about his travels throughout Asia, and tested him a bit with details (I have some experience in that part of the world, but, of course, I also had many more years to accumulate it). He seemed to be telling the honest truth. He knew things about Myanmar (and similar places) that would be hard to learn unless you visited.
Here is the genius part. He said that, for a while, he settled in China doing translation and other work. How was that possible? He had simply picked up Chinese, he said. I have an old acquaintance who was native English speaker who knew several European languages and learned Japanese after spending many years there, and he told me about all the challenges. So I was just a little skeptical. A few words, sure, but fluent with no formal training?
I had asked a few of the native-Chinese speakers whether the student could speak well, and they said yes, but none had a lengthy conversation.
One day we were visited by a Chinese delegation of businessmen. And my student was introduced to them. Off they went in conversation, laughing and conversing. He was fluent, and just as charming and affable in that language.
I never doubted him again. Genius is what genius does.
My typical self checkout experience goes like this.
Using own bag. Place on scale. So I do. I use a backpack so it is heavier than a shopping bag. This triggers, Wait for an assistant. I open my bag ready so the assistant can look inside it. I do this because if they asked to see inside my bag I would be terribly offended and most people don’t like being told to go fuck themselves.
Ok, ready to start scanning. Where is the barcode on this cabbage? Oh, I need to look for it in the touchscreen. Finally found it after 2 minutes searching.
UNEXPECTED ITEM IN THE BAGGAGE AREA. PLEASE WAIT FOR ASSISTANCE.
This happens at least one more time. I am really getting pissed off now.
Ready to pay. It asks me if I took a bag. I didn’t. It asks me if I’m sure. Now I start arguing with the machine. I’m fed up of you. Why would I steal a 40p bag? Don’t you think I would have taken the £10 side of salmon instead?
Finally, after a good 5 minutes have passed I get to pay for my 15 items. But wait, I have wait for assistance again to authorise the bottle of wine I bought. OK, so now I get to pay.
Not so fast. There were a couple of discounted items in there and guess what we need to get the discount applied? That’s right, an assistant!
I pay, put on my backpack and instead of saying thank you, as I would to the cashier, I mutter, stupid fucking bastard, to the machine.
Not a pleasant experience at all.
A woman I know who works in my local Aldi told me she feels bad for the old people. An old woman told her that she used to look forward to shopping because she lives alone and sometimes the cashier might be the only person she spoke with that week.
Some people enjoy human interaction. As a general rule, I’m not one of them. However I much prefer to be served by a cashier than those self checkout machines. It takes too long and it’s frustrating. Added to that, I feel like it is constantly accusing me of shoplifting.
Pepe Escobar: Putin and China just changed EVERYTHING with this Move and the Neocons Can’t Stop Them
When I was in grad school, I had to have oral surgery for a midline palatine cyst. After misdiagnosing it as an abscessed tooth and mucking about, my dentist finally referred me to an oral surgeon.
The oral surgeon (who was nearing retirement) asked about my financial situation at the initial consultation. It was pretty dire, so I told him I would need to pay over time. He told me not to worry,
After doing some imaging he told me that he had never seen a cyst that large. The surgery was done, and went well. But I was left with two drains coming out of the corners of my mouth. These needed to remain in place for a week.
My upper jaw was incredibly swollen. With the drains in place, I looked like a walrus. I had to be careful how I ate and drank, to avoid having food or drinks dribble out of my nose. Nonetheless, I had to go to classes (it was the first week of the semester) as well as meet my students (I was a teaching assistant at the time.)
And every other day, I had to see the oral surgeon. He irrigated the site and gave me samples of antibiotics and words of encouragement.
When he finally removed the drains, my palate was healing well. I saw him two weeks later for follow up. I stopped at the front desk to arrange for payment. His total bill? $50! The surgery had taken almost two hours! And there were those follow up appointments as well.
I was incredibly grateful. I waited to see him between patients to express my gratitude. He smiled and said, one day you’ll do something for someone else.
This wasn’t my property but that of a friend. He rented it to a couple ‘from New York’ they claimed, who showed up very well dressed. He was in a suit and his ‘wife’ in a nice dress. They claimed to need a ‘local apartment’ as they ‘came to Boston’ (we are 10 miles west of Boston) often and stated an apartment was cheaper than renting hotel rooms every time, sounded legit. Anyway, for the first year, the rent was a couple days early then it was ‘just’ on time for a few months then a couple days late but paid IN CASH every month so no real issues. THEN it happened! After about two years the rent was a week late so my friend went by daily to catch them in (remember, they stated that they were from NY and came up ‘often’ so he didn’t expect them to be there at any given time). After five drive-bys he was there in the evening, on weekends, nothing seemed out of place from the outside. The yard was impeccably neat and clean as they stated it would be. Then two weeks later on a Friday evening just after dinner as he drove by he saw movement inside the apartment. He stopped and knocked on the door. When it opened, he was greeted by someone who spoke NO English. Panic ensued, people running around the apartment and out the back door. He told someone who came to the door that actually spoke some English that the rent was past due and needed to be paid. They stated that they would have cash Saturday morning for him. He asked why so many people and was told it was a party. He didn’t believe that story and said so, he told that individual that as it was rented to TWO PEOPLE everyone else had to go and if more than two were there in 12 hours it would be $50 EACH! What follows I witnessed the very next day. We knocked, no answer. I went around back and knocked, no answer. I walked back to the front. He was pounding on the front door… no one answered. WHY I cannot tell you but I turned the door knob, the door was UNLOCKED. He opened it. Before I go on, first I will say that we eventually found two month’s rent left on the kitchen counter in cash. Now the HORROR! They removed the doors from the kitchen cabinets and replaced them with chicken wire to house the CHICKENS that were now living in most of the cabinets! TWO DOZEN CHICKENS!The STENCH was gag worthy. The filth was just as revolting but what got me was the bathroom! The door was closed but the exhaust fan running. (A neighbor later told me it was running 24/7, read on and you will know WHY!). When he opened the door my friend closed it fast and proceeded to vomit! I opened the door to see the toilet PLUGGED AND MOUNDED with feces! The bathtub was ALSO filled with urine and feces! There were mattresses wall to wall in every single room except the bathroom and kitchen! This included a rough basement too! About 50(?) mattresses! The apartment was being used to house over 70 people! Even the ceilings were disgusting. I do know that the entire apartment had to be gutted and renovated, I saw it after it was done. It took a bit of searching but the two that rented it originally were found, I don’t nor want to know what was said or done but I do know that they were in full knowledge and complicity with what was going on. One further note, at some point before they ‘filled the tub’ they had roasted a pig in it! They built a fire in the tub and roasted a pig above it! When the apartment was gutted, it was found that the wall and floor behind and beneath the tub were charred, they almost burned down the house!
Hollywood Goes CRAZY! | Seinfeld DESTROYS Woke Insanity in EPIC Video
I’m an aficionado chef and I love watching cooking tutorials. Recently, I’ve discovered the secret behind how Chinese restaurants get their beef to be so tender in dishes like beef in black bean sauce or Mongolian beef – and it’s pretty interesting!
Once I did an Asian cuisine workshop, and one of the chefs there taught me the secret. Chinese restaurants often marinate their beef in a mixture of baking soda, cornstarch, and soy sauce for at least 30 minutes before cooking. This breaks down the proteins in the meat, making it more tender and easier to chew.
In addition, Chinese restaurants slice the beef against the grain, which makes it even more tender. When you slice against the grain, you’re cutting the beef perpendicular to the muscle fibers, and this makes all the difference.
Another thing that I love the most about Chinese cuisine is the high heat cooking method. When you stir-fry beef at a high temperature, it keeps the moisture inside the beef and makes it juicy and flavorful. And the cuts of beef that they use, such as flank steak or sirloin, are naturally more tender than other cuts.
I’ve tried making beef in black bean sauce using these techniques, and it is absolutely delicious! The beef just falls apart in your mouth, and it tastes so well. So, if you want to make your beef dishes tender and juicy like the ones you get at Chinese restaurants, try using these techniques. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed!
Tomato Pilaf
1400×919 One Pan Tomato Pilaf
Ingredients
2 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped onion
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 cups water
1 cup uncooked regular rice
1 teaspoon instant beef bouillon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
Cook and stir tomatoes and onions in butter in 2-quart saucepan over medium heat for 2 minutes.
Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling, stirring once or twice; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 14 minutes without lifting cover or stirring.
Remove from heat. Fluff rice lightly with fork; cover and let steam 5 to 10 minutes.
Names are fictional, but otherwise this is accurate to best of my memory.
Back in the mid-80s during my high school years, I worked at major fast food place. I worked there for around 18 months and was generally well regarded by the managers there. Because of this, I would often be called on to see if I was able to cover a shift when someone called out.
One such time, I agreed to cover and went in to see that the only person working was the manager (Jim). So literally it would be just the two of us working, Jim up front on register and me in the back making the food. (Another person from a different store came in an hour or so later to help out). It was a rough night, but we made it work.
After things slowed down, I asked Jim what happened. One of the other managers (Randy) was working that night and everyone he had working with him just up and left. I asked Jim where Randy was, and he said he was asked to leave as well and really couldn’t talk any further about it.
The rest of the story wouldn’t reach me for a week or so, but the entire staff quitting at once prompted the owner to investigate what happened. It turns out that Randy had been violating labor laws for months. And as most of the staff (including myself) were minors, those laws are more stringent and carry higher penalties. Things like forcing more than 8 hours a day, working outside certain hours, and forcing unpaid OT. While I don’t know for sure what prompted everyone to leave that night, I have to assume it was related.
Randy was taken off the schedule and, as far as I know, never set foot in the store again. I don’t know what legal consequences resulted from this, if any.
I have not worked at McDonald’s, but since there’s no equivalent question for Burger King, I’m going to answer anyway.
Late at night, a guy came up to the counter and said he wanted a Whopper with 10 patties on it. He seemed like he was probably a little stoned, or a little drunk, or probably a little both. “Money is no object,” he said. I knew how to set this up, but I called the manager just to make sure everything was ok and more importantly because I knew she would want in on this process. We had a button for a patty with no bun, to accommodate people on the Atkins Diet. I entered in his Whopper request, punched the patty button nine times, and then hit the intercom to explain to the kitchen crew the correct interpretation of what was now appearing on their screens. My amplified voice filled the kitchen, like the voice of God:
“That is not a mistake. It is a Whopper with 10 patties on it. Please do whatever it takes to make it happen.”
We couldn’t hear anything from the back over all the machine noises. The guy paid. It was around $12. Then, after a few minutes, there was activity at the hamburger chute. Normally burgers would be placed here and they’d slide to the front to be bagged or placed on trays. A pair of hands gently placed a very large, roughly-ball shaped object on the chute. The hands gently—tenderly— guided it to the bottom. It was held in place by four Whopper wrappers. “Be careful with this,” one of the cooks said. “Wrapping it was very difficult.”
The customer was delighted. Once he had his to-go bag, he explained that he and a friend had got in an argument concerning the truthfulness of our “Your Way, Right Away” slogan, and he had just won a bet. It remains one of my favorite moments, a real team effort.
As a young boy, my father would take us out periodically out of our city (Bridgeport, CT) and go for a ride into the country. And there we would go to a roped off hole in the ground. Turns out that twice a day, this hole would gusher out a tall column of water. And it was really cool to watch as a young boy.
It’s something that I haven’t seen in decades. And truthfully, I have forgot about it all. But you know, the other day, by chance, I remembered the blow hole. I was thinking about it the other day whilst musing about what to expose my young daughter to. Yup. A natural ocean blow hole.
If you can spend sometime at a local library and chat with the people there, they might be able to point you all in the right direction for some fun excitement for the family. You never know.
I worked in a coffee shop and many tourists would come by. This guy from another state came one day doing the « have we ever seen each other before » act. I said no and gave him his coffee. Just a reminder that I had a fiance at that time (now my husband). He then waited for me at the end of the counter . I thought he had a question so I went up to him and asked if everything was ok. He told me the classic « you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, I would love to take you on a date … blahblahblah » I refused and said I have a fiance. He replied « but do you love him? » I was stunned.
I confirmed that yes in fact I was very much in love with my fiance to wich he replied « are you sure? ». I was getting frustrated a bit so i just said « I know I love him so don’t ask me that again it’s rude ».
The next thing he said was even worst. He simply said « Not even for one night? ». That was enough, I went up to my boss and told him everything. My boss escorted him out.
Very shocked how a person can ask such questions shamelessly!
Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 325 degrees F.
Sift flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and baking powder and set aside.
Cream the butter well. Add the sugar and continue beating until very light. Add egg yolks one by one and continue beating. Slowly add yogurt and dry ingredients alternately. Whip egg whites until stiff, but not dry. Fold the egg whites into the cake batter. Fold in chopped walnuts. Mix the baking soda with the cognac and fold into the batter. Pour into pan and bake 45-55 minutes.
While the yiaourtini is baking, prepare syrup. Bring the ingredients to a boil and gently boil for 20 minutes.
Let both the yiaourtini and syrup cool for about 20 minutes and then very slowly pour the syrup over the yiaourtini. You may not need all of the syrup.
Cut into diamond shapes. Cover to keep cake moist.
This is an idea I read somewhere a while ago, and it’s been really helpful for me in developing patience:
Most people completely overestimate how much they can do in a day, but underestimate how much they can do in a year.
image 218
In just a day, you can’t change much.
Say one day, you go to the gym, eat healthy, sleep 8 hours, talk to a girl you have a crush on, and work on your business for a few hours. You do some breathing exercises you found on YouTube, read a book, and even call your mom and ask her about her day.
You had a great day.
But at the end of the day, you’re frustrated because your life is pretty much the same. You still kind of suck. You’re still a mess.
Your muscles are still small and you’re still overweight. Your business is still in the red. The girl you have a crush on still keeps forgetting your name. You still have anxiety, your mom is still worried about you, and reading the book was hard — there were a lot of words you didn’t know.
“Fuck this!” you think.
You want to give up because you’re frustrated by how little progress you’ve made.
A whole day of work, and you weren’t rewarded… What the hell?
Right?
Wrong.
Positive results come from compounded efforts.
Most people understand that things like fitness or weight loss take time (if you don’t, you should get that in your brain) but we often lose patience when it comes to other things.
Things like:
personal finance
relationships
reading skills
mental health
or anything else worth it really
ALSO take a long time to build.
These skills are a result of mental fitness, business fitness, social fitness, etc.
The most important thing you can learn in your 20s (or any age, I think) is the value of patience and persistence.
After a year in the gym, you’re still not at your goal weight, but you’re close. Your confidence has improved. You know the names of all exercises now and you know what muscles they work. When you walk into the gym, you have a plan. The guy at the front desk remembers your name now.
After a year of working on your business, you’ve turned it around. You’ve made dozens of mistakes, lost clients, made marketing errors, and nearly given up 100 bajillion times, but you didn’t. You’ve been rewarded with your first high-paying client. When you got the Stripe notification from them, you cried. Baby steps.
That girl you have a crush on doesn’t just know your name now, she’s in love with you. You’ve been together for almost a year. Working up the courage to “talk to her” became working up the courage to ask her out, then the courage to kiss her. You’re happy. You want to marry her one day.
Those books you read have gotten a lot easier to read. You actually enjoy reading now. You look up fewer words. Each book teaches you a new lesson — even if sometimes the lesson is just “some ideas are not worth writing books about”.
Your anxiety has gone down a lot too. You’ve done those breathing exercises every single day. You’ve learned that it’s called “meditation”, and whenever you feel stressed about work or your relationship or anything else in your life, you try and practice it. It doesn’t always “fix everything” but it usually helps.
It also helps you realize that progress is a neverending journey. There’s something infinite about sitting in a finite space and doing nothing but existing.
Oh, and your mom?
She’s still worried about you because that’s your mom. She’s never not going to worry about you.
Two keywords are mentioned in this question: history and myth
Historical documents are very serious matters to the Chinese. It does not mean that just randomly discovering some stone carvings, scriptures, or parchment scrolls can be called “historical documents.” The “historical documents” recognized by the Chinese are actually is very limited. Basically they are serious, formal historical archives and books.
The Xia Dynasty is the first dynasty recorded in Chinese historical documents, there is no earlier one.
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In addition to formal historical documents, other civilizations, countries or dynasties before the Xia Dynasty will of course be recorded. However, in the Chinese view of history, these records can only be classified as “myths” or “unofficial histories”, and they are not recognized by history.
In order to respect the historical habits of the Chinese people, I think it is inappropriate to use mythology and unofficial history to discuss the civilization before the Xia Dynasty.
But this issue can be discussed using archaeological findings. Although in the eyes of the Chinese, simple archaeological discoveries cannot be regarded as trustworthy history. But their credibility is higher than myths and unofficial histories.
1. Liangzhu Civilization
Existing in today’s Zhejiang Province, China, it appeared 5,000 years ago and lasted for 500 years, 1,000 years earlier than the establishment of the Xia Dynasty.
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Archaeologists have discovered large-scale urban ruins here, tens of thousands of acres of rice fields, granaries with hundreds of thousands of kilograms of rice, huge dams and palace ruins. Countless tombs, jades and pottery.
UNESCO has designated the archaeological finds here as a World Cultural Heritage. After measuring the scale of houses, tombs, and rice fields, archaeologists estimate that tens of thousands of people once lived in and around this city. It was the capital of an ancient country.
But there is not a single word about it in Chinese historical documents.
2. Sanxingdui Civilization
Sichuan Province, which exists in today’s China, appeared 4,800 years ago and lasted for 1,400 years. It was 800 years earlier than the establishment of the Xia Dynasty, and its existence spanned the Xia Dynasty and the Shang Dynasty.
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Not only ancient Stone Age ruins were discovered here, but also a large number of relics from the Bronze Age. Huge, complex and exquisite bronzes, ivories, and jades filled the sacrificial pits.
UNESCO has designated the archaeological finds here as a World Cultural Heritage.
However, there is no detailed record of it in Chinese historical documents. There are only some approximate accounts, and they cannot be completely confirmed.
3. Longshan Civilization
There are multiple sites that exist in today’s Shandong and Henan provinces of China.
It appeared 5,000 years ago and lasted for 100 years, 1,000 years earlier than the establishment of the Xia Dynasty.
A large number of jades, pottery, architectural and urban ruins have been discovered in multiple sites of the Longshan Civilization. Because of its location and cultural relic style, it has a certain connection with the Xia Dynasty. Archaeologists tend to believe that it is the predecessor of the Xia Dynasty.
However, there is no record of it in Chinese historical documents, only some vague records, and they cannot be completely confirmed.
In addition, China has also discovered the remains of many ancient civilizations that date back to earlier times, such as the DwenkouCivilization, Yangshao Civilization, Hemudu Civilization, Hongshan Civilization, and Majiayao Civilization. The earliest urban ruins discovered so far date back to about 8,000 years ago.
However, there is no record of these civilizations and their cities in Chinese historical documents. Therefore, they are not regarded as “official history” by Chinese historical circles, but are uniformly classified as: “prehistoric civilization”
I live in a pretty nice neighbourhood but it’s right next to a sketchy one and the nearest Domino’s is between the two.
I had stopped off for some pie and wings and was hurrying back to my car laden with goodies, filled with anticipation, ready to stuff my face whilst I watched trashy Sci-Fi reruns. As I passed a bus stop an absolute unit of a young lady lurched out of the shadows and, looking up, I realised she was part of a crowd of teens I could generously describe as “scruffy”.
As is typical for creatures of this sub-species she engaged my attention with the wittiest of retorts “oi, Fuck you lookin’ at?”, to the sniggers of the rest of her pack. (ever seen the episode of Buffy where Xander is a jackal? Yeah, got flashbacks).
This is where things could have gone very badly for me because my brain HATES me. Normal folk just grunt and scurry off at this point, maybe agress back if that’s their jam. Not me and my brain, ohhh no.
Me? I just froze up.
Evil brain that hates me? That bugger made me look her up and down, slowly, and say “I don’t know, 3am pity fuck?”
Let’s be clear here, these are the kind of teens that carry knives and use them, my sphincter slamming shut damned near caused the wind to change directions and there was a moment of absolute stillness.
Then one of the pack started laughing and the rest joined in (sounding even more like jackals) and, deprived of her support this behemoth of a fight starter just kind of stalled in place and so, regaining control of my me, I scurried off to my car, hopped in and wasted no time getting out of there.
Resting heart beat at the time? Hummingbird after it’s fifth line of coke.
One day, a stranger gave me a ride in Afghanistan.
This isn’t normal: he was just an Afghan man, and I was a uniformed active duty US Marine. I had stepped off the base for some reason, I don’t remember what, possibly to go to the bazaar which was held just-off base which we were allowed to visit, and after I exited from one gate, I realized I needed to be on the opposite side.
As I turned to walk back the other way, I understood just enough Pashto at the time to understand when an Afghan man in a truck offered to give me a ride to where I need to go.
Without thinking, I hopped in. And the doors locked. I could not unlock them. It immediately hit me just how stupid I was, and I realized that due to the confined space in the front of the vehicle my long rifle was useless. Trying to conceal my hands, I tensed and gripped my knife, ready to kill the driver, and stab and slash my way out of the vehicle at the slightest provocation.
But nothing happened. The driver stayed very calm and quiet. When I arrived at the other gate, he came to slowly to a stop, and unlocked the door. Relieved when I left his vehicle, he smiled and waved, wished me well, and continued on his way.
It was then I learned that even in Afghanistan, strangers can be kind.
But I never told anyone, because what I did was also astoundingly, immensely stupid.
Before 2019, Huawei mobile phones were not much different from Chinese brand mobile phones such as Xiaomi and OPPO.
The differences are very limited, such as better-looking photos, better mobile phone signal, and more beautiful casing.
. The difference between Huawei phones and Xiaomi phones at that time was the same as the difference between Samsung phones and Xiaomi phones. “A little better”, that’s all.
They have more in common. Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, and Samsung are all global products. Their CPUs come from professional suppliers such as Qualcomm and MTK; their screens come from LG and Samsung; their glass comes from Corning in the United States; their memories come from Micron and SK; and they also have accessories from various multinational suppliers such as SONY, TI, and Infineon. The operating system comes from Google’s Android.
They are all products under the background of globalization and the result of global cooperation.
But the Huawei mobile phone in 2023 is a unique case, it is completely different.
It is completely different from Apple, and also completely different from Samsung, Xiaomi, and OPPO.
It is no longer a global product.
Due to U.S. sanctions that began in 2019, Huawei is unable to cooperate with global suppliers, and they are unable to purchase most parts.
95% of the components of the Mate60 mobile phone to be launched in 2023 will come from Chinese suppliers, and the remaining 5% will be general-purpose components.
In fact, almost every component of this mobile phone comes from a Chinese company. Huawei has built a complete supply chain with the support of its Chinese partners.
They even printed the American Raimondo, the promoter of sanctions against Huawei, on their advertisements.
They are declaring: Thank you for making us stronger
this is really cool
This mobile phone has almost no components outside of China. All its semiconductors are produced in China, and its operating system is also developed by Huawei itself. Since its launch in September 2023, this mobile phone priced at US$1,000+ has continued to sell well in China, with 4 million units sold in just 3 months.
It is the first time that one country has completed the entire industrial chain of a smartphone since humans invented the smartphone. It is also a regression to the globalized division of labor among human beings.
All this stems from politics, because the United States believes that Huawei is too powerful and threatens “U.S. national security.”
Of course, there are many Chinese elements that threaten U.S. national security now, such as garlic and rubber tires.
My friends daughter made this decision. She had a 3.7 plus GPA from an excellent university. She scored well on the GRE so I am pretty sure she would have done well on the MCAT. She had volunteer work with a very reputable research group. She is attractive and charming and as a former member of the Admissions committee at the medical school that employs me I think she would have been admitted. I also think she made a good decision based on what she wants in life.
first she spent 2 years in PA school post college versus 4 in medical school and a minimum of 3 more in residency. Her debt for 2 years of PA is significant but nothing like it would be in most medical schools. She began full time work as a PA immediately so was able to start paying off that debt immediately. As she is employed in a federal hospital she received vacation, health care and time off to get married and have a baby before the age of 30. She went back to work and is paying off her debt. She does not have regular night call or weekend work. She works directly with patients and she likes that. She has time off to see her family and she is close to them. She and her husband are saving for a home. Unless she went into a highly paid medical specialty she will probably come out as well financially or near so because she has less school debt, will pay it off faster, will be able to afford a house which is a major wealth building maneuver, and if she decides to put extra time into her job and works weekends she will get paid extra for that, as opposed to a DO/ MD resident or fellow who may be there at no extra pay at all hours. I personally think she made a smart financial decision and from a health point of view one with less stress.
I don’t think I would ever make the same decision but I wasn’t keen on starting a family early, and I wasn’t keen on marriage until I met my wonderful husband, I was interested in research and in making my own decisions and I didn’t have enough financial perspective to realize how bad the debt could be (fortunately I went to a relatively cheap state med school). I wanted to be a decision maker and change the world in some small way. I love science and read science even in my time off. Everyone is different and each of us has to find our path.
As a trained kickboxer I will say that I’ve been in this position before and it’s a catch 22. If u do ur fucked and if u don’t sane outcome, you’re fucked. I had a girl get in my face and began spitting insults and saliva. I asked her to back up and get out of my personal space and she continued the assault. I will note her bf was in the vicinity and watching the entire thing. I yelled to him to please get control of his GF before things escalate further. He didn’t. She tried to hit me with her beer bottle and I open hand slapped the taste outta her mouth. She deserved it and then I had to deal with the bf. I wasn’t hurt and in all honesty she was fine too. It could have been much worse but it didn’t need to happen at all. Females, especially young ones, tend to think they can actually assault a man and have no repercussions. It’s simply not right! The truth is cops usually take the side of the woman regardless but that doesn’t make it right. My opinion is if anyone (regardless of gender) causes me harm I will react accordingly. Call it what u will but I call it not being a doormat.
About 8 months ago, I decided to move to Austin, Texas.
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I struggled with anxiety about the move for months — from April to July.
I’d lived in Chicago for roughly 20 years and wanted a change. I also was struggling to find world-class training for Jiu-Jitsu in Chicago. I also was sick of freezing my booty off every winter.
I was terrified that the fear of not making my move “work” would stop me from making it at all.
In the end, I just packed my car and drove all the way down to Texas to begin a new life. I left my friends, family, and everything I knew behind and “gave it a shot”. Instead of quitting when things got hard (although I definitely wanted to at times), I kept going.
As of today, I have been living in Austin, Texas for 7 months.
About 9 months ago, I met my girlfriend.
I struggled with anxiety about my new relationship for the entire first few months of it.
Fear of past traumas ruining a good thing before it began. Fear of the relationship failing despite the obvious potential it had. Fear of having everything I’d ever wanted in a partner and still not being happy.
I was terrified because I cared.
Despite my fears, I decided to carry forth in my relationship and do my absolute best. I decided to love openly despite being scared of being burned. I decided to try.
Today, I’m in the happiest relationship I’ve ever been in.
About 11 months ago, I started writing my first book.
I struggled with a lot of anxiety about the book for a very long time.
The fear of the book not being good. The fear of the book being good but not selling well. The fear that my stupid ADHD wouldn’t let me even finish the book in the first place.
I was terrified of doing something I had always wanted to do.
Nonetheless, I kept putting one word in front of the other and writing. Then, when I’d finished writing, I started editing.
The book will be available in a little less than 3 months.
About a year ago, I quit my job.
I struggled with a lot of anxiety about it for weeks and weeks.
I lost sleep over it. I worried about becoming broke and unemployed and “a bum”. I was taking a big leap and essentially trying to make a full-time living through Jiu-Jitsu seminars and writing on the Internet.
I was terrified that fear wouldn’t “let me” quit my job and chase my dream.
In the end, I went up to my boss and told him I was quitting and why, and he was cool with it. Life’s been good since.
The lesson is this:
The human experience is so much more customizable than most of us are aware of.
You can quit jobs, move cities, and meet new people. You can write books, make art, and do all the things you’re afraid of.
Yes — sometimes things don’t work out — but realizing that you have more control over your life than you think is deeply empowering.
I didn’t close my account but since this is a lot about Wells Fargo I will offer my experience. I have been with Wells Fargo over 60 years. During that time I have had the following experiences:
When I was about 25 I got a notice that my 90 day $30,000 unsecured note was due. Not mine! Someone sure had excellent credit!
I also had a business account and mistakenly wrote checks on the wrong account and had overdrafts. They charged me no fees. But I had made a few other errors which I had always talked them out of the service charges. Finally they told me that they were putting a note in my file and would no longer forgive the service charges. I quit making mistakes.
Many years later I called the bank to check on my balance and it was thousands of dollars too high due to an erroneous deposit. I told them to get it out of there and they did that the next day. Someone had a pretty good payroll check for more than $4,500 and that was over 30 years ago. When they reversed the deposit the person’s social security number showed up on my bank statement!
Recently I had to fight for several days to get my $50 back for a check they charged to my account. They needed several days to “investigate” it when one look at a copy of the check revealed that it was not my name and address, not my account number, not my signature, and not even my bank (Wells Fargo Minneapolis) but Wells Fargo New Jersey!
How these things happen is beyond me. Thank goodness I don’t have any loans with them.
The strangest? A colleague was fired for disagreeing with a disembodied voice.
Jim was working a few hours a week at a small language school. Many of the other teachers were backpackers, but Jim was a teacher through education and experience.
Each classroom was outfitted with a two-way intercom that, if used, boomed out through a speaker over the chalkboard. Jim hadn’t a clue that it existed.
He was teaching a lesson that included his spelling words for the students to write down. When he spelled out ‘t-h-e-a-t-e-r, ’ a disembodied voice boomed out, “That is incorrect. The correct spelling is ‘t-h-e-a-t-r-e.”
The Thai owner often used the intercom to listen in on classes. He had lived in England for a few years and was more than a little proud of his English language skills. He KNEW that he cheaply and illegally hired young people with no experience, other than being native speakers, and he used that as his reason to ‘spy’ and to correct when he felt it necessary.
Jim’s reply, using a polite, even tone, explained that it was a difference between British and American English. His words were for the students as well as for ‘the voice.’
Silence for about 5 seconds…then ‘the voice’ said, “Pick up your final pay packet from the office after class.”
The average motel in rural areas is about $45/night. In the city, it’s about $80/night. So, average, say, 60 dollars. That’s about $21,900 for a bed at night.
Most motels do not provide toiletries, which means Jack needs to buy new ones, at least for the time he stays in the same motel. The TV show does mention he carries his toothbrush around, but that still leaves toothpaste and at least a bar of soap. These things aren’t expensive, but because Jack moves around a lot, he needs to buy new ones every time he moves from one motel to another. Say he buys a bar of soap + toothpaste to last him for a week; that’s about 5 – 10 bucks. Say he moves every week. That’s about 500 bucks a year.
Quite a few people feel the need to tell me that even cheap hotels provide some kind of toiletry. Sure. Let’s say Reacher doesn’t need to buy those. That’s 500 saves. Good job. Surely, that offset the other 60K-80K he must spend on room, food, and weekly new sets of clothing.
Now clothing, because he doesn’t have luggage, so he doesn’t have any spare clothing. It doesn’t seem like he uses self-service laundromats. After all, what would he be wearing when he laundered his only clothing? That means he buys new clothing every single time he needs to change. Let’s say he changes underwear every other day and changes his jeans, T-shirts, and jackets every week. Mind you, while he could buy bulk, he had to throw whatever he didn’t wear away when he moved. So, say he buys a 6 pack of underwear for 10 bucks, plus a t-shirt, a new pair of Jeans, and a Jacket every week. And from what we have seen, his Jeans, T-shirts, and Jackets are relatively high quality. So even if he bought from the thrift store, he wasn’t going for the cheapest, and considering his size, I’d say 100 dollars per week for clothing. That’s another 26,000 for clothing.
This is a very very conservative estimation. Obviously, you lot 1) never shop for yourself, 2) didn’t know how hard it is to find clothing that could fit a very tall person with wide shoulders, and 3) never visited a thrift store in years. Could Reacher find a good jacket or a nice Levi Jean once in a while from a thrift store? Sure, he could. But every single fucking week, even in a small town? LOL. I don’t think so. Unless he wears smelly clothing all the time, I suspect the majority of the time, he will have to visit a department store that carries his size.
Thrift stores aren’t “J Crew for the cheap.” There isn’t a wealth of perfectly good clothing for you to pick. Especially with the rise of fast fashion, what you get in thrift stores nowadays are 1000 different pieces of garbage clothing from Shein or Modcloth. None of them will fit Reacher. There’s a reason why the majority of people do not shop at thrift stores once they have the money to shop at regular stores.
Reacher couldn’t sustain his weekly (if not more frequent) clothing needs through thrift stores. It is a fantasy. It doesn’t work in real life. He has to buy from regular department stores.
Keep in mind that he can’t wait. He can’t pick and choose because he only has one set of clothing, and if that set of clothing becomes dirty, torn, smelly, and covered in blood, he must get a new set immediately. He didn’t have the luxury to shop at different stores until he found the cheapest.
Realistically speaking, considering he might need more than one set of clothing per week, he will have to visit the department store or even specialty stores like Big and Tall for clothing at least half of the time, and his clothing cost could rise to 35K-40K.
Travel. Jack probably utilizes his veteran discount, so I’d say if he travels every week, 20–30 bucks a week, we’re looking at about 1,000 dollars for traveling. And it’s not going to be pleasant. Because there’s no public transportation outside major metropolises, Jack would spend a lot of time waiting for buses and walking for hours. Because of his gender and imposing height, he probably won’t have much luck hitchhiking.
He doesn’t cook, so he dines out every single day, and we know he occasionally drinks alcohol. On average, a meal costs about 20 dollars, very conservatively. We’re talking about small diners and fast-food joints. 60 dollars a day for 365 days, plus maybe a few fancy steak dinners plus top-shelf hard liquor here and there, that’s 25,000.
And there’s the medical cost. Jack helps random people. That’s his thing. And he helps people by doing violence. That means he deals with injuries, cuts needing stitches, fractured bones, concussions that need MRIs etc. etc. all the time. He most likely gets treatment from the local VA, but since he isn’t disabled, there will be a co-pay. And there will be times when he couldn’t get to a VA. He might need to visit an emergency room right away. I have no idea how much co-pay is there, but knowing the American VA system (and health care in general), it’s not going to be cheap. So I’d say maybe another 10,000 just for medical costs (do you know how much it costs to have an MRI? A brain MRI is about 2000 dollars).
And there are the miscellaneous spending, movie tickets, extra coffee for the day, occasionally needing a gun, etc.
Everything considered, I say to sustain this kind of bag-free lifestyle, you are looking at 80K – 100K a year.
Yes, I’m aware that Reacher sometimes steals from criminals. This answer isn’t about where his money comes from; it is about how expensive it is to live his lifestyle.
And what would he be doing all day long? There’s only that many “small towns” he can visit without getting tired of the pisspoor diner food and suspicious look everywhere he goes. I suspect he fills his day by playing Batman. I think he goes out of his way to look for trouble. That means he’s most likely running away from local police and/or getting in and out of hospitals. Still think my 10K medical cost is outrageous?
So, can you live a nomadic life like Jack Reacher? Sure you can. It’s not cheap, it’s not pleasant, it’s not easy, it’s not romantic, it’s dangerous. Unless you’re punishing yourself for some past sins, or you’re running away from something, not a life style I would recommend.
I didn’t realize this answer touched a nerve. I get it. You imagined if you wanted to, you could leave your job, your family, everything and live like nomads. How hard can it be? Jack Reacher did it! Surely you, a regular dude who can’t sleep without your Ambien, can do the lifestyle if you want to. That’s why you bought that gigantic F150, isn’t it? Even though you have never towed anything in your entire life. But you dreamed of being the tough guy who drives around in the wilderness. And you dreamed about being this loner vigilante who roams the American small towns delivering justice with nothing but his fist.
And I’m not sure when is the last time any of you visited a thrift store. What do you think thrift stores sell? Armani for 20 bucks? People do not donate high-quality clothing to Goodwill, and when they do, trust me, the employees get the first pick. You’re lucky if you can find anything that isn’t broken down Shein or Old Navy or other fast fashion brand garbage. That’s why I specifically said thrifting is not sustainable for someone like Reacher with his size and the wear and tear of his clothing.
The simple truth is Lee Child didn’t think it through. It’s like J.K. Rowling insisted that there is only 1 magical school in the entire British Isles, and that created a lot of worldbuilding problems for Harry Potter. Lee Child could easily solve all of the practical difficulties by simply saying Reacher had a backpack. If the backpack is too dorky, Reacher could have a manly leather overnight tote. That would solve a LOT of problems and make Reacher’s odyssey across the US much cheaper and easier. But noooo, we can’t have that. Lee Child wanted to create a mystery lone wolf character, a modern-day “The Man with No Name.” He shows up in some random town, beats up some bad guys, saves the girl, and leaves town with only the clothes on his back.
Wake the fuck up, dude. Jack Reacher is a fantasy. You can’t live that kind of life on the cheap or even with money.
Neil Shubin is an American fish paleontologist. Behind him is a fossil he discovered (and a reconstructed model of it) he named “Tiktaalik”. It’s clearly a fish, but it also clearly has elbows.
When he’s not doing paleontology, he teaches anatomy in medical school. His students think he’s excellent. When they ask if he’s a surgeon or an internist, he answers “I’m a fish paleontologist. Do you want a refund?”
The reason Dr. Shubin is so good at teaching human anatomy is that human anatomy is simply modified fish anatomy. Human beings evolved from something like Tiktaalik, which lived 375 million years ago and is the ancestor of all terrestrial vertebrates, including amphibians, birds, reptiles, mammals, and us.
Finding the same structures between fish and humans isn’t hard. Fish even have five major bones in their fins, just like we have five fingers. Sometimes the bones are modified for another purpose (like hearing) but you can find many one-to-one comparisons.
I was hauling Caterpiillar equipment from Surrey, BC, to places like Ft. Lauderdale, Richmond Va. El Paso Tx, and Long Beach Ca. this was oversize equipment meaning I was overheight, overwidth, over length and overweight. (I had to buy overdimensional permits in every state.
My little brothers wedding was on Saturday, so when I got home the week before, I declined another trip since they usually take 7 to 10 days. I was told this load was going to Salt Lake City, so I should just make it down and back by Friday.
I loaded up and called the customer once I crossed the U.S. border. He informed me they this machine had been sold to a customer in San Antonio Tx.
Fuck.
I hauled ass, and had the load off by Friday morning. I informed dispatch I was leaving the truck and trailer in the customers yard and flying home for Wade’s wedding. I missed my flight by 5 minutes. It was an $1800 ticket, non refundable, and the ticket agent took pity on me. She said if I could make Phoenix Az by 2:30 AM, I could catch a flight there and be in Vancouver by 8:30 and still be home by noon.
I got pulled over in Tucson Az, at 11PM doing 87 mph in the far left lane. (Almost zero traffic.)
Charged with speeding and public endangerment. (A felony count with 10 years minimum) the jail was full and they considered me a flight risk (Canadian) so they took me to Pima County Maximum Security, and put me in F+G, the highest security.
Allowed one collect call per day except those phones wouldn’t accept collect to Canada. So I was in there 5 days before my cell mates lawyer called my family back home to tell them where I was. Last they had heard was Friday when I said I was gonna make it. My folks sent him 30 grand for bail which arrived an hour after I didn’t need it anymore.
Tuesday I plead guilty to speeding, $100 fine and 2 day driving course. Thursday I got shackled up with 6 other guys and put in a van, which was left for an hour, midday, with the windows rolled up. Before we all passed out I remember everyone telling why they were in there and what the charges were. Every single guy in there was a murderer, and a couple were in for more than one. They pissed themselves laughing when I told them I was in for speeding.
They have double jeopardy in AZ and I’d already plead guilty to speeding so it got thrown out. I was released later that day.
The lawyer gave me $100 and I was buying some shoes when I got to talking with a well dressed guy, who, after hearing a bit of my story, insisted I come stay at his house while I got things sorted out tto fly home. His name was Todd, he was a Professor at the University of Arizona. He took me home to his place up on the mountain, to his wife and 4 year old daughter. I stayed 4 days and he drove me to the airport. Gave me $100 which I told him I would repay, but I lost contact and never did so if anyone knows who I’m talking about, get ahold of me.
I lost all the wedding presents that were in my truck plus all my personal effects. It cost $18,000 US, for what I don’t know. I sold my 1972 short box fleet side chev pickup, factory 4 speed, 20,000 original miles, to cover the money put up by my folks. I lost my job, never made it to the wedding, and now I have to explain what happened every time I cross the border.
One small thing that I pay attention to in people is how they react when small things go wrong.
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There’s a long line in the coffee shop.
Traffic.
Someone cut them off on the road.
A lot of people nowadays freak out when things like this happen to them.
I think that there is more insight into who someone is when small things go wrong than there is when things go right. I also think catastrophic incidents (losing loved ones, accidents, etc) are a bad time to judge character.
But when something small goes wrong, the strongest people I’ve met are completely unfazed.
They simply adjust and go about their business.
“A long line in the coffee shop? That’s okay. I’ll wait.”
“Traffic? I’ll put my book on and let everyone know I’ll be late.”
“Someone cut me off on the road? That’s okay. They must be in a hurry.”
Before you can become truly strong — the type of strong where major problems don’t phase you — you must first become strong enough to deal with minor inconveniences.
It’s kind of terrifying to me how many people nowadays can’t handle something small going wrong.
Discovered that the septic system isn’t working like it should be. So dad explained that he would just dig up the pipe and run a sucker stick through it to unclog it. (If you don’t know what a sucker stick is, ask and I will tell you. Basically, a long metal rod.)
Dad suffers from angina, and at the age of 87, there are limits as to what he can do, physically. So when he gets involved in a project, I usually hang around and “help”, which actually means that I’m there in case he has a bad attack and needs nitro.
So there we were, with every digging tool we could find on the place from spades to sharp shooters to post hole diggers to regular shovels and everything in between. Right away, Dad showed me a hole in the ground and told me to be careful not to step in it. He gingerly stepped around that hole, and I watched him each time. Then I went to grab a sharp shooter to help him dig, and dammit! I stepped in that dang hole. Left foot sank inside, lost my balance, couldn’t get my rubber boot clad foot out of the hole. By then I was on my hands and knees in the muddy muck, yanking and yanking to get my foot out. Finally with a great gurgling noise, the hole let go of my foot and I gave a might tug, causing me to fall flat on my front. Managed to keep my face out of the mud. But I was a total loss. Surprisingly, I landed more on the grass than in the mud, so it wasn’t too horrible.
My dad said, “OH NO!” as he watched me go down, and when I busted out laughing, he did too.
We never did find the end of that dang pipe, and tomorrow some professional septic tank people are coming out to redo the whole nasty thing.
Wash the liver very well. If using lamb’s or calves liver, cut it into strips or cubes. Season the liver with salt and pepper and dredge in the flour. Shake off excess and fry in the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the oregano, lemon juice and garlic if used.
Pour the contents of the pan onto a serving dish and serve with lemon wedges and bread for dipping into the oil/lemon/oregano mixture.
May also be served as a main course. Simply increase the quantities according to how many people are being served.
Serve with either fried potatoes or plain white rice.
I was working at a relatively small company, the last establishment I would ever be employed by in the U.S., but I didn’t know that yet.
I was in before all others, every day, getting an early start. I loved my job, my colleagues and the owners. I felt I had a comfortable, rewarding future there.
For New Year’s, the company held a lavish ‘Thank you!’ dinner and gave us expensive appliances as well as cash bonuses.
I was surprised by the generosity and grateful…until a few days into the new year, when I met with the office manager for my yearly evaluation.
She praised my work, and my ability to get along with clients and colleagues. She was aware that I wanted/deserved a promotion (one step up) but told me the position was going to an older woman (in her early 50’s).
I will never forget the reasons offered: The woman was not effective in the position she had (equal to mine), they felt sorry for her re her possibly having to look for a new job ‘at her age’ so they were promoting her to free up her current position so a better employee could be found.
I was then given a substantial raise while being told how much everyone loved me because ‘I was so easy to kick around’ (Exact words).
A short time later, I resigned because I discovered I had an intolerance for disrespect that money could not fix.
The same office manager felt I was ungrateful for leaving, never accepting that she had insulted me.
Note: The older woman found the higher position beyond her capabilities and quit a few months later.
By that time, I was on my way to a much better life in Thailand.
The Man Who Fought World War II for 28 Extra Years
January 22, 2024
The jungle sweltered, a thick canopy choking out the sun. Insects buzzed in a relentless symphony, punctuated by the occasional screech of unseen creatures. For 28 years, this had been Shoichi Yokoi’s world, a far cry from the rice paddies of his Japanese village. A soldier declared dead, he was a ghost haunting the verdant shadows of Guam, oblivious to the war’s end and the life that had moved on without him.
Yokoi’s story begins in 1941, a young tailor swept into the maelstrom of World War II. Stationed on Guam, he found himself amidst the brutal Battle of 1944. As American forces closed in, Yokoi, along with other Japanese soldiers, retreated into the island’s dense interior. They clung to a desperate hope: that the tide would turn, that reinforcements would arrive. But the tide never came. The war ended, the world moved on, but Yokoi and his dwindling comrades remained, prisoners of their own denial.
Life in the jungle was a constant struggle for survival. Hunger gnawed at their bellies, the threat of disease ever-present. Yokoi hunted small animals with sharpened bamboo spears, fished with traps fashioned from vines, and cultivated meager crops in hidden clearings. He built flimsy shelters, patched his decaying uniform with leaves, and kept a tattered diary, chronicling his loneliness and yearning for home.
The years blurred into one another, marked only by the changing seasons and the slow fading of hope. Two of his companions succumbed to illness, leaving Yokoi utterly alone. Yet, he persisted, driven by a samurai’s code of honor and a flicker of faith that he would one day see his family again.
In January 1972, two local hunters stumbled upon Yokoi, a wild-eyed, skeletal figure emerging from the undergrowth. The war, they informed him, had been over for nearly three decades. The world he knew was gone, replaced by a bewildering landscape of peace and prosperity.
Yokoi’s return was met with international media frenzy. He was hailed as a living fossil, a relic of a bygone era. Some saw him as a hero, others as a tragic figure, a victim of his own unyielding loyalty. Yokoi himself struggled to adjust. He grappled with survivor’s guilt, mourned his lost comrades, and yearned for a normalcy that had become foreign to him.
He married soon after his return, fathered a daughter, and attempted to rebuild his life. Yet, the jungle’s grip never fully loosened. He dreamt of verdant shadows, woke to the phantom sounds of unseen creatures. Shoichi Yokoi, the man who survived 28 years lost in the jungle, could never truly escape the war that had claimed not just his youth, but a part of his soul.
Yokoi’s story is a stark reminder of the human cost of war, a testament to the enduring power of the human spirit, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of blind obedience. It is a story that lingers long after the echoes of gunfire fade, a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the enduring shadows of war.
DARK Reality Of Marriage That Men Are PURPOSELY Never Told
Watch the entire thing. They look at Western marriages and the laws that differ depending on your sex. Very interesting and very disturbing.
Sleep can be such a precious commodity in lockup that you take it when you can get it.
Personally, I got some of my most productive snooze time after breakfast was rolled into the day room.
While my cellmate was engrossed in THE PRICE IS RIGHT, our living space would temporarily transform itself into a snore free zone.
So by lunchtime headcount, I could typically get caught up on any sleep I may have missed during lights out.
Nobody sleeps through the night in jail.
It’s a physical impossibility.
The lights may dim, but they never go completely out, so unless you mask up, the florescent bulb over your stainless steel shaving mirror is going to shine in your eyes all night long.
And I don’t know how you feel personally, but I was never really comfortable wearing eye shades while incarcerated.
Call me overly cautious, but I don’t want to be fumbling with a blindfold when the shit goes down.
CO’s make a particular point of creating as much noise as possible when they walk their respective rounds during graveyard shift.
Deadbolts rattle.
Armored doors slam.
The hours rumble along like a gurney down a shuttered hallway.
A couple of years ago we bought a house, after leaving the house we’d been in prior for over 25 years. The new home was our dream home in many ways. It checked all the boxes for us and we couldn’t wait to move in.
The Sellers were a slimy couple. The guy was a b.s. artist, an alcoholic and a bit of a scammer, and his wife was the breadwinner with a 1-year-old, too busy to either notice who her husband was (who was about 12 years older than she was at 44), or she didn’t care. I think a little bit of both. The husband tried to scam $7,500 from my husband and me regarding a mirror that he claimed he’d recently bought which was affixed to a parlor wall in the house. He said his wife had bought the large, gilded pier mirror and if we didn’t pay them, it was going with them. This mirror was a fixture and should have remained in the home, and I fought for it, but didn’t win. I came to find out that the mirror had been in the home for 23 years and was, indeed, affixed to the wall and should have remained. The owners before our Sellers had bought the mirror at a yard sale 23 years prior for less than $300 and had had it permanently affixed to the wall. So, the scam artist husband Seller lied to us about his wife having bought the mirror, and also lied about it not being a fixture (fixtures remain with the house, they don’t get taken).
This was a very difficult closing. Their attorney was a real b—-h and in many ways she enabled them to not fulfill aspects of the contract we had with them. We could have sued them over some, but we didn’t. Our closing attorney was no better, but on the opposite end. He had no spine and was unable and unwilling to go after their attorney on our behalf. Instead, he just kept talking us down off the ledge into giving up rights we had under the terms of the contract for sale.
We get to closing day in Septemeber, finally, and we get a call from our attorney early that morning telling us the closing isn’t happening. Mind you, all of our belongings are packed and piled everywhere, and only one piece of furniture, a sofa, is unwrapped. Turned out that the title company did one more check just before closing, and it turned out the Sellers had two federal liens on the home for non-payment. One was a HUD mortgage they had taken out during COVID, and guess what – the government was pretty much shut down, because this was 2021; so, there was no reaching HUD. You can’t close on a home until liens on it are satisfied, or transferred to another property. We’re pretty sure they knew about the liens and were trying to hide them until we closed. They had been in the house for only two years and had pushed for a quick closing. Now we knew why.
The Sellers did nothing to resolve the liens, and we sat there with all our belongings in boxes and our dogs for two months. We wanted to get out of our Contract for Sale, but we were told by our attorney that we couldn’t, or the Sellers could sue us (it was actually the other way around, but our attorney was terrible). September turned to late-October, and all our winter clothes were packed, so we didn’t even know which boxes our winter clothing were in. October turned to November, and we were still living that way, no plates, no pots, no pans, so we couldn’t even cook a meal for ourselves.
Finally, we started calling around trying to resolve our Sellers’ lien problem for them so we could close on our new house. Finally my husband spoke with a biz associate of his who knew someone who had worked for HUD under the Trump administration. He put us in touch with him, and on the phone the gentleman asked us the address of the home we were trying to close on. It came right up on his computer. Then he asked us if we knew to where the Sellers were moving. I had done some research on them and found out they were moving north several states away and had the address. He could see that, indeed, they were the owners of that property. In a few strokes on his keyboard, he transferred their HUD lien to their new property, which they’d already purchased.
There was the matter of the second lien. For that, we had to have a tax attorney in my husband’s office offer to discharge the second lien for them, but he was going to charge them for this, of course, not do it for free. So, the Sellers said they wanted to hire their own tax attorney, which my husband’s tax attorney found for them. Within a week, she got the second lien discharged and applied to their new home so we could close on our new home. This was in late-November of 2021, two months after our September closing date got canceled.
When we closed, finally, we went to the house and found that the Sellers had left furniture in the home they should have taken, left food out in the basement, dirty diapers in garbage containers around most of the home, and more. I had to hire a cleaning company to clean before we could move in, which would be another two days. Not a big deal, but these people were so inconsiderate and so nasty in the way they treated us. You would think they would have left a bottle of wine with a note for us saying ‘congratulations and thank you,’ but they didn’t.
Over a year went by, it was summer of 2023, we were happy in our new home, enjoying it, and fixing it up (needed a lot of work). I come in one day with the mail, and open a letter. It’s a notice for the former owners’ Tesla saying it was going to be repossessed for non-payment. LMAO. The next letter I opened was another overdue notice for a storage unit of theirs that hadn’t been paid in several months. I had another good laugh, and I wondered if the mirror they took out of spite was in that storage unit, but I had no way of finding out. I would guess it probably was. It would have cost almost as much to move it as what they had asked us to pay to leave it.
Typically, I wouldn’t take any glee in anyone’s being in debt and in way over their heads, but these people were so inconsiderate of us in every way and so thankless about what we did for them in doing the work to get their liens discharged so they could sell their house, that I thought what they had gotten themselves into was just pure Karma.
When I was in elementary school in the 1950s, we had a science book that said, “it might look as though western Europe and western Africa could nest against the east coast of North America and South America. This is just a coincidence. Continents don’t move.”
Within ten years, tectonic plate theory had spread into the high schools and suddenly we knew that continents are drifting all the time and causing earthquakes. We found out that rock formations in England seemed to continue tha Appalachian Mountains. Now it’s hard to remember how recently Continental Drift became consensus science.
When I was young, Big Bang was used derisively for the hypothesis that the universe had a sudden beginning.
The Martian Chronicles was still highly recommended as science fiction, even though Mars was known to be uninhabitable before the stories were written.
The double helix model of DNA was not taught in schools when I was first taking science classes, and the terms genes and chromosomes were our main genetic vocabulary.
But that’s just a function of science gradually improving on what was known before. Just as I had to learn new names for a lot of countries as they became independent: Bechuanaland to Botswana. Tanganyika and Zanzibar to Tanzania. The Rhodesias and Nyasaland to Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi. And many other examples. So I learned the true names, then history happened, so the truth was revised.
I’ve done this once, when a drug crazed fool did a U-turn over double lines and began to chase me down (to this day the cops think it’s only because my car was similar to one of his enemies/dealers/customers cars). After driving around 2 local suburbs, double tracking & looping the same route several times, it was clear he wasn’t giving up. He didn’t try to pass, he simply tailed me everywhere with his high-beam on, and honked his horn occasionally.
I was smart enough to only take back roads, so I wouldn’t get caught at a red light, and tried to use intersections where I didn’t have to wait. Anything to prevent him from having an opportunity to get out and do something nasty. My hope was to spot a passing cop car and somehow get their attention, but this never happened.
So I simply drove to the nearest Police station – which always has cops going in & out the doors, and a clear view of the carpark from the front counter, which is manned by 2–3 cops at all times. He followed me in, so I blasted the horn to get their attention. Fortunately a duty car came in behind, stopping his exit. Cops came out as he was getting out of his car, and promptly grabbed him for outstanding warrants. They had a chat to me about what I did, and told me it was the right thing to do, and had the added bonus that it saved them having to find the guy later.
I always think of that now, but haven’t had to do it again.
I’ve been sitting on this incident for too long: Some 7 years ago I bought a car I’d lusted after for years.
RenaultSport RS Megane 275 Cup Special. Then the ultimate front wheel drive with multiple Nurburing lap records. 12 months old 4,000ks, immaculate with balance of 5 year warranty remaining.
2 years later, 34,000 ks and one morning it just wouldn’t start, flat battery. Charged it, 10 minutes after trying again to start it battery was flat. So I’ve narrowed it down to the fuseable link under the battery.
Rang the local Renault dealer – Brian Hilton Toyota/Renault in North Gosford and explained. ‘No worries we’ll send a tow truck to collect it’ …and again explained my suspicions. I rang them the next day and ‘Its the starter motor and there’s not one in the country(?) Renault will airfreight from France’ Me: So you checked the fuseable link? ‘Yes, its definently the starter motor’.
3 weeks later (warranty hire car – (only because I phoned Renault HO) I get a phone call: ‘Its a big job because we had to remove engine to replace it (B/S). We’ve changed the starter motor…(wait for it) but have found that the fuseable link has also blown (WTF) and we’ll get the part tomorrow so you can pick it up the next day’ (I said nothing about initial conversation)
Picked it up and all seemed fine, other than a bit of a front-end clunk within 2 days, within 4 days there was a clunk from the front end even on slow Speed Bumps. Took it to my regular and very trusted Workshop (who race RenaultSports) ‘Gosford European’. Franck Donniaux the owner took a quick look: ‘They’ve rattled gunned the engine mount bolts and the gearbox is bouncing off the subframe cause the bolts on LHS mount have snapped. They helicoiled 2 new bolts in, gave me the bill, and said this is Brian Hiltons cost.
Spent the next few days thinking about it the best response …eventually rang Brian Hilton Dealer and booked it in for a full complete service to replace everything serviceable that could be done: Wiper blades, all filters, brake fluid and coolant flush etc etc. (didn’t say a word about the engine mount).
2 weeks later dropped it off and then a call from service department: ‘We’ve noticed a broken D/S front ball joint boot and the front disc ABS sensor needs replacing’ A: Fine do everything that looks like it needs doing. Picked it up and bill was $1,375. Asked to speak to the service manager ‘But why all the works been done’, asked again to speak to service manager…he wandered across and I said this is one for your office – unless you’d like the rest of the waiting room to hear.
Very nicely and courteously explained the process from the beginning:
1. Fraudulent miss-diagnosis, I had clearly asked twice that they check the starter motor fuse link
2. My car off the road for 4 weeks,
3: Broken engine mount bolts and that engine did not need to be removed. (He immediately agreed to refund me Franck’s bill)
4. Broken tie-rod boot and broken ABS sensor (ABS was a warranty anyhow) could only have been their doing when it was there
My suggestion: – they not only pay Franck’s bill, they waiver the service fee or this would go right up the chain. and very public. I then said nothing and just watched him whither in his seat.
Outcome – all costs paid…found out that the Renault Service Technician was sacked 2 weeks later. This however was evidence of bad management from the top down.
….and would never go anywhere near Brian Hilton Gosford ever again!
So nice though having a mechanic and workshop that I can trust = Gosford European
Woman instantly REGRET their life and hit the wall
https://youtu.be/gjxtIpq736c
Decline in American marriages
Damn.
2024 01 29 19 47
Check this one out too…
2024 01 29 19 48e
How to Stop Rationalizing Choices That Go Against Our Values
January 22, 2024
We’ve all been there. Stuck at a crossroads, staring down a choice that gnaws at our gut, whispers contradictions to our core values. Yet, with a deft mental sleight of hand, we weave justifications, construct elaborate rationalizations, and somehow convince ourselves to take the path of least resistance – the one that may offer immediate gratification but leaves a lingering dissonance in our souls.
But here’s the truth: rationalization is the kryptonite to a fulfilling life. It’s the thief that steals our authenticity, leaving behind a hollow shell of who we aspire to be. So, how do we break free from this self-sabotaging habit and align our choices with the values we hold dear?
1. The Pause Button
In the heat of the moment, our rationalizations run on autopilot. Take a time-out. Step away from the decision, even if it’s just for a few breaths. This conscious delay disrupts the momentum of rationalization and gives you a chance to reconnect with your core values. Ask yourself: How does this choice align with the person I want to be? Does it resonate with what I truly believe in?
2. The Value Inventory
We often hold our values close but don’t articulate them regularly. Take some time to revisit your personal compass. Write down your core values, the principles that guide your decisions and define your identity. Keep this list handy, a constant reminder of the north star that should guide your choices.
3. The “Why?” Drill
Our rationalizations are often surface-level justifications. Peel back the layers. Ask yourself “why” repeatedly, digging deeper into the motivations behind your choice. Is it fear, convenience, or immediate gratification driving you? Uncover the true root of your desire and see if it aligns with your deeper values.
4. The Mirror Test
Imagine looking at yourself in the mirror after making the choice. Does the reflection radiate self-respect and integrity? Or is there a flicker of unease, a sense of betrayal to your own principles? This visualization hones your decision-making by confronting the immediate consequences and long-term impact of your choices.
5. The Compassionate Coach
We often fall into the trap of harsh self-judgment when we rationalize against our values. Instead, approach yourself with compassion. Acknowledge the human tendency to slip up, and remember that progress, not perfection, is the goal. Learn from the experience, strengthen your value compass, and move forward with renewed self-awareness.
Breaking the cycle of rationalization requires self-awareness, honesty, and a commitment to your values. It’s a continuous practice, a dance between impulse and intention. But with each conscious choice, you create a ripple effect, aligning your life with the person you truly want to be. Remember, your values are your compass, not a cage. Embrace the discomfort of choosing integrity, and watch your path unfold with an authenticity that resonates from within.
One of my friends told me about his friend who had totaled his MG Midget and wanted it gone.
I said cool I’ll look at it. He took me over and we looked at the car. I accepted his price of $150. I asked if I could work on it for a day in his garage, as the right front wheel was jammed by the fender. He said sure. I actually pulled the fender out of the wheel with my hands. I also pulled the hood straight enough to close. I replaced the brake line and bled the brakes. I drove it out after 2–3 hours.
I had to do some bodywork on the hood and fender before repainting them with spray cans. My repair costs were about $20. it was the late 1970s.
Drove the car for about 4 years. During that time it was totaled again by a reckless corvette driver. His insurance gave me $2000 plus the car. I again repaired the same bumper, hood and right fender. I also cut down a plastic chevy grill to replace the the mangled MG grill. Repairs from that accident totaled $30.
When I was in college myself and two other football players had to get clearance from our orthopedic doctor to play in a game. So we got on the elevator along with young nurse or medical staffer. All of a sudden the lights and elevator went out, emergency light kicked on. The young nurse really hadn’t paid much attention to who she was on the elevator with until then. I’m 6′5″, white, at the time 265 lbs,two of my tackle friends 6′6″ and 6′7″ 305 and 325 lbs two or so. I’ve never seen a woman panic so fast, or badly. I don’t know if it was claustrophobia or just outright fear, she started crying and collapsed. She literally peed her scrubs. Thankfully the power came back on as Jeremy had reached for the emergency phone. We yelled for help, medical staff got her in a room, next I know the police were there to talk to us, thank God the cops were willing to talk to me, otherwise there could have been real trouble.
Back in the 1970’s I worked for a bank in the City of London. The dress code for men was suit and ties. Not unusual at that time, my parents bought me a suit. As this was my first job, I didn’t have a lot of money to spend on clothes, but, I did purchase some navy blue trousers and a navy blue blazer. I wore them to the office and I was called into my managers office and he said, that it was OK, but on the limit of the dress code. The blues didn’t match 100%. OK, not a major problem. Several months later, and a bit more money, I went and had a suit made to measure. It was dark green with a red silk lining, very smart, so I thought. Again I went to work feeling very proud to be in my super new suit. Again I was called in to see my manager, he again said, OK, it’s a suit but it’s not navy, black or some other sombre colour. As I worked in the personnel section, I had access to the company rules and there was nowhere that stated what colours clothes had to be. I worked in an office on the 3rd floor and the only contact I had with customers, was when I went out to lunch and had to walk through the banking hall. In the morning and evenings when entering and leaving the bank was closed to customers. I left shortly afterwards, but that’s another story.
If the question had not been asked as phrased, my experiences would not have come to mind. I’ll tell you about two of them.
I survived three attempts that are by some of those that worked for me that tried to fire me! By murder!
In a war zone, I was in charge of over 100 men. Some criminals, joined up to avoid jail. Morale poor. Racial tensions taut as a bow string. I was in charge of discipline and as much of their safety, as could be handled by command. My job # 1, keeping all mine alive and getting them home, with as little damage as possible!
I was that command and I took my job seriously, on base and in the field. I was a more disciplined superior than the bunch had been accustomed to and a few were not, not only unreceptive, but very much in contempt!.
The first two grenades that exploded under my bunk at different times, were largely defeated by precautions taken with flooring and a blast shield I had created under my sleeping mat.
I failed to move my bed after the first and second attempts. A near fatal mistake. The bastards almost got me with the third. The laminated layers of 3/4”, pressure treated plywood and inserts were sufficiently degraded from the first two blasts to allow schrapnel from the third to penetrate the floor and blast shield I had created with tightly packed body armor between frame and my sleeping mat.
A single piece of grenade schrapnel penetrated all protection and wrecked the slide action of the M-16 (I kept, in bed, when asleep, right along side of my body), at the time of the explosion. My issued weapon was ruined. My hooch was wrecked and I don’t recall how long the bells kept ringing.
So, if given a choice between how they tried in the RVN and the way, years later when Big Al, fired me while camping in the Canadian Rockies, for not leaving a phone contact, I’d take the later.
ps; Speaking of the later, I suited up Monday like I hadn’t heard I was canned. Everyone acted like they had seen a haint when I walked in and as for Big Al, well , he must have forgotten. He never said a thing. Check the Quora search engine for the full story.
John Wally was a fellow that I worked with back in my early working career. This was before I worked in the coal mines. Back then, I worked in a a local grocery store / supermarket. And John Wally was the assistant manager there.
The “narrows” of East Brady.
This was in the 1970’s, and in Western Pennsylvania in East Brady. Oh, that plaza sat on the river and was once the rail line passenger station for the town. I recon that around the 1960’s it was converted into a mini strip mall, and then expanded upon to make the supermarket.
Ah today… who knows what it is. Maybe a “Blockbuster” VHS store… nah. Those came and went. Probably a vape store, and a bar. Knowing PA as I do. From these pictures it seems that a “Family Dollar” emerged into the fray.
The supermarket is the lower left building in the picture with the red roof. Incidentally, the white church in the center of the picture is the catholic church that I attended as a boy. Saint Eusebius.
Anyways, John Wally had this real knack. This skill.
At the end of the day he would count the money in the registers as he always did. But right before he would count the money, he would put his hand in the till and pull out a pile of coins. Pennies. Dimes. Nickels and Quarters. He would then weigh them in his hand…
…and guess how much their total worth was.
Each time he did it, he got better and better at it.
Eventually reaching a 70% rate of knowing the exact amount of change that he held.
The remaining 30% of the time, he was off by one or two cents.
Brochure Pics 008 scaled 1
…
The human being is capable of great things. Many things require patience, and practice. But eventually you can master the most obscure, and difficult tasks and perform them effortlessly.
Yes. I was about 17 and my 12-year-old brother came home crying that his brand new neon green bike with white tires was stolen from the local strip mall.
Now, the bad neighborhood in my town was maybe only 20 x 10 blocks, so I grabbed a wooden Louisville Slugger bat, tossed it and my little brother into the back seat of my Chevy Impala and drove to the bad neighborhood. It was summer, so we had the windows open. I went to high school in that neighborhood, so knew it well. I also played on the inner-city football team, so knew how to be a VIP there.
Within 10 minutes, I spotted three 15–16 year olds doing wheelies with and laughing about a neon green bike with white tires in some overgrown dirt lot. I pulled right up and got out; being 17 or so, I was used to seeming intimidating to 15–16 year olds. When my tiny brother got out of the car, they saw the bat, though I didn’t need it. They were very apologetic and gave up the bike with no problem. One noted seeing the bat.
A couple of years later, I was home from college, and the story came up and my brother said, “You know, that may not have been my bike…”
I didn’t want to hear it. And assured him it was his bike. No one appreciates anything these days.
Three young men, all age 16, brutally tortured and murdered their classmate after having tortured, humiliated and beaten him for several hours.
Okay, things like that happen.
But the victim had been continuously harassed and bullied ever since the first class in the comprehensive school – for nine years.
Nine years.
Both teachers, parents and police had been powerless because the perpetrators had been underage. The trope Adults Are Useless was fulfilled completely.
There is no question about the guilt of those prosecuted. They had videoed everything, with intent to publish it in the social media.
The Finnish law knows three degrees of homicide: murder, kill and intentional manslaughter.
Murder is the gravest, and can be prosecuted only if the homicide had been particularly depraved and premeditated. The sentence is always life imprisonment. And it is life unless the President pardons you.
It is tough to go for the life in prison when you are 16, but these human weeds deserve it.
EDIT: For those suggesting something about immigrants and their high crime statistics, my intuition tells me it is now native Finns who are behind this crime. The crime manifested such brutality, such viciousness, such cruelty, such depravity and such determination on which only native Finns are capable of. I wrote some time ago about the Great Northern War and its effect on Finnish genetics (Finland lost 70% of whole population) and this crime well demonstrates the effects of natural selection. It is the ugly flip side of sisu.
Immigrants can rob, they can rape and they can kill, but their violence is usually very spontaneous, irregular and unpremeditated, and they do it more to boast and demonstrate their position in the pecking order rather than to really profess dolus determinatus.
When native Finns commit such crime, it invariably demonstrates a deep down hatred and viciousness in the modus operandi itself. In this particular case the three human weeds prosecuted – Veeti Neramo, Alexis Koskivaara and Heikki Juutinen – had acted as if they had planned and intended their victim to die as agonally as possibly. There was no single intact rib in his body nor one single intact organ.
There are nowhere as many natural born killers, “super soldiers” as Dave Grossman calls them in On Killing, as there are in Finland. While in the WWII some 2% of US soldiers aimed and shot to kill, the number was up to 30% in Finland.
I was a child in the 1970s, and I do not remember that decade fondly.
The World War Two was still omnipresent. The veterans were still very much alive, they were still in the work life, and they were either our grandparents or even parents. It was a recent memory. There were still ruins around from the war, and we were warned not to touch anything suspicious as it could be unexploded ammunition.
Seventies were an incredibly violent decade on the vantage point of a child. It was perfectly acceptable to raise the kids with a whip and beat them with a belt if they were naughty. Fights at school were commonplace – they happened at almost every break. Each weekend saw a gang fight or similar, and boys liked to play war with air rifles. Bullying and teasing was a non-issue. One of my schoolmates was bullied into suicide.
Finland back in the seventies was a country of one single truth. President Urho Kekkonen ruled with an iron hand, it was an era of the Finlandization, and our teachers reflected that. The Baby Boomers hated their parents and everything they represented, and leaned very heavily to left. The radio and TV were full of pro-Soviet propaganda.
My hometown was divided into Communists, Social Democrats and Bourgeoisie. Everyone knew where they belonged and who was who.
Smoking was ubiquitous. The majority of adults smoked. Alcohol was used on binge drinking. Cars were noisy, stinky and unsafe.
Life was dull, monotonous and boring. Food was bland and monotonous. Life was far slower pacing than today, and kids liked to play spontaneously, go doing sports spontaneously, go hiking to the woods or go swimming to a nearby swimming hole. Our parents would have been prosecuted from neglecting us nowadays.
Only in the 1980s things started to change – to better. The 1980s were a good decade. Unfortunately they ended in the Great Recession.
Wife PETRIFIED After I Presented Spicy Pics/Videos Of Her Cheating…In Our At Fault Divorce State
My Chinese parents are almost impossible to buy for. They would scold me if the things I buy are of no use to them. Since I am an adult and I’ve decided that I will no longer endure the horrors of flying sandals thrown at me (I had more than my fair share of it as a kid), I have also gotten smarter. Over the years, I’ve learned to buy what they actually need and appreciate. Here goes:
Vitamins and supplements. As they are getting older, they need these to maintain health. Calcium, Omega 3, glucosamine, you name it. Rather than buying nice things or branded stuff, they appreciate it more if I take my time to ask them which vitamins are running out, buy them, and when they want to pay me back, I simply tell them to keep their money.
Money. This can never go wrong. The best gift is money itself, because they might not be needing/wanting anything now, but if you give them some money, it can really come in handy when they actually want to indulge themselves in something. Asians give hong bao/红包 (red envelopes) filled with money in joyful occasions (e.g. Chinese New Year). I usually do this on my parents’ birthdays.
Assets. Fine gold, stock, and mutual funds. Eyes on the prize, fellas.
Plane tickets. When they want to go on a vacation or visit other kids who live in different cities/countries, it’d be very helpful if we pay for their plane tickets. This is what they really need (and want).
Handbags for moms, perfumes for dads. If there are some indulgent and lavish things my parents won’t scold me for buying, they would be these. You just need to know their preferences when it comes to these things.
I know most of these things are not ‘romantic’ things to give, but as you get older, you become too practical, I guess (again, Asians).
Didn’t blow my mind, but it definitely freaked out my wife!
We moved into our new home taking the keys from the previous owner with whom we were friends.
The house had been cleaned, but not wife clean. So she scoured the kitchen, and AHA! She found something left behind in the very top shelf in the kitchen pushed far against the wall.
It was a set of steak knives with deer antler handles. She’s never been a fan of hunting, so she said “Eww! Get rid of them.”
And like a dutiful husband I put them aside to get rid of them later. Some days later I see them on the kitchen counter where they were left. We had been busy unpacking boxes the movers had left, so I just threw the knife set back on the top shelf and promptly forgot about them.
A few years later I was transferred, so the house was sold and the movers returned to pack us up. Once the moving van had left we went around the house with personal boxes packing up everything we’d need until the movers arrived at the new place.
The kitchen cupboards were bare… except! Yep, there on the top shelf was the knife set. I thought maybe I could sell them in a garage sale, so I grabbed them and stuck them in the top of my box.
And off we went to our newest new home.
Everyone grabbed their personal box and brought it to their bedroom. I unpacked mine in the living room, and right on top was the knife set. I chuckled to myself and brought it into the kitchen and tossed it in a top cabinet figuring it would be out of the way.
The next day I was putting together bed frames when I hear a blood curdling scream coming from the kitchen and something tumbling to the countertop!
I rush in there to see my wife coming down from the step ladder white as a ghost and shrieking “Tom, Tom, Tom, look!”
She was bring the kitchen up to wife clean when she found the knives that I stowed. When she picked up the box and saw what they were is when she cried out and dropped them.
“They’re just like the other house! What is going on?” She was in a panic.
Believe it or not my laughter did not lighten the situation one bit, and my explanation only got me in hotter water.
She screamed “I told you to get rid of them!” Then she threw them into the garbage can.
That was almost 30 years. They’re around here somewhere.
It made China a better nation. China always knew the west has ill intent but crisis like Tiananmen “democracy movement”, Hong Kong “constitutional protest” and Covid-19 pandemic, al man made and all western funded and orchestrated merely confirms the worst fear as real. China took every form of cure and prevention to ensure that the western designs to harm China won’t work but instead rebounded back harshly on themselves.
Whether it is the 5 U.S. marines who participated in the world military games who brought the mysterious vaping flu to Wuhan is the cause for the outbreak in China remains to be seen. It is certainly suspicious. But evidence clearly showed in the Red Cross blood samples of influenza viruses through the mainland U.S. that everywhere in the U.S. is seen 6 months before China’s first case but still it did not only owned up but shift the blame to China indeed. And dogs like Scott Morrison even push for China’s blame!
But not with standing that, China moves mountain to prevent a catastrophe making one right moves after another. China had the most severe and unknown at that time impact but 3 years on with the dust settled China lost a mere 6 thousand people while the U.S. lost 1.1 million people through Covid! 733 times more than China. All due to neglect, poor handling, over confidence and simply weak leadership. They were having a very “democratic” brainstorming i the middle of a huge fire deciding for months on what to do!
China grew its GDP from 2020–2022 close to 4 times that of the U.S. GDP during this pandemic years and came out of the pandemic stronger than ever! While the west shut down the Chinese took the lull years revamping and re-engineering their economy and it paid off. Ready for more western hypocrisy and further disruptions on China. It’s economy becomes more resilient than ever!
China knew that it had to allow nature to take its course and by late 2022 China confirms that the latest strains of the Covid-19 pandemic have dwindled down to a normal flu so China allowed it to burnt through its population.
To China and the rest of the world we see the worst in the west during these pandemic years. The western vaccines were meant for profiteering and reserved for the rich west while Chinese vaccines which ultimately turned out to be safer and more effective option were supplied to the entire world! It showed China’s willingness to share and care for humanity.
China came out of the Pandemic crisis as a more respected nation and a more generous one. It came out stronger and more resilient. The west went into a tailspin of war, double digit inflation and shortages. We call this karma!
Thank you for asking!
Greek Stew
OIP C
Ingredients
2 pounds boneless lamb, cubed
2 medium onions, chopped
3 tablespoons butter
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Salt and pepper
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 cup white wine
Pinch of dill
2 boxes frozen artichoke hearts
Instructions
Melt butter in stew pan or Dutch oven; add meat, onion, garlic, parsely, salt and pepper; brown over medium fire, stirring constantly. The gentle braising of the meat is the secret to success with this recipe.
When all of the ingredients are delicately browned, add tomato paste diluted in 2 cups water; add wine; dill and artichokes, stir; lower fire and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours.
My husband was diagnosed with cancer about 8 years ago. He fought hard through chemo, radiation and a failed surgery. He died in my arms 6 months after the diagnosis. I was devastated. One of my adult children with whom I was especially close, moved to my state, left her job in a different state. We had a business that could be run remotely from home. It was lucrative and provided a nice income. I asked my daughter to run the business for me. She was great in business having worked in mortgage banking. I was taking meds to calm my nerves and extreme shock and grief. He was only 62, and we thought we had many years left together. Bad things started happening: bills weren’t being paid, credit cards were maxed out, liability insurance lapsed, etc. When confronted, my daughter made up excuses which at first I believed. She was my much-loved daughter and I often referred to her as my best friend. She moved out saying she needed a break. I hired someone else to help me with the business. Soon we discovered the extent of the misapropriation (theft). Legally, there was nothing I could do because I had given her access to all the accounts. I almost lost the business, but managed to slog through it and rebuild the business and my trashed credit. I’ve tried contacting her – via letters and emails. She never responds. I worked with a therapist who encouraged me to forgive. I have forgiven her – I don’t understand her actions but I still love and miss her terribly. I lost my husband of 40 years, and my daughter within 16 months. Just writing this after all these years brings tears.
I’d have to give ‘last German holdouts’ prize to the 11 men in the weather forecast unit under the command of lieutenant Wilhelm Dege stranded at a weather station on the Norwegian island of Nordausandet (near Spitsbergen), in the arctic. They had been deposited by U-Boat at the remote site in August of 1944 with a two year food supply and rifles to defend them from marauding polar bears.
They broadcast weather reports until 7 May, 1945, when they got news of the German surrender (along with orders to “destroy everything”). Not wishing to spend another winter in the arctic, they sent distress signals with no response. After several months they began broadcasting on allied channels as well and received a reply from the Norwegians, who dispatched a seal hunting boat to pick them up.
On Sept. 4, 1945, the rescuers arrived, whereupon Dege and his men hosted a large dinner for them (presumably with the best of the remaining supplies). Afterward, Dege handed his Luger to the boat’s captain and formally surrendered, becoming the last German military unit to surrender in WW2.
Can you imagine paying a Cop – Rs. 2000/- to ensure that a 19 year old kid was not handcuffed??? Can you imagine the cop saying -” I can take you in a Bus with handcuffs in your underwear or I can take you in the Jeep. You Decide”.
A 19 year old kid – who got angry along with some friends got into a fight with some other kids and nobody got hurt seriously – yet four days later he is charged with 307 – Attempt to Murder. Second Year College, His future is at stake and he is being accused of murder.
All because one of the Kids in the fight was a Policemans Kid (Not even Local Jurisdiction).
5 Kids were accused – 4 Cleverly absconded and this Innocent Boy who reads John Grisham novels and believes that Indian law is the same actually believed “I did not start the fight, how can the cops charge me”
His family paid –
Rs. 20,000/- to ensure that the Kid was not harmed while in Police custody and would go directly to JC without request for Police custody.
Rs. 2,000/- to ensure that the Kid could get Home Cooked or Hotel Food for the 1 day he was in Police custody
Rs. 2000/- to ensure that the Kid was not handcuffed while being taken for Medical Testing before going to the JC and taken to JC by Jeep.
Rs. 4 Lakhs to ensure that the Cop would change his testimony and a B report would be generated (Cop would say it was a different Kid).
Rs. 10,000/- to ensure that the Kid got a decent cell on Day 2 after being moved from the General Cell.
Rs. 1,500/- to the Prison Guards to allow the Kid to make 2 Phone Calls (Rs. 750/- per call)
It was a normal fight that boys indulge themselves in. No weapons or cats paws or longs or any usual weapons. What takes a normal First Aid Kit required almost Rs. 5 Lakhs
That is Corruption at its worst.
Imagine a 19 year old kid without the money. Imagine having to be beaten, humiliated, forced to eat horrible tasteless food – all for some young stuff that every body of that age experiences.
Imagine becoming an accused and visiting court in between college. Imagine if convicted? Future destroyed, No Passport.
The Kid will easily become a career criminal or hate the law and system more than anyone else.
And his friends got away without paying a penny. After this kids B report was filed, they had their lawyer file a 482 in High Court and HC ruled in their favor saying “You cannot just close the case against 1 accused”
This happened years ago, I was 15 at that time. I went a high school that was very close to my neighborhood. It was one of the co-ed schools with high disciplinary problems among the students.
I was often bullied for my looks. I wear a large brimmed glass and was a slightly plump kid. I don’t do well in sports and often the main target for pranks. I clearly remember, it was a Wednesday, and I was in laboratory finishing my works. I prefer finishing my school works in school because my house isn’t exactly very quiet and peaceful. I have 2 sisters and they were aged a year and 6 months respectively.
After spending almost 2 hours in the lab, I went back to my classroom to pick my bags. I did saw two guys sitting and behaving weirdly at the back of my classroom.
They were sniffing glue. It was my mistake to walk to them to see what were they doing. I told them that I would report their acts to our homeroom teacher if they continued doing this. One boy shoved me down and forced his handkerchief into my mouth while the other was grabbing my legs. The one of top of me used a small pocket knife to tear down my shirt buttons. He then proceed to rape me while his friend was watching along the corridor.
I felt violated and extremely vulnerable. I couldn’t even scream at that time because of the pocket knife he was holding. I just wished that all of that would end quickly. After he’s done, and he threatened me not to tell anyone or else he would do this everyday.
I didn’t know why I never reported this to anyone. I was a fragile kid, with no strong family and always had financial difficulties. I thought my voice will never reach out to the authorities. I am 36 now, but those accidents still remain fresh in my memory. I would never forget the face of the boy who raped me.
Thankfully, my husband is a very understanding man. He calmed me down during the times I was attacked with nightmares of someone plunging themselves into me. It was the worst after I got married.
No one actually knows this, apart from my husband and myself.
Because of the U.S. boastful character and it’s constant exposure you know what the U.S. has. But the world knows very very little of China’s capacity and capabilities. China intentionally chose to hide its strength. And latest military hardware and software so China has a thousand surprises ready to spring on the U.S. if it ever misjudge and attack China!
What is clear is that they are years ahead in sonar and laser technology, in drones, in ship building, in fighter jet production capacity. What is very clear is that China sees the aircraft carrier as sitting ducks as China is able to rain down its hypersonic missiles at 20 times the speed of sound. So China clearly has many advantages.
But China wants peace as long as the U.S. behaves itself, China prefers to let the U.S. collapse on its own mountain of debts and deficits. The only clear advantage is projecting power beyond its shores but to China that is a non factor as it has no plans to attack any nation or do U.S. military style foreign incursions. China has a sound sustainable approach to world peace. The U.S. doesn’t.
I was inline at the express checkout, 12 items or less, I had 7 items, while in the line, I saw a retro brand of chocolate bar, limited time only, from my childhood. I bought 5 to take me to my limit. While I was checking out, the cashier looked at the chocolate bars, and says these are on sale, buy two, and get the third for free. So far I had 4 at the regular price, and 1 free one. The cashier told me that I could take one more and it would be free. So I asked the person right behind me, if they could grab me a chocolate bar. They exploded, and said i I was over my limit, and she was in a hurry. So I reached by the person crowding up behind me, to get the free chocolate bar. The cashier scanned them all, gave me my receipt for paying for 11 items, and I turned around and gave the free chocolate bar to the person behind me. I said “Sorry, this is to compensate you, for your inconvenience”
I turned and walked out, the lady behind me sputtered, the cashier said, hey you have 13 items, to the lady behind me, she said , “But its his free chocolate bar”
The cashier said “That didn’t seem to matter a minute ago”
My area has a problem with rampant porch pirates. So, I regularly save my prime shipping boxes to recycle as rubbish bins when it’s time to empty my cat box. I then seal them back up and leave them out on the porch and watch the “free garbage pickup” on our camera. I also post the pictures on social media so my friends and neighbors can also experience the joy of watching people get EXACTLY what they deserve. It never gets old watching some asshat sneak off all smugly with a box full of turds! 🤣🤣🤣
Edit:
It is hilarious to me how many people assume I can get into some sort of legal trouble for this. Our local police are fully aware of my actions! 🤣
Also, to address a couple of points I am repeatedly asked about this on quora and social media sites:
Yes, the majority of these decoy packages are located and properly disposed of after they are taken. (Not that they create any more rubbish than the packaging off someone’s stolen holiday gifts)
And no, I don’t feel the need to obscure my address from the packaging. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, my prank hinges on the packages looking new. Secondly, if one is stealing a package with the address label in tact, it would be hard to argue that “mail theft” was not the intended crime. And thirdly, I’m simply not worried about retribution from any of these idiots. To return for revenge would risk further exposure on film, more likelihood of arrest, and the possibility of meeting a deadly object if said intruder seems violent. Most people, even thieving lowlifes, have at least a basic sense of self preservation.
A bloke starts his new job at the zoo and is given three tasks.
First is to clear the exotic fish pool of weeds.
As he does this a huge fish jumps out and bites him. To show who is boss, he beats it to death with a spade.
Realizing his employer won’t be best pleased he disposes of the fish by feeding it to the lions, as lions will eat anything.
Moving on to the second job of clearing out the Chimp house, he is attacked by the chimps that pelt him with coconuts. He swipes at two chimps with a spade killing them both. What can he do? Feed them to the lions, he says to himself, because lions eat anything… He hurls the corpses into the lion enclosure.
He moves on to the last job which is to collect honey from the South American Bees.
As soon as he starts he is attacked by the bees. He grabs the spade and smashes the bees to a pulp. By now he knows what to do and shovels them into the lions cage because lions eat anything.
Later that day a new lion arrives at the zoo.. He wanders up to another lion and says “What’s the food like here?”
The lions say: “Absolutely brilliant, today we had ….
Fish and Chimps with Mushy Bees
Gonzalo Lira. Lagarde, Trump threat to EU. Sunak, as long as it takes. Medvedev warns UK
The Taiwan presidential election was a 3-way farce that made no difference who came out as the “winner”. This island remains a geopolitical pawn in the rivalry between the U.S. and China for regional dominance in Asia. The DPP has emerged with a lesser mandate and even less likely now to dare even consider to declare Taiwan’s independence from China.
With the DPP back in place and under better control, U.S. politicians are now “assured” they can continue its saber rattling provocations with Johnson getting ready to send in a house delegation to Taiwan to amp up anti-China rhetoric for the start of the 2024 electioneering to hold on to its house control.
Biden is working on the assumption that the U.S. side can maintain and manage this U.S-China high tension act now that communication linkage is re-established between the generals of the two militaries and any mishap or miscommunication is not likely to happen. But then after finding out that the White House was left clueless when its top cabinet member running the Pentagon went AWOLf? What kind of people is running the show? These are the issues we should be worried about snd not who the jokers are now in charge of Taiwan.
U.S. Journalist Gonzalo Lira DIES In Ukrainian Prison!
In about 1973, I was hitchhiking around the US and Canada for the summer. I tramped from my university home in Florida 2,500 kilometers northwards to the state of Maine, up near Canada. I was out in the country near the town of Bangor, and I wanted to go to Acadia National Park on the coast. But the spot where my previous ride let me out was out in the woods and had hardly any traffic, so I decided to go into a little convenience store sitting in its lonely location across the road to get a Coke. I figured that I was going to be stuck in that spot for a long time.
Just then a Volkswagen Beetle drove by and stopped and then backed up to me. The window rolled down and the passenger yelled out my name. Inside the car were two students who lived across the hallway from me in my university dormitory in Florida. They were going, by chance, to the town of Southwest Harbor, right in the national park. So I got into the car and rode with them, where they took me to a friendly bar where their friend worked as a bartender. We had a great evening eating and drinking in the pub (they bought my beers), then the bartender let me sleep on the couch at his place.
So, in one amazing coincidental moment, I went from being stuck in the middle of nowhere to being taken to my destination, and treated to food, drink and lodging by my generous Florida neighbors and their friends.
I picked up a crumpled up piece of paper as I walked through the door to the store.
My first ‘real’ job… Chatham, Ontario (Canada)…. went into a camera shop to apply as a salesclerk…
As I walked through I saw some paper on the floor, so I picked it up and gave it to the guy and asked him to toss it in the garbage.
Turns out the ‘guy’ was the owner who would be doing the interviews… I knew a fair bit about cameras, definitely not enough to put behind a counter by myself the first day, but as I told him, I am a quick learner.
Interview went as expected… usual questions, usual answers… “What is your biggest failing?” “I can’t tolerate stupidity or idiots.”
Got a call a few days later offering me the job….
A few weeks into the job, having a coffee with the boss, just the 2 of us there, and I asked why he hired me when I was sure there were people who applied who were better qualified.
He told me that I was the one that picked up the piece of paper…. all the other applicants walked by it. He had placed it by the door just to see who would do something about it. He explained that his thought process was that if someone picked it up to have it put in the trash, they’d keep the store clean and pay attention to detail
Well, fry me for an oyster – I got my first job because my parents told me to clean up a mess when you see it regardless of who made the mess in the first place.
Gonzalo Lira’s Death Reveals SHOCKING TRUTH About Ukraine and NATO
I know this exact story. I had a friend, he was pretty wild and crazy. Just to give you a feel for his character, I’ll tell a second story.
I had two wild friends partying together in one city, when they left the party, crazy friend two, uncharacteristically said he was too drunk to drive, and asked crazy friend one, if he would drive. On the way home, crazy friend two fell asleep. He woke up in scorching heat, still sleeping in the passenger seat. Fortunately this was when power windows weren’t common. He rolled down the windows, and noted he was parked on a street he didn’t recognize. The keys were in the ignition, but it wasn’t running.
He crawled over to the drivers seat, and drove off. It took him 15 minutes to figure out he was in another city, about 7 hours from where he lived. There was a big festival going on. He never found friend one. He spent a day at the festival, hoping to spot friend one, and then drove home.
A couple of years later friend one found someone, and we were all surprised at how he settled down. He kept a steady job, they bought a house together. Then one day he said he was going out for a pack of smokes. It took him about 9 months to find just the right cigarettes and return. He just walked back through the door as if he had been gone for 15 minutes.They hadn’t been fighting. He would never talk about it, but they were divorced shortly after. I have no idea if it was planned, or spontaneous like the trip to a festival in another city.
He died young, I hadn’t seen him in ten years, and he wanted no visitors to the hospital and no funeral.
Volunteers 1985
Full FUCKING movie! A really worthwhile watch. Please enjoy.
When I was a child, my father had a cousin who was a rollickingly jolly man who told terrible jokes. Cousin Bernie’s favorite joke was “What do you say to a hippie with arthritis?” then he’d hold up his hands in a peace sign with the fingers bent over, and he’d laugh and laugh. (No, it doesn’t make sense, but this was the 1970s.) You’ve heard the term infectious laughter, that’s what he had. I’d laugh even though the jokes were never funny. Eventually I grew up, moved away and lost touch. Decades passed. My father died. A few years after that, Cousin Bernie died. I knew my father would want me to pay my respects on his behalf, so I traveled back to my home town for the funeral.
First off, you need to know that Cousin Bernie worked as a drycleaner in the same neighborhood his whole life, or at least since he got married. He and his wife raised their daughter, who became a teacher and school principal, and when he was widowed, he stayed in the same house for a few months until he died of what a romantic would call a broken heart. While he lived, his happiness was the happiness of his family, he didn’t need anything beyond that. He was a very happy man indeed.
So imagine my surprise when I arrived early at the funeral home to find their biggest room already overflowing with mourners. I expected Cousin Bernie to be beloved because he was a lovely man, but I was daunted by the staggering number of lives he’d touched. The service started formally, but as each speaker spoke, it became more and more personal. Everyone I could see was crying by the time Bernie’s daughter got to the podium. I always found her to be a stern and formidable woman, but she hunched over, sobbing too much to speak.
That’s when the remarkable thing happened.
Cousin Bernie’s daughter straightened up, tears streaming down her face, and silently raised her hand in a bent over peace sign. His favorite joke when I was little.
The entire room — hundreds of people — all raised our hands in the same gesture, at the same time.
That was more than ten years ago. Maybe even twenty, I don’t remember exactly. I was the only person from my family who went (long unpleasant story) so I didn’t know anyone. I keep thinking that someday I’ll meet someone else who was there but as far as I know, I never have.
This is the paradoxical part of being poor, that a lot of folks don’t understand. When you are poor, everything costs more.
You can’t buy food in bulk. You often make the smaller, less efficient purchases.
You can’t afford to buy high quality goods that will last longer. Instead of buying more expensive shoes that will last 2–3 years, you buy cheaper ones that will last a couple months. You buy a cheaper car that will require more maintenance, and lose value more quickly.
You can’t afford to make large payments on a leased vehicle, so you opt for more payments over a longer period of time, paying more money overall.
Owning a home is a pipe dream. You almost certainly rent a place, never gaining any investment or value out of your money.
It’s nearly impossible to save any money at all, so unexpected costs hit harder. You also don’t have any savings accruing interest.
You’re more likely to miss payments, and pay additional fees and charges, leading to paying even more money.
You rely more heavily on credit, paying a premium on many purchases.
Similarly, you’re more likely to take a payday loan. We know how fucking garbage that shit is.
This is why it can often be so difficult to get out of poverty. You’re continually paying a premium in nearly every area of your life, because you are poor.
There’s no unconditional love anywhere, you can get one from your mother if you’re lucky.
Making money online these days is not about how skilled you are, it’s how often you show up.
Most people smile but only a few are happy.
Elites don’t care about race, tribe or religion. Instead, they are friends to one another for beneficial purposes while the masses fight and make enemies among themselves.
Many are masters, only few are skilled.
Everyone is replaceable in the society. If you die today, the world will keep moving on smoothly & your family and friends will miss you for a long time.
If you’re famous, most people would automatically assume you’re rich.
If you’re too generous, people will take you for granted. Help the needy but don’t go broke while at it.
Neither you nor your religion owns the monopoly of truth. There are numerous beliefs in the world and yours is just one of them. So learn to respect people’s beliefs as long as it doesn’t cause harm to others.
Our most recent cruise was a two week one from Tahiti to Sydney, Australia that we chose just so we didn’t have to make the long flight from San Francisco to Sydney. On the second week of our cruise a woman stepped into our packed elevator and immediately people began quietly to gag to the point that one couple quickly pushed the button for the next deck and got out as fast as they could. It was an overpowering combination of body odor and dirty clothes—she was evidently one of the many passengers who had embarked weeks before in Sydney for a roundtrip cruise.
Another time we were on a Caribbean cruise with my brother and his wife, enjoying lunch together when a male passenger sat down behind us. Suddenly my husband leaped up and motioned for us to follow him to a table much further away. As we walked with him, we realized that the man reeked of body odor and general dirtiness.
One other time, on a cruise with friends, I stood in line at guest services behind a very well dressed man who evidently had also given up bathing midway through the trip. It was a shock to the senses; the eyes saw a man in expensive clothing while the nose smelled someone who might have been living rough on the streets for some time.
Every cruise cabin I’ve ever been in has had a shower, and thankfully most cruise passengers use theirs regularly. But there seems to be at least one person per cruise who chooses to stop bathing for the duration and to me, that’s the most tasteless thing a person on a cruise can do.
If you understand truth and facts and not blindly follow western propaganda and rhetoric what China U.S. doing is highly responsible and admirable and what happened in 2009 is very hurtful to the poor.
Let us understand what China did. First China took the “opportunity” of the Covid Pandemic window of opportunity to cleanse the flaws of its economy such as excessive screen time especially their kids, they look into the ill effects of capitalism such as profiteering, such as social ills of consumerism and widening disparity between the rich and the Xi Xinping emphasised that homes are for living not for speculation or profiteering.
China set rules for 2nd and third home buying. So that prices is within reach of the poor and middle income. So prices or what I will call bubble deflate. Ain’t it good for the common men? Sure as hell it is. China don’t want what happened in the U.S. to happen in China. Up to a million are homeless! Deflating a run away asset and home prices is what Japan ought to do in 1980’s or the US ought to do in the 2000’s but instead it let the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer.
China is probably the most responsible nation on earth!
This is how one person was treated by a police officer, in America.
Picture a beaten small framed girl, in nothing but a t-shirt and underwear, being dragged away from her screaming child and pushed off a stilted porch by an equally beaten man.
Now let’s add all of this happening on a bitterly cold and frozen December night.
Imagine this girl shaken, distressed, and in full my-baby-is-in-danger mode.
She goes to her car that doesn’t run because it’s been wrecked by her ex husband. …the same car she had taped the spare key to on the undercarriage.
(Thank you Mom for telling that girl to do that.)
She finds her old broken cell in the glove box. Thankfully, it had 15% charge. Thankfully, the Cat Lady neighbor had shared her WiFi password.
After a series of emails to her mother, she heard a radio. Standing outside the car was an angel silhouetted behind the brightest light. The shadow asked the girl to get out of the car after making sure she wasn’t armed.
This angel immediately gave her his coat and ushered her to back seat of his heated patrol car. He poured her a cup of very hot and bitter coffee from his thermos.
He assessed her injuries while asking gentle but probing questions.
What happened?
Start from the beginning.
Tell me as much as you remember.
Why are you unclothed?
Keep drinking the coffee.
This angel left to go talk to his partner, who had been talking to her child and ex husband.
This angel went inside the house and brought the girl’s child to her under the guise of she wants to see her before we make an arrest.
He very carefully checked the child over and made notes of the marks on the child. He gave her a teddy bear from the trunk of his car.
He asked the child what happened in the most gentlest way.
Out of the mouth of a child came the loss of innocence.
Daddy hit mommy.
Daddy hit me.
Daddy pushed mommy outside.
Daddy got me dressed.
Daddy said we were going to Grandpas.
That angel stood up and shut the door. He walked up the stairs and right into the front door, where his partner was waiting.
That angel placed the ex husband under arrest and held him prone on the floor until another officer could take him.
That angel went over every protection offered at the time to the girl and her child after both were checked by the paramedics.
He kept reinforcing they could only hold the ex husband for 24 hours before bond could be posted and this paper. ….this thin paper would be the only thing protecting them.
He let her use his personal cell to call her mother (She was already on her way with a family friend).
This angel came back later to make sure everyone had arrived. There was bad snow storm moving in, he said. We had to move quickly to get ahead of it.
This angel pulled the girl aside. He spoke the hard truths of reality that she NEEDED to hear.
She left that conversation with the knowledge she was a Woman and not a girl. She was a survivor, not a victim.
This angel is a husband, father, brother, son, and human.
This angel stands every day on a very thin blue line against those who would do harm and he does so willingly.
I was on a British Airways flight seated in a row that was an Emergency Exit which was on the wing and slightly behind the port engine. After about ten minutes of cruising altitude, I looked out the exit window and noticed that there was a slight white trail coming from the engine. In order not to frighten other passengers, I went to the rear galley and said that there was a suspicious leak coming from the port engine and that I think she should have a look at it. FA said “Oh, its just clouds we are passing through” which I knew to be a lie as there wasn’t any above or below us. I repeated the fact and she said that if I didn’t go back to my seat and was quiet, I would be restrained by the onboard crew and arrested.
Fed up, I walked through the curtained off area at the front to Business Class and spoke to the purser, explained the situation and what had happened with the rear FA and she went white, then red with anger, went into the cockpit to speak to the Captain who came with me to my seat to look at it, groaned, thanked me and went back to get a priority landing at Heathrow. As I was leaving, I was asked my name and number by the purser and a few weeks later a letter arrived stating the FA had been sent for retraining and that I was to be awarded 2000 Avios points and a free upgrade for my next flight.
I have an uncle who is a social worker, and he says helping the marginalized poor is the saddest and most frustrating job in the world.
The worst thing is ringing the doorbell. And Mary Grace opens it.
Mary Grace, who has mothered seven children, all of whom except the last two were placed in Foster care because she and her hubby Austin cannot take care of children, due to mental challenges and their basic lack of understanding of the many responsibilities which come with raising children.
Mary Grace and Austin, who can’t handle money and are deep in debt, and became parents when Mary Grace was 16 years old, just like her mom when she was born. Mary Grace, who didn’t finish high school, just like her mom and dad.
And when she opens the door, my uncle sees her pregnant belly, and he can hardly stop himself from crying. Because it happend again.
Just like her remaining children, this unborn kid will end up in Foster care as well, and the story will be reset for all these displaced children, and then repeat itself. And it will never stop.
And thats what the non-poor do not realize about being poor —
The poor are caught in a trap.
And they can’t walk out.
So, Gonzalo Lira is NOT dead? This is Ukraine’s VERSION of what happened to him. Narrative composing?
I faced this type of situation in my last job in state government. I worked in IT at a state medical school/hospital and we’d have a department meeting. After all of the department heads had reported on what was happening with their teams, the IT Director would recap what was happening in IT and the hospital before reminding us that we were required to follow hospital policies and that failure to do so would result in termination. He’d close each meeting by saying, “It’s my way or the highway, people. Follow the policies or find another job.”
I heard this every Wednesday morning for 16 months before I decided I’d had enough so I found a job in the private sector that was less work, paid more, and was closer to my home. The new job was also strictly a Monday through Friday position, which meant not having to work a weekend every couple of months while being on-call.
I accepted the job offer and then waited for that Wednesday morning meeting. When the director went into his spiel I let him get “It’s my way or the highway” out before standing up and heading for the door. The director stopped mid-sentence and asked where I was going and I replied, “I choose the highway”.
It was a terrific feeling to walk out of that meeting.
Not a Christmas bonus, but similar. And completely jaw-dropping.
Worked for twenty years for a family-owned business. In 1996 they had their 50th anniversary, and the owners (the three children of the founder) spent a day going around personally handing envelopes of cash to all the employees. I had been there over 12 years at the time, and my envelope held $500. Very nice and much appreciated.
After a few more years, they had to choose between vastly growing the company, letting it remain as it was, or selling it to someone who would grow it appropriately. Being older and nearing retirement age anyway, they decided to sell it. They wanted to show their appreciation to their employees for their part in the company’s success, so once again, they handed out bonuses. They had wanted to do it in cash again, but the accountants said no, so we all got checks with taxes, FICA, etc…
I stuck the envelope in my pocket and went on with the lunch, etc, that was part of the festivities. Toward the end, a friend asked if I had looked at my check, and I said that I hadn’t, that I would get to it, it was probably similar to what I had gotten before, yadda, yadda.
He said, “Dave. Look at your check. Look. At. Your. Check.”
$12,000. I was just one out of a couple hundred employees. Blew me right away…
Ah, this reminds me of a conversation I had with a dear friend of mine, who faced a similar dilemma in her late 20s. She was torn between the societal expectations of starting a family and her personal aspirations that didn’t necessarily include children.
Years later, now in her 50s, she shared some insights that might resonate with you. She mentioned that whether or not you’ll regret not having children when you’re older is a deeply personal matter. For her, she found immense fulfillment in her career, travel, and the freedom to pursue her passions. She nurtured rich relationships with friends, nieces, nephews, and became a mentor to many.
She did say there were moments of wonder about what life with children might have been like, but those thoughts didn’t equate to regret. Her life was full, meaningful, and happy in ways unique to her journey.
The takeaway? The decision to have or not have children is profoundly personal and varies for everyone. It’s about understanding what brings you joy, fulfillment, and a sense of purpose. Some find it in parenting, while others find it in different aspects of life. It’s essential to make a choice that aligns with your values, hopes, and dreams. And remember, a fulfilled life can take many forms!
Few years ago, I worked for major IT firm from India with a very good salary. Now, in interview I was told I was being hired to work on a very niche upcoming technology which is very new.
When I reached the office on first day, I was informed by HR to report in training lab instead of any ODC which got me confused but I dismissed it thinking nothing of it. There I was told that before starting the work i will have undergo a 2 week training program and since my manager is still looking to arrange a trainer, I can brush up my coding knowledge in lab meanwhile. Great, i thought.
1 week passed and there was no news on when training will start. This was August. I dropped a mail to my reporting manager who said it is difficult to find a trainer for my location so it might take a week more
2 more weeks passed, even after dropping multiple mails to both trainer and my reporting manager I got a same reply: please wait it might take a little more time
After 2 months i was done with all basic coding assignments given to me and still there was no sign of my training to start. Everytime i mailed i got the same reply, project is in pipeline, it could start anytime soon
After 3 months this got really boring. No one asked what I did whole day, no one even cared if I even went to training lab or not. Sometimes I would do a swipe in at main gate and go grocery shopping or go for a movie. On other days I would come office for 5 hours which was minimum requirement for my attendance to count as a full day and those days were spent playing table tennis, carrom, darts etc. In meanwhile i would send mails asking when will I get actual work and most of those mails went without replies. In December end I got mail that my training would start from January 14th. I was finally relieved but 14th passed and so did 15th and there were no signs of any training. On raising questions about the training i got the reply that the training was available only on weekends but it was not possible logistically so it had to be cancelled. I stopped asking. Since both manager and HR sat in different office altogether there was no way of face to face communication and no one to really bother me.
This continued for 1.5 years. It was the most relaxed time of my life but the worry was always present in back of my mind But I was afraid of quitting since my salary was already way higher than market standards (almost double!) and justifying what I did in previous job would be a task. Eventually I did find an equally paying job although with a lot of struggle but with relevant work since it did affect my profile negatively.
Indian service based IT companies can be fickle. Till today i never got to know what happened to my project or training. I wish I would’ve been informed properly at all stages instead of being given false hopes month after month. But I have no regrets whatsoever because I have made some great memories and friends that time which otherwise i wouldn’t have had!
What a child brings to school for lunch indicates a lot about their life at home.
When I was younger I was always jealous of other kids whose lunches were comprised entirely of chips, candy, and soft drinks. At the time I was little and I wanted sweets as often as possible. However, my lunches were always filled with fruit, vegetables, and healthy sandwiches. If I was lucky, my parents would pack me fruit snacks.
It wasn’t until much later when I worked as a camp counselor at a day camp that I began to notice yet again what children brought for lunch. Most campers had lunches similar to what I grew up with, however, I observed that one camper had a lunch consisting solely of Cheetos and fruit snacks, nothing healthy. He brought these same foods almost every day. I found it odd that his parents never packed him anything with more nutritional value.
During pick-up, I would walk my campers to their parent’s cars. Most parents would exclaim, “how was your day,” when picking up their children. Unfortunately, this camper’s parents would ignore him, not even looking over when he got into the car. Later in the summer, I learned that his family was going through a lot of problems at home.
At this point, I realized how lucky I was that my parents packed me healthy lunches when I was young. It wasn’t because they wanted to deprive me of sweets, rather, my parents wanted to make sure I was staying healthy because they loved and cared about me. I learned that something as small as what a child brings for lunch each day indicates a lot about their parents socioeconomic status or, in some unfortunate cases, whether there are problems in the child’s home life.
I fucking hated that job. I hated it with the passion of Christ himself.
My job description effectively read that working in the call centre meant that:
we are the connection point between university alumni, and the university
we help keep and maintain records on our alumni
we notify alumni of important events and projects happening within the university
we help to maintain the pride of the school and our alumni keeping in contact with them years afterwards
What we actually did:
call and beg for money
I hated it. We would phone dozens of alumni every day, and our calls would consist of 3 phases:
Introduction, and maintenance of information – introduce ourselves, and make sure that our current information on the alumnus / alumna in question was all still correct
Notify them of big events and projects going on at the school – hey, did you know that the university is doing this huge heart transplant study? And that our new science wing is nearing completion? Isn’t that cool?
(The real purpose of the call) give us money please! – Given the importance of that science wing I just mentioned, and how it’s going to really revitalize the university science program and provide amazing facilities for our students, would you be interested in donating $100? No, that’s too much? How about $50? You’ve just been laid off work you say? Well can you manage $20?
I fucking hated this bullshit. Hated it. We were required to get our “three asks” in, and had a big list of ‘comebacks’ for various responses people might give to not donate. I hated that basically our entire purpose was simply to get money, at all costs. They just graduated two years ago and still haven’t found a job? Ask them for a lesser amount. They aren’t interested in funding XYZ project? Offer different things for them to donate to.
The biggest thing that really sealed the deal for me happened during one afternoon, where I got on the phone with an older alumnus. He had graduated from the university back in the 70s. At some point during our conversation, he mentioned how he had just come back from Europe. I mentioned how I had visited Europe only a couple years before, on a trip with my dad, and this man and I shot the shit about visiting Germany and France. Halfway through the call, the manager comes by, and tells me to get onto the next call, we don’t have time to chat with alumni if we’re not bringing in donations.
I basically ignored the manager, and kept on chatting with the guy. He and I talked for about 10–15 minutes, during which time I got angry looks from the manager on several occasions. At the end of the call, I brought up the current thing we were looking for donations for. Our usual ask was $100, but he ended up offering over $1200.
Oh, look at that. All of a sudden I’m doing an excellent job. Way to go, Jeremy! The manager’s disposition does a complete 180 when I brought in the biggest donation of the month by actually treating our alumnus like a human being, and not an ATM. I quit at the end of that day.
Things that surprised me when I first moved to the USA, good and bad (as they occur to me) were:
Everybody I met is so nice. People are generally friendly and polite. From the TV shows I saw, I expected everyone to either be scowling at each other in a threatening manner, if not actually shooting.
The areas I first encountered were and still are covered in trees. There is much more green space in housing areas and a lot of this is covered by trees.
It’s not really the land of opportunity at all. If you come in as I did with a good job already, you can do quite well, but moving from being working class to middle class is actually more difficult than in the UK where I come from.
The US is a great place if you have enough money but can be a terrible place if you are short of money. There is far less of a safety net for people who have problems, and there is certainly a less sympathetic attitude.
It’s much easier to get things done in the US than in the UK. People have a much more forward-looking attitude in businesses.
Much of the growth in the US is actually driven by foreigners. So many of the IT departments in the US are staffed by foreigners like me, and in particular, Indians, that if you removed them all, I’m sure the US IT sector would collapse. This was the biggest surprise to me when I first started working here. I did consulting work in IT for Life Sciences companies and every one of the IT departments was at least 50% Indian.
People don’t carry guns on the street and there aren’t shootings every day, in most places. In some places, there are shootings every day, but they tend to be concentrated. Petty crime is less common in the US in most areas. I know few places in the UK where you would leave your gardening stuff in an unlocked shed or a bicycle in the drive. It’s common here.
In many areas, I didn’t notice any racism at all. It did take me some time to spot it in some places, to be frank, and some of my black friends had to point it out to me, but I’ve been in far more racist places in Europe.
There are more different kinds of churches than you could possibly imagine, particularly in the South, not just the main denominations that you see in most of the UK and Europe. Dozens of them.
So many people dress in exactly the same way. My American wife pointed out the converse of this in the UK, that people look quite different from one another. I was at a hardware store recently, there was a delay at the checkout. I noticed that of the eleven men waiting in line I was the only one without a plaid shirt, goatee beard and baseball cap.
Service in restaurants is probably ever so slightly better than the UK, but is far less personal. No one has ever called me “love” or whatever the local equivalent was there.
Everyone has to fill in a tax return. This nearly caught me out. Filling in a tax return is such a usual part of life for Americans that nobody thought to tell me about it. I’d never done one in my life and it is a lot of work. In the UK my employer did all of that.
Healthcare – I think most people are aware that the cost is a lot higher than the UK, but I couldn’t believe how bureaucratic it is, form after form after form. Insurance coverage is an absolute minefield, the plans are mind-bendingly complex and of course, insurance companies, being profit-making, will twist and create obstacles and do anything they can, to avoid paying out. The trouble with health insurance is that if they don’t pay, you can die. If there’s anything that I do miss about the UK it’s the NHS.
The U.S. put an arbitrary high tax on China make cars. What it does is the it allowed Tesla and their too big to fail automakers such as Ford, GM and Chrysler to profiteer on its own citizens. Hence the inflation and not to mention depriving its own American of convenience and better environment.
I am in software industry for 5+yr now , so I can share my experience.
No matter how much you are earning , you will feel monotonous and boring life after sometime. Then most of people try for competition exam just to get rid of monotonous life.
If you are working in your field , life would be easy for you after few years. But if you are not core person then there are lot of struggle, humiliation you will face.
Corporate has colleague only, I haven’t seen a bond of friendship in service based company specially. In product based, I had a great friend circle but being in service based everything is all about getting work done.
Person is mostly known as resource instead of human being. Better resource has better opportunity. So keep update yourself with new technical enhancements in order to stay here.
If your project manager is good , and you know how to communicate with them easily then life would be so easy. But if you have conflict with your manager , you will be replace by some other resource.
Good thing about corporate is they care about their employee so much, time to time free health check-ups, office /team parties, new year/diwali /Holi /Christmas etc gifts🎁, sick leave, casual leave and other leaves, work from home allowances , broadband reimbursement, travel allowances, providing table, chair,lamps if you are doing wfh. Providing flexibility to work from anywhere. You got onsite opportunity to Europe, USA based on your skillsets.
If you are really a skilled employee, you got max 10% hike per year with bonuses. But if you are average 3–5% hike which I feel is low. Because the same employee switch the company got 50-100% hike very easily. So , if company start doing good hike for deserving employee with time to time promotions, then why they will think of switching every quarters.
AI has entered the market, but it can never replace techies. As a software developer I can feel that ChatGPT help to find solutions easily but with ambiguity in solution. So , ambiguity solution can’t make a great products. So, it’s illusion that chatgpt or any other platform would cut the jobs.
If you are fresher, better to join small organization where you can learn and got individual work to became a skilled person. Because in big organization, freshers has to suffer lot to get individual work.
Degree is secondary , skill is primary in IT world. But yeah degree taught us much about handling pressure, balancing temper .
US keeps hyping military tension around Taiwan Straits
Washington, secessionists the real troublemakers to undermine peace: experts
By Yang Sheng and Liu Xuanzun Published: Jan 23, 2024 08:07 PM Updated: Jan 23, 2024 10:00 PM
A US think tank released a report on Tuesday claiming that the “majority of experts” from the US and the island of Taiwan said they believe “a crisis in the Taiwan Straits is likely in 2024,” with a “blockade” or “quarantine” of the island by the Chinese mainland seen as the most likely scenario, while analysts from the mainland said this is an old trick of the US to hype regional tensions to spread fear in the region to serve its hegemonic interests.
A new survey from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) covering “87 experts from the US and the island of Taiwan on cross-Strait relations” said that most of these experts said China has the “capabilities to execute a law enforcement led-quarantine [or] a People’s Liberation Army (PLA)-led blockade of Taiwan,” but fewer believed a “forceful invasion” was possible.
Aside from the CSIS survey, the US is taking concrete actions to add tensions to the region.
After the Taiwan regional election which concluded on January 13, there have not been military tensions around the region so far, but the US is planning to send a bipartisan congress delegation to encourage secessionists on the island, and US aircraft carriers are also approaching the region, according to the US Naval Institute.
These expose a hard fact that, when accusing China of “creating tensions” in the region, Washington and secessionists on the island are the real troublemakers that are taking concrete actions to undermine regional peace and stability, said analysts, stressing that the US and its puppets on the island should not underestimate the determination and strength of the Chinese military forces.
Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Tuesday that “The US needs tensions and fears among the region to force its allies in the region to stand closer with it and push other countries to take sides and rely on the US. This kind of trick has already ruined peace in Europe due to the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis, and Washington wants to copy this in Asia. The Taiwan Straits is its target.”
According to the CSIS survey, 68 percent of US experts said a Taiwan Straits crisis was “likely” or “very likely” in 2024, compared to 58 percent of experts from Taiwan island.
Li said the US is trying to hype an intensifying atmosphere around China, to make regional countries believe that China is going to take a massive action that will heavily impact everyone. However, China has not done anything yet, and even if China takes action, it will have been provoked by US military activities and Washington’s politicians’ encouragement of the Taiwan secessionist authorities. “This is the truth that we need to let the world understand clearly,” Li said.
The root cause of tension around the Taiwan Straits is US interference in China’s domestic affairs, and without meddling from the US, the Taiwan question, the powder keg the US set in front of China, would have been long defused in past decades whether militarily or peacefully, Li noted. “China will shake off this time-bomb sooner or later.”
On Monday, USNI News, the news website of the US Naval Institute, reported that the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier is now in the 7th Fleet area of operations as of last weekend.
It means that there are three US aircraft carriers operating in the Asia-Pacific region, with the other two being the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Ronald Reagan, according to a graphic released by USNI News on Monday which is tracking the US Navy’s deployed aircraft carrier strike groups.
US aircraft carrier deployments show that the US’ strategic focus remains on the Asia-Pacific region, prioritizing major power competition and the “Indo-Pacific strategy” over conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
The PLA Navy recently organized some of its most powerful amphibious warships in a combat exercise.
Type 071 amphibious landing ships Wuzhishan
According to a China Central Television (CCTV) report on Monday, the Type 071 amphibious landing ships Wuzhishan and Changbaishan joined up with a Type 075 amphibious assault ship in a multi-course drill.
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The drill practiced live-fire anti-air and anti-sea shooting, which analysts said is important in self-defense in an amphibious landing mission.
Experts said that the Type 071 focuses more on horizontal landing by carrying air cushioned hovercraft and amphibious armored vehicles, while the Type 075 focuses more on vertical landing by carrying more helicopters.
The combination of the Type 075 amphibious assault ship and the Type 071 amphibious landing ship have strong island-seizing capability, and they can join forces with aircraft carrier groups as well as other warships and warplanes to form tremendous joint combat capabilities in an island-seizing mission, Song said.
Such a combination can play important roles on the island of Taiwan, the Dongsha Islands and the Penghu Islands if the need arises in the future, Song said.
Since August 2022, the PLA has organized three major island blockade exercises around the island of Taiwan as countermeasures to US-Taiwan collusion, and displayed its capability in conducting precision strikes to paralyze key military installations on the island of Taiwan, seizing air superiority and control of the sea, as well as stopping “Taiwan independence” secessionists from escaping and external military forces from interfering. All foundations have been established for the following landing missions, analysts said.
The best scenario for both the Chinese mainland and the island of Taiwan is peaceful reunification, but if “Taiwan independence” secessionists and external interference forces deny that prospect, the PLA is always prepared to fulfill its sacred duty of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and achieve the eventual national reunification, experts said.
HMMMM. U.S. Army Mess Hall in Marshall Islands, Hit By Giant Wave
Video has emerged of a mess hall for the United States Army being absolutely swamped (inside) by a massive ocean wave that came well ashore in the Marshall Islands on Saturday, and took the doors off the mess hall.
It was sudden, dramatic, and unstoppable.
US Army mess hall in Marshall Islands hit by massive wave (1.20.24). No reported injuries. pic.twitter.com/jErWckRuky— Molly Ploofkins™ (@Mollyploofkins) January 22, 2024
2024 01 24 10 25
To Hope That China Will Help With Yemen Is Delusional Bullshit
The lunatic Biden policy with regards to Yemen will obviously fail to reach any positive results. The White House and Biden know this and he has even publicly admitted so much.
Monday night’s moves marked the eighth round of allied attacks on the Houthis since the first on Jan. 12. American and British forces said they hit eight targets, including an underground storage site and locations for launching missiles and carrying out air-surveillance.
I doubt that the U.S. or UK knows anything about Yemeni ‘underground storage sites’ or other missile locations.
A third senior official said on Monday that figure may have crept up to 30 to 40 percent after at least 25 to 30 precision-guided munitions successfully hit their targets on Monday. But other U.S. intelligence officials who have been briefed on the size and scope of the Houthis’ arsenal say analysts are not sure how much weaponry the group started with.
American and other Western intelligence agencies have not spent significant time or resources in recent years collecting data on the location of Houthi air defenses, command hubs, munitions depots and storage and production facilities for drones and missiles, the officials said.
The delusion in the White House is that ‘doing something’, like bombing random targets In Yemen, will change things continues. This question is still unanswered:
A senior administration official laid it out as follows. The U.S. attacks on Houthi targets will degrade the militants’ abilities to keep shooting at ships, as will the interdiction of vessels carrying weapons to Yemen. Last week’s redesignation of the Houthis as terrorists will increase the sanctions pressure on them, starving fighters of the resources that bankroll operations.
Eventually, the official continued, regional countries and other nations with an interest in open sea lanes — China, for example — will demand an end to the shipping crisis that has inflated prices and imperiled lives. Meanwhile, Israel’s plan for more targeted operations in Gaza could mean fewer civilian casualties, which would weaken the Houthis’ case for rising to the Palestinians’ defense. An end to the war would remove that rallying cry.
The White House is obviously not even reading the news by the media it directly controls:
A senior official of the Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist group says Chinese and Russian vessels will have safe passage through the Red Sea.
Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi political leadership, said in an interview with the Russian outlet Izvestia that the shipping lanes around Yemen are safe to ships from China and Russia as long as vessels are not connected with Israel, Agence France-Presse reported Friday, citing Izvestia.
The Houthis have said they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel’s war against Hamas militants in Gaza and have carried out more than 30 attacks in the Red Sea.
All western container carriers who have serviced the Asia-Europe lines will now lose container booking from Chinese exporters to Europe. The big Chinese container lines, which have openly announcedto not service Israel, will now receive those transport orders. They can offer a shorter and much cheaper trip through the Red Sea while western carriers must go all around Africa to be able to reach their destination.
China and to an extend Russia will again profit from such basic U.S. policy mistakes. To hope that they will somehow intervene to end that situation is simply absurd.
Politico concluded the part quoted above with this paragraph:
But even if all those various elements lined up, it’s still not clear the strategic picture the Houthis care about will shift radically enough for a course correction.
That is written to sound nice but it essentially means that the policy is utter bullshit.
We live in a dystopian world where it’s completely normalized to subvert human interests to commercial interests, to toss tens of thousands of lives into the incinerator for wealth and convenience. Where war profiteers rake in vast fortunes for selling instruments of mass murder to genocidal governments, and where the most powerful empire in history declares a war to defend shipping containers at the cost of human life.
Don’t ever let these sick freaks convince you that this is normal.
Posted by b on January 23, 2024 at 10:31 UTC | Permalink
Seek advice from people who have achieved what you want in life.
Be your own hero instead of waiting for someone else to save you.
Accept people for who they are, not who you want them to be, to avoid disappointment.
Don’t make others choose you; learn to enjoy your own company.
Control your emotions and stay calm in any situation.
Give people time to reveal their true selves.
Focus on yourself and mind your own business to find inner peace.
Take care of yourself because the world will keep moving, even if something happens to you.
Work hard to improve yourself, even if it feels like nobody cares.
Build your own dreams instead of relying on others to give you purpose.
Ignore society’s advice if it doesn’t align with your goals.
Life doesn’t wait for you to be okay, so keep pushing forward every day.
Enjoy the freedom of not sharing everything about yourself.
Disconnect from the news and avoid discussing politics to feel smarter.
Create your own opportunities instead of waiting for them to come to you.
Greek Turnovers (Skaltsounia)
R C
Ingredients
Dough
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup butter
Filling
1/2 pound feta
3 ounces mascarpone
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted and crushed
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 tablespoon fresh mint leaves, crushed
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
Whip the butter until it is light. Whip in the sugar and egg yolks and blend well. Gradually add in the flour until it is smooth and soft. Add more flour if needed.
Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a bowl cream together the feta, mascarpone, and eggs. Add the walnuts, orange zest, mint and butter and blend well. Set aside.
Roll out dough on a floured board and cut dough into 3-inch rounds. Take 1 tablespoon of the mixture and place it in the center of the circle. Moisten the edges and fold over into a half moon. Seal well. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.
When cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.
On our trip to Pago Pago, American Samoa, we had a layover in Fiji. Nice nation. Beautiful island chain. Actually really nice.
fiji
The thing is, we arrived in the Spring. And the trees and flowers were all in bloom. It was stunning and so beautiful. Smelled wonderful… BUT… it turns out that I was allergic to the trees. The entire time we were there I was sneezing and coughing with blurry and watery eyes.
Ugh.
fiji 2
Pretty, but not for me. Oh well…
Life can be silly. I really wonder what the Hell I was thinking when I decided to incarnate.
Years ago I moved into an apartment/flat. I was on the 2nd floor and shared a long balcony with my neighbor. It was just us two on the floor in that building. The balcony didn’t have a divider between us but it was a long length balcony. I put a small patio table and chair right by my door to relax on the balcony early mornings with tea or evenings to enjoy a book. Well, one morning I went out to sit on the chair by the small table. What did I see? The table was full of beer cans and a huge ashtray full of cigarette butts. The only person that could have done that is my neighbor. It annoyed me. It was one thing to use my patio table and chair without permission, but to leave a disgusting mess for me is another thing. I picked up the cans and ashtray and put them on the ground right in front of her door. Although I never spoke to her I had seen her. I wiped off my table and wrote out a note that said this, “Please ask for permission before using my table and chair. This table and chair are not community property. They belong to me. If you get permission to sit here, please clean up your mess. I am not your maid. Thank you”. I left the note taped on the table. Guess what? You guessed it. The next morning I found another load of beer cans and a full ashtray on the table. Same thing as the day before. Only this time, the table had a beer and food mess. I lost it. I grabbed the beer cans that were not all empty and the full ashtray with cigarette butts and ashes. I walked to her door and spilled beer all in front of her door on the concrete. I then poured the full ashtray all in the beer and it made a yucky mess on the concrete. She’d have to step in it going out the door. I then wiped down the table and folded it up along with the chair and put them by the wall next to the front door inside my apartment. This meant I would have to put them up outside every time I used them. It was a pain in the ass but I did it. She could get her own and clean up her own mess. Didn’t have any issues once I removed the table and chair. A few months later she moved out. Someone else moved in a couple of weeks later. A cop and his wife. The new neighbors were polite. So back out for good my patio table and chair went. Thank goodness.
**EDITED: Response to people commenting why I didn’t just knock on her door and talk to her**
People on the ground floor of the building said she was very rude like that to them as well. One time she took someone’s clothes out of the washing machine and threw them on the ground so she could use the washing machine. She had a bad reputation for not being one to reason with. I wasn’t going to waste my time trying to talk with her to try to come to a resolution. She wasn’t one to compromise with. So, therefore, I did what I felt was best how to deal with a person like that. Another person said she was also a bit violent. So to be honest, I didn’t want to put myself in the position to be physically attacked by her. I would have likely hurt her trying to defend myself because I am trained in martial arts. See what I mean?
Put in the work
I think it is an uneven pair-bonding.
Best Bohemian Kolaches
Kolaches are a type of pastry that holds a dollop of fruit rimmed by a puffy pillow of supple dough.
Bohemian Kolaches
Ingredients
Dough
8 teaspoons dry yeast, dissolved in 1 cup warm water and 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 cups 2% milk, scalded
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
10 to 11 cups flour (don’t make dough too stiff)
Prune Filling
1 pound pitted prunes
Sugar to taste
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Apricot Filling
1 pound apricots
Sugar to taste
Cottage Cheese Filling
1 (16 ounce) container cottage cheese
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
Dash of nutmeg
4 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup raisins
1 teaspoon flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Poppy Seed Filling
1 (2 pound) container poppy seed filling from a bakery
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Cream
Instructions
Dough: Dissolve yeast in water until foamy.
Heat milk, pour over butter and sugar. Stir until melted. Add 2 cups flour, then beat until smooth. Add yeast, eggs and salt. Add flour until a soft ball forms. Grease top; let rise. Punch down and let rise again.
Stretch dough on floured board to about 1/2-inch thickness. Cut into rounds using a soup can. Put on greased pans and let rise. When nice and puffy, make indentations in center and fill with favorite filling like prune, apricot, cottage cheese or poppy seed. When risen to a nice puffy look, bake at 375 degrees F until a golden color.
Prune Filling: Cook prunes until soft. Grind and add sugar, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Stir well.
Apricot Filling: Cook apricots until soft. Grind and add sugar. Sweeter is better. Stir well.
Cottage Cheese Filling: Put cottage cheese in blender. Add egg yolk, lemon juice, nutmeg and 4 tablespoons flour and blend some more. Take out of blender and add raisins. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon flour and sugar.
Poppy Seed Filling: Mix together. Use enough cream to make it easier to put into kolaches.
I’m almost out of the door to buy groceries, and I saw this question, and I have to say something.
…deep breath…
WHAT THE FUCK WITH THIS OBSESSION OVER WAR?!
I’ve seen this type of hypothetical war question all the fucking time on social media (not just on Quora). And it’s always hypothetical wars between nuclear powers. It used to be the US vs USSR. Now it’s US vs China. Every single fucking year, you guys come back with the same zeal asking who would win in various hypothetical scenarios.
What do you think war is? Civilization V?! Colorful avatars on a digital map?! You move your troops forward, and boom, the city is yours?!
I swear you armchair general manchildren are the fucking worst! You want war so much, why don’t you enlist? You think you’re fucking military expert because you played Call of Duty, and you know what a battleground feels like?! You can hide behind cover and breath heavily for a few seconds and recover from bullethole in your fucking stomach?
You know, I don’t mind actual military experts theorizing potential wars. That’s kind of their job, to think of the worst scenario so we can be prepared. I get that. But you lot ain’t experts. You are doing it because it is fun and exciting for you. It makes you feel powerful the same way playing Civilization V makes you feel powerful.
You never thought about what war actually means to the people it impacted (yes, that includes you, too, you moron!) There’s no glory in bloodshed over nationalism or fighting over resources.
But sure, let me answer your question: can China win a war against the US over Taiwan? Depending on how you define “winning.” The most likely scenario we have is a Vietnam War V2. The US throws its weight around, and millions of young people die on both sides, fighting in the fucking jungle. Taiwan, once named the “Island of Treasures,” was decimated. Its factories were destroyed. Its beautiful forests and coasts were poisoned by chemical weapons. The price of PCs and other electronics skyrocketed because Taiwan is the world’s largest producer of semiconductors, producing over 60% of the world’s semiconductors and over 90% of the most advanced ones.
After years of death, destruction, and misery, the US finally decided to withdraw its troops, and Taiwan became a province of China.
And that is the best scenario you could hope for, you moron. The worst scenario is both US and China decide to use nuclear weapons, and we all fucking die in the fucking nuclear winter.
Still feeling good about yourself? Still think this is a fucking video game?!
Fuck all of you war fanatics! Go read another book about WWII and fuck all the way off my feed.
I’ll leave you with this poem: 劝君莫论封侯事，一将功成万骨枯
“Please do not speak of getting noble titles (through war). One general’s success was built upon millions of corpses.“
Unsurprisingly, I got several comments saying China is an authoritarian state and has been threatening Taiwan for years.
Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that what you said is true, that China is indeed an authoritarian state and China has been “threatening” Taiwan for years.
So? SO? What’s your point? That China, a country of 1.5 billion people, most of these 1.5 billion people live peacefully and minding their own business, deserve to be destroyed because… you do not agree with how an independent sovereign nation governs itself?
OK, by that logic, can China start a war attacking the US because everything the US did in the fast 70 years, including invading Iraq on a lie, created several coups in South America for the sole purpose of destabilizing the local economy and forcing these countries to rely on the US for their survival, and systemic racism, persecution of homosexual people and trans people, drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya…
I mean, if we want to compare fucking skeletons in the fucking closet, we can go all the way back to Operation Paperclip. Better yet, let’s go all the way back to colonialism and chattel slavery. The US is covered, head to toe, with innocent blood. If there is one country that deserves to be destroyed, according to your logic, the US would be the first in line.
So perhaps get off your moral high horse and shut the fuck up.
We were ROBBED in Finland! (Let’s Go Back to China!)
I was a male waiter at a diner in Hillbillyville. I got very few tips because tips were for making passes at waitresses. Working the late shift, I dealt with more than my share of drunks and as well as the ordinary assholes. From teens squirting full ketchup bottles on their dinnerware and tables after their meal, to those who would fall into a drunken coma at my tables.
The one that stands out to me was a retired farmer who would come in every Sunday night with his wife and another couple. They had all been drinking. But the retired farmer, who had a reputation for being a loud-mouth know-nothing decided to harass the help (me and the cook) throughout their meal. He and his entourage thought it was very funny to disrespect us.
After their meal and lots of juvenile remarks, it was dessert time. They all ordered. The retired farmer decided he wanted a hot fudge sundae, which he knew we did not offer.
I told him “We do not have hot fudge sundaes.”
He replied, “Do you have ice cream?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have chocolate syrup?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have a microwave?”
”Yes.”
“Then heat up some frickin’ chocolate sauce and put it on my ice cream!” His group suddenly went quiet, realizing he had just crossed a boundary not even they would accept.
I put my hands on their table, leaned across to the foul farmer and said, “Would you liked crushed nuts with that?”
He went silent as the others at the table burst into laughter… especially his wife! They believed he had it coming… probably for years!
Dickhead left me a nice tip that night and had a new demeanor every time he stopped to eat.
I was pleased with myself. Other customers as well as staff openly approved of the way I handled this little turd.
I fired a friend who worked closely with me in the forge. He’d set up some of the equipment, and knew how to maintain it. He was a good solid productive worker, and a lot of fun to work with.
He also drank.
I told him he could not drink on company property, and he could not come in drunk to work.
He did it anyway. Repeatedly. Hid it. More than one warning.
Then I fired him.
He said I couldn’t, that I needed him, that I didn’t know how to maintain the equipment, it would cripple my business to lose him.
He was right.
And yet… I still had to do it. He was a hazard to himself, and to the business. At one of the venues I vend at, they have a clear written rule forbidding this, and he was violating it, and I could have lost my business there (and it’s responsible for 75% of my annual income)
I bent over backwards to avoid doing this, and when I finally did, it was every bit as bad as he thought it would be.
Production dropped by more than half. A couple of the tools got ruined. I learned how to maintain the others, and gradually got things back into shape, but it took many months.
But I can’t honestly say I didn’t know what was going to happen when I did it. I just didn’t have any other choice.
I have friends who never understand how I can take a costco rotisserie chicken for $5.00 and make it into a week’s worth of meals, including using the bones and meat chips from the carcass for bone broth to make soup. I can pick a chicken or turkey bonee clean of meat long after others would have given up. I use veggies and eggs to extend it to omelelets, wraps, chicken fritattas, tacos, chicken salad with mayo, stir fry, topping on regular salad with dressing, an entree, and then finally soup. I buy the large quantity of meat on mark down and make four or five different meals, freezing several. That way I always rotate the meat or meal we eat during the week, and we feel like we never have to be without meat except our once a week vegetarian meal. I made ham and bean soup the other day with the Christmas ham leftover scraps and the ham bone. My mom fed a family of seven with groceries she bought while a grocery store meat wrapper. My dad worked in produce. We had cans with no labels she bought for 10 cents. We had a cat and a dog, but never knew which vegetable or animal food was in the can until we opened it.
I always eat the free meal buffet at hotels and take extra fruit to my room. There will always be a bag of dried beans, box of pasta, and cans of tuna in my pantry ‘just in case’. I had some for the lunch the other day because it was getting close to expiration. I drive around town on errands and find myself noticing open public bathrooms, places where people could park overnight, etc ‘just in case’, even though I’ve never been homeless. I’ve been scared when I was close. I go into survival mode as soon as an extra expense happens even if I am prepared.
I use coupons, shop the sale items, and overstock my pantry. My mom taught me back when rebates were constantly available. We had ‘FHB’ or ‘family hold back’ meals where extra bread was added to the table if someone stopped by unexpectedly. It was the signal for the family to fill up on bread and ‘hold back’ from eating so the guests were satisfied. I still fill out restaurant and fast food surveys for the free meal. I’m the one willing to pick up the company meals nearby, so I get the rewards. People think I’m just being nice or someone in the office is taking advantage of me. I go to the extra early sales to get the extra $10 coupon for the first 100 in line. Early in my career, I used to use the ‘free reward’ items from ordering office supplies to sell at yard sales.
My partner understood before he passed. He had used cracker packets and ketchup packets from fast food with a cup of hot water to make ‘tomato soup’. He had had it worse than us growing up. Most people will never understand.
Our son has never known true hunger, but he has seen enough scrimping that he knows not to waste. As a teen, I gave him the coupons, the sale paper, and $10 with a shopping list. I taught him to use the ‘money back rewards’ with double coupons and buy one get one sale items for anti perspirants, etc to buy the extra milk and things he needed for the week. Even today, I will invite him to a restaurant and he will ask if it can be another day, because he has xxx leftovers to finish before they go bad. You keep the mentality.
Oh and the hand me downs. I wore the same homemade dress in four different sizes. My mom had made each of her five girls tge same blue dress with three buttons. My one sister was so much larger than me hers couldn’t be altered enough or I would have had five. I was thrilled to get a new outfit at Christmas when my sisters were growing up and moving out. There was a little more money then. I quizzed every sister how much their bills were and wrote a budget. I owned everything to move out by 16, down to a vegetable peeler. I wasn’t taking any chances. I used my babysitting and yard work money earned from neighbors. Once I could work fast food, I lied to my parents that I was over a friend’s house when I really worked a full week with overtime all summer long. The child labor laws apparently didn’t check much in those days. I had discovered making money. I was the only kid I knew that lied about having fun so I could work. I worked hard enough to become management before graduating high school. I just wanted to keep earning and saving the most I could. I always worked two jobs until my son was born. You take every chance you get.
I come from a very dignified and respectable family. My parents always taught me values and how I should be respectful of other.
I was asked out on a date by a coworker. He was older to me by 8 years, nevertheless he was charming and spoke very well. I thought he seemed like a nice, family man.
We ended our date after a meal at a restaurant and he offered to pay. I asked him if he wanted to share the tab but he declined. Afterwards we both were walking towards the car parking area. There was an ATM kiosk.
He tried to withdraw some cash from his card but told me that there was some problem with his card. He then did something weird. He asked my card and my PIN number. And me, like an idiot told him.
He took my purse from me, took the card, punched the PIN number and withdrew a 1000 INR. He took the cash, put it in his pocket and continued walking.
I asked him what he did. To which he replied “oh that was for the dinner and the rest of it is for the petrol I will be spending dropping you back at home”.
Back in 2015, I’d been dating my then-fiance for some time. We got engaged super early, so it wasn’t exactly “a while,” but it had been at least three months and let me reiterate: we were engaged to be married.
Blake Diamond and I had already sent out requests for our bridal party hopeful-members to become actual-members, and one person said to me how odd the name sounded. “It almost sounds fake, don’t you think?” he asked.
“I mean… maybe?” I said. “I knew a guy in high school with the last name Diamond, and Blake is a name that I’m familiar with, so maybe it’s not that unlikely.”
Several weeks passed and as I began to get deeper and deeper into wedding planning, I needed to know his parents’ address so that I could send things to his family. “I’d rather keep this under wraps. They don’t need to know about all the planning yet. Plus, their last name is Bingham,” he said to me one night.
“Bingham? That’s odd. Yours is… different?”
“Oh, that’s, uh… maybe I didn’t tell you,” he conceded. “Blake G. Diamond III is my online alias.”
I… what?
“What? Why did I not… know that… before you asked me to marry you?”
“I like to go by Blake Diamond, not by my real name.”
He still was hesitant to spill the beans, but when I became inconsolably irate after several minutes of arguing, he finally gave in:
“No I didn’t. I can save money to buy another one for you if you want.”
“You think I want it from you? I raised a dumbass for a son. Leo, I know you did it.”
“I swear I didn’t.”
“So you’re the only on in the roo-”
“I was asleep on the sofa. I didn’t do i-”
“Just watch, when I come home with your mother you will admit to it.”
I began to laugh, “Good luck. Know what? Take your fucking time coming home.”
And that’s it. I turned off the phone and went to my room, and angrily waited for them to come home. I awoke from the sofa earlier and found the T.V broken. Absolutely crushed.
I called my dad and he was quick to point the finger at me. Which makes sense, the T.V didn’t break itself and I was the only one in the room. Though the truth is that I didn’t do it.
I shouldn’t have been such a fucking snob with my response because they never came home after that.
A knock came at the door and I stomped over, ready to face a loud scolding. But the person at the door wasn’t my dad, or anyone I know. He is wearing a police badge and a police car with our states name written across it is outside the front door. I figured that my dad must have called the cops to see who broke the T.V after realizing it wasn’t me. “Yes?”
“Is this the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Alexandric?”
“Yes.”
“And are you Leonardo?”
“I-yes.”
“Would you like to take a seat?”
All at once my entire body stiffens. “No. Why are you here? What happened?”The T.V is broken. That’s all. Nothing’s wrong. I kept telling myself. But the truth was, everything was wrong.
“Your parents. They’re dead.”
The frankness of his words and shock of it all is too much and I begin to laugh. He looks calmly at me, like he’s used to this type of reaction. He probably was.
“You didn’t answer my second question. What happened?” My voice is shaking and I knew I was on the verge of tears.
“Son, your parents are dead. They got shot. That’s all there is to tell you.”
I stay frozen at the door saying nothing.
“We called your Aunt and Uncle. They’ll be here shortly. Meanwhile, I’m supposed to make sure you’re safe.”
I nod and open the door for him to come inside. I’m too shocked and lost to ask for proof or a warrant of some kind. I just stand at the door and glare at the man until my aunt comes.
She comes with my uncle and she’s screaming, acting hysterical. She grabs me in a hug and doesn’t let go until she faints from exhaustion. That was the last conversation I had with my father.
I never cried about their death, it’s made me colder. I just feel numb thinking about it. I thought it was my fault for the longest time. I did this, I told him not to come back. I know that it’s not true now but it still haunts me.
Please do me a favor and go tell you parents that you love them. Don’t be stupid like me, because no matter how stable everything seems, no one knows when death will strike.
This is a true story that happend to a friend of mine.
He was fairly new in Japan and went to Yoyogi Park, the most popular and well-known park in Tokyo.
He was playing some sport with his friends for a while, and went home as it started raining.
On his way back to his house, he realized that he forgot his iPad on a bench at the park.
He felt hopeless as the electronics left in public quickly get lost, at least that was the commonsense we generally have, but he went back anyway to where he was in the park.
image 49
Photo: Wikimedia
He looked at the bench where he left his iPad, and saw a newspaper.
He removed the newspaper, and there it was. His iPad was sitting there intact! But why was there a newspaper on iPad?
Well, apparently, a kind-hearted anonymous person thought the beautiful iPad shouldn’t get wet in the rain.
My friend calls that an “only-in-Japan” experience. However, as myself being Japanese, I wasn’t surprised.
I’ve lost my iPhone twice on the train (yes, twice..) and found both times at Lost & Found of the railway company.
One learning from my friend’s story and my own experience is “don’t give up finding it when you lose your gadget in Japan!” 🙂
Mike has never put more than 40% effort into anything in school.
He sits in the back of the class. He never listens. He figures out how to sleep with his eyes open, or hide under his desk to take naps.
Maybe his dad abandoned him. Maybe his parents never motivated him. Or maybe he’s just plain lazy.
Who knows the reasons. But the effort isn’t there.
Nothing his teachers or parents have ever said or done have been able to turn the fire that burns within him into anything more than a low smolder.
He goes through his early years, turning in the minimum grades to squeak by in everything.
One day, as he shrugs off another bad grade, the teacher stands up at the front of the class.
The teacher points at Mike.
“Study hard – or you’ll end up like Mike there. Dim, lazy, and on the path to flipping burgers for a living.”
A certifiable asshole comment by a teacher.
Mike, typically thick-skinned and nonchalant about life, is pissed.
An authority figure publicly branding him in front of the class, the class laughing, and the obvious implication that a good majority of them shared the teacher’s view of Mike was too much.
He’d had enough.
Deep down he knew he was lazy. But he wasn’t stupid. And he sure as hell wouldn’t be flipping burgers.
That day forward Mike starts studying.
It hurts his brain at first to think and concentrate so much. It’s almost like going to the gym for the first time.
He keeps going. Each day he gets better at it. The rust comes off, those sleepy neurons start to light up between his ears.
Quickly – he gets into a groove. His grades pick up.
They get better. They get better. He learns a couple study tricks he should have known years ago.
Cute girls are suddenly asking him for help in school.
He realizes school isn’t that hard. He realizes what he already knew – he wasn’t dumb.
In fact, he realizes, he’s a lot smarter than he thought he was.
Suddenly, he’s getting the top grades in his class.
Mike – was so much more than even he ever thought.
He’d been a darkhorse scholar in his class.
He is acing test after test. He dethroned the former smart kid who now eyes him with jealousy.
And one day – his teacher asks him to stay after class.
His teacher comes over, sits on a table across from him.
He stares at Mike.
He walks over, reaches out and shakes Mike’s hand, saying, “Mike – I apologize. You had it in you all along. I never knew”
Mike, your quintessential, stereotypical gifted slacker, had announced his arrival.
I’ve found that harsh criticisms can cut deep particularly if there is a grain of truth to them.
The knee-jerk reaction is often to punch back, recoil, bury yourself away from it.
The next time a criticism cuts deep, step forward and into it.
Look within the pain rather than react to it. What does it show you?
Are your talents being buried by inaction? By weakness?
Look at it.
It is right there.
Do something about it.
If someone shines a light on your demons, don’t flip the light off, expel the demons.
If someone mislabels you, sells you short of what you are, what you are capable of, do something about it.
Show them the truth.
You’ll enjoy it.
Nothing beats proving people wrong.
Real Living Cost In Shenzhen, China Will Shock You
Dell was doing horrendously bad and it’s sales in China is almost non existent when it thought playing the hate China can can win sales in U.S. and its cronies.
Well the result is it got even worst.
China’s market itself is close to 30% of the world’s market. And it can make everything. Better and faster at half the cost anywhere else. With that China help you earn heaps of money! Without China you go broke. With China you laugh all the way to the bank.
99.999% of US businessman wants to stay perpetually in China if they can. US business people are smart. US politicians have only one objective. To stay in power. To do that do shit and talk shit on China can get you there.
Americans are so unbelievably ignorant and naive after 24/7, 365 days a year 74 straight years of demonising And fabrications of lies by the U.S media on China. do you blame the Yanks. Imagine going to school, college and university that teaches you white is black and right is wrong that long!
Worked at Burger King when I was around 16, and I put up with a lot of abuse from a few managers (including one guy in his 30s constantly getting aggressive with me for no reason, just started happening one day and didn’t quit) because in spite of them, the rm and a few of the other managers were really cool. Flash forward about a year and I was one of three people working in the restaurant and the other two people were the aggressive manager and a new manager who was abusing her power. I made all the food correctly, labeled it correctly and put it on hot table for them to bag( it was the middle of a rush) both of them were bagging the food incorrectly, telling me a made the things wrong when I know I didn’t, I knew they weren’t paying attention they were just bagging stuff up and customer kept coming back angry and I had to remake the food. After a few hours, when the rush hit it got worse. And they were still blaming me for their mistakes, but when the aggressive manager went off on me, I literally just walked over and clocked out and told them I’m quitting, to have fun for the rest of their shift because you’ll be the only ones here for the remainder of the day. I dont work fast food anymore, the thought just makes me angry. I’m not saying I’m better than those workers, or smarter, just that I won’t work in the food industry ever again. I was 16, they should’ve picked a target that was older, less likely to quit because they had bills/ kids to take care of, I didn’t.
The likelihood of surviving a plane accident is around 95.7%. However, around 16% of accidents are fatal. Of all modern transport-category planes, the one with the worst safety record is the Concorde, yet it only had one fatal accident, this is because of its limited service history.*
Afghanistan’s literacy rate is around 29%.
Labor Day was an event conceived to cover up some pretty brutal massacres of American workers.
The sun is one star in 300 sextillion (or 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.)
After suffering a knife wound whilst giving fellatio a woman became pregnant… even despite being born without a vagina.
Britain’s youngest grandfather was 29 at the time of birth.
The total weight of all the Earth’s ants is around the same of all the humans.
Because ants are so small they can survive a session in a microwave by dodging the rays.
When you sneeze your heart stops for a millisecond- hence the term bless you.
At 2000 km long, the Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth.
Polar bears can run at 25 kmph and jump around 6 feet high.
There are 62,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body, so they could stretch around the Earth 2.5 times.
If you were to drill a tunnel straight through the centre of the Earth it would take you precisely 42 minutes and 12 seconds to get to the bottom if you jumped… but you’d be dead before you got there.
The strongest creature on Earth, gonorrhea bacteria, can pull 100,000 times their body weight.
If you apply an electric current to a pickle it will react with the salt, causing the pickle to glow.
image 53
The speed of Neptune’s wind breaks the sound barrier.
Picasso was a suspect in the 1911 Mona Lisa theft.
The Queen owns one-sixth of the Earth’s land surface.
On August 27th of 1896, Britain and Zanzibar fought a war. It lasted 36 minutes.
The U.S. produces 90,000,000 acres of corn per annum.
Warner’s Bros. was founded before the Ottoman Empire fell.
Calculations determine that, in the last 3,500 years, there have been 260 years of peace.
In 2005 a man threw a grenade at George W. Bush and it didn’t explode.
If the figures are correct humans were first on Earth 200,000 years ago, and written records of life were first found from 6,000 years ago, 97% of history is lost.
You can swim through some of the arteries in a blue whale’s heart.
Thomas Edison’s last breath is in a tube, in Detroit’s Henry Ford museum.
Most canned laughter was recorded in the 1950’s, so most of those laughs re from dead people.
A single crayon burns for half an hour.
image 52
In Detroit, 70% of murders go unsolved.
Excite turned Google down in 1999 when they were willing to sell the company for $1,000,000
Ronald Wayne sold his stake in Apple for $800 dollars in 1976.
‘No melon, no lemon’ spelt backwards is ‘No melon, no lemon.’
If you spell out every number you won’t use an A until you reach one thousand.
Marie Curie’s work is still radioactive enough to make you sick, so you must sign a disclaimer to view them.
Cleopatra lived closer to the Moon landing the the building of the Great Pyramid.
Half of the humans ever to live have died from malaria.
Charlie Chaplin’s remains were stolen and held for ransom. See chaplin.
**
If you could fold paper 42 times it would reach the moon.
If there was no space between the atoms on Earth it would be the size of a regular baseball.
Ireland’s population is still 2,000,000 less than it was before the potato famine.
You have a 0.5% chance of being related to Genghis Khan.
A banana is a berry and a strawberry isn’t.
Nelson Mandela wasn’t removed from the U.S. terror watch-list until 2008.
Jimmy Carter, the genius that he is, sent a jacket to his cleaner with nuclear launch codes and secrets in the pocket.
Quentin Tarantino played an Elvis impersonator in the Golden Girls.
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**Charlie Chaplin fact courtesy of Murray Robinson. Thanks Murray. 🙂
The heat of the sun’s core is so hot that if you put a pinhead on Earth which was as hot you could kill a person 160 km away.
Irish poet Brendan Behan was a confirmed alcoholic at the age of eight.
Sunandha Kumariratana the Queen of Thailand forbid her subjects from touching her and so they were all forced to look on as she drowned.
Fleas can jump around 200 times their height.
A seahorse moves through the waters at about 0.01 mph.
A giraffe’s spots are truly unique- no two giraffes have the same spots, also you can determine their age from the darkness of their spots.
Giraffes learn to stand after 30 minutes and can run with their mothers after 10 hours.
Scientists have submitted papers to exhume and examine the body of shakespeare to see if he smoked marijuana.
Blue jeans are now banned in North Korea for being a sign of American imperialism.
Shopping carts have more saliva, faecal matter, and bacteria on them than most bathrooms.
Barry Manilow didn’t write his song “I Write the Songs.”
President John Tyler still has two surviving grandchildren, despite being born some 221 years ago.
1/3 of all the U.K. divorce filings included the word ‘Facebook’.
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There was a counting horse called Stanley from Liverpool, who could multiply, divide, add and subtract as well as calculate mileage, it also performed in a theatre production in the Anglican cathedral… he was trained by my Grandfather. 🙂
I had a very snooty classmate, mummy and daddy had more money than sense, and whenever we passed a homeless person she was sniff and say “dirty scroungers, get a job!”
My dad on the other hand would always pass the time of day and give them some money. One day we met him on the way home from school, the girl saw dad give a man a few coins and demanded “why give him your money. He needs a job!”
“Yes.”Dad agreed, “and a home, and a nice loving family. Can you give him that? Just as Scaz is my child, that man is somebody’s child. If we all remembered that everyone is somebody’s baby, we would all be happier! When you look at him, you think begger. When I look at him I think “There but for the grace of God go I.”
When we got home, dad sat me down and said “if you remember nothing else, remember this. When someone hits rock bottom, there is only one way left. Up.
If you can’t find a kind person, BE a kind person. When someone hits rock bottom, be the hand pulling them back up, for God knows one day you’ll need someone to do it for you “
Here are 8 useful psychological tricks you can use in daily life:
1.When people tell you things you don’t agree with
Don’t object to them firmly.
First acknowledge what they say with words like, “I see what you mean” and continue with your own opinion asking “but have you ever thought about this part of it?” That approach will help you make your point without being interrupted or having someone oppose you.
2. Toimprove your mood
You can Write down negative thoughts and tossing them in a trash can.
And if you are angry, draw lines. Simple patterns relax you. If you feel sad, paint a rainbow.
3. If you want someone to carry something for you
Hand it over to them while talking. Most people won’t notice that you’re handing them something and they will take it.
But note that this trick may not work on people who are naturally more attentive as well as less close to you.
4. To make yourself look like a naturally good listener, even if you aren’t one
Paraphrase what someone else has just said and say it again. Remember to not be too obvious though.
5. To get friendlier with a person
Emphasize your shared values. In other words, try finding a point of similarity between the two of you and then highlight it.
This is according to the “similarity-attraction effect”, stating that you are more attracted to those who are similar to you.
6. To give someone positive memories of your conversation or interaction
Let them talk about themselves. One study showed that when people talked about themselves, the reward system of the brain became activated, meaning talking about oneself felt actually rewarding.
7. When two people eat together, if you want to know if the other person has a potential affection for you (friendship and love apply)
Pick up a cup and take a sip of water. If the other person also subconsciously picks up his glass and drinks water, he or she is more likely to have a potential interest in you. Related article you may want to read: 20 signs to tell if someone likes you.
8. To immediately feel confident
You may be surprised by the effectiveness of adopting the “power stance”, i.e. standing with your legs apart and your arms spread out so that you cover as much space as possible. If you do this for just two minutes, you flood your body with testosterone and will instantly feel more self-assured.
An earthquake occurred at 4:00 pm, The Self-Defense Forces were still eating, drinking and having fun to celebrate the New Year that night. They did not set out to the disaster area until noon the next day. It took 5 or 6 days after the disaster to complete the operation. There were only 2,000 food supplies for more than 10,000 people and no water for one day., only get one rice ball.
China :
At 23:59 on December 18, a 6.2-magnitude earthquake occurred in Jishishan County, Gansu Province, my country;
Just 3 minutes after the earthquake, fire trucks and ambulances appeared on the streets;
20 minutes after the earthquake, Gansu and Qinghai launched emergency plans at the same time;
37 minutes after the earthquake, the fire rescue teams from Lanzhou, Wuwei and Baiyin had already assembled and went to the scene for disaster relief;
81 minutes after the earthquake, the first trapped person was rescued;
160 minutes after the earthquake, the provincial party committee secretaries and governors from Gansu and Qinghai arrived at the disaster area to guide the rescue;
At four o’clock in the morning, the first batch of 300 rescue troops from the People’s Liberation Army arrived in the disaster area and began relief;
In the early morning of that day, the People’s Liberation Army cooking truck began to make breakfast for the affected people;
At 15:00 that day, the official announced that the earthquake rescue work was basically completed, and the focus of the work shifted to the treatment of the wounded and the living arrangements of the affected people.
In other words, from 23:59 on the evening of the 18th to 15:00 on the 19th, China completed the entire earthquake rescue work in only 15 hours. The affected people even had hot meals in the morning as usual.
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a tweet from a Japanese comparing two disaster rescue mission.
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do you understand picture above?
Author Note : China is not a perfect country, a smart society has it owns problem. However I notice that they are very optimistic about their economy prospect compared with the rest of the world and second they really proud on how disaster management they have.
Ignore the single dimension inaccurate GDP! It measures hot air bubble like Wall Street and bloated U.S. greed such as pharmaceutical companies!
China for all intent and purpose has overtaken the U.S. for at least a decade now. Financially, politically, economically and militarily since 2014.
China won’t do the shit that the U.S. do foolishly acting as a worldwide police man that no one wanted and nobody is willing to pay a cent for. The only gain for the US is universal hate and disdain. The U.S. appears to prefer to implode its economy and impoverish its people by paying for Ukraine instead of helping its own poor.
China is very clear it will do everything to make Chinese people live a better life, healthier living and better livelihood over interference, intervention and chaos and coup financing and orchestrating. That is a U.S. thing. American must stand up to stop your corrupt officials from bankrupting your nation and destroying your future.
It was dark at the restaurant’s parking lot. I was a young boy in the back seat of my Father’s Thunderbird. My older brother and I were kneeling on the car seat, watching a frightening scene unfold through the rear window. My Mother was in the front seat holding our baby sister while keeping an eye on us and repeatedly ordering us to stay in the car and to not open any doors. (In the 1960’s child-proof locks didn’t exist)
Outside, a loud, angry man walked towards my Father. He was enraged. He pointed at my Father as he screamed profanities and threats. He kept advancing and made it perfectly clear to my Father he was going to kill him. I think the man was upset that my Father had inadvertently pulled into a parking spot he wanted.
My Father stood still.
Although the parking lot was only barely illuminated by a small lamppost, I could still see the vehemence in this man’s face. The shadows the overhead lamp created made him look even more demonic as he kept getting closer. The man pulled an object from his pocket and with some fancy wrist flicks flipped it open and exposed a blade. It looked like this:
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Image Source: Google images
It’s called a balisong. The American version is called a butterfly knife.
“I’m going to slice your guts open,” I heard the man say.
“Is that what you wanted? You want a knife fight?” my Father asked. He opened the car’s trunk.
We briefly lost sight of the angry man. Only after my Father shut the trunk did we see what was happening again. We saw the man with the knife. Except now he was much further away; running, stumbling in panic, screaming apologies and running some more.
My Father wasn’t too far behind and closing in with a samurai sword.
I lost track of my Father and the man after they rounded the corner of the restaurant. I don’t think my Father killed him, though, as I didn’t see any blood on his clothes or on the sword in his hand as he calmly walked back to the car. He slid the sword back into its sheath and lowered the trunk door.
“Let’s eat,” he casually said.
During WWII, my Father was a member of Marking’s Regiment, a guerilla unit. They took part in several fights, most of which were in thick jungles which involved a lot of ambushes and hand-to-hand combat. (They also fought alongside American units in several operations. Here’s one of them
[1]) The article written by David Lash mentions them in a couple of places. The article’s several pages long though, so I extracted some excerpts:
The Americans were greatly helped by Filipino guerrillas. From the very beginning of the Japanese occupation, numerous bands had been active throughout the Philippines. They ran the gamut from highly effective, disciplined groups to common criminals. But one of the outfits most useful to the Americans was Marking’s Fil-American Yay Regiment, better known as Marking Regiment, a group of Filipino guerrillas about 3,000 strong. This group was headed by Colonel Marcus V. Augustin, a former Manila-Antipolo bus driver who had escaped Bataan and chosen “Marking” as his guerilla name.
Marking’s Regiment would be under the direction of Brig. Gen. Alexander Stark, the assistant commander of the 43rd. Its role was to attack the northern flank, largely as a feint to confuse the Japanese. Because of this secondary status, there were no plans to give it significant artillery or air support.
The regiment would be split into a North Force and a South Force of about 1,500 men each.
(Before I continue I want to respectfully say “Thank you” to all the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces – past and present, Thank you for your service.)
My Father was decorated with several battle scars. The one that pertains to this story though, at a separate battle from the one mentioned above, is a long scar above his chest, right below his neck. It was courtesy of a Japanese officer in one of their several run-ins. My Father killed him with a bolo (a type of machete) after the officer’s swing and near miss at decapitation. He claimed the dead man’s sword after the fight was over and all the enemy combatants were dead. (They had a tendency to refuse surrender, which was fine by the guerrillas.)
The man with a 5-inch blade had no effect on my Father other than to produce a disdainful sneer. Without seeing his face I know he sneered. I know the man.
Below is a photo of the actual sword my Father chased the man with that night. My Father donated it to a WW II museum before old age finally claimed him. I took a picture of his sword when I went back home for his funeral. He was buried with full military honors.
Post Script added 4/5/20 :
My Father was well aware of the value of the samurai sword. He was an executive officer of the Philippines Veterans Museum and played an instrumental part in the creation and building of the museum. After he retired from his law practice, he dedicated the remainder of his life to the welfare of veterans and worked tirelessly for their benefit. He had housing units, similar to barracks, built for homeless or financially needy veterans and their families to live in cost free for as long as they needed.
The monetary value of the sword, to him, was insignificant. Income generated from the museum were used for expenses related to the housing units as well as for the education of the children and descendants of poor veterans. So the value of the sword was not lost, but repurposed to benefit the needy.
The funniest joke I have ever heard (and what makes it even more hilarious is the fact that I am blind) is the one about the man who takes his Seeing Eye dog into a bar. He picks the dog up by the tail and swings him around his head in a circle. “What are you doing?” the bar tender asks. “I’m just looking around.” he replies.
Another is about a blind man who goes to Texas. He feels the bus seat in Texas and says, “This seat is huge!” “Everything’s bigger in Texas.” the bus driver says. “Have a seat.” So the blind man sits down and the bus arrives at a bar later on. The guy gets off and goes inside.
When he sits down, the bar tender pours him a glas. The blind man feels it and says, “This glass is humongus.” “Everything is bigger in Texas.” the bar tender replies. A few minutes pass and the blind guy is hammered. He asks the tender where the rest room is. “It’s the third door on your right down that hallway to the left of you.” the bar tender replies, and the blind man gets up and advances toward the bathroom. Well, along the way, he trips over a fan cord and as a result, he oversteps and goes out the fourth door instead. He falls into the club swimming pool, and the whole time he’s standing in water up to his chest, he’s screaming, “Don’t flush! Don’t flush! Please, God, no!”
1. If you have a few hours to kill on the airplane, delete pictures from your phone.
2. Use your travel toiletries at home the night before you leave for a long trip.
3. Sign out of Netflix when checking out of an Airbnb or hotel.
4. When using a grocery delivery service, tip a set amount, not a percentage.
5. Waving someone through a stop sign when they stopped after you is not doing anybody a favour and most competent drivers are just annoyed at you for behaving unpredictably.
6. If you need to memorize information, read it, record it and play it quietly at night.
7. Save your PowerPoint presentation as a .ppsx file that starts automatically when opened.
8. Marry someone who will always have your back, even when they’re mad at you.
9. If you find a faster way to do something at your work, keep it a secret from your manager.
10. Your company didn’t know you existed before you applied and won’t notice you when you’re gone. Take care of yourself.
11. Before buying something, ask yourself two questions: “Where will I store this thing?” and “How difficult will it be to clean this thing?”
12. If the person you are dating invites you over for a home cooked meal, take the initiative and just start doing the dishes without asking. You can thank me later.
13. Ask the person you are dating the non-negotiables of yours in the first few weeks.
14. If you know how late you are going to be, add an extra 5-10 minutes to it. It might be annoying for the people when you say it initially, but when you come before the time you said, it will evoke a far more positive reaction than underestimating the lateness time.
15. Pay Attention to the smell of your home when you come back from a trip. That’s what it smells like to guests all the time, you just get used to it.
16. Do not try to be the man your father would want you to be. Be the man you would like your son to be be.
I was new to a school. New year for everyone else.
If you thought this was yet another story from my dramatic teenage years, you were wrong. I was seven.
There was a boy in this class. Let’s call him Lewis. Lewis was… let’s just say he wasn’t very popular. He wasn’t bullied, he wasn’t hated, he was just a loner. The sort of kid who no one really talked to, and who didn’t really talk to anyone (he would grow up to be the most mad cap son of a bitch I know).
One day Lewis decides to read a book. I cannot recall what book, only that it had a bright pink cover.
Another kid, let’s call him Darren, decides that this is a perfect opportunity to do what kids do best: be cruel. So he goes to mock Lewis.
‘You’re reading a girls book. You like girly things!’
I’ve been observing Lewis for several days now. I’ve always liked to observe those that stood out to me. Even at my age I was able to tell that Lewis was not the sort of kid who would be able to respond well to that.
Except I was wrong.
‘Yeah I’m reading a girly book. I also like fairy cakes. And I love my mum. What are you going to do about it?’
Y’all know what sort of person I am. Now. But this kid was 7 years old and totally owned who he was. Not only that, but he took what must’ve been the greatest risk I’d ever seen right there.
Back in the late ‘90s, I began my time at a Ford dealership as a technician. (I had been working on vehicles/machinery since a kid, so, it was a good fit)
One day, right at closing time, a lady came in from about 50 miles away. She had a brand new first generation Ford Escape (it had only come out maybe a month prior) with less than 500 miles on the odometer.
She complained about a shimmy/wobble from the front end and steering wheel vibration. Ok. So, preliminary check while parked outside and her watching, I look at the vehicle head-on and noticed the driver’s front wheel out of alignment, seriously out of alignment. I take a closer look and pop the center cap off the wheel, exposing the hub and axle assembly (this was a front wheel drive vehicle) and what I saw blew me away.
There was no axle nut holding the hub to the threaded axle shaft. Judging from the condition of the hub, no witness marks and the absence of the nut itself, the retainer nut was never installed on this vehicle from the factory.
This customer had driven all that way with only the caliper and brake disk assembly holding the wheel onto the vehicle. This one disturbed me just thinking what could have happened had the brake disk or the caliper failed during her commute.
Kings in the middle ages did impregnate servants BUT those servants were freqently of noble or “gentle” birth themselves. The daughters of knights, at the least.
Why mess with the runny-nosed maid scrubbing the privy floor when there were wall-to-wall ladies-in-waiting doing the less grubby jobs of helping the queen and princesses dress, doing their hair, mending their clothes, and serving their meals? Not to mention the daughters and sisters of the noblemen serving the king?
The children from those affairs didn’t become princes and princesses because they weren’t in the line of inheritance. But their mothers were often married off to someone with money and who wanted to be in the king’s favour. The king might acknowledge a daughter with an estate and minor title at some point to get her a better marriage or acknowledge a competent young son with a title, an estate and a military command.
In Norman tradition, it was common to give an illegitimate child the surname starting with “Fitz.” Giles Fitzgerald would be the illegitimate son of a nobleman named Gerald of Whatever, while Gerald’s legitimate son William would be William of Whatever. Fitzroy was reserved for the son of the king. There were lots of Fitzroys around sometimes.
William the Conqueror was illegitimate, but since his father, Robert, Duke of Normandy, had no legitimate sons, he picked William to be his heir. William of Normandy, later King William I of England, still got stuck with the name “William the Bastard” by his detractors.
Henry I of England had 25 known illegitimate children by several noble mistresses. He made one of his nine illegitimate sons the Earl of Gloucester and another the Earl of Cornwall. Others (mostly named Fitzroy) were given smaller estates and/or military commands, and at least one went into the church. And although Henry lost both his legitimate sons young, the earls of Cornwall and Gloucester backed up their legitimate sister Matilda’s claim to the throne. Of his daughters, one became an abbess and most of the rest married well — one was a countess, another a duchess, and another the queen of Scotland.
And what did the queens think of this? In the middle ages, they didn’t have much to say, unless they were Queen Regnant like Joanna of Castille, who, when her handsome husband, Philip Duke of Austria, messed with some of her ladies-in-waiting, cut off their hair and spread it across his pillow as a warning.
We worked at a battery manufacturing plant in a small town in Iowa. One of the primary hazards was lead contamination, so we had to have our blood lead levels checked frequently to be certain they didn’t hit truly hazardous levels (but, working in such a place, your levels were *never* zero).
One day a coworker just slipped in the door & managed to clock in on time, so others asked him why was running so late. He said that he’d overslept & so had been egregiously speeding trying to make it when he was pulled over by Iowa State Patrol.
When the officer asked him why he was going so fast, he looked at him & said “Sorry, officer, but I work at Exide.”
“So what does that have to do you speeding?”
“It’s my blood levels, sir. All the lead makes my foot heavy!”
Apparently, the cop got a good laugh at the excuse & let him go with a warning.
Gary was a really enthusiastic teacher. He spent a lot of his free time pouring over ‘How to teach’ texts, grammar explanations and games (for grammar and English communications).
He took lesson planning and student evaluations very (too?) seriously.
He talked of little else.
I liked him and could relate to his passion for teaching.
We were all teaching part-time in a small, uni-sponsored English language program and rarely saw each other since all classes were off-campus.
The director’s secretary called me, asking if I knew of a school that would hire Gary, stating that the director had to let him go for over-achieving.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN???
Gary had been sent to a high-end accounting firm to improve the English language skills of ten people who were scheduled for promotion to senior auditors IF they exhibited a high level of ability in various skills.
Gary went into overdrive in determining their needs (annoying HR and Training with non-stop questions) and planning accordingly.
He decided that the 30-hour course wasn’t sufficient and approached our director AND the company’s HR. He was told to stick to the schedule.
BUT he (on his own) added an unpaid, extra half hour or more to each class period.
The students were appreciative, but the company and our director took a dim view. The company, like many places we taught, expected the staff to study at 5 p.m. and then put in overtime after class.
Gary’s class extensions were affecting projects, customer relations and students’ output.
The director, although Gary did NOT ask for extra pay, saw this as a financial loss, a practice that none of the other teachers would be willing to do, AND a deterrent to future classes with this company.
He tried explaining and reasoning with Gary with little success. He finally had to order Gary to stop the extra teaching or give up the class.
The company was notified with apologies (our director was an amazing smoozer) and that was the end of it.
But…no.
Gary continued to sneak in extra time, 10-15 minutes or so, and added homework.
When the course finished, the students praised Gary for his concern and gave him high evaluations but quietly asked HR to request a different teacher.
Note: Gary was later hired at a different university as full-time staff, often tutoring students for free.
What an epic marina to enjoy rich lifestyle with a palm-fringed shoreline, roads congested with sports cars, and beautiful women in bikinis sunbathing on a white sand beach.…Not.
Russian steel and mining oligarch Alexey Mordashov’s superyacht Nord has just been re-registered in grim and brutalsky Vladivostok, Russia. It’s been docked in Golden Horn Bay near the borders with friendly countries, North Korea and China, for over a year.
The region is known for its large reserves of tin and tungsten. It’s also rich in copper, fluorite, and coal. Collectors value agates, sapphires, and precious opals that are held in high esteem. It doesn’t manufacture or design absolutely anything of economic value.
The super yacht costs 5 annual city budgets of Vladivostok, which skyline you can see in the photo above.
Having escaped by the skin of Mordashov’s American dental work from being impounded in Italy, the captain turned the transponder off and went AWOL for one full year. All this time, Mordashov desperately tried to negotiate political asylum for his boat in Asian countries – any would do as long as he didn’t have to return to his homeland.
Putin started the war in Ukraine in February 2022, the West retaliated with a barrage of sanctions targeting his inner circle, and oligarchs like Modrashov discovered that they have about as much agency outside of Putin’s diktat and Western playbook as a cockroach about to be sprayed with DDT.
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Indonesia and Malaysia told Mordashov off and to head up Nord, which he did. Hong Kong reacted to the man on the run’s request for sanctuary just as they did to Edward Snowden’s:
“We not gonna have reputational risks and jeopardize our dodgy financial schemes and money laundering hub for the sake of your narcissistic self-aggrandizements. Can we recommend a country where you gonna fit right in – Russia?”
The super-yacht was built in Germany and was registered in the Cayman Islands, whose flag features The British Union Jack in the corner, a country that has provided Urkaine with cruise missiles that have sunk at least two Russian warships in the Black Sea, including the fleet’s flagship Moskva.
Launched just two years before the full-scale invasion, Nord spent a third of its lifespan on the run, and a third docked in Vladivostok. Mordashov should convert it to an icebreaker as the only route left for him to take is the Arctic Ocean.
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Mordashov is also free to play Tschaikovsky’s 1812 Overture with artillery and all and wait for the end of the hostilities at the other end of Russia to cease.
It doesn’t matter which side is going to win though, Mordashov’s is stuck in Vladivostok forever. I would recommend scuttling and selling tickets to a most expensive private yacht shipwreck diving spot. Chinese millionaires across the border might show interest in buying tours.
Al Capone had balls the size of Texas. He allegedly did not fear anyone or anything EXCEPT the little Polish guy from Chicago.
Weiss had bad headaches and fainting spells. It was probably a brain tumor. Certain he was not going to live into his 30’s, Weiss had balls the size of Alaska. He feared nothing, including the godfather of Chicago’s South Side, Al Capone.
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The son of poor Italian immigrants, Capone would rule the biggest criminal empire in American history. Although prostitution, gambling and bootlegging were the moneymakers, killing opponents came with the territory.
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The North Side Gang was a mix of Poles, Jews and Irishmen. The South Side Gang was Italians, run by Capone and Johnny Torrio. They did not like each other. Capone decided to delete the head of the North Side; Dean O’Banion was shot dead on November 10, 1924.
Weiss took control of the North Side Gang. He shot up Capone’s limousine, but Capone was not in the vehicle at the time. He then went over to visit Johnny Torrio at his house and peppered him full of bullets. Weiss did not like the Sicilian mafia either, so he stopped by to see Angelo Genna, too. Weiss killed him.
Weiss did his own killing; it was his hobby.
Capone was nervous. His days were numbered, so he contacted Weiss and requested a truce. A meeting was held.
Weiss demanded that the two men who shot O’Banion be delivered for his own personal afternoon of “entertainment”. Either that or he would kill Capone, too.
Capone could not accept the offer. Those two were the best hit men in Capone’s private collection.
As Weiss went to the flower shop where he often slept and where O’Banion was killed, two men, one with a machine gun and the other with a shotgun, opened fire. Weiss, the only man that Al Capone feared, was dead of a bullet wound to the head at the age of 28.
Several years ago I was working for a company doing home theatre installs. Often when walk-ins bought TVs they’d ask to have it installed (and mounted). A good customer of ours came in and bought a new TV. At the time this 60″ plasma was going out the door for about $8k. We (I) installed it, mounted it on the wall in their basement. It had been recommended that they purchase a UPS / battery backup /spike protector. They declined. After I finished the install I recommended the same (I was paid salary, so selling stuff wasn’t part of my compensation and didn’t matter except for the obvious protection of this equipment). I didn’t plug the TV into the wall, the customer did that after declining the UPS.
2 weeks later they called stating their satellite dish tower was struck by lightning and the new TV wasn’t coming on. I was sent to evaluate. You could smell the ozone smell, the magic smoke smell even a day later. Warranty doesn’t cover this. They buy a new TV.. the new models just came out and they popped for a 75″… and a UPS this time. I had a helper with me to install the new one, and they asked us to dispose of the baked TV. I called the office and they said load it up and take it away to be disposed, don’t even bring it to the office. Instead of taking it 45 minutes to the E-waste disposal site, I put it in the back of my truck and dumped it on my back porch. It sat there for a couple years. When Covid hit and everything shut down I did what everyone else did… started purging stuff. I looked at this TV and decided to take a look-see before tossing it. After laying it on the counter and getting the back off it, I exposed 3 PCBs. 2 were almost identical, as I looked first at one and then the next I realized that the PCB on the right had a pile of charcoal where a small blue MoV should have been (MoV’s are the protection device in Surge protector bars). I went down to my dead devices pile and grabbed an old dead Bell Sat receiver and found the same part. Unsoldered it and installed it into the TV. As soon as I plugged it in, the screen came on and the audio started hissing that white noise from not being tuned to a channel.
I’m using that TV for over 2 years now without any further issues.
Had to fire one engineer for watching porn on the company computer. Worst part? He sued because he wasn’t given a warning…the State Labor board agreed…we had to cover his salary for six months. Despite being clearly covered in the employee handbook as a “no-no”, we apparently couldn’t just fire him. We figured it was just the cost of doing business to rid ourselves of such an individual.
Fired one young lady on the second shift who was “entertaining gentlemen” in her van during lunch hour. If she’d been doing it up on the berm of the State highway it would have been a public matter, but she was parked on company property…with surveillance cameras catching everything.
Fired upwards of a hundred over the years for drug and alcohol abuse on the job.
Some more I knew about (but wasn’t the firing supervisor)…
There were two executives caught “in the act” on the boardroom table. Not a great career choice in general, particularly bad when the CEO is a born again Christian.
Knew another executive who got a job at a private firm…and decided it was a bright idea to share the spreadsheet of bids of all the competitors with the government. Their first act was to fire him, the second was to call the FBI and the Inspector General. He’s doing time in Federal prison.
More “rank and file” firings for time card theft, attempted embezzlement, stealing company property, deliberate destruction of company property, and aggravated assault on a co-worker.
One day I was walking in my building when a girl in my neighborhood, pushed me from behind.
I looked around at her, tried to reason with her but she snapped at me saying I wasn’t looking where I was going.
She was plain rude.
Stop for a moment.
What do you think of that girl now?
Mean? Obnoxious?
Let’s see what actually happened:
I had my earphones on when I was walking so I couldn’t hear the girl walking behind me.
I slowed down suddenly and that’s when that girl bumped into me.
I got annoyed and asked her what her problem was. That’s when she got angry and asked me to watch where I was going.
Okay. Same story, two narrations.
The above incident didn’t really happen but I wanted to illustrate something:
In the first story, I never mentioned I had my earphones on.
In the first story, I said that the girl was the one who pushed me.
In fact, I even wrote that I “tried to reason with her” when I had actually blamed her even though I was the one at fault.
I left out the details which could make me look bad and exaggerated the parts which blamed the other person.
Just like, if a person goes ahead and says how all oftheir exes were crazy and they were the innocent victims, there’s a high chance that the story is manipulated.
Here’s the thing: Every story has two sides.
So, you can never form a judgement by hearing just one side of it.
What things should you never do?
Well, let’s start with, not believing every random thing you hear.
China will not fight decoupling. It is good for China. It gives impetus for Chinese innovation and Chinese self sustenance.
Most of all it helps China grow healthily and steadily. At 3–4 times that of the U.S. It is good for keeping in check over growth that may be bad for environment and China can cultivate its domestic market. Though it slows down China say 1–2% GDP so will be the U.S. take this year for example. China will likely grow by 6% in spite of all the shit the U.S. throw at China! And the U.S. will hardly hit even 2% growth.
6% is a wet dream for western economies to have. These day UK is set for a negative growth of -3%. And the rest of EU are barely faring better.
Decoupling is a suicide for the west. But hubris and supremacists thinking probably encourage the U.S. on. Frankly the rest of the Global South are ready to decouple from the west. We are ready. Please keep your outdated and irrelevant technologies to screw yourself.
Imagine:You are trapped on your stomach, walls all around you. Each time you inhale, your ribs touch the top of the space you are enclosed in. You can only wiggle forward, inching towards freedom. Oh, yeah-don’t forget: The walls might crumble down on you, killing you instantly. Worse yet, you might get trapped, stuck in a tiny, enclosed space, unable to move as you slowly die of thirst.
Doesn’t that sound like fun?
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Spelunking, otherwise known as cave crawling, is the ‘sport’ for people with a death wish. Essentially, you mash your body through tiny cave crevices that have the chance of leading to a larger cave. It’s a claustrophobic’s nightmare come to life.
You might think that it’s safe? Absolutely not. The only equipment you have is a helmet. If you think:
Well, with my trusty hard hat, what’s there to worry about? It’ll protect me if the cave comes crumbling down!
Then you might want to go “spelunking” in a padded room with no windows.
The Nutty Putty Cave incident made international headlines.
Spelunker John Jones was well familiar with spelunking. As a child, he had often spelunked with his father, and when he was 23 years old, he descended into the depths of Nutty Putty Cave in Utah. The cave had seen over 5000 visitors a year for decades, and was assumed to be fairly safe.
John went into the cave with his brother Josh and some other friends, totally unaware of what would happen next. At one point, John thought he was in a part of the cave called the Birth Canal, but in reality, he had ventured into uncharted sections of the cave near “Ed’s Push”. He went to climb through a small gap- and found himself seriously stuck. Even worse- he was almost entirely upside-down.
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Several rescue attempts failed, and John died of cardiac arrest after being stuck in the cave for over 27 hours. Officials couldn’t even retrieve his body, and Nutty Putty Cave was forever sealed off.
There have been countless other deaths in cave systems around the world. Drowning, starvation, noxious gas- you name it. Spelunking just doesn’t sound appealing.
I don’t see how the mashing yourself through tiny crevices is worth the chance of dying an awful death. I’ll fling myself out of a plane, dive down into the depths of the ocean, scale cliff faces- but there’s absolutely no way in the world I’m ever going spelunking.
Yet most of our Industries are rapidly buying more and more Chinese machinery when the time for replacement comes
This year the demand for Chinese CNC machinery for India surged rapidly
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Machines are more affordable and better quality
One Importer said he had less than 15% orders from China in 2015 but now has almost 70% orders from China
The Biggest problem for Chinese Machines in India was RESALE
A Major Industry could buy 50 Chinese Machines but reselling them in the second hand market was a huge problem as they barely fetched 10% of their value against almost 30% for Japanese & Korean and 40% for Western Machines
Yet now Chinese Machines fetch 25% of their value in resale and the biggest part is the same machines can be resold to other countries in Africa
Indian Industries save almost 18% of their production costs that increases their profit plus the re exporting of second hand Chinese machinery brings export revenue
It’s a WIN WIN relationship
China has this Win Win relationship with most nations in the world
Even the West, which is why despite all the rhetoric, decoupling is not feasible
When Goods worth $ 100 Billion is imported from China, they create finished goods worth $ 200–400 Billion or sell for $ 200–400 Billion in Western Economies
This leads to VALUE CREATION
This contributes to between 13% to 33% of the economic growth of Western economies
When $ 100 worth of components are assembled to sell a final product for $ 300 – that creates an additional $ 200 of value
This helps Countries with value enhancement plus even exports
Due to this Win Win relationship, despite all the efforts of the West, China is an integral cog in the Global Economy
It’s why many nations visit China and pledge allegiance and friendship every year
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In 2023 – 81 Foreign Delegations visited China against a mere 12 Chinese Delegations visiting other countries
160+ Trade Delegations visited China versus a mere 30+ Trade delegations from China visiting other countries
Every Economy needs China for its sustained growth especially Western ones
So the world is not turning against China in any way
Not even the United States is
All these so called Anti China policies are purely ECONOMIC
If Chinese Products now of high quality flood the global markets, it’s likely 50% of the Western Brands will collapse in a decade
NEVs are the best example
Likewise if China manages to make 3 nm chips, they can outprice the entire Western supply by 60% and finish the market of every single Western designer and fabrication industry
Thus they are being throttled
China already finished the markets for all Western chipmakers who sold 450–45 nm Chips
Yet China was necessary to bring down costs in the first place
Hence the Anti Chinese Propaganda
To combat the transformation of China from a Cheap Producer to a High Quality Industrialized Nation
Trust me, tomorrow if China scales back down on their transformation and goes back to Pre 2015 mode, Xi Jingping will become a great statesman and China will be the friend of the world to the US Media again
Nobody sees them as the Great Satan
That’s reserved for the USA
Even Phillipinos or Taiwanese don’t see China as a great satan despite the recent issues
To the world China is a Country capable of delivering a Win Win relationship
The U.S. never had any evidence nor even factual information it just make up lies as it goes a long. China steal intellectual property? China is aggressive, China carry out “genocide”, China is authoritarian, China create debt trap and a whole set of narratives dream up to demonise and cause mistrust and fear.
It is very despicable frankly. But what can you expect from a nation that started by the mass murder and genocide of its natives. Then this nation murdered and tortured up to 30 million Africans to slave and built the U.S. This nation is the only one that nuke to murder 200 thousands due to their skin colour, this same nation also murdered and slaughter up to 100 million innocent civilians or caused it through interference, war mongering and chaos and coup orchestrating.
China and the world knows the U.S. hypocrisy and its despicable nature but talking shit is all it can do and frankly it hurts US economy more than it can ever hurt China. To most nation lying and fabricating to demonise another nation is simply hypocritical and obnoxious and that what the global community sees the U.S. By not lashing back China keeps its moral high ground. And even US slave vassal states and cronies cannot but feel a shame of US behaviour but their short term gain is paramount.
Hence the pretence and the intentional concurrence of the back boneless nations. Shameful.
In the late 80’s I had been working as a Technician for a Saab dealership in Denver… I grew very fond of the Saab brand and enjoyed working on them….Unfortunately the Dealership closed and I had to go back to working on the poorly engineered and built garbage that was coming out of Detroit in the 80’s so I packed up my $90K worth of tools, into my dads garage, went out and bought a big ol Freightliner and took to the highways…Fast forward to the 90’s….Im (http://90’s….Im) cruising down the highway one fine day, and come up on a pretty little red Saab 900 convertible on the roadside, hood up and steaming away, I wasnt in a big hurry so I pulled over, and took a little walk back to the car where I found a very distraught middle aged lady, and her elderly mother….As (http://mother….As) I walked up I said,”It must be your lucky day, I just happen to be a former Saab mechanic” Can I help you?…She almost kissed me!!!
She stated,” I just picked it up from the repair shop, It cost me $800 to have the radiator replaced, and now its overheating again” I’ve got my mother with me and we are late for a family function…. I immediately knew what was wrong, and told her, I’ll have you on your way in 5 minutes….Went and grabbed my 10mm wrench and a gallon of water,popped the coolant bleeder valve open, told her if you dont get all the air out of the system a big ol air bubble will form inside your water pump, and here you sit….BURP out comes a big blast of air, Let me pay you!!! I said my mother would never allow that and you ladies enjoy your afternoon….Then she says to me, “well it must be YOUR lucky day” as she hands me her business card…..Turns out, shes the Vice President of Transportation for Proctor & Gamble and Sir, any time you EVER get somewhere and need a load, YOU call ME !!!! Over the next 15 years I cant count the times she fixed me up with a good paying load wherever I happened to be…..
At age 60 I was feeling run down & fatigued for a while, attributing it to age & not enough exercise. I decided to check my blood pressure at home and it was quite high despite the blood pressure medication I was taking, so I called my doctor’s office. They were concerned & told me to come into the office right away & they would fit me in.
My BP was still high in the doctor’s office, so my doctor sent me to the lab for a lot of blood work. That afternoon I started getting texts with some of the results of the lab work & I saw that I was anemic. Well that explained a lot & I figured I would need iron supplements.
The next morning my doctor calls me first thing. She tells me that she is admitting me to hospital in order to fully diagnose what is going on with me. I am scared, call my boss to tell her I am being admitted, but I really do not know what is wrong.
Once in the hospital I learned that I had kidney disease, and I was in kidney failure! Never saw that coming! I had to begin dialysis immediately, which made me ill & caused low blood pressure.
I was on dialysis for 7 months, with 5 months of home hemo dialysis. I felt ill and was exhausted all the time, with little appetite & unable to return to work.
Both of my adult children offered to be tested to be living donors. My son was tested first as he lives in the same city and he turned out to be a match!!
I was extremely fortunate to have my 24 year old son donate a kidney to me. He truly saved my life & I am forever grateful for his sacrifice. My new kidney is working well, and my son is doing well too.
Unfortunately I have developed several autoimmune illnesses that I am trying to get under control, but thankfully I do not have to have dialysis.
Kidney disease is horrible. Please consider being a living donor, there is a registry & they can find a match if you do not have someone in particular that you are wanting to help. It is truly life saving.
My parents were left of left of left. “Those who have more should be required to share with those who have less” kind of left.
I heard that as far back as I can remember. One day when I was in the fourth grade, my grandfather gave me a dollar. A fair amount in 1958. It was hot the next day, and a lot of my friends at school couldn’t afford an ice cream bar from the cafeteria.
Hey, I had more than they did, so I bought several of them a 14-cent ice cream in addition to getting one for me. My teacher found me and gave me back about sixty cents, saying that she had made four of my friends take back their unopened bars. She also contacted my parents.
When I said that I had more and they had less, my parents said that the dollar was for me. They didn’t want to hear about people with less, as we were not rich. They also didn’t want to hear about how it pleased me to give some friends a treat they couldn’t afford.
After that I watched. While my mother did put some of her money where her mouth was to buy a few things for some Head Start centers she helped set up, they didn’t give much else. What was theirs was theirs, and only who they called wealthy were berated in our household for not sharing. Today, by their standards, I would be called wealthy, even though I’m barely in the top 10% in the US.
My parents had some friends who were wealthy by my parents’ standards. They were also exempt because they were “in the cause” of making the other wealthy people pay.
The secret was that they were completely hypocritical about what they taught me. What it changed was that I became somewhat more conservative, and gave way more to charity than they did. I did follow some of their examples, though. My mother worked as a public health nurse with the Hmong immigrants when they flooded in and actually caught a G-I disease doing it. I have volunteered to do things like building a home for homeless boys in Fiji based on her example.
But when it came to finances, their example of “what’s mine is mine, and what’s theirs is mine, too” stayed with me the rest of my life as an example of what not to think.
Not me but a close friend. She worked with a mid sized oil exploration company and was being paid secretary wages for doing the drunk Geologists job, she did the office work and actually went out and did the field work at times. At the urging of another close friend and myself she asked for a raise and got berated for it and basically told like what you got because that’s all you are worth.
3 weeks later she interviewed with Elf Aquitaine ( French oil company ). She was offered double her current salary with a guaranteed raise after 90 days and salary reviews every 6 months, benefits paid by company and generous matching on savings, offered a opportunity to go to the home office in France for 6 months all expenses paid, encouraged to learn French and was very well treated.
During the interview her new boss said she was the most knowledgeable Geologist they had ever met and that they would pay for her to get her degree since she didn’t have one.
It also helped that she knew all the reports backwards and forwards along with the legal side. She had worked at the exploration company for over 10 years and they just kept adding to her jobs as she mastered more and more of them. They genuinely thought she would never quit and were amazed at what Elf offered, her starting pay was as much as her old bosses, she made enough that she retired at 55 and traveled to world with her husband.
She currently lives in Houston and is an amazing person.
I was 15 years old. I was staying with my aunt yet again as my mother decided she needed another break from me and went on another bender.
My aunt was more of a mom to me. As a result I was very close to her family and called her mom Grandma and her sister Aunt. Anyway Grandma was living with my Aunt. She had dementia and was having a particularly bad day. My aunt asked me to pick up my 10 year cousin from school which was only a block away. I did this often as my aunt tried to shield my cousin from her mothers episodes. She gave me some cash to stop at the small ice cream place near her school to keep her away longer.
I got to my cousins school expecting to see her on the playground where all the kids played while waiting to get picked up. She wasn’t there but I wasn’t worried as I knew she sometimes helped the teacher clean up the classroom after school. I went to her classroom and she wasn’t there either! No one was.
Starting to get worried I started roaming the hallways peeking in the classrooms looking for her. She was nowhere to be found!
I ran to the principals office freaked out by then and told the secretary I couldn’t find her! The secretary immediately made an announcement over the PA system telling my cousin to come to the office. 10 minutes passed. She never came.
We went to the teachers lounge and got the teachers to help look for her. I’ve never been so scared! My aunt trusted me with her daughter and I didn’t know how to call her and tell her she was gone.
30 minutes later we heard a shout. One of the teachers had found her. She was in the library reading. She had gone to check out a book when school had let out without telling anyone and the librarian had locked her in.
I hugged her hard and told her to always tell someone where she was going. It was for her safety. She started crying and apologizing over and over. I told her it was okay. Her principal gave her the same lecture and we left.
My aunt hadn’t called yet to say it was safe to come home so we went for ice cream and then to the local park. An hour later my aunt called and told us to come on home. Grandma finally went to sleep.
After my cousin went to bed that night I told my aunt what had happened. At first she seemed upset but then said they were lucky to have me there. I was shocked. I didn’t receive compliments very often. She gave me a hug told me I was a good person and a great sister to my cousin.
My cousin always made sure she was on the playground after school after that.
He became my feline friend one day when I was working on my patio. I looked up to find a bedraggled, starving and dehydrated cat four feet from me, crying for help. I went and got him some water and a can of tuna, and set it out for him. I eventually got some additional food and a water bowl, and set it out for him. At first, he was pretty skittish, but after a month he would let me pet him. I started moving his bowls toward my patio door, and after three months, he would come in to be fed.
One day he showed up with blood on his face, and we decided he had to go to the vet. He ended up getting antibiotics, and had a drain and the cone of shame. We had him chipped and neutered.
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He was still an outdoor cat, and would periodically get in fights, earning his name “Scrappy”. At one point, he was tested for FIV and tested positive. At that point, our vet said that if we wanted to properly care for him, he should cease his outside existence, as he would be susceptible to infections that could kill him. He was also X-rayed, and found that his left front leg was kind of a mess, having been broken/infected and healed at some point, but with reduced mobility.
We decided to turn him into a 100% indoor cat. He did not like it for the first two weeks.
But he lived. He was safe. He was happy. Occasionally he would get out. He’d usually sit on the patio if it was sunny. If it was rainy, he would turn around and come right back into the house.
Without our intervention he would have died. Instead, he lived for another decade.
Life in the wild for cats is dangerous and short. We have foxes, skunks, raccoons and coyotes in our neighborhood. As well as cars and dogs.
We currently have two other adopted ferals. Their sister (whom we call Patchoulli) is still an outdoor cat, but she sleeps in our garage and we feed her twice daily and see that she gets to the vet and has flea medication. Her brother occasionally joins her outside and catches the odd mouse, but he’s happy to be back inside, usually within an hour.
My wife and I work fairly diligently to provide an engaging environment for our little furry friends, and by virtue of our care, they will enjoy that environment for several times longer than they would be if they were feral.
At one point, I was visiting my mom and step-dad. I asked about the 12HP, 3 blade, 42″ cut riding mower sitting out front at the neighbor’s house. Turned out he had run it out of oil, and the engine seized up. He put oil in after-the-fact, but of course it was too late. He’d bought a new one and the dealer had offered to dispose of the old one for him. I asked if I could try to fix it and he said, GO ahead, they’re not giving me anything for it.
We wheeled it into step-dad’s work shop. The piston was vertical stroke, so the spark plug was on top. We poured some new oil through the spark plug hole and went to get lunch. When we came back, we put a socket on the flywheel nut, and a breaker bar on the socket. It broke loose! So we started it up and ran it. It took a couple minutes to burn all the oil out of the top of the cylinder, but then it was fine. My grandfather had been using a really old, 7HP, single blade, 26″ mower to mower about an acre of lawn. I gave it to him. He loved it and used it until he died.
One afternoon, we walked into our Econometrics lecture and found a shopping cart full of tennis balls in front of the door. A second, empty shopping cart stood in the back corner.
The professor waited patiently for us to file into our seats. Then he cleared his throat and announced, “I’m going to need two volunteers today.”
Two hands went up. He handed them each a bucket.
“All right,” he said, “Our two brave volunteers are going to fill up their buckets with tennis balls, carry them across the room, and dump the balls into the other shopping cart. Then they’ll run back and do it again, and again, and again, until all of the balls have been moved.”
We nodded, still confused. This still sounded more like P.E. than Econometrics.
“Before we start this little experiment,” continued our professor, “I want all of you to guess how long this process is going to take. Go onto the class website and type in your guesses – I’ll give a candy bar to the student who gets closest to the actual answer.”
I had no idea what to guess. How many buckets’ worth tennis balls could fit in a shopping cart? How long would it even take to carry a full bucket across the classroom?
In the end, I just took a stab at it and typed in 42 seconds.
“All right,” he said, after we’d all made our guesses. “Are we ready? On your mark…get set…go!”
The process ended up taking 162 seconds.
Then we all went online together to look at our guesses.
There were about eighty students in the class, and I wasn’t the only one who’d been completely wrong – our guesses were all over the place. Some of us had guessed that it would take less than 20 seconds; others had guessed that it would take nearly ten minutes.
Then we looked at the average of all of our guesses.
157 seconds.
Our collective guess, as a group, was closer to the correct answer than 98%of our individual guesses.
It was the first time I’d witnessed a “wisdom of crowds” moment in action. At that moment, all I could think was, Hot damn. Statistics is so cool.
He’d run this experiment every semester, and more often than not, the collective guess would have won the candy bar. This class was one of the reasons I decided to major in economics.
Me (over phone) : The movie has started, where the heck are you?
Kirti : Just in 2 minutes.
Me : I’m watching it for the fourth time I could afford to be late. But a first timer, really?
Kirti : Just shut up.
She disconnected. Finally she reached.
Kirti : Hey, see I told you two minutes.
(I started leaving).
Kirti : Where, you going?
Me : I was watching Interstellar again to experience time dilation in a movie. But when fifteen minutes of mine are equal to two minutes of yours, then it’s time dilation in reality. Thank you.
As I was leaving, she stood unmoved and kept looking at me.
Kirti : Do you want me to say sorry?
Me : I was just kidding. Let’s go watch the movie.
Kirti : Let’s hurry up.
Me : And hey, in case I raised my voice while on phone, sorry for that.
Kirti : It’s okay.
When Kirti became my girlfriend.
It was a different cinema, different movie, same Kirti, same me, but a different demeanour.
Me (over phone) : Hey, where the hell are you?
Kirti : Just in.
She comes.
Me : You need to understand I’m not your puppet, I got my time and priorities.
Kirti : I’m so sorry. Please don’t shout like this.
Me : Just shut up, already.
Previously she shut me up and now I did.
I forgot that she had said yes to me when the world was chasing her.
I would say sorry to her a thousand times when she was my crush and now she is the one saying sorry.
One day, it got real ugly and she ditched me in the heat of the moment but forever. I deserved it.
BYD makes most of the batteries used in the world today. Tesla do not make batteries themselves It leads in EV buses and truck world wide and now EV cars itself. It is a highly profitable company but based on Wall Street valuation it is worth 10% of Tesla! Even Warren Buffet who is probably the world’s most savvy investor invested in BYD!
The difference is one is listed and it’s stock is listed in Wall Street while the other is listed and sold in Hong Kong! That is why the GDP of the U.S. is full of hot air bubble! It will come crashing down! For me Tesla is highly overrated and over valued while BYD is highly undervalued!
Now let us look at the number. BYD hardly sell in the U.S. and Europe yet it sold the most EV worldwide this means the Global South market is humongous and the U.S. and EU are small potatoes these days! Both the U.S. and EU are depriving their citizens from benefiting from value for money technology and a cleaner environment. Whatever happen to freedom of choice? What about free market mechanism? Thrown out of your window?
BYD sells very well world wide because of value for money. Tesla profiteers and it is mostly made in China with many parts and technologies from China. Yet it sells at a huge profit. But the U.S. prefers to let its citizens be abused by corporations rather than helping them reduce their living cost!
“I’m moving to Texas to be with my fiancée. I can either move and work for somebody else; or I can move and continue working for you remotely.”
After she graduated from college, my fiancée moved to Texas to start work with NASA. We had lived apart for almost a year.
I was determined to be with her. So, I planned my move to Texas. After three months of planning, I had some money saved up and a couple of job prospects in mind.
I walked into my boss’s office fully expecting to walk out without a job or my notice given. But, I decided to try something I thought of the night before, instead.
After some small talk, I said “I’m moving to Texas to be with my fiancée. I can either move and work for somebody else; or I can move and continue working for you remotely.”
He sat there quietly for almost a full minute. I’m normally not one to get uncomfortable with silence; but this was unexpected. He was actually thinking about it!
I hid my excitement and let him think.
Finally, he asked “What part of Texas?”
I answered.
He went on to explain that there would have to be a change in my status. Payroll would have to do things so I was taxed for the proper locale, etc.
I was the first person in our group to be a full time telecommuter. This was in 2001.
I’ve gone through six bosses since then and I’m still working from home! Today, most of my team works from home too!
If you ever get caught sleeping at your desk at work just say “they told me at the Blood Bank that this would happen.
When the power goes out search for wifi networks on your phone to see if everyones power is out.
Quelling road rage by pretending that every asshole driver really has to poop.
If you want to maintain good posture, pretend your nipples have lasers that shoot out of them and you have to keep them aimed at people’s heads.
Wiping the water off of your body with your hands in the shower before getting out and towel-drying.
If your car is overheating, turn your heat on full blast. When you turn the heat on in a car, it pulls heat from the engine into the cab, thus cooling the engine.
Hit “s” while watching Netflix on a computer to skip the intro.
If you don’t know whether you should use the word effect or affect, simply use impact.
When buying bedsheets, look for striped ones. It will make it much easier to find the long and short sides.
If you accidentally press the spacebar and scroll down the page, you can press Shift+Space and go back to where you were.
Don’t save your banking information on online stores. Makes impulse buying much more difficult if you have to track down your wallet.
If you keep a baseball bat in your car for protection, put a sock over it. If they grab the bat, they will only get the sock, and you will get another swing.
Filling in the ‘to’ field of an email last.
When buying online, leave items in the shopping cart for awhile. There is a good chance that the website is tracking this, and will lower the price overtime to entice you into buying.
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.”
Blink eyes rapidly for a minute before bed to tire yourself out.
When lending a pen or marker hand it over without the cap, you are much more likely to get it back.
If you have somewhat of a double chin or you want your jawline to be more defined in a picture, put your tongue on the roof of your mouth.
Whenever you accidentally set off your smoke alarm, give your pets a treat so they learn to come to you when there actually is a fire and you need to escape.
Remember that one 18-inch pizza is more pizza than two 12-inch pizzas.
Is Family Law the Main Reason Men Are Going Their Own Way?
4 days after my son and i moved into a townhome I rented, we were physically attacked by 2 women that live behind us. Okay, long story short (ish): school started for my son (6th grade) the day after we moved in. That day, my son had an altercation with a child on the bus. Apparently the kid was saying to my son that his mom was a “Karen” for some unknown reason. We JUST moved in and hadn’t had time or the chance to interact with anyone in the neighborhood, so My guess is as good as any. I havent a clue. Anyway my son verbally defended me and told him to stop. Next day, the child punched my son 3 times in the shoulder and back while passing him in the hallway, which was caught on camera and dealt with by the administrator at his school. The other child was given in-school suspension and the parents were called about what transpired. The video showed the child hitting my son and my son continue to walk and then run away. So, my son wasn’t punished. The following day, after putting my son on the bus I hear someone banging on my front door- and i opened it to 2 grown women demanding that i come outside. Being alone, I refused and called the police. The police show up and talk to both of us and say that the women are now calm and suggest i get some cameras in case something happens, etc. I decided to stay with family members that night and about 5 hours later, we left. We stopped to get gas and check my mail at the old house on the way. As my son got out of the car to check the mail i noticed a car parked directly behind mine in the driveway. The women hopped out and assaulted my son and me with a weapon and left. I managed to get their tag number and called the police. Turns out it was the parents of the kid who attacked my son at school. Needless to say they’re facing multiple felonies and roughly 15–20 years in prison. Craziest shit ive ever experienced in my life!
Idiots holding placards is the Western style of democracy
If one set of idiots hold placards, tomorrow another set of idiots will hold placards for another issue and the entire country will be reduced to holding placards for the rest of their lives
Chinas democracy is a Government for the people
Keeping food prices low
Ensuring housing for everyone
Ensuring energy for everyone
Keeping inflation as low as possible
Protection of Middle Class Investors
Good Healthcare plan for every Citizen
Providing high quality roads and transportation
Ultimately I believe a Government for the People triumphs a Government by the people
Meanwhile the West is the opposite:-
Rising inflation falling savings
Printing money to help Ukraine over Americans
Declining Healthcare program with uninsured rising by 23% in the last three years
Poor quality infrastructure
Sacrificing the Middle Class to keep the upper classes and rich
So the Chinese are right when they say China respects Democracy
It’s a different definition from the hypocritcal one the West made up.
China’s Newest Tank is Doing the Opposite of Everyone Else
I went through a divorce from my wife of 5 years. I was young, broke and (as the saying goes) stupid. She left and went on to live with her parents and I was stuck with the apartment contract and all other monthly bills. Also a truck that was in both of our names, broken engine, and was $5,000 into a loan. I also was buried in debt from student loans $42,000 and a credit card $9,500.
I fell into ddepression and a solace that can only be explained by living in a state of vacuum. None of what I did would have any effect on my personal economy, or my emotions, or my connections with others. But I tried my best.
One day I started to reach out to old friends only to realize that they had moved on, didn’t care or just didn’t want to associate.
I was broken, and I was in pain. And I was done with my family, and with people, and with the world as I knew it.
I worked hard. No one cared. I cried hard. No one cared. I paid my debts, got off the grip of the financial abominate soul-consuming xenomorphic monster called the United States Department of Education when I sent the last check and demanded a paid in full notification sent to me.
I made new friends, and created a new path with a different vision. I transformed my life around, and declared freedom. I don’t care if no one cares. I do. My life, my business.
Russian President Lays Out His Judgment on the Continued Existence of the US and Europe
In a speech in Russia today, Vladimir Putin laid out his Judgment on the continued Existence of the US and the EU. “The concepts of honor, trust, and decency, are not for them.” and ” . . . they got used to spitting on the whole world.” He went on: “Indeed the Western elites have become a symbol of total, unprincipled lies.”
An excerpt from today’s speech appears with English sub-titles below. To even the most dense viewer, it should occur that this man is laying out the reasons the United States and Europe should no longer exist.
That’s a hell of an ugly reality coming from a man whose country literally has the ability to wipe us all out. It is almost as if he is priming the world for what may be coming, soon . . .
Here’s the speech:
Hal Turner Editorial Opinion
The reason the elites of the west have become “a symbol of total, unprincipled, lies” is because to date, there have been absolutely NO CONSEQUENCES FOR THEM as they go about all their total, unprincipled lying. No one gets fired. No one gets prosecuted. No one gets thrown in jail. This needs to change, but it WON’T because the very people who CAN fire, prosecute, and jail the liars, ARE the people doing all the lying!
If what the Russian President was talking about merely affected those doing the unprincipled lying, that would be one thing, but he’s not talking about affecting only them, what he’s talking about would affect the rest of US too.
We have the right to defend ourselves from the horrifying wreckage, death, and destruction, these western elites will cause to be heaped upon us. It’s time to begin doing just that; while we still can.
Last night, The Teenager and I were cuddling on the couch when she asked me, “Mom, do you want me to become an extraordinary person?”. I was a bit surprised by the question, “Erm, I’ve never thought about that. Since you were born, I’ve always just wanted you to be healthy”, I told her.
“I had a talk with my friends today at lunch”, The Teenager said, “Everyone wants to become Someone in the future. Wants to stand out. Wants to be different. Wants to be a big deal. I mean, why someone always needs to be extraordinary to be ‘good’? Being ordinary person is also good. The Earth has 8 billion people. Am I lame if I just want to be a normal person, and has a normal life?”, she asked me.
I hugged her, “No, sweetie, of course not. As long as you are healthy and happy, being normal is extraordinary in its own way.”
And that, made me thinking. Is that the thing we usually underestimate? Being just an ordinary person leading an ordinary life.
My dad had a big scar on the side of his face. I didn’t think anything of it as a kid, since I had seen it all my life. It wasn’t until I was a teenager and studying history that it came to mean something.
Dad fought in WW2. He was a captain in the mechanized cavalry and commanded tanks under Patton. Apparently, when there was fog and the driver couldn’t see clearly, it was SOP for someone to open the hatch and sit with his feet on the driver’s shoulders, giving directions by touch.
A German artillery shell hit his tank one foggy day when he was in that position. If it had hit about six inches higher, i wouldn’t be typing this message. He took a massive load of shrapnel in his face and hands. His goggles saved his eyes, but one of his ears was blown off and later surgically reconstructed. He was in the hospital for over a year. They left a lot of the smaller pieces of shrapnel in his hands and I remember him having several episodes when one would decide to come back out years later.
I could rarely get him to talk about the war. He’d gladly tell stories about the mounted cavalry days, but would rarely talk about combat. When he died in 1990, I found his medals stored in a box and he had a shitload of them.
2 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1/4 cup chopped almonds
Confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
Mix almond paste, chocolate and almonds thoroughly. Knead on surface sprinkled with 1 to 2 tablespoons confectioners sugar until of uniform color and consistency. Shape into 6-inch long roll; roll in confectioners’ sugar. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 12 hours.
Years ago I had an employee call loudly, “hey asshole”! It was heard by at least 10 other people. I was the CEO of the company. I had one choice. I fired him that instant and had Security remove him from the property. You see he had other options. He chose the one with a severe penalty. All of my employees know that they are free to come to my office, anytime I’m alone, close the door and call me an asshole and I’ll give him the opportunity to tell me why he feels that way. We can discuss the problem and I will explain it from my perspective. Obviously the same latitude isn’t given for public insubordination. Now during our private meeting we may reach an agreement, or we’ll be unable to. The employee had the option of meeting with me. If he and I deadlocked, one of us has to go!
Jason & The Argonauts | Full Movie | Creature Features
A real treat for today. This is a great lazy afternoon movie for your enjoyment.
When I was a young boy we used to play “marbles”. These were glass spheres. And I would play with them when I had them, but honestly, I wasn’t so good at the game and would often lose all my marbles.
When I would play with the boys, it was pretty evenly matched, and we would end up with more or less the same numbers of marbles. Only different ones.
When I would play with girls, they were brutal, and take all the marbles in victory… but there’s more. Uh oh.
And then, my sister, who won those things would put them in the oven and cause the grass to crack up and break. And thus my marbles all turned to dust. Indeed, I was good old Charlie Brown back then.
Playing with boys… rearranging the marbles.
Playing with girls… lose your marbles.
I did like the marbles. I liked to hold them in a little cloth bag that I had. But, you know, I never had them long enough because sooner or later, I would play with them… and in so doing…
…would lose them all to either my sister or her girlfriends.
The next week my son tells me how the kid, and his brother, threatened to kill him because he told on them, and how they started pushing him, and smacking him but they were careful not to bruise him anymore.
We went back to the school, and the principal brought the bus driver into the office too.
That b**** actually had the audacity to blame my son for being a victim, and tried to get him to accept blame for making himself a target.
I stopped that s* as soon as it began to come out her mouth. I pointed out what she was doing, and how it went against the school’s zero tolerance policy on bullying, and how if nothing would be done about it, then I saw no better option than to go to the local news station (everyone in town knew the news guy, and it was pretty easy to get story segments aired pretty quickly) and contact as many parents, friends, family members, and co-workers as I could, and have them do the same until something changed.
They immediately kicked those kids off the bus, forcing them to seek alternative transportation, and switched their classes to the disruptive room so that they couldn’t mingle with students from younger grades, which is what they did before as most of their victims were 3–4th graders, and they were 5th (should have been 6th) graders.
A month later the students were expelled for trying to stab another classmate.
The fact that could have been my son wasn’t lost on me.
I wanted the bus driver to face some sort of punishment as she had allowed bullying to go on her bus for over 15 years (according to several parents, and friends).
I wrote up a petition and had over 600 people sign it. That was enough for the school to force her into early retirement.
In the 15 years she drove, there had been incidents where bullies cut off other students’ hair, set various things on other students on fire, put out cigarettes on other kids, stole personal items and money, committed sexual harassment, molested kids, etc. These were all things she chose not to stop because she saw victims as asking for their mistreatment.
I never wanted to hit anyone more than when she tried to intimidate my son as he sat by my side, into accepting blame for his black eye.
I’m glad that woman is finally gone.
I’m disgusted that it took so much, and so long for it to happen.
When I started at the robot company, I had no title, so everyone except the boss was on an equal basis, no matter the age, experience, or ability. One young man was hired to manage internal operations. That is, to make sure supplies were where they were supposed to be when they were supposed to be. His job expanded to where he was also helping in finance and a bit in other areas.
The founder, who was offsite doing another job (he was very seldom in the office) worked directly with this guy, and with very few others, so the guy thought he was important. He became a self important jerk and managed to annoy almost everyone else at the company.
As the company grew, titles became more important, and I was promoted to sales and marketing manager, while he remained without a title. He tried to tell me how to do my job a couple of times, and I told him to piss off.
I was later promoted to general manager, and became his direct boss. I told him to do some things that were needed, and he decided that I was wrong, and didn’t do them. We had a “chat” and he grudgingly did what I told him to, but continually resisted, and only did exactly as much as was required. He was certain that his relationship with the founder would protect him.
I finally got tired of the dance, and fired him. He was shocked. He went to the founder to get my decision overturned. It turned out that the founder was not nearly as fond of him as he thought.
I had spent 2 days and around $350.00 on fixing my sister’s SUV. After I replaced the starter and battery among a few other parts, I went up to the front door and gave her the good news. Her car problems were over and she would now not get stranded anywhere. She was standing behind the screen door just glaring at me. I repeated what I said thinking she would be happy or relieved but she continued to give me this dirty look and then slammed the screen door shut.
I was in disbelief. Why would she do that? My sister was taking pain killers a lot which I knew about. She had been taking them for years so I figured she was not in her right mind anyways but that’s another long story I have already written about on Quora. But then I remembered something she once told me years before. She told me that if you show disapproval at someone who wants to help you, or care about you, it makes them want to do more and try harder to win your approval. This surprised me to hear her say that even back then, but I already knew she was insane to a certain degree and I was helping her or trying to. She had all kinds of weird and unusual ways about her. She would feed me only one small bowl of stew with a small chunk of bread at dinner time and complained she had to feed me even once a day. I had flown in from Hawaii days before with one mission: To help my sister pay her depts, repair her car and home and give her a fresh slate. I even stocked her kitchen with lots of food and some treats. In all,I had spent about $1,800.00 on her,not counting the $14,000.00 I had given her over the coarse of 2 years. This story is just one single incident that happened to me in the 6 or 7 days I was trapped alone with her. Daytona 500 was in town and there was not a motel room or car rental withing 100 mile radius so I couldn’t just walk away. I had always known she was not right in the mind at all but I didn’t imagine she would turn on me like she did for no reason at all except she saw me as weak for helping her. I also had to pay her $120.00 for a ride back to the airport. This is 100% true and only the tip of the ice burg in that hellish 6 days I was around her. We have not spoken in 10 years since.
This after discussing with my manager that I absolutely could NOT do that shift. For the 37th time.
I was a 22 year old single mum working 3 jobs and would take every shift I could and was offered, bar this one. It wasn’t really much to ask to not be put on the rota one evening a week. I could even work during the day.
I had the hours I was available for written down, pinned to my then manager’s notice board so he knew exactly what I could and could not do when he did the rota.
Every week without fail, he would put me on a 5-Close shift on a Wednesday evening, despite me having explained to him that I wasn’t available for that shift due to my parents having to travel to take care of my grandma, so they couldn’t have my daughter.
I had written it down, I had met with him and I had even had my own mum come in to explain that I wasn’t available that evening and why. Yet he still kept putting my name down for that shift.
There were times I couldn’t work because the child minder got sick or was on holiday, was sick myself or my daughter was sick and needed to see the doctor. On those occasions he would get shitty and not put my name down the following week for any shifts at all (the joys of a 0 hour contract eh?). He would also expect me to call around my colleagues and sort out my own cover, on my own time and would blame me if the shift didn’t get covered, despite also refusing to give me certain phone numbers or to make the calls himself.
I stayed in this job for almost a year, but had started looking for another job where my hours were set and guaranteed. I managed to get an interview for another restaurant who were completely sympathetic of my situation and offered me hours that suited me and for them to be put into a contract with the option of overtime, plus that they would organise any cover needed.
That evening I wrote out my resignation letter, but decided that I’d talk to my current manager one last time to see if I could get anywhere with him.
I went in the following day half an hour early to speak to my manager. During the interview he basically told me that nothing would change and he couldn’t offer me set hours. I told him I understood that he couldn’t offer the set hour contract and got up to start my shift, when I noticed the rota on the wall. The first thing I saw was that I’d been put on the rota for Wednesday evening.
“You’ve put me on for Wednesday evening?”
“Yes. 5-Close as usual.”
“But you know I can’t do that shift. It’s right there on your pinboard that I’m unavailable.”
“Ah yes. You’ll have to sort out the cover.”
“I was on the fence about resigning because I get so many hours from you, and would be taking on less at this other place but… that’s helped me decide. Thanks for helping me make my mind up. See ya.”
“You’re due to start now. Where are you going?”
“To try on my new uniform. Byeeeee”
And I just walked out. It was a massive weight off my shoulders.
Spedinis
95847 6534 mx
Yield: 8 servings
ingredients
Sicilian Stuffing 5 tablespoons olive oil 6 cloves garlic, thickly sliced 1 cup white onions, chopped 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1 cup pine nuts 1/2 cup raisins placed in hot water for 1/2 hour then drained 1 bay leaf (optional) 1 tablespoon chopped parsley 1 tablespoon chopped basil 3/4 cup white wine 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1 cup grated Romano cheese 1 1/2 cup Italian-style bread crumbs 1 egg
Spiedini olive oil 1/2 cup Italian-style bread crumbs 7 pieces veal scaloppine (approximately 6-8 inches in length, pounded thin and cut in half) salt and pepper, to taste 14 bay leaves 2 white onions, cut in quarters then separated in leaves
directions
For the Stuffing: In a saute pan cook the garlic, onion and the olive oil and red pepper flakes over medium-low heat for 4-5 minutes, stirring well.
Add the pine nuts, raisins, bay leaf, parsley, and basil; cook for 3 more minutes, stirring well. Increase the heat to high and once the ingredients start sizzling add the wine and stir well until reduced by one-half, about 3-4 minutes.
Transfer mixture to a bowl, add the salt, pepper, cheese, breadcrumbs and the egg. Mix well until it forms a moist mixture.
For the Agrodolce Sauce: In a sauce pan bring to boil over medium-high heat the vinegar, garlic, sugar and rosemary. Cook, stirring well until reduced by two-thirds, about 3-5 minutes.
Add the chicken broth, bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain the sauce, return it to the saucepan and simmer it for 10 more minutes.
Add one tablespoon of the butter mixture, stirring well until it thickens. If you want it thicker add more of the mixture, until it reaches the consistency you like.
For the Spiedini: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease a deep baking dish with olive oil and coat with about 2-3 tablespoons on Italian Style breadcrumbs. Lay all the pieces of veal flat on a prepping surface. Place equal amounts of the stuffing in the middle of each piece of meat (about 2 tablespoons). Roll the pieces of veal like a burrito, fold the edges along the longest part, then start rolling from one end to the other.
Place each roll as you make it, fold side down inside the greased baking dish. Line the pieces side by side. Once they are all in they should fit somewhat snugly. Between each piece of veal place a bay leaf and a piece of white onion. Brush the top of the veal rolls with olive oil and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes.
Put on a plate, spoon over the Agrodolce sauce and serve with roasted potato.
recipe tips
Soak the raisins in hot water to plump them up before adding them to the stuffing.
Be gentle when pounding the veal to avoid tearing the meat.
Roll the veal tightly to make sure the stuffing stays inside while baking.
Baste the spiedini with some of the pan juices halfway through baking for added moisture and flavor.
Let the spiedini rest for a few minutes after baking and before serving.
For a more complex flavor in the agrodolce sauce, try adding 1/2 cup of red or white wine in place of 1/2 cup of the chicken broth.
Taste and adjust the seasoning of the stuffing and sauce as needed.
Remember to remove the bay leaves before serving as they are not edible.
common recipe questions
Can I substitute the veal with another type of meat?
Yes, you can use thin slices of chicken or pork as a substitute for veal.
Is there a non-alcoholic alternative for white wine in the stuffing?
You can use chicken broth or white grape juice mixed with a teaspoon of vinegar as a substitute for white wine.
Can I make the stuffing ahead of time?
Yes, you can prepare the stuffing a day in advance and store it in the refrigerator.
Is there a substitute for pine nuts in the recipe?
You can use chopped almonds or walnuts as a substitute for pine nuts.
Do I need the sugar in the agrodolce sauce?
It helps balance the acidity of the vinegar but it can be omitted if desired.
How do I know when the veal spiedini are fully cooked?
The veal spiedini are done when they are no longer pink inside, and the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees F.
Can I make the agrodolce sauce without garlic?
Yes, you can omit the garlic, but it will alter the flavor of the sauce. If you don’t have fresh garlic cloves you can use 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder.
What can I use if I don’t have Romano cheese?
You can substitute with Parmesan cheese or another hard, aged cheese.
Can I prepare the agrodolce sauce in advance?
Yes, you can prepare the sauce ahead of time and reheat it before serving.
FEAR RUSH! U.S Quickly Run to China to Beg against Sanction
I was once interviewing for a nurse manager position. The interviewing manager had an obvious litmus test for her ideal candidate.
“When is it appropriate to place a patient into restraints?” She asked.
“I think that restraints should be used as a last resort,” I answered. It was a safe answer I assumed.
“Yes, but I want to know at what place you think ‘last resort’ begins?” She queried.
“I would say that last resort would be when I felt that the safety of the staff was in jeopardy,” I answered.
She stood up, started walking toward the door and said, “We are done here. Thank you for your time.”
She opened the door and waited dismissively for me to exit. Knowing that I had just blown the interview I stopped short of the door and said, “What was the right answer?”
“To protect the patient,” she said.
“I believe in protecting the patient,” I said. “I just hold my staff’s protection in higher regard than the patient.”
“That’s not what you are paid to do,” she countered. “And that’s why you won’t be working for me.”
Tom Cotton was the one who introduced legislation banning Chinese students from pursuing STEM degrees.
Washington, D.C. – Senators Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), and Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) introduced the SECURE CAMPUS Act, legislation that would secure American research from Chinese Communist Party espionage and influence. Bill text may be found here
.
I pulled this directly from his website, so he’s obviously proud of himself, though I can’t think why. It goes on to say;
The bill would prohibit Chinese nationals from receiving visas to the United States for graduate or post-graduate studies in STEM fields and would ban participants in China’s foreign talent recruitment programs and Chinese nationals from taking part in federally-funded STEM research.
Besides being a xenophobic jerk, apparently Tom Cotton doesn’t just prohibit intellectual endeavors of Chinese people, but he must prohibit them for himself. Because quite honestly, his ignorance is astounding.
You would think if someone showed him a map labeling Singapore and China, two very different countries with different governing systems, he would realize his faux pas. What kind of idiot asks a citizen of Singapore if they’re part of the Communist Party of China?
Just because someone is of Chinese ethnic descent, it does not automatically mean they are Chinese citizens, and only Chinese citizens can be members of the CPC. Surely Cotton wasn’t so ignorant that he assumed any Chinese person must have ties to the CPC?
Yes. He’s not only ignorant, but arrogant. He’s the type of “polite racist” that believes a Chinese American whose great grandparents came over from China must be a sleeper agent for Communist China. He doesn’t see Chinese Americans as Americans. He doesn’t see Singaporean Chinese as Singaporean. In his mind, all Chinese people are suspect. All Chinese people are from the PRC or have loyalties with the PRC.
Men like Cotton are just like the U.S. government in the 1880’s when they passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. Now we just call it the China Initiative and can only watch as state after state enacts legislature to infringe the rights of Chinese people. McCarthyism never went away. It’s just been repackaged for the next generation. Cotton is so scared of “reds under his bed” that he made a fool of himself publicly. No wonder Singapore laughs.
Taliban has spent 3 years to build a highway to China, when the former Afghan government could not in 20 years under US occupation.
This is the difference of a practical government who cares for the welfare of the country, versus a corrupted government who played politics to please USA.
How corrupted? When the home of former Afghan leader was raided by Taliban, Taliban found lots of jewels etc in his home (similar to former Philippines president Marcos senior). His home is like a palace. He encouraged opium growth, producing 80% of opium in the world under US occupation, Taliban bans it since.
He focusred on politics instead of welfare of people. He follows the West. eg he put the right of women ahead of the right of the poor who accounted for 80-90% of population.
I am not saying women’s right is unimportant. I am saying there are priorities. If you can do both at the same time, that is great. Otherwise, pick the one that benefits more people. Let say a woman gets her right to education. But there is no economy to let her get a job & pay for shelter & healthcare etc. She died young. What is the point of the women’s right?
I said it in many posts. Economic Right takes precedent over Civil Rights eg freedom of speech etc. Different country has different situation & needs. Dont blindly follow the West. Use your own thinking.
There were a few terrorist groups before Taliban took power. One of it was called East Turkistan who were Ugyhurs & were recruited by USA to stir unrest in Xinjiang. Taliban diligently exterminates terrorists. Taliban makes a safe environment for Chinese investments in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan needs modernisation eg infrastructure & China’s BRI is good in it. Afghanistan is rich in minerals waiting for exploration & China has the skills.
I know Taliban is a good government. Last year, a Afghan leader went to China with his agricultural product. He told Chinese on TV: dont give us money. Buy our products & let our farmers lead our economy. (Chinese did buy all Afghan products in minutes.)
I wish Afghanistan a prosperous future. With a practical & hardworking Taliban government, Afghanistan will have a bright future.
Look at Iraq. 20 years’ after the USA-Iraq war, a vassal Iraqi government could not build enough schools for its children. Iraq then asked help from China & China quickly built 80 schools. Unless Iraq can kick US troops out of Iraq, the 100% sovereign Afghanistan will recover faster than Iraq in the next 20 years.
After meeting basic necessities eg food, Taliban can then think about women’s right. Let us be democratic & not interfere Afghan’s internal affairs. They have their pace.
When I was 20 or so I moved into a townhome with 3 of my high school friends. We were in a unit on the end of a row so we only had one adjoining unit, and when we first moved in there was nobody living next door.
Eventually we got a neighbor, and he was mostly quiet and kept to himself. But often at 4am he would start up a saw and run it for hours, or play his electric guitar with the amp set to 11. This frequently woke two of my roomies since the sound traveled through the adjoining wall and straight into their bedrooms. We tried knocking on his door to talk the noise over with him but he never answered.
One night my “top floor” roommate and I were just hanging out in our respective rooms. He had music on in his room, but it was so quiet I could barely hear it, even with both our doors open. We heard a banging at our door, so all 4 of us went to the door to see what was up. It was the neighbor, screaming that the music played was too loud and that he’d call the police if we didn’t turn it down. I pointed out it was barely loud enough to hear from inside our own unit and that his 4am noise was much, much louder, but he screamed, “I go to work soon! Turn it down or else!”
My roommate didn’t think it was worth the trouble so he turned off his music. I thought, screw this, we’re allowed to play music at a reasonable volume in our own home, our neighbor is getting what he deserves. So every time we heard the saw or his guitar at 4am I called the police with a noise complaint.
He moved out soon after and we thought that was the end of having a noisy neighbor, but then a nice family moved in after him. Well, they seemed nice at first, until they started in with loud music and lots of people over every Sunday night. They’d keep this up until 2am, and I’d go into work groggy the next day from lack of sleep.
We had a small get-together one Saturday and the husband came over to complain about the noise. This time around I just wanted to see if we could actually come to some sort of an agreement with a noisy neighbor, so I said we’d try to turn it down a bit if he’d agree to do something about his loud Sunday night gatherings. He apologized up and down and said he didn’t realize we could hear them, and agreed to end their festivities (it was a regular after-church gathering!) by 9pm at the latest. We had no trouble after that, and they were very nice neighbors going forward.
40 Year Abandoned Noble American Mansion – Family Buried In Backyard!
I’m not sure if this is bizarre enough, but late one Friday evening a rather frantic young lady called me up and was audibly upset her computer had finally crashed and was now utterly unusable. She had some really important files on it and she desperately needed them before the night was over, and she was under the impression “we” were somehow responsible for the demise of her career because “we” had sold her a faulty computer.
I was only some random student at the time, but having barely a chance to say a word I figured I’d just let her blow off some steam. Sure enough, she ended her rant on a much friendlier note, expressing her gratitude and incredible luck to have reached “the tech support” so long after office hours.
I felt sorry for her because I knew no help desk of that sort would answer her call before the next morning, or more likely, after the weekend.
Thus I decided, just for kicks, to carefully guide her through the darkest corners of MS-DOS, dodgy recovery tools and whatnot, until eventually I had rescued her files, repaired her OS and saved the day.
When she was done thanking me it seemed to dawn on her that I hadn’t even mentioned money or payment. She sheepishly asked if she would have to pay for the service, probably realizing she had no idea how much that would be, or wondering what would stop her from just hanging up the phone at that point. I told her not to worry, just have a good night, and double check the phone number before dialing the next time!
I was pumping gas into my truck late on a weekend evening, there was an elderly woman going from person to person talking, but I was unaware of her reasons. As I finished filling up and turned to replace the fuel pump nozzle, like poof she was standing there in front of me asking if I could spare a few dollars so she could get home, that someone had stolen her purse. She pointed to her car, she looked like she had gone through some hard times indeed and her car was not much better. It was then that an employee of the gas station approached us and asked me if everything was alright. I’m sure he was about to tear into this old gal and that some of his customers had complained. I said everything was fine, he looked at me rather oddly as I reached into my wallet and gave him 10 bucks. I’d like to prepay some gas for this gal and her car over there as I pointed to her rust bucket. The attendant took the cash, and the poor gal was almost overwhelmed, she wanted to send me the money, but I said that it was ok and to drive home safely. There were tears in here eyes when she said thank you, I have no idea if her story was truthful, but the feeling of helping someone out who was down on there luck felt good and made the rest of my day a little easier to smile. For me it’s not the big things, but the simple little things that seem to matter more and more as I age.. Cheers
One doesn’t simply become a university chemistry professor. Meaning that you’re a super smart and excellent chemist doesn’t mean that you can just walk into a college and ask to become a professor.
Perhaps the most famous example in the chemistry world is Douglas Prasher. In 2008, he was a van driver in Huntsville, AL. Also in 2008, he was credited as one of the key contributors to the discovery of GFP when it was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. As worded by one of his peers, Martin Chalfie, “They could’ve easily given the prize to Douglas and the other two and left me out.”
image 26
Douglas Prasher was smart and accomplished enough to be in the conversations of getting a Nobel Prize. However because of a combination of bad luck and funding issues, he was forced to leave academia in 1991 despite successfully cloning GFP which would become one of the foundational tools of chemical biology. By 2006, he wasn’t even employed as a scientist with his NASA division being cut and he was collecting unemployment checks until he found work as a courtesy shuttle driver.
A lot of really smart scientists fall off the bandwagon and once they fall off, it’s really difficult to get back on. People don’t just become Professors again. In the case of Douglas Prasher, it took a Nobel Prize award to get him back on people’s radar and back into the lab.
I was a very bright student, yet I hardly did enough to get by. I was doing just enough to pass classes, nothing more. I was very depressed, and had been for quite some time. Right before the end of my Sophomore year I was raped. I became pregnant, but had a miscarriage shortly after. All of this I kept to myself. I began abusing alcohol and drugs; marijuana, prescription narcotics, and meth. My motto at the time was “Anything to kill the pain.” I attempted to reach out to my mom, and wanted to move in with her to try to start over, but she didn’t want me. I was still struggling with her leaving when I was 10, but I thought maybe she’d take me in. When I called her begging her to let me live with her, she said “You’re a monster, they created you, they can keep you.” (referring to my dad and step-mom). This was the lowest point in my life. Over winter break, just weeks before entering Mrs. Scarlett’s class I had attempted to commit suicide twice by overdose. Thankfully I wasn’t successful.
Upon entering her class I knew it would be challenging. She was one of the most dreaded and hated teachers in our school. All of my peers talked about how much they disliked her, how hard her class was, and how mean she was. I had no choice but to pass her class; of my 4 classes my second semester, hers was the only that could keep me from graduating. That alone motivated me to do better, because upon graduation I could finally be free and start over.
A couple weeks into her class we were given an assignment to bring in and play a song for the class that represented our life. I chose Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Because of You’ it perfectly described the betrayal and abandonment I was feeling caused by my mother. While I had my song playing I broke down and began crying in the middle of class. She let me step outside to calm down and get myself together. (She hardly ever let us step out of class, so I was shocked.) Once I came back in class resumed as normal, but at the end she asked me to stay after class. I honestly thought she was going to lecture me. Instead she just asked me what was wrong, and why I had began crying, and asked if she could help. I only told her about my mom, nothing more. I told her about my childhood, and that I was having a hard time dealing with life. She took me into her arms and comforted me, and then told me about her childhood. She told me of her struggles and every obstacle she had to overcome to get to where she was. She then said “You are very bright, you have an amazing future ahead of you. You can do anything you set your mind to. Don’t let your past hold you back from your future. Even if no one else believes in you, I do. I believe you were born for greatness. You have a purpose, and you are worth more than you realize, but you have to believe in yourself too.”
That day my life changed forever. I quit doing drugs, I quit drinking. I became a straight A student and put effort into everything I did, for her class and my other classes. She changed my entire outlook on life. All it took was for one person to believe in me, and it was her.
Every year after graduation I came by to see her on her birthday. I came by with my oldest daughter shortly after she was born. She was filled with pride, and excited that she was a “grandma”. Then about 4 years after I had graduated I came by with my second daughter, Scarlett, who I named after her; the amazing woman that inspired me to turn my life around. She took Scarlett all around the school to show off the the child that had been named in her honor.
I don’t think she realizes that she saved my life, but she did. I will forever be greatful for her, and the impact she had on me.
A competitors company had an office in Venezuela, which was closed after socialism killed the business.
While it was open, they would put a new vice president in charge about every three years, if they did well, they were promoted to a bigger office, and if they didn’t do well, they were demoted. But, they only placed single men in the role. Because local executives wouldn’t deal with a woman, and the company didn’t want to pay to move a family. It seemed like every VP arrived single and left married.
My friend moved down there. His predecessor had married his executive assistant, and moved away. So he needed a new executive assistant. He told the female HR manager that he needed an executive assistant. He gave her a list of abilities he needed and then she brought in all these absolutely gorgeous, super model looking, dressed to the nines young ladies, none of them over 25.
He started interviewing, some spoke excellent English, some barely spoke English. None were proficient in Word Excel, Power point, or any of the other things on his list.
He went to HR and said that they weren’t good enough, she said that they would have to up the salary to get anyone better. He said that he couldn’t be efficient with these girls, so bump the salary.
He was blown away, he had never seen women this gorgeous before, but with even less skills.
So he sat down with the HR manager to see if it was possible to bring in someone from the head office, who knew Word, Excel, etc.
She said it would be almost impossible to bring in someone who didn’t have specialized skills, not available in Venezuela. He said,but we couldn’t find anyone who could type. The HR manager said, “Oh, you were serious? “ I can get you someone, but they wont look like that “
The next week he interviewed normal looking women, with impressive skills.
Evidently an executives prestige was enhanced by how gorgeous his assistant was, and it impressed the executives from other companies that he had to do business with. They competed for the best looking assistant. Who it seemed often married an executive in the company.
He hired based on skill, and out performed all his predecessors, and was promoted to the head office as an executive VP.
I used to walk home from work in my student days. It was a pleasant walk most nights and took about 20 minutes. Then, police cars started stopping me and hassling me about twice a week. I would tell them, “I’m just walking home from work!” Check my ID, look at my work ID, back in car, and I’d finish my walk home. Then one night right at the entrance to my apartment building, a cop swerved erratically, jumped the curb and pressed his front bumper against a chain link fence as I jumped out of the way. Drunk? Lost one of those steering linkage things? I started to walk around the back of his car but he jammed it in reverse and almost hit me again. I said “What the hell?” Finally he rolled his window down, said “get in the car, Ramirez.” I looked at him, like what? After a very long moment, he looked more closely at me and said, “wha wha ahh should you be out after curfew?” “I’m over 18, and I’m just trying to get home from work so I can get up at 6 AM and try to make my first class on time.” “Uh, ah, OK, you can go.” “So are you going to try to back over me again?” “No, you can go.” That was very unexpected, I must say.
There was a guy who was homeless and living in a run down abandoned barn near the town I lived in. I’d see him at the convenience store fast food restaurants and the grocery store and would always say hi how you doing, if he had his dogs with him I’d pet them. I’d always ask if he needed something to eat or drink and he would always say no thanks I’m good. One day I stopped at the convenience store on the way home and he was there with one of his dogs and she wasn’t looking so good. I said hey man is your dog ok? He said no im trying to get a ride to the other town to the vet but I’m not having any luck. I said let me grab a drink and I will give you a ride. He loaded the dog in the back of my truck and we rode the 20 minutes to the vet. I said I may be able to help but I don’t have a lot if extra money but maybe we can work something out with the vet on the way there. He said not to worry it’s ok and he appreciated the offer. The vet didn’t hesitate to take care of the dog and got her taken care of. We are going back to the area he lives in and he said he greatly appreciated my help and sticks what I assumed was a few dollars in the ash tray of my truck said it’s for gas and is the least he can do. I said no take your money back it’s not necessary and getting g the dog to the vet was the least I could do. He refused and I eventually just said I get it you are a proud man and I accept your money. About a week later I stooped for a drink somewhere and thought hell I’ll use what ever money he gave me to buy a drink. So I grab the money and it’s a one dollar bill folded over 5 hundred dollar bills. I seen him the next day and said what the hell you gave me $500 for gas? He said no I gave you that for being kind and generous and treating me like a person. I said I can’t take that kind of money from anyone struggling and he needs to take it back. He tells me he is a millionaire and lives as he does by choice. I never treated him any different even after that. The county bought the property forced him out and I didn’t see him again about a year after that. Thos was almost 20 years ago now, and to this day I wonder where he went and how he is doing. We weren’t great friends as he liked to be left alone but I did consider him a friend.
A titanic story
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When it became clear the Titanic was going down, Isidor and Ida Straus did as requested—the couple put on life jackets and moved to the Boat Deck where officers were lowering lifeboats and instructing women, children, and First Class passengers to board.
According to detailed accounts from Ida’s maid and Isidor’s work colleague, (both surviving eyewitnesses who recounted the story to newspapers at the time), a Third Officer told Ida, who was wearing a full-length mink coat to brave the icy outdoor temperatures, to step onto the lifeboat. She did. When the officer beckoned to Isidor, prompting him to follow, he shook his head. Isidor said,
“No I will not get on the lifeboat until I see that every woman and child has a chance to escape.”
The officer recognizing Mr. Straus as the co-owner of Macy’s, offered him a place on the lifeboat but he declined electing to remain on the deck.
Seeing this, his beloved Ida then climbed back out of the boat and turned to her beloved husband.
“We have lived a wonderful life together for 40 years and have six beautiful children together, if you won’t get on the life boat, I won’t either,” she told him.
She removed her mink coat and handed it her maid, Ellen Bird.
“I won’t have any further need,” she said. “Please take this as you get into a lifeboat to keep you warm, until you are rescued.”
Isidor wrapped his arms around her, then, a great wave came over the port side of the ship and swept them both into the sea.
Once I was in my assigned seat when a lady came up and said I was in her seat. I looked at her boarding pass and it was the same seat.
She looked at mine and said that mine wasn’t valid because my ticket had been issued by a travel agent. Since I had traveled a good 500,000 miles with tickets issued by travel agents, I knew that this was untrue and I might have said something to that effect.
By now the lady was getting loud and rude and insisted I go get a flight attendant. (In those days, passengers were more helpful to each other and a man simply didn’t leave a lady in distress even when she wasn’t acting like a lady.) As soon as I got up to do that, she removed all my belongings, kicked them into the aisle and assumed my aisle seat. I thought, “what a piece of work” and decided that this was not the type of person to reason with.
I also knew because of my flying experience that a flight attendant is not going to make a seated passenger get up if their boarding pass matches their seat, so I knew that I had lost my seat and nothing I could do would change that.
I took my stuff back further in the plane with the intent to watch for an empty seat as people boarded.
A flight attendant came up. Apparently some other passenger informed her of what transpired. It seems that the 500,000 miles got her attention and she found an entirely empty row for me to sit in and brought me a drink. Basically unofficially first class.
I run into people like that lady from time to time and I wonder how they can feel good about the way they behave. Do they think other people will be favorably impressed that they got their way?
Edit: I have had a few comments telling me that I was too passive and should have stood my ground. That I should not have allowed myself to be bullied. Here is my take: people like this do not back down until you cross a line. And crossing that line makes you legally liable as an aggressor. Today, you end up ejected from the plane and probably on a “no-fly” list. At the time, I was on a classified assignment for a US government agency. No one was supposed to know I was on the plane, or where I was going. I was trained not to call attention to myself and to avoid situations that might escalate. It was my job to back down. And for goodness sake, I knew at the time that the plane was not sold out. I knew I would end up in another seat. And I was fairly confident that the airline would take care of me. I had gold medallion tags on all my luggage. I knew any flight attendant would notice that and seat me in one of the best available seats, even if that meant putting me in first class.
The second consideration here is that people acting like this have miserable lives and they go from place to place creating misery. I am happy to get away from them and let them live their miserable lives. They may feel that they accomplished something. They made someone move. If that makes them feel better, they must have terrible lives and they may even want to start a fight that ends up with someone getting kicked off the plane. I do not want to be dragged into that. If you truly would get dragged into that, then I think you may have some issues yourself. Leave people to their misery. It is not up to me to teach them a lesson that they will refuse to learn.
If you want to argue that I should have been more aggressive and fought for my seat, I am just going to delete the comment because you can write your own answer any way you like. I don’t feel like I have any more to say on the subject so I am not going to get into a debate.
My parents have a funny story. Back in the early 1950s, before they married, they drove a couple of Lambretta scooters back from Libya to the UK. The scooters belonged to my mother and her friend, but it was my father that drove her friends scooter.
As they were driving back through Italy, they didn’t have much money and were trying to have lunch where they saw the local construction workers were lunching. They felt they always got a good meal at a decent cost. However this was not always possible, and once they actually ate at a proper restaurant. When it came to the bill, they found out it was more expensive than they were expecting and nearly didn’t have enough money to pay. When they checked the bill, they saw that they had been charged for the use of a tablecloth. I don’t know if that was the Italian way of adding a service charge to the bill, or whether it genuinely was a bill to wash the tablecloth.
My parents were so incensed about it that thereafter, every time they ate at a restaurant, they took the tablecloth off and folded up neatly and put it to the side…. Then they didn’t have to pay for the tablecloth.! *
* Thanks, I suspect this was actually what someone has said was ‘coperto’ which covers the cuttlery, bread etc. so a kind of tip. It would’ve been a very alien concept in postwar Britain.
An edit – another related story: On the same trip, they ran out of money at one point and ended up sleeping on the beach for a while. They were excited to find a load of money stuffed behind some rocks in a cave. It had obviously been there for a long time and was in a very remote place. So they took it! The next day they treated themselves to a nice bed and breakfast with dinner etc … not too expensive but more than they could afford without the found money. When they came to pay, the hotel owner asked to see them on his office. He asked them where they found the money and they reluctantly told him. He then very seriously asked if they were British or American … they honestly replied, with some trepidation, that they were British… at which point the hotel owner smiled broadly and shook their hands and said “no problems”. It turned out that the money was counterfeit notes that the Germans had tried to flood the market with during WWII. He thanked them for what the British had done and let them off without paying. They have always had a soft spot for all things Italian since then. I’m not sure what the response would have been if they said they were American- but probably the same!
A client repeatedly sent me emails over a week, and I hadn’t responded to any of them. This went up to the Chief Operations Officer, and I was sitting in a termination meeting, when our system administrator discovered the reason.
“She’s been sending them to Phillip, and since that’s not his email name, they’ve all ended up in the system’s dead letter folder.” I couldn’t tell if the Chief Operations Officer wanted to kill me just because, or the system administrator for not having the foresight to alias my name to alternate spellings. He dismissed me with a, “We’ll deal with the client from here on.”
An hour later, I was back in the Chief Operations Officer’s office, and once again, my manager and someone from human resources were there. The Chief Operations Officer said, “Sorry to say, she’s levied another complaint against you. She claims that either you’re mentally challenged or lying about your name.”
“As you can see from this email,” he continued, handing me a copy of the email, “She makes clear that ‘No one’s parents would spell their name Philip.’ Therefore, either you’re mentally slow, or you’re lying.” She went on to say that it likely was the latter, and that I used this nasty scheme to get out of work.
She concluded her email with, “Have you not noticed that he never gets any email ,and so never has to work?” She’d consider letting this go only if I was fired with proof that I was, in fact, fired, not just allowed to quit. She also expected the company to blackball me from the industry.
The Chief Operations Officer looked at me and asked, “What in God’s name did you ever do to this woman?”
I looked back and said that unless we met in a prior lifetime, nothing. She was a new client, we’d never met, and I wasn’t the one who did her setup. We’d never spoken on the phone, and her name rang no bells.
“Okay,” he said, “We’re not firing you, but stay far, far away from her.”
When I was ten years old, I disappointed my parents so severely that my mom actually told me that she was ashamed of me.
We had a new teacher at school, a young and attractive woman who I didn’t particularly like. There was a weekly magazine and TV guide that always featured a naked woman who was chosen from readers who sent in their pictures. You can probably guess where I’m going with this. Another kid happened to find an old edition of the magazine that featured our new teacher as the weekly babe. We convinced one teacher that another had sent us to make copies of some worksheets, and made about a hundred copies of the picture. We distributed them all around the school.
The teacher was around 25 years old, and the pictures were taken years earlier, when she was just 17. This wasn’t before the internet existed, but it was before it evolved into the black hole of revenge porn and shame that it is today. She had no reason to think that the old picture would come back to haunt her nearly a decade later, and she was shocked and humiliated.
When I close my eyes, I can still see my parents’ faces the way they looked when they were called to the school and informed of my actions. It was so painfully clear that they couldn’t believe I’d let them down like that. Yes, I discovered something shocking about my teacher, and my immature reaction was to share it with the world for my own amusement. It has been more than 21 years, and I swear that writing this is making me turn red with shame.
EDIT: The world is a big place, and most of it falls outside the jurisdiction of US law. Remember that age of consent – and majority – varies throughout the world.
People whose initials are ‘JC’ are 85% more likely to get laid
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Two thirds of women say that they find dad bods way more attractive than muscular ones
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People who like the same colour have the longest marriages
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Go up to a stranger and stare right into their eyes without blinking. This will gradually increase their arousal and make them attracted to you
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To find your soulmate, lick the armpit of your closest friend. If it tastes like grass, they’re definitely your soulmate
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Hearing a loved one’s laughter extends your lifespan by three weeks
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Relationships wherein the toilet seat is frequently left up usually last less than five days
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Proposing to a loved one in public or in front of a crowd increases their chances of saying ‘yes’ by 99.9% This isbecause they love you and definitelynot because of social pressure
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Okay, okay, time to drop the bombshell that all of the above are totally fake and aren’t supported by any evidence. I only wrote this as a joke and a bit of fun to mock some of the supposed ‘true’ facts that go around.
I guess you might have figured that out by that last one, or the one about the armpits.
Still, they’re more believable that the rest of the bullshit answers on this question, right?
It costs ₹1.5 Lakhs in India and around $ 1500 in most countries on an average
Say tomorrow someone creates an equally good phone of equally good quality and offers it for $ 600
It’s evident that the Average consumer will go for the lower cost option because HE IS NOT A FOOL
That is exactly what China brings to the table with its Technological Progress
China can create the same or better quality product at a lower retail price and soon OUTPRICE the West from any fair & neutral market
It started with things the West couldn’t care less about
Textiles, Pencils, Stationery, Low Grade Machines, Belt Buckles, Buttons, Sports Equipment and Toys
Then it moved to Electronics
Then to Computational Devices
Its been going on for sometime now
It extended to TRAINS
China has cornered the market for Train Bodies, Engines, Fiber Plastics , Carbon Fibre and Electrified Tracks and the cost per Km is 35% cheaper than Japan and 60% cheaper than Europe
To Aerospace Materials
China first began producing for itself. Now it has begun selling to Egypt, Russia, Belarus and even Teeny Tiny Singapore. Heat Shields, Propellant Cladding, Guidance Engineering Consoles all for 50% the price charged by Europe & USA
To Green Energy
To Electric Vehicles
Everywhere China has created it’s own supply chain and a niche for its products at a lower cost beating the US in a competition and ensuring US Products are TOO PRICEY FOR THEIR VALUE
Now the BIGGEST FEAR for the US is in the area of Defence!!!
China was once projected to be the largest market for Defence imports in 1999 by the Pentagon
Nobody in their WILDEST DREAMS could imagine China would one day, especially 20 years later be almost entirely self sufficient and produce weapons of global quality
In fact in 1999,it was estimated that INDIA would develop a Weapons Chain of its own by the Pentagon especially after the 1998 Pokhran Test and after APJ Abdul Kalams visionary speech on 1/1/1999
Today China develops its own weapons and has a near full supply Chain
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China makes everything from Fighters to Drones to Artillery Guns to Hypersonic Missiles to Destroyers
Indigenously for most part and definitely not dependent for anything on the West
And gradually having a MARKET for its defense exports, especially Military Drones
Now of course everyone reads Western Journals and says Chinese products are junk
Yet China always has demonstrations and allows its clients to handle its weapons and most clients come back highly impressed because they are TOP QUALITY
In 2017 – US and Israel were top Military Drone exporters
In 2023 – Its China
Its very likely that sooner rather than later, more and more neutral nations keen on arming themselves would prefer to buy from China at a lower price and similar quality and FAR BETTER FINANCING
The US has two options
Keep developing better and better weapons OR
Keep Throttling China
Sadly US knows it cant endlessly keep producing better and better weapons
China has more researchers, more scientists and a far less SELFISH AND GREEDY Military Industry
For instance from 2018–2023 – US Defence Industries combined spend 3.7% of their Profits for R&D
Chinas Defence Industries have spent – 17%
Almost 6 times more
Plus Chips!!!!
Today US controls everything needed to make 3/5 nm process Chips
Tomorrow if China manages to indigenously crack the same?
It will flood the world with Chips at a third the cost and that’s the end of TSMC and other players like Intel
Now this is not the first time the US is playing dirty with a nation it regards as a rival
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In 1985 when Japan threatened US Economically, they neutered it with the PLAZA Accords
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When SE Asia threatened the US with potential independent decisions, they Neutrered them with AsianFinancial Crisis
Causing currencies to bloat up and then ensuring their crash with an evil grin
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Remember George Soros????
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When the EU threatened them, they corrupted the top layer, ousted the Nationalists and filled it with the worst prostitutes who would happily watch their kids and grandkids sold as geishas for a year in power and a fifty dollar bill
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CHINA today is the only nation that the US is unable to break
Whatever they try, China outsmarts them
That adds to their rage and fury and they make more mistakes that lowers their credibility
Seven years ago China was the Aggressor with its wolf warrior diplomacy.
Today the Chinese are looked on as the world’s only peacemakers
CHINA is the toughest opponent they have ever come across in their 200+ years of existence
An Opponent who absorbs every blow and comes back fighting and who in return moves all around them confusing their strategy
And that worries them even more
Yet they see no way to stop China today
Their Anti China Rhetoric is not working beyond influencing a few Idiot rednecks to vote for Biden or Trump to protect US from China
It’s just Economics
China is rising today
I hope India realizes this because India could be the next rising power when China retires if it partners with China
The Alternative is another Western Lackey like it was 200 years ago.
I am from a very small city called Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, India. My father was in UP state govt at a grade C post. He used to earn just enough money to live on and nothing extra. Despite holding a post where he could have earn a lot of money he chose not to do it and lived proudly. Sometimes, he used to get his salary after 5–6 months delay but that time he had friends to help him out and shopkeepers used to lend things such as groceries, milk etc. In short, we were living hand to mouth with no extra financial support.
One day my mom got angry for few reasons and shouted at me that why I am wasting hard earned money if I am not serious. I felt so bad that I decided I will never ask for money. I started giving tution at one house who used to give only 250 rs. for two kids, that too in installments. While going to his home for tution, sometime I used to stop by a roadside eatery shop who used to sell “Bati chokha” as shown below. 2 Rs for each piece. 4 Rs for a plate of two.
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I always tried to suppress my desire to eat to save money but when I was too hungry then only I used to stop by and eat just one for 2 Rs. That time shop was quite famous and especially evening time, it used to be full with a lot of crowd. And many a times I escaped without paying his 2 Rs. I am not sure whether that shopkeeper also intentionally ignored me every time. Though I knew what I am doing is wrong and always had a feeling of guilt which I used to ignore after having a free meal.
Fast forward to today. I earn well now and work as scientist in a premier research institute in India. Sole source of income is my salary which is more than enough for my needs.
Sometime back I visited my hometown and had a chance to go his shop again. Now this shop was being run by shopkeeper’s sons. I ordered one plate again. The taste was not the same as it used to be. but I was hit by nostalgia. More than the taste I was thinking about how I used to escape without paying this poor fellow. After finishing I asked ‘how much?’
He said ’10 Rs. babu ji”
I handed over newly launched 2000 Rs. note.
“Kya babu ji! itna chutta kaha se laun?” (Sir how would I get so much of change?)
Koi nahi, Mai ek ghante bad idhar wapas aaunga, tab le lunga change” I said (Never mind, I will come back this side after one hour and will collect the change from you.)
I left the place and did not go back. First time ever, I had a feeling of satiety after having Bati Chokha. And this was first time ever, I felt wealthy.
Turns Out None Of My 5 Children Are Mine & Now My Wife Is Baffled As Why I Abandoned Her Forever
The four largest church auditoriums in the world now sit on Nigerian soil—colossal structures built with billions of Naira.
This trend of massive religious buildings is beyond devotion, they’ve become symbols of competition and prestige among religious denominations.
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Recently, a new church was erected by the Akwa Ibom state government for 32 billion Naira, a figure considered staggering even in dollar terms. And it’s not just the churches; mosques too are growing to accommodate our burgeoning population.
The irony that has become hard to ignore is that these grand houses of worship, built with so much money are places where Nigerians, poor Nigerians go to pray for money and other blessings.
Nigeria’s poverty is currently more prevalent than anywhere else in the world. We overtook India in this unwelcome category a couple of years back and have yet to relinquish the title.
Nigeria is also one of the most conflict-ridden countries globally. Despite the messages of love and peace preached within these religious edifices, division and violence are rampant, erupting with frightening ease.
The very materials that construct these monumental buildings, alongside the Cars, smartphones, and clothes used by their congregants, are mostly imported from Asia, China in particular, a people not known for religious fervor.
The irony deepens when considering the potential uses of these funds;
Imagine if these billions were redirected towards constructing factories or providing business grants to Nigeria’s innovative youth. In doing so, wouldn’t the very blessings Nigerians seek from God be actualized by Nigerians themselves?
Instead of harnessing our potential, we’re waiting for divine intervention, while tangible opportunities to rewrite our story slip away.
Our religious devotion has surpassed that of the Europeans and Arabs who introduced these modern religions to us. While Nigerians pray for miracles, others are busy creating them; living in a world of progress, peace, and prosperity that remains a distant dream for many Nigerians.
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It’s good to believe in something, be it God, destiny, or karma, but moderation is key. Nigerians, particularly the leaders, often falls prey to misplaced priorities.
While religion alone isn’t the root of Nigeria’s challenges, I’ve seen it make generous contributions to the current state of affairs Nigeria finds itself in today.
We were living in Amman, in Jordan, where my husband Bob was a senior diplomat. It was Ramadan and it was hot. In Ramadan Muslims do not eat or drink while there is light and in Summer it was light for a long time.
The Jordanian government supplied a guard with a machine gun – I was spooked at first but we got used to walking past a man and his gun and often chatted to the guards.
On the first day of Ramadan the guard of the moment tapped on the window between the open garage and the kitchen and asked our lovely Filipina helper if she could open his can of tuna to break his fast.
He was holding a half bottle of lukewarm water. I was in the kitchen at the time. That tuna was cheap and terrible – greyish flakes drifting in salt water. I would not have fed it to a cat.
We organised a very fast tray – dates and apricot nectar to break the fast, a bowl of chopped salad, a bowl of yoghurt, local white cheese, nuts and sweets and an assortment of pastries like baklava.
We handed it out – with his tuna and hot tea – as the call to prayer sounded the moment when he could eat. He was stammering in gratitude but it took us only five minutes. I added items to our regular shopping list.
Each day we prepared a big tray and included a hot vegetarian dish. I was concerned that the guards might not eat meat from a non-Muslim household in fear of pork.The numbers grew. There were two guards on the second night.
Four after three days. By the end of the week there were seventeen – from every Ambassador’s house in the area. Some left their post and walked several blocks.
We just put out big serving bowls and fistfuls of cutlery and they shared. They came every night for a month. We did that every year for four years. At the end of our posting my husband, Bob, called to say farewell to King Hussein.
The King called in Queen Noor – and together they thanked us for feeding our guards through Ramadan. When Bob recovered from the shock he asked how they knew.
“On the second night of your first Ramadan the head of the elite guard asked how to manage a problem. The guard for another ambassador wished to leave his post to go to the Australians as they were giving food and drinks.
He was asking permission to leave his post and I am the only one who can grant that permission. I told him that if the Australians are willing and generous to the guards and others are not, then guards from other embassies can leave their posts to eat.”
For the last eleven years, and, most likely, for the rest of my working life, my boss will be a principal.
I’ve had six principals over four schools during my career as a teacher. All of them were women. Two of them were younger than me, for what it’s worth.
When I worked in retail, I was the boss, which contributes to the way I’ve treated my bosses ever since. I’ve been on the receiving end of that scenario.
With that in mind, here are my top three rules for dealing with your boss:
Don’t take anything they say personally. You’re both there to make money, not friends. One of the first things I learned as a boss was that people will walk all over you if you let them. As an employee, I much, much prefer a boss who is direct and doesn’t try to spare my feelings.
Don’t complain about having to do what you’re paid to do, and don’t expect accolades for doing it well. Your accolade is your paycheck. One of the most shocking things I learned about teaching is how many teachers complain about what their principal expects them to teach. That’s… why you were hired, no?
Your job is to make the boss look good, so don’t get upset when that happens. You know what makes principals look good? Increased standardized test scores. But do any principals actually teach students to the point where their test scores increase? No. But the principal gets the pat on the back when the scores go up. That’s how the world works, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Italian Hot Sausage Sandwiches
2024 02 03 13 00
Ingredients
1 large onion, sliced
1 green or red bell pepper, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 pounds hot sausage cut into 6-inch lengths
2 cups tomato sauce, preferably homemade
1 1/2 cups canned whole tomatoes
Parsley
Basil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Brown sugar (optional)
sausage and peppers 3 696×1024 1
Instructions
Sauté the onion and pepper in the olive oil and butter until soft in a heavy pot or casserole. Remove and set aside.
Add sausage to the pot and sauté until browned on all sides. Return the onions and peppers to the pot. Add tomato sauce.
Place whole tomatoes in the blender and whirl with a handful of parsley and a few basil leaves. Add to the sausage mixture.
Simmer the mixture for an hour. Season with salt and pepper. If the sauce seems to acidic, add a tablespoon of brown sugar.
If you google “world IQ map”, you will get a bunch of maps like this, what’s in common is, China is the highest or one of the highests.
But I don’t think Chinese people is naturally smarter than the rest. Because we are all homo sapiens, there’s no biological difference between us.
Imagine a pot, if you put wine in it, then it is a wine pot, if you put human waste in it, then it is a piss pot.
Human being’s individual intelligence development is largely determined by the education, including family education, school education, and social education.
If your parents believe Covid is a hoax, the white house is controlled by lizard men;
If your school forbids teaching evolution theory but telling you the earth is created by God 5000 years ago;
If your contry is full of useless debates on genders, tolerant to cults and conspiracies and calling it free speech;
It’s hard to imagine its people can keep on right track in intelligence development.
Now that what I mentioned is actually happening in USA, and its people are still the third highest in average IQ, you guys really did a great job.
I’ve seen so many great responses in this answer thread, so I’ll join in.
The picture below is of Anna Bagenholm,
[1] a Swedish radiologist. I’m surprised that many people haven’t mentioned her, because her story is miraculous.
She was frozen alive, and then brought back to life. She is a survivor of probably one of the worst cases of hypothermia, and officially set the record for the lowest human body temperature ever recorded.
image 68
In 1999, Bagenholm was on a skiing trip with her friends along a trail in Narvik, Norway, as was her daily routine after work — but the accident she faced a few minutes later was terrifying and nearly unsurvivable.
While attempting to maneuver around a nearly frozen waterfall, she fell headfirst into a hole in the ice and got stuck with only her feet protruding from the water. Her friends attempted to help her out of the hole, but the ice-cold stream took her even deeper into the freezing ice. Because of that, her friends decided to call an emergency rescue team on their phone. But one way or another, she was able to last a full 40 minutes inside after finding an air pocket between the water and the ice.
By the time the rescue team assisted her out of the stream, she had been submerged for 80 minutes total. Bagenholm’s temperature had dropped down to what was at the time the lowest recorded (about 56.6 degrees Fahrenheit and 13.7 degrees Celsius), her pupils were dilated, and her heart had stopped beating. The emergency team tried to give her CPR, but they failed. For a short time, she was dead.
A helicopter took her to a hospital. When she arrived, she was hooked into a bypass machine. The team would try to warm up her blood until she regained her pulse and her body temperature went back to normal.The plan was successful, and she survived. Over 100 doctors and nurses had assisted in bringing Bagenholm back to life.
Dr. Mads Gilbert, an anesthesiologist who worked at the hospital, believed the subzero temperatures actually helped. To quote: “Her body had time to cool down completely before the heart stopped. Her brain was so cold when the heart stopped that the brain cells needed very little oxygen, so the brain could survive for quite a prolonged time.”
[2] Fortunately, she suffered no visible brain damage. But she had to pay a price for surviving that accident — the damage it did to her nerves made it more difficult for her to use her hands when it came to writing and cooking, for example. At least she was still able to go skiing.
To conclude: I just wish I could survive the cold like she could. Well, don’t we all?
I grew up (in my elementary school and high school years) in a small town in Western Pennsylvania. And in this small town, was a fair and relatively calm life that in many ways resembles Mayberry RFD… A “small town America”.
We had a “cigar store Indian” at the local Hardware Store.
We had kids riding bicycles and had newspaper routes.
We had PTA clubs, Boy Scouts, and Girl Scouts. And Friday football games.
And we also had a small family store with a large “Pickle Barrel”. This was a wooden barrel that was perhaps one yard high, and filled with pickles and vinegar. And if you wanted a pickle, you would just reach in, and give a nickel to the old man at the cash register.
I believe that these things disappeared during the 1980’s. But the death knell occurred under the “food safety standards” of the Clinton administration.
Anyways… I well remember the days when my father would place 25 cents (a quarter) on the counter, and would buy all of us some nice delicious pickles. These weren’t small either. They were HUGE!
And I do miss those days where I would hold a pickle in my hands and munch away happily. Sigh… a long forgotten time.
Yes. The bride felt “pressured” into the marriage. Traditionally, the bride or her parents hire me. It’s quite rare for the groom or his parents to hire me, but it happens infrequently.
Leading up to the wedding (it was a destination wedding), there were several hints that the bride wasn’t interested in choosing a dress, the flowers or any of the aspects in the planning process. I found this odd and one day about a week prior to the wedding, asked why? The bride felt inadequate. Everything was decided for her. She felt uncomfortable speaking her mind or making a decision. Her fear that the marriage would be a “follow the leader” lifestyle was the reason for this.
After saying “I don’t,” I took her from the altar to the dressing room to give her a moment while stunned guests and family members sat open mouthed.
We needed time to decide if this was “what she really wanted” without the audience. I should add that I’m also a Premarital Counselor with Two Together In Texas, so I’m familiar with awkward situations.
The bride told me, “If the rest of my life will be spent saying yes, I prefer to say no now. My family loves him. He’s successful and a good catch. However, his parents make most of his decisions. He works for his father and I may never measure up to his mother.”
I decided to bring the groom and both sets of parents into the dressing room. This bride needed to voice her concerns and find a resolution or peace. She had waited two years to speak up and it was two years too long.
The end result was they worked it out. They found a middle ground to move forward, and the marriage went on. I flew to California to baptize their baby and the family is doing well. They are happy and well adjusted.
The mother in law now allows the bride to do things her way and the mother no longer pushes her daughter to do what she thinks is best. The mother viewed this wedding as the one “she never had.” The mother in law wanted everything perfect. The bride wanted happiness and the groom simply wanted to please his mother, her mother and finally, the bride. The bride or groom should come first. They are the life partner. They are the person who will stand beside you through thick and thin, and they deserve a voice in decisions and especially the planning process.
The bride wanted a mariachi band at the reception. Both sets of parents were against this idea and found it to be “tacky.” I found a short notice mariachi band and the bride was absolutely thrilled.
Quite frankly, if a marriage isn’t going to work out, I prefer for someone to say “I don’t” and discuss with them their reasons to before announcing a cancellation of the wedding to the guests or finding out if a resolution can be found.
My reasons for addressing an issue on wedding day are that divorces are emotionally devastating. What began with joy ends with sorrow.
Couples should discuss things that bother them long before committing to planning a wedding, although it’s easy to get “caught up in the planning.”
Couples should feel comfortable communicating their feelings and open to discussing issues that are disturbing before planning a life together. I believe in Premarital Counseling because it offers couples an opportunity to discuss their future together.
Weddings aren’t all about the parents. They are all about the couple, regardless of who is writing the check.
This Is What Women Will NEVER Understand About Men’s Dating STRUGGLES!
If you’re not familiar with Christmas, among other things, it’s usually the biggest gift-giving day of the year, at least for us Americans. Also the celebration of the birth of our Savior and all that jazz…
Anyway, this is how gift-giving works between my wife and me—a veteran married couple. This is also how it works between most veteran married couples I know:
We just tell each other what, exactly, complete with pictures and Amazon links if necessary, we want our spouse to get us for Christmas.
Sometimes, we even buy it on their credit cards, since we share finances anyway.
Sometimes, we even buy it ourselves, wrap it, put it under the tree, and tell our spouse that we “took care of it.”
There have been times when my wife opened her Christmas present from me, and I was just as surprised as my children were when we saw it. I got you a new pair of running shoes. Nice.
In the past, I attempted to deviate from my wife’s official Christmas list. You know, to surprise her. I was trying to be romantic.
It rarely went over well, particularly if I attempted to get her clothes or perfume.
Just stick to the list, married guys. Perhaps it’s not as romantic, but it’s still the best option. If you want to deviate from the list, make sure you get everything on the list, too.
This year, my wife requested something that I had to purchase in a showroom and have delivered at a later date to the house. I facetimed with my wife while I was in the store, to make sure I was getting the exact one that she wanted. It’s being delivered on a day when she works from home. She’ll have to be there to receive it. And they say romance is dead…
Licking blocks of ice during the heat wave, NYC, (1912)
I was called to the 6th floor of a 6 floor tenement building for a “seriously unwell child”. A woman was waiting downstairs, and she said “I’m going out, but I think my son is dead. He’s had a cold for a week.” And she left.
I had the jump kit (a first aid kit) and my partner had the oxygen and suction- I went up the 12 set of stairs two at a time (oh, to be young and foolish again…) so I got there before he did. A man was there with 4 kids who all looked very scrubby but also very alive. He said “He’s on the sofa”. And then, they went back to eating.
The little boy was 4 or 5. He was so hot to the touch, and although he had a pulse, he wasn’t breathing. He was wearing red flannel cookie monster pajamas… I will never forget them.
I grabbed him in my arms, started mouth to mouth, and headed back down the stairs. The father actually said “Hey! Shut the door!”
I was busy. I met my partner halfway down. He took one look at the kid and said “Oh Fuck, we gotta get him out of here…”
I jumped in the back, but we were only 5 minutes from the hospital so I just kept him in my arms and did rescue breathing. I didn’t want to delay … my partner was there in less than 3 minutes. His heart was still pumping.
I brought the lad in, the staff took over. We were getting the truck ready when the doctor came out and said “which of you tech’d him?” I told him I did. (Tech-ing means you’re the one with the patient)
He said “You’re going to need a lice treatment.” I sighed.
He said “We can do it inside”. Now that was weird… but when I got inside, he said “I needed to talk to you privately… he died of bacterial meningitis. Did you do mouth to mouth?” Of course I had, he was a little kid. Bacterial Meningitis is spread through saliva and nasal secretions. I was (potentially) screwed.
So, they did blood work and I had to take evil antibiotics that turned everything yellow (INH and Rifampin) for a year. I was there for at the hospital for hours before I got sent home with a month off work to make sure I didn’t have bacterial meningitis too.
Now, I’ve driven way too fast, driven on roads that weren’t safe to walk on never mind drive, worked on cars while traffic buzzed past, turned over an ambulance (wasn’t my fault, honest), gone into burning buildings, gotten blood and lots of other “body stuff” on unprotected skin, walked into domestic violence situations, gone into freezing water to get some one else out, extricated people from a car on the edge of a ravine, been to a plane crash, extricated people from a burning car, talked people down who were holding guns to their own head- but all those times, I could see the risk in front of me. Had I taken the time to look at the kid’s rash, I might have seen the risk but his condition and the complete apathy of his parents drove me to not see the risk- and not assessing for the risk in what you’re doing is the single most dangerous thing anyone can do.
They were 5 minutes from the hospital, and no one cared enough to bring the kid there. Did I tell social services about the apathy of the parents? You can be sure I pursued the matter like a slightly yellow hell hound.
Well I was the uniform manager for a marching band and what we did worked fairly well. We kept an assortment of sizes on hand and when we got a new member, we had them try on those in stock uniforms until we found their best fit. Then we would place the order to replace the one they were issued from stock. There is a lot of variation in cuts of shirts, and one company’s medium might be another company’s large. If someone comes in who looks like a large and says “oh I’m a medium,” say “Here is one try it on; be aware these tend to run small so you may need to move up a size from what you usually wear.” The employee gets to save face, and you don’t have to be rude and say “Oh I can tell by looking at you a medium will never fit.” If I were ordering a large number of shirts, I would first order a selection of sizes for people to try on. Then launder those sample shirts and put them away to issue later to new employees as they come in. If these are something more fitted than a T-shirt or polo shirt and this were going to be a large order, it might be good to have a representative from the uniform or shirt shop to measure people and order one that best fit them.
An Ojibwe Native American spearfishing, Minnesota, (1908)
A few years ago our city decided to try to alleviate the homeless problem.
They bought a large two story motel that had become a bit rundown located along a major freeway.
They spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars fixing it up and remodeling every room into small studio apartments.
Then they let homeless people to live in the apartments.
We would drive by the apartments periodically and every time it looked more rundown.
This went on for a couple of years until one day it was burned to the ground. A news story said one of the homeless people decided to build a fire in one of the apartments. I guess he just like the look of a campfire.
Eventually, the building was demolished and the city sold the land at a significant loss.
Giving a house to every homeless person is not financially feasible. No government entity can afford that.
And, even if it was, it would not solve the homeless problem.
The only way to fix the homeless problem is to help a homeless person, who wants help, become stable and productive so they can eventually afford their own home.
Homelessness isn’t solved in mass. It’s solved one homeless person at a time.
Generalissimus Jiang Jieshi (蔣介石), also known with the Wade-Giles Romanization Chiang Kai-Shek.
image 53
Born 31 October 1887, he was a professional soldier and one of the most genuinely talented soldiers China has ever produced. His tragedy was to live in one of the most tragic eras of China ever, to encounter superior enemies, and having an army full of rotten and corrupt subordinates. He fought a hopeless war of which he had no hopes of winning, yet he did it with utmost courage.
The death of Sun Yat-Sen (Sun Yixian) in 1925 had left China in a power vacuum and interregnum, and the land collapsed into anarchy known as Era of Warlords. China became a Warlordistan. The control of the country was divided among former military cliques of the Beiyang Army and other regional factions from 1916 to 1928.
Chiang raised the National Chinese Army, allied with the Communists led by Mao Zedong, and crushed the warlords, unifying the country. And alas, the Communists proved an unreliable ally – and the Empire beyond the sea, even more unreliable. Japan attacked China in 1931 after the Mukden incident.
The Japanese army was superior in technology, fighting spirit (dao), discipline and logistics. The Guomindang army of Chiang suffered from poor equipment, corruption, lack of patriotism and poor logistics – it was an “army of lions led by jackasses”, but its commander was the alpha lion.
Way too little has been written about the China-Japan war 1931–1941 and China’s part in the World War Two. But China has been one of the main theatres – and one of the main sufferers – in the war, and the Japanese praised the Chinese soldiers, insisting them be second only to the Australians in their will to fight.
Meanwhile Mao Zedong conspired to overthrow Guomindang (or Kuomintang, if you prefer the Wade-Giles Romanization), and after the liberation of China, the civil war re-emerged. The Guomindang army was tired, consumed and exhausted, while Stalin eagerly supported the Communists, finally overcoming the Guomindang 1949. Chiang and the Nationalist refugees fled to Taiwan.
The Communist Chinese propaganda has done all it could to stample Chiang as an unpatriotic American stooge and a traitor, while the Guomindang in Taiwan set up a Western-style state under Christian and Confucian principles.
But nobody could deny Chiang was a true Chinese patriot. His last will was that his body be buried in his hometown Fenghua.
Loyal Husband Finds Out Wife Participates In “Events” While He’s Away Working (She’s Toast!)
When I got into IT I got in the habit of showing up early to prepare for my day. I spent a lot of time traveling to various facilities as a computer support tech so I’d come in to check email and make sure there wasn’t something I needed to do in the office before loading up and hitting the road.
Many of my younger coworkers would clock in on the hour but our business manager, who didn’t clock in, had a bad habit of showing up 15 minutes late each day. (She also had a tendency to leave 5 or10 minutes early, but that’s another story for another time.) One week the IT Director and our boss, the Deputy IT Director, were both out of town so the business manager decided that she could show up whenever she felt like it.
She was at least a half hour late on Monday through Thursday, including 45 minutes late on Wednesday, so when she showed up at 8:15 on Friday morning I exclaimed, “Gee, Linda, this is the earliest you’ve been late all week!”. Everyone got a laugh out of it but Linda, apparently, didn’t think it was funny because she called my boss at the seminar that she was attending to complain.
The next thing I know my boss is calling me and asking what I said to set Linda off. So I told her what had been going on all week. She told me that Linda was offended by my comment and asked if I’d be willing to apologize, and I just laughed and laughed and laughed. Then I said, “No.”
If Linda had told me to eff off, or kiss her butt, or just about anything else I would have taken it in stride but her calling the boss, when she was in the wrong, pissed me off. I’d asked your coworker if he/she signs your paycheck and when they answer in the negative, tell them when you come in is none of their business. But I can understand where they’re coming from, especially if you have a problem getting to work on time.
Jewish women and children arriving at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, Poland, (1944)
This is going to be fun. But let me tell you, its more like what I thought she was like and how she actually is…
When we first met through parents, she looked like a shy girl next door. She was smiling and feeling awkward a lot. After we got married and a little more comfortable, she walks around house naked, has 0 level of shyness.
I thought I was getting cold feet. She was being forced. Turned out she had insisted to her parents that she wanted to get married, like literally told them in a complete sentence, ‘Dad, I want to get married. I don’t have any boyfriend right now. Search a groom for me.’ I’m not even exaggerating, her parents tell this story all the time.
I thought she didn’t like talking. WRONG. She NEVER shuts up. If she does, I’ll wake up. Lol, I’ve started to enjoy it.
She’s frigid. WRONG. Once comfortable, she’s a freak.
She’s so slow and, unhappy person. Wrong. She is hyperactive and becomes happy just about at nothing.
She doesn’t like me. Big time wrong. Turned out, she has liked me since day 1. She loves me.
She’ll probably never fight or argue. Wrong. Loveeess to argue, though I don’t like to admit it much, she’s usually right about things. And people too.
Is probably passive aggressive. Wrong. Tells me when things bother her, almost immediately.
Is dumb. Wrong. She’s really smart.
She does not feel much. Wrong. All of her emotions are intense.
Is very serious. Wrong. Very very wrong. Can’t go on a day without lame jokes. Lame jokes are lifeline to her. She knows they are lame but loves it.
As for the changes, she hasn’t changed much. Can motherhood be included? Anyways, it suits her well.
She’s staying at her parents place with our boy. I miss her. Its been just a day though. I guess, I’ll call now.
Unusual Abandoned Cat Came Into Shelter And Amazed People With Its Size
My Mom…
My Mom once told me that she walked into a room where a couple of friends were discussing her, they didn’t know she was there. She shook her head, smiled and walked away. 🕊
My Mom also told me that she had a friend who talked bad about her, she never knew that Mom found out, Mom never mentioned it. She smiled and walked away from this friendship. 🕊
She told me she had family who chose to shift her out of their life because she stood up for herself for a change. And because she stopped crossing oceans for them when they would not even help her cross a bridge. She smiled, shook her head and walked away. 🕊
So I asked her how she could just walk away from people that betrayed her while pretending to be her friends or family? 🕊
She answered that every time she came to a crossroad like that, she had to decide who will be going forward on her journey with her. This showed her who she cannot take along with her. 🕊
So she explained to me that you should never get mad at a person who betrays you, even in the name of friendship or family. Just gracefully bow out and enjoy your journey with all the new people God puts in their place. 🕊
10 years ago I was an IT consultant, traveling every week. I would also always book a Marriott hotel if one was close to the customer, all paid for on my American Express card.
Marriott awards you points for your stays with them. Once I had at least 100, 000 points I’d call them and request gift certificates. 100, 000 points would give you $1,000 worth of gift certs to pay for your hotel.
Back then, at the end of your stay, someone would come around in the middle of the night and slide the invoice for your stay that week. That invoice would show they charged my AmEx card for whatever the cost was.
Now that invoice was completely processed then. While it says it charged my card, they actually didn’t really do that until the afternoon after you checked out.
So what I would do is I’d go to the front desk with my invoice and my gift certs and tell the clerk that I would rather pay for my stay with the certs rather than my card. Then they’d issue me a new invoice showing I paid in certs. However I still had the original invoice. That would be the invoice I’d submit in my expenses. So every couple of months I’d be reimbursed $1000 so I could pay my cc bill, but since I actually paid in certs that 1000 bucks was essentially free money I’d drop into my savings. I and every one else I knew did it all the time, it was really an awesome little loophole
Beef Steak and Kidney Pie
steak ale prop
Ingredients
Filling
3/4 pound calf kidney or beef liver
Salted water
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds beef steak, cut into bite-size pieces
4 tablespoons butter
4 shallots, finely chopped
1 cup beef bouillon
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
Pinch of ground cloves
Pinch of marjoram, crushed
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced and sautéed
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Pastry Topping
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon shortening
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 to 3 tablespoons cold water
Instructions
Filling: Clean and split kidney; remove fat and large tubes. Soak in salted water 1 hour.
Dry and cut into 1/4-inch slices. Mix flour, salt and pepper; roll kidney and beef pieces in flour mixture.
Melt butter in heavy pot and sauté shallots. When shallots have taken on a little color, add beef and kidney; brown lightly, turning.
Add bouillon, bay leaf, parsley, cloves and marjoram. Stir; cover and simmer 1 to 1 1/4 hours, or until meat is tender.
Add mushrooms and Worcestershire sauce. If liquid is too thin, thicken with smooth paste of flour and cold water.
Grease a deep 10-inch baking dish. Place pie funnel in center. Add meat mixture and allow to cool in refrigerator.
Meanwhile, prepare Pastry Topping. Place pastry over meat, sealing pastry edges to edge of dish. Make vents in pastry to allow steam to escape.
Bake at 450 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes; lower heat to 375 degrees F and continue baking 15 minutes, or until crust is golden.
Pastry Topping: Cut shortening into flour and salt until particles are size of small peas.
Sprinkle in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans sides of bowl, adding 1 to 2 teaspoons water if necessary.
Gather pastry into a ball; shape into flattened round on lightly floured cloth-covered board. Roll out to fit top of casserole.
My best friend had a defective heart. I don’t know the exact term for that, but her heart was on the right side of her chest among several other defects. She couldn’t walk farther than 200m, and her finger tips would always turn black.
When she was born, the doctor gave her a life expectancy of 2 years. She surpassed that. Her parents took her to all the best hospitals in the country. Another estimation: 10 years old. She surpassed that too. She completed high school, she got into college. And she always was a cheerful girl to be with. (Sometimes, her mother kicked my ass out of the house because when we hung out, we laughed too much. Laughing would consume oxygen from her heart and her brain so she would suffer from headaches afterward).
One day, when she was at the university, her heart collapsed. Her doctor demanded her to drop college because it was too much for her. She came back to our hometown, and became an at-home teacher for the kids, and still was a cheerful girl.
After that another year, her heart collapsed once again. She was hospitalized. Her doctor informed her parents that there was nothing more they could do. Her family should consider to unplug the machines and bring her home.
Her mother called me. She said “We are bring [my friend’s name] home”. I rushed into the hospital. Her mother was on one side of her bed holding her left hand, I was on the other side holding her right hand when they unplugged her.
That moment, her mother collapsed to the ground and screamed: “I’ve lost her! From now on, I don’t have anyone to take care of anymore!”
At that moment, I know that just being born normally to be able to live a normal life is extremely lucky. Also, having someone you love by your side, even that means you have to take care of them all the time is also lucky.
Well, not the above but the other way around. In 2014 we were looking to buy a replacement for my wife’s car, and were at the Skoda garage checking out a very-nearly-new Fabia. It had been the showroom’s demonstrator model for a few months, had just a couple of hundred miles on it, but the salespeople had been showing that vehicle to people day in, day out.
We looked in the boot. My wife’s a bee-keeper and a “must have” for her was to be able to get a bee-hive in the back. To do that meant taking the rear parcels shelf off, which I did myself to see how easy it was to do and to replace, since this would be a common action. Putting it back, I noticed you could put it back either in the “conventional” position, or in a half-way house lower position. “Hey, “ I said. “That’s a nifty feature – allows you to put larger items on the parcel shelf but still have it hiding stuff underneath.” At that the salesperson looked in, looked at the shelf, the boot, then went over to his colleague and said “Come over here. We’ve found a brand-new feature!”
We bought the car, still got it now. Don’t think we’ve ever used the parcel shelf in “half-way” position.
My father had been terminally ill for a decade. He was a perfectionist in everything in his life and no detail was ever missed. He was also very stubborn. If there were ever odds almost insurmountable, he always prevailed. This was part of why he’d been terminal for so very long.
One day before, my father agreed that it was time to bring hospice in and make final arrangements. My parents had two other daughters, I was the only one who lived in the same town. Because of my location, he wanted me to be at those meetings.
I was working in the executive offices for a local bank. The woman I reported to was exacting in everything and expected perfection to be performed with minimal preparation and no clarifications. She wanted a mind reader who loved emergencies and placed her on a pedestal.
After that phone call, I was shaken up. It wasn’t unexpected, but you are never really prepared for the situation when you are facing it.
“Something has come up. It’s a delicate family matter,” I said.
“That’s just not convenient,” she said. “Even if it’s life or death, it’s not convenient. I have a series of reports that are due today.” This was news to me. “And I’m expecting that you will be here long after hours.”
“It actually is life or death,” I said. I was about to elaborate when she cut me off.
“Is it your life or death?”
“Honestly, no.”
“Then it’s not convenient.”
“I’m afraid that poor planning on your part really isn’t my problem.”
“Excuse me?” she asked.
“No excuse for you and your lack of planning. I’m quitting as of,” I looked at my watch, “about two minutes from now. Just long enough to get my purse and log off the computer.”
“You can’t do that,” she said.
“Can and did.”
I grabbed my purse and left the building.
I replaced the job with a much nicer one in about two days.
My father passed less than two weeks from my exit. The new job, and I only worked it for two days when he died, not only let me have the time off to complete his arrangements and his funeral, sent flowers. One week later, HR from the bank called, offered me a raise and an apology. “I’m sorry. That’s just not convenient.”
I once attended a court case to support a friend. Her sister was accused by a nasty neighbour of breaking into the nasty neighbour’s home, stealing items, and trying to assault her (on more than one occasion).
My friend and her sister were both black women. It was no secret that the neighbour was this old racist woman who routinely called the police on the sister and her boyfriend when they were minding their own business. When the woman invited her sister (my friend), and her kids to come to visit and swim in their pool, also to use the tennis courts and fitness room that was shared by the condo complex. The boyfriend was also black.
When called to testify the nasty neighbour gave detailed dates about the break in and mentioned her “fox fur coat, some diamond jewellery and several hams and frozen meat”, being taken from her home. She swore that she came home to see the women and her boyfriend running out the back door at night with the merchandise in a leather suitcase.
When the lawyer for the woman questioned the woman and her boyfriend, who each took turns on the stand, it was proven that the neighbour lied by showing that:
My friend’s sister, who worked as a passenger flight attendant, was working on a flight that was on its way to Singapore during the very night and time when she was supposed to have broken into the neighbour’s home. (It’s hard to break into a home when you’re two hours into a 12 hour flight that is 39,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean.)
She and her boyfriend were also vegetarians who never ate meat nor wore nor owned leather and fur since they both believed that “meat is murder”, and to wear animal furs and leather was “cruel and inhumane”.
The boyfriend was also on his way to Singapore flying from India the afternoon before, to meet up with his girlfriend after a business trip for three day vacation, before they’d fly back to Canada. He proposed marriage while they visited Singapore (she said “yes” and did marry him). So they were in Singapore the day before “the break in” at the neighbour’s home and they didn’t return until three days later.
The lawyer for my friend’s sister and her boyfriend also presented pictures of the very “stolen” items in question taken by the police when they were recovered from pawn shops and a consignment store. The items were pawned by a young white man, a known drug addict with a lengthy arrest record who happened to be the neighbour’s nephew whom the neighbour gave money to on a regular basis (not helping him at all).
Before the judge dismissed all charges he ordered the neighbour to be taken into custody for “fraud, perjury, aiding and abetting a criminal” and a few other charges.
In the end the neighbour lost her house and all her savings when my friend’s sister and her boyfriend sued the neighbour for slander and defamation of character. They won a large sum in court and the neighbour ended up spending four years in prison for additional charges which included drug possession on top of what she was already convicted of.
I guess nasty racist people get what’s coming to them after all.
College students pile into a Volkswagen Beetle, (c. 1965)
For those that do it full time, very tough. They have to stand up in front of the crowd and make them laugh. Do you realize what it takes to do that? Then there is the travelling and eating crap food and nerves. For those starting out it is not easy at all. For those on top, well, they have to keep coming up with acts to stay on top. As I did both, a standup comedian and professional drummer in a band, playing in a band was far easier. Below is a little of my stand up act.
I was a part time stand up comedian for awhile along with being a professional drummer. I auditioned for a few shows in local comedy clubs. They must have liked me, I got jobs. I was usually the start off guy, first one out. I had my own shtick. The guy who showed up at the wrong event.
I’d walk out then somberly say, “ I realize this is a sad time for most of you, but Mary, bless her soul loved humour.” Then I’d look behind me and kind of look around confused, then I’d turn to the audience. “Um, Mary’s passing surprised many, especially Mary. I think she’d like some humour at her funeral. She often said that “to laugh at something heartily means that you think it’s funny,” and I heartily agree. I always thought Mary was a deep thinker and that proves it right?
“She was 81, poor Mary. Actually, a woman’s life expectancy is 80, so hey, good for her. Now a man’s life expectancy is 76. If I make it to 76, I’m going to have a sex change. Right? I’ll beat those odds. So I hope to add a bit of humour to Mary’s funeral, wherever she is,” and I look around again for Mary.
Suddenly a sharp whistle from the stage side. I’d stop and walk over with my mic.
“This is not a funeral home. This is a comedy club,” the stage manager would tell me so the audience would hear.
“What? This isn’t Roses Funeral Parlour?” I would say surprised. The crowd would start laughing.
“Do you see Mary anywhere?” he’d ask.
“Actually no,” I would say looking around. “How much do you pay here?”
“$250.” he’d tell me.
A few seconds of silence then I’d say, “Sure, what the hell, Mary won’t miss me,” then I’d walk back center stage where people would be giggling.
“Okay, who here had a good shit today?” Well the crowd would laugh. Somebody always raised a hand, I’d try to pick a girl.
“You did, great, good for you. I won’t ask you details okay?” The girl would laugh.
“So do you know there are many types of shits? There’s the peanut butter shit; that’s the one where you can use up to three rolls of toilet paper, the upside down volcano shit, the totally air shit which isn’t even really a shit though it felt like it was going to be one,,” the shart which is a shit that felt like air but wasn’t, the bombing raid shit and the ghost shit.” Then I’d stop and go back to the girl.
“Okay, I was just wondering what came out that made it such a good shit? We all want to know don’t we folks?” I’d say looking around and people would start applauding. Of course the girl would laugh and hide her face in her hands. “Okay forget it. Tell me privately later. People, I’m going to tell you what the best shit of all is. It’s the Ghost Shit!”
“This is the one when you have to go so bad and there’s no restroom around. It’s turtling so bad it’s stretching your underwear. Suddenly, by some miracle, you find a restroom. You fly in there and sit on the toilet after near ripping your pants off. And ….. it starts.”
“Like the RMS Titanic, this thing is moving out with no effort and it seems like it’s going forever. You are wondering how this thing is going to go down that little toilet hole. It’s embarrassing if you are at someone’s house and you come out of the bathroom and ask, “Hey, have you got a plunger? A good one? One with a lot of suction?” You always get a strange look when you ask that don’t you?
Anyway, so the Titanic has left the dock and you are feeling suddenly very hollow inside, and relieved. You grab some toilet paper and wipe. Nothing! Not a speck of shit on your ass. Puzzled, you stand up and look at the toilet. It’s looking back at you innocent as hell. THERE IS NOTHING IN THE TOILET! What the hell? You look around; nope, not on the floor! It’s nowhere but you felt it by God! That ladies and gentlemen is the Ghost Shit, or maybe I should have called it the Houdini Shit.
Crude yes but it got me back to the comedy clubs. People loved me talking about shit because they all go through it every day.
I used to be hired to give speeches at weddings. Just before the actual person would rise to give a toast to the bride, I would jump up and interrupt him.
“Thank you, thank you. Ah, the lovely bride. Leona, you’re looking great.” That was never the brides name. I’d make one up and the people would laugh. I did the same skit to friends of my sisters who were getting married.
“So, a toast to the bride huh? I’m supposed to come up with some funny stories about her, and some heart warming ones.” Silence from me for a few seconds as the people would snicker. “I have nothing,” I would say, “but I do have a few, should we say naughty stories of Leona. And I promise I will say nothing of that disease you had a few months ago,” I’d say looking at her and pretend I was zippering my mouth.
That would be the cue for someone to say, “That’s not Leona, that’s Shirley!”
I would look up surprised, then look around.
“This isn’t the Wright Patterson wedding?” I would ask. Yes, I know, that’s an air base. I’d be told no it isn’t.
“Jesus,” I would say, “Um, were you going to say something?” I’d say to the guy who originally was going to give the toast to the bride, and I’d run out.
I had fun doing them and I had a few different ones so I’d change them around. I wrote my own material. You can tell? That’s good.
When I started to get quite busy in my pro drumming career I left the comedian stage. I missed the laughs. But I’d do them at get togethers at friends houses and parties.
Being a comedian is a nerve wracking but fun gig. Loved the laughs.
Cab stand in Madison Square Park, New York, (ca 1900)
When I was doing my graduation, I stayed in a hostel, which provided lunch and dinner but no breakfast. You had two options for breakfast: Go out to a restaurant nearby and have a hot breakfast or eat what most of the students ate – mashed banana and flattened rice (it is called poha or chura in India). I chose the second option since the first option was too costly. The food in the hostel was neither good in quality nor enough in quantity. So most of the times, I was famished.
I used to pity myself till I had a discussion about hunger with one of my classmates. He was worse off than me. His father was dead and his mother used to serve tea and water in a government office in a desolate tribal village. In short, he had enough money to have just one meal a day. I asked him what he did when he felt hungry. He said he would drink water.
This classmate of mine was a good student but did not have a clue about what to do after his graduation. In those days, IT was booming in India and I convinced him to do get a Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He got into one of the best Universities of India.
I did not meet him when we were doing our Post Graduation since I was at a different University. I met him a year after both of us had started our careers. He came to meet me. He was working for the largest software company of India and was on his way to his first foreign assignment. I felt very happy at how he had been able to turn around his fortune. He had started from a village which did not have electricity and his relatives and friends had not even seen life outside their village.
I am not in touch with him. But I searched the net and I found this photo. He is happily settled with his family in the USA.
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So how do you deal with being too poor? Work hard and have patience. Things will turn around.
Unemployed men outside Al Capone’s soup kitchen in Chicago during the Great Depression, (1931)
Is earth round? Does waves rush to the shores?, Do the sun rise in the east?
Let me see, the US has a doctrine, it’s call Monroe Doctrine. It says no power big and small cannot come near North America and when USSR wanted to arm Cuba nuclear missile, the U.S. threaten to start a nuclear war! And duly blockade and sanction Cuba for 62 years straight! Is that hegemonic?
The U.S. has invaded 68 nations and counting since its nation is formed after doing genocide on its inhabitants and rightful owner the native Indians. Is that hegemonic?
It has cause millions upon millions of deaths due to regime change, coup orchestration by the U.S. it send out millions of CIA and NED officials around the world to destabilise nations so that they can set up puppet and sham governments to act on U.S. behalf and for US interest! Are these actions hegemonic.
Are all these actions that in total caused up to 100 million deaths, hegemonic? Or according to your media it is doing Mother Teresa role!
In my second year of university, I was summoned to a police station without knowing why. My father drove me and had to wait outside the office while I was being questioned.
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The reason why I was summoned was quite a surprise.
Together with a good friend and a girl I was seeing at the time, I had smoked some weed and drank a couple of beers, and much later that night my friend had been robbed by a couple of low-lifes. So he called the police and explained his predicament.
The problem was: (1) my friend was drunk at the time; (2) round about that time my friend was starting to show the first signs of the paranoid schizophrenia that would later ruin his life.
So my friend told the police a story that did not make sense, and after a couple of questions, the story had gotten even worse: he claimed that before he was robbed, he had taken hard drugs together with the girl and me, and that the girl was actually a drug dealer. But he had forgotten the girl’s name.
Not mine, of course.
So instead of focusing on the robbery, the police men focused on the “hard drugs” and the “drug dealer.” And I was the one who would tell them the girl’s name. Which I didn’t.
After a lot of repeated questions and repeated threats — in which they refused to acknowledge the mental condition of my friend — they called in my dad, and explained to him that I blatantly refused to give them the girl’s name. To which my father said:
“This is ABSOLUTELY the right thing to do, and I am VERY proud of him. I would do the EXACT same thing.”
The police men did not know what to say, and not much later I was released after paying a ridiculous fine. When we left the office, they kept staring at my dad, a grey-bearded man with fierce eyes and thundering charisma.
Lightning had struck.
And the hammer had spoken.
SOURCES: the first drawing is taken from the book Nordiska Gudar by Johan Egerkrans; the second image us my own.
World War II propaganda posters in Port Washington, New York, (1942)
Focus on giving key people you work with what they want. At the end of the day, all people want to hear is “i’m going to fix your problems”.
Trust your intuition. People will try and fill your day with shit that doesn’t matter, do what YOU know does matter.
Make some friends, even if just to keep your sanity.
Don’t participate in shit talking. If a co-worker decides you are their confidant, just nod along with them—but never engage directly in the shit talking. You’ll save your own reputation and as a bonus you won’t feel shitty about yourself.
Say NO more. people respect people that can say no and don’t rollover for everything. Saying YES to everything just leaves you running on an endless treadmill.
Under-promise, over-deliver. always.
Make every effort not to give concrete deadlines, because you won’t be able to meet them anyway. Your credibility will falter. Unfortunately you’ll probably have to give them at some point.
Don’t try and be the best. Instead, make friends with people in a position of power and be at least competent.
Learn empathy. In reality, people don’t really care what gets done if you make them feel important and like they are achieving things. People just want to be heard, man.
A lot of these suck to admit….but it’s the way things are. Whether that’s because of some bullshit implicit social contracts or just the way we’re wired….its what corporate life is really like.
I had what seemed like the ideal bachelor life. Oh, and terror of getting trapped in marriage.
I mean, I was living the dream in college.
Living in a fraternity house with my buds.
Cute girls constantly around.
Parties every weekend.
More alcohol than common sense.
My parents paid for my college expenses. I worked every summer to make money for my personal expenses. So when school started I could focus on it and having fun.
Like I said I was living the dream.
But a weird thing happened. As I faced graduation the fun had worn thin.
I was tired of being hurt in relationships and hurting others.
I hoped there was more to life than one continual party.
I longed to share life at a deeper level with someone.
And I knew I needed to stop drinking so damn much.
Shortly before graduation two things happened that changed my life.
I went through a spiritual experience that transformed me.
And I met the most beautiful girl I’d ever know. Unfortunately, she had zero interest in getting to know me.
We eventually started dating. My persistence won out. And a year later married.
I look back over my life and think of all the blessings of marriage I’d have missed as a bachelor.
Someone to love and who loves me. Even sometimes when I’m, shall we say, less than lovable.
Sharing life together. The good, the bad and the ugly. And most of all the beautiful.
Raising our children that filled our lives with occasional frustration and even more love.
Conquering life together. Strengths making up for weaknesses. And glad she didn’t keep score.
Caring for each other in sickness and enjoying each other in health.
Laughing, crying, rejoicing and celebrating.
And at night, when I drift off to sleep, holding her hand and feeling a contentment I simply never could have imagined.
So for some, singleness works.
For me I can’t imagine having missed marrying my wife. And for her? I think she feels the same. At least on most days.
You’ll find a depth of life in marriage you cannot experience outside of it.
My house has a two person jacuzzi tub with mirrors on three walls around it. When I was looking at the house there was a four post canopy bed with a mirror inside the canopy. Needless to say, the previous owner had his thing.
When I was moving in I found in the basement a bar with cuffs on either end hanging from the ceiling and two eye bolts in a board on the floor that would have made this a perfect place to tie someone up spread eagle. I strongly suspect that is what it was used for.
I have a room that used to be a bar (previous owner took the bar itself with him despite it being a built in). It has a dropped ceiling and the lights are above with clear panels to let the light thru. I was moving ceiling tiles to change a bulb and got hit in the face by what I’m guessing was a home made sex swing that was bolted to the rafters above.
I’ve been in this house 3 years and I still occasionally find a secret panel in a wall. It seems anywhere there was an extra bit of space he put a removable panel to make a hidden storage space.
And despite all that, the single most surprising thing I found in this house is the light switch in the bathroom that has power going to it but doesn’t seem to actually switch anything in the house! What do you do about a mysterious switch?
We also found a stack of acrylic paintings in the basement, all very amateurish. Subjects ranged from creepy little girls to 70’s psychedelic nude ladies. Realtor told the owners to pick them up, or they would end up in the trash. They showed up a year later asking for them
Bonus, junk removal guy loved the 70’s nudes, asked to keep them.
It has nothing to do with “authoritarian government” it has everything to do with China not playing by U.S. “rules” that requires China to be submissive and subservient to the U.S. if you are observant you will noticed that the nations that the U.S. and the west have been giving negative press are all nations that refused to be submissive and subservient to the west.
The west merely represent 13% of the world? In fact the west is controlled by the the U.S. which represents 4% of the world. Should the 96% or the 87% of the rest of the world kowtow and let the west walk all over them? And dictate what they do? Who they make friends with? What they buy, how much they ought to pay? What religion they believe or what cloths to wear or what food they eat?
Let me give you an American answer! Over our dead body! It ain’t gonna happen!
The Global South is drifting away as we speak. No nations will buys your shit anymore. We decide our own fate. China certainly won’t. But so is 175 out of the 195 nations on earth. The faster you westerners get this, the better it is for you. Stop thinking about decoupling or de-risking China, the world is decoupling and de-risking from the U.S. and the west!
Your media and your government can lie and fabricate all you want but the bus has left the station. Authoritarian or CCP or communist or dictator are all excuses not reason for hating China and Chinese. These are narratives for the simple mind. It is demonising because it can’t get its way. Like a toddler throwing tantrum, that is what it is. Frankly if you are a westerner, your government is trying to hoodwink you! Not U.S. because we are not fools. We know lies when we see it.
Sidewheeler Tashmoo leaving wharf in Detroit, (ca 1901)
When I was younger, I was the Assisstant Manager of a Pizza Hut. I was moved to this particular store with the expectation that the Store Manager who was there had set me up to become the next Store Manager. When he resigned I was passed over for a 23 year old nobody with no experience or work ethic. He worked 25 hours a week and had me do most of his duties on top of my own. He would often show up in the middle of dinner rush with his posse, ask how things were, I would tell him it was terrible and we needed help, he’d see that we did, and say things like “Sounds good” and walk out.
Week after week people in my Store were getting overworked and burned out. I constantly hounded my Area Manager to let me hire people, often being turned down. He woul even turn down temporarily allowing neighboring stores to send their workers to my Store to keep up with demand. So week after week we would have at least 1 person quit.
Even when I was allowed to hire ONE person, that person would freak out on day one because of the workload pushed upon all of us. They would typically last 1 day, maybe a week, before quitting.
One day we were told we were having a store meeting with the Area Manager so I typed up my resignation letter preemptively and attended. We were told how terrible our customer service scores were (mostly hold time issues or delivery time issues because we couldn’t keep enough people to staff the whole store, so delivery drivers were cutting and boxing pizzas, answering phones and taking orders, THEN delivering them) and how we needed to shape up. I spoke up and said we desperately needed more employees and I was waved off again. So I finished my shift that night, put my resignation letter in the fax machine with my end of day paperwork, locked the door, and dropped my security key and door keys in the mail slot. The next day I was inundated with phone calls from the Store Manager and Area Manager, which I ignored for a few hours. Then I picked up, the Area Manager begged me to come back and said he’d do anything if I came back.
“A raise?”
“Sure, whatever you need.”
“4 more employees?”
“No, you know you’re not getting that.”
*hangup*
I never talked to them again.
Titanic sinks on April 15, 1912. Newspaper boy Ned Parfett sells copies of the evening paper bearing news of the disaster.
As a car mechanic, what is the craziest discovery you have found on an automobile?
I’m not the mechanic, but I know of one crazy discovery. My father purchased a brand new GMC Suburban in the 1980s and gave me his old pickup truck so I would have a vehicle while attending college. He occasionally heard a strange knocking noise while driving that Suburban, but neither he nor the dealer could ever figure out what was causing it. Since he didn’t hear that noise very often, and the vehicle ran great, he just kept driving it and eventually simply ignored that occasional knocking noise. The transmission needed to be rebuilt when it was 9 years old, so he took the Suburban to a shop that pulled the transmission and rebuilt it. While reinstalling it, the mechanic spotted a small hand-held air impact wrench hanging from a bent welding rod between the engine and firewall. He called my father, who then went back to the shop and took photos of the impact wrench and welding rod before and after they were removed. The wrench had “Property of GM” engraved on it.
Since it appeared the impact wrench had been hung there while on the assembly line, my father took the photos, impact wrench, and bent welding rod to the dealer who had sold it. The dealer wanted to send everything to GM, but my father would only agree to let him send copies of the photos. A GM lawyer called him the following week and offered to pay $500 for the return the impact wrench and welding rod, provide and release all prints and negatives he had taken of them to GM, and for his wife and him to sign a non-disclosure agreement concerning any and all possible “manufacturing flaws” involving that Suburban. My father made a counter offer of $5000. The lawyer said the most he was authorized to offer would be a $3000 manufacturer’s credit towards the purchase of a new GM vehicle. My father countered again by asking for both the $500 and $3000 credit towards a new GM vehicle. The lawyer agreed and then arraigned to have the dealer handle the exchange and witness my parents signing a non-disclosure agreement. My parents then negotiated with the dealer to buy a new car for my mother, and then applied that $500 check and the $3000 manufacturer’s credit towards the purchase of it.
After that impact wrench was removed, my father never heard that knocking noise again. Since I knew about this “manufacturing flaw” before they signed that non-disclosure agreement, I’m not bound by it. But my surviving parent could be subject to significant financial penalties for discussing this story, so I am posting this anonymously to prevent any possible repercussions. However I seriously doubt GM would want to have people going through records more than three decades old just to determine who my parents are.
I’ve told this story elsewhere but it fits here as well.
In a prior life I worked for a major multi-national and the division I worked in was managed by somebody based in Europe (let’s call him George). But he had direct reports in a number of cities around the world including New York. So during one of his visits to New York he speaks to Fred and tells him that things just aren’t working out so he should find another job. Nothing out of the ordinary and not adversarial in any way.
So about a year later George is in New York and sees Fred sitting in his office wearing jeans and track shoes, feet up on his desk reading a newspaper. So he says “Fred, why are you still here? Didn’t I tell you to find another job?” And Fred’s response was classic “Yes but my contract requires one year’s written notice and I’ve never received anything.”
To make a long story short, George was off to HR and after a discussion with legal Fred got a year’s salary plus the cash value of all the benefits he would have rec’d during the year. Given how senior Fred was I’m sure that check would have been at least $400 K (and more likely quite a bit north of that).
So way back in 1984 I worked a summer in Yellowstone national park. During training I learned a lot about dangers in the park. For example, bison kill many more people than grizzly bears. That being said at least one person a year is kill in the park by a grizzly bear.
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But I digress.
The dumbest question that a tourist asked me was a question that they warned me I would be asked and I laughed like it was a joke. They seriously said no you will get asking this and please don’t embarrass the tourists who ask it.
So a couple days into the Job I am standing there and this nice looking middle aged American woman who seemed she had all her senses came up to me and looked me straight in the face and asked,
“Where do they put the animals at night”?
image 522
I was gobsmacked!
This woman actually thought that all the animals were gathered up at night and put in cages. Just like I was warned, someone asked me the question I thought I would never hear.
And no, she most certainly wasn’t the last tourist to ask me that!
My two week notice was a long time coming. I was sick of working in finance, at that company, and for that boss. I slept terribly the night before, having fevered dreams of a squandered future. But I knew I needed some upheaval. I was forging a sad, bitter storyline that would haunt me forever.
As I embarked on my new journey as a writer, I unpacked my new life, and all the stories from that dark chapter, all the moments of pain and frustration, came with me. As with many of you, these scenes replay more vividly on my lesser days. It’s as the incomparable Frederick Nietzsche wrote, “When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago.”
Old embarrassments — losing my temper with someone 20 years ago, making ill advised comments, and moments of rejection — come bubbling up for no reason. Why could I see these scenes so easily and with 8K clarity while the amazing moments hid in the shadows?
Per Dr. Daniel L. Schacter, we remember the past so vividly because it’s a means of envisioning the future. We use it as a modeling tool, a form of mental time travel, where our mind anchors moments in time. The word “anchor” is key — because many of these images and stories become crystallized and of cognitive convenience.
For example, you might experience something I do when reading books: anytime there is a scene with a bar, I can’t help but see the same bar in my mind — to the point of it being annoying. If there’s some type of battle scene, I always see an old field I played in as a kid. This is the mind anchoring and why it’s so easy to recall the same negative moments over and over.
Per research by psychologist, Dr. Linda Levine, we tend to interpret past events through an emotional filter of the present. The same facts on paper suddenly look different. Negative moods — such as being tired, annoyed, or frustrated — evoke specific and detailed bad memories that often hit harder. Good moods — such as being well rested, jovial, excited, or in good humor — tend to evoke broader and more general memories. Unfortunately, negative memories are much more powerful and easily evoked.
We tend to apply a filter of our self-concept — who we’d like to be, and what our “ideal self” is and how we’d hoped to be perceived. Which is why our subconscious searches for contradictions to this ideal self.
For example, I’m generally a pleasant and nice person. Which is perhaps why my mind dredges up instances of me being unpleasant. I hate thinking of those times because when I do, I feel like I’m standing right there in that same room 15 years ago, watching my former self act out and be nasty with someone I loved.
The mind tells me, “Remember this person? You could be this person again if you don’t behave.” So how to we rewire this toxic pattern?
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Rewriting your narrative
A few years ago, I thought, “Why am I beating myself up all the time?” I had so much to be thankful for. I’d brought plenty of good into this world, been a good friend and family member. I’d fought hard to win a better future but still bludgeoned myself over bygones that nobody else remembered.
I met with a therapist a few years ago and had tremendous improvement in dealing with negativity. He was a silver haired man, with black rimmed glasses and a quiet, friendly demeanor, and a PhD hanging on his wall.
As we began talking, he nodded his head in understanding and began giving me homework assignments anchored in cognitive behavioral therapy which, per the American Psychological Association, is as effective (or more) than other forms of psychotherapy and medications in dealing with negativity.
He said, “We often tell our life story to ourselves in excessively harsh terms, and jump to instant conclusions at our own expense.”
One exercise he gave was to practice reframing the stories with less certainty. Instead of saying X results in Y, explore alternative causes and remove unhelpful thoughts.
For example, during college, I was dumped by woman I was totally in love with. I deserved it. I was being irresponsible and drinking all the time and she finally had enough. For years, I was sure that my poor decisions had cost me my soulmate. But I learned this was totally unfair thinking.
Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be. Perhaps she was just losing interest and this was her way out. And if I’d stayed with her, I’d have never met the incredible woman I now have. Even more so, the concept of a soulmate felt a wee bit irrational and limiting.
When you map out events, and deconstruct the narrative you tell yourself, it can look entirely silly sometimes. The exercise also helps reframe the memory more constructively. I can confidently say getting dumped caused me to stop partying so much and may have saved me from myriad legal and health problems.
Another strategy was to build a mental rolodex of positive memories in your mind that you can return to. Doing this, and rapid fire indulging these memories can counteract your negativity instinct, and tends to put me in a much better mood.
A quick forewarning, I’d make sure to write this list out. I initially thought I’d be able to manage it in my mind, but it was much harder to build out and think through.
Here are a few from my list:
Picking up my 8-week old golden retriever from the breeder. He was a fat marshmallow shaped dog with a permasmile, who brought me so much dang joy in life.
Having Christmas mornings as a kid with my grandparents and the love they surrounded us with.
Going on walks with my beloved partner on St. Pete beach and sitting quietly with her in the sand and drinking a beer while we read books.
Helping raise money at events for wounded soldiers, and volunteering with the Special Olympics.
One last strategy is exploratory processing, which takes the opposite approach. You list out the painful experience just after it happens and leave two lines below it. Then, after one month, you return to write in the blank what you learned. Then, six months later, you list something positive that came from the mistake.
For example, when I bought my house, it was a complete circus and the inspection went poorly and I fought with the builder and the realtor. The entire experience crashed my hopeful vision of home ownership. I put this down on the list as my first entry. Then, I came back a month later and wrote about how the experience taught me the importance of having a home inspection (which I almost skipped doing).
Then, at the six month mark, I put that this experience still resulted in me owning a great home that I can now rest in knowing is safe. I know that it has given me and my partner new friends in the neighborhood. The house has also appreciated significantly in value.
Remember, it’s entirely normal and common to have tons of negative memories that pester you. Most major life changes are precipitated by bad experiences and it’s easy to carry those stories with you.
Consider compiling a list of positive memories to return to and combat that trend. Reframe your experiences by exploring the possibilities of how they came to be, and how you might be irrational and excessively harsh in reviewing them. Lastly, use exploratory processing just after something goes wrong. Approach the experience with curiosity rather than judgement. Something good usually comes from all of the chaos we endure.
I keep my hair short. Very, very short. Before joining the Navy, I was already doing so, but for the past twenty years, I have been unable to go much longer than a couple of weeks—or, in the warmer months, a week or so—before it feels as though something is wrong. Oddly, I don’t mind skipping a shave for two or three days, but actually wearing facial hair (beard, long sideburns) is out of the question.
While I’m not fanatically neat, I do try to keep items off the floor. Gear should be stowed somehow, whether in a desk, in a cabinet, on a shelf, or even on a table. The deck should be kept clear.
I understand the distinction between a command (Do it now!) and an order (Get it done!).
I am almost never, ever late, even to social engagements, as gauche as that may be. And “on time,” in my book, means approximately six to ten minutes early (no more).
Generally, I am far more situationally aware and cognizant of potential risks and dangers than I was before joining. People don’t plan to fail; they fail to plan.
A day without some kind of PT is somehow misspent.
I still lace up my shoes in a crisscross pattern, with no “bridge.”
Most of the year, regardless of whether I’m dressed formally or informally, I wear a T-shirt of some kind as an initial layer. If the temperature goes past about 75°F or so, I’ll wear either a T-shirt or a polo shirt. But even in the heat, I don’t like wearing a dress shirt without an undershirt.
I tell time with the 24-hour clock and write the date in the day-month-year format. This dovetails nicely with living in Europe.
Having qualified as an Expert with the 9-mm pistol and a Marksman on the M-16, I have contempt for gun nuts who brandish their weapons in public, exhibit no discipline or respect for them or consideration for others, and lack the faintest idea of what they are talking about.
A German soldier after being captured by American troops near Nicosia, (1943)
Last year, Carl Sergeant, 49-year-old politician, took his life after losing his job as secretary
image 569
The cause? False sexual abuse allegations.
The sentiment of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ is being jettisoned. Now, mere accusation alone is enough to ruin someone’s career. Do you understand how dangerous that is?
Quote from BBC News:
“The family wish to maintain the fact that Carl maintained his innocence and he categorically denied any wrongdoing. The distress of not being able to defend himself properly against his unspecified allegtions meant he was not afforded common courtesy, decency or natural justice.”
You can’t make the cost of sexual interest the complete desolation of a man’s career, his reputation and even his life. We can’t keep branding people who sent a risqué text or blew kiss a pervert.
We’re now witnessing the birth pangs of the sexual reformation, the fallout from the sex abuse scandals that have plagued the entertainment industry, politics, and are now spreading throughout society as a whole. Third-wave feminists have been largely discredited over the past five years – just 18% of women in the US identify as feminist. Even less in the UK. Rights that actual feminists fought for a hundred years ago have been achieved, which is why radical feminists and SJWs need to hijack or invent new outrages to push their primary narrative and create more gender division.
Remember Zaira Wasim? Last year, she said she was scared when a man sitting behind her was touching her waist with his legs. At first, she ignored it, thinking it was due to turbulence, but didn’t tell anyone about it – not even the crew. Zaira put this allegation on a man named as Vikas Sachdev, a 39-year-old father and husband.
He was arrested. His wife defended him as innocent, but to the baying mob, allegations were all that were required to pass judgement.
image 568
Now don’t get me wrong, if sexual abuse is admitted or proven, those people should be punished to the full extent of the law. Hollywood and political peadophile rings should be exposed. But trial by a social media mob outage isn’t justice, and it sets a horrific precedent. Women are now jumping on the MeToo hashtag bandwagon so they can smother themselves in attention-seeking victimhood – not because they’re actual victims, but in one case because a man looked at them.
Another story was whipped up about Adam Sandler touching Claire Foy’s knee on a talk show.
In another instance, an MP was outed after he described a woman as “attractive, intelligent and charming”
Another case involved Michael Fallon trying to kiss a woman.
See the trend here? Everything is being conflated, to the point where making a pass at a woman is placed in the same context as actual rape.
There has to be an understanding that mere accusations alone are not proof. We have to put a check on this call of instantly believing the accuser without any regard for evidence.
It’s one of those David vs Goliath academic tales that’s as absurd as it is commendable.
image 48
Knorozov was a Soviet linguist – not a guy you’d expect to crack a Mesoamerican code. He got intrigued by the Mayan glyphs while rummaging through old dusty books in the off-limits section of the library. The glyphs hadn’t been fully understood for centuries.
The declassified Dresden Codex landed in his lap. It had been through hell: World War II bombings, water damage, and general neglect. But this old thing was a Rosetta Stone waiting for its sober lover.
While World War II suppressed the free exchange of scholarly thought, Knorozov was insulated and incubated over in Mother Russia. He faced another kind of battle, though: stifling Soviet oversight and scarce resources.
But undeterred, Yuri used his noggin. He hypothesized that the glyphs weren’t just individual pictures or symbols. They were indicative of phonetic sounds, a theory vastly different from what the scholarly mainstream believed.
Where many saw walls, Knorozov saw doors.
He hammered away at this theory, marrying the dots and bars of the Mayan numeral system to the text surrounding them. It was as if he spoke directly to the ancient Mayans, bridging a chasm of silence that had lasted since the fall of their civilization. Bit by bit, he began matching sounds to symbols.
His breakthrough publications hit in the 1950s. And like most disruptors, he was met with academic side-eye. It was the ‘newbie rocking the boat’ scenario. Many Western academics clung angrily to their dated theories, as if they were good luck charms.
But as time marched on, so did progress. Others began taking swings with the bat Knorozov had crafted. Additional findings corroborated his theories. The wall of mystery surrounding Mayan writing was getting holes punched into it, letting light in.
By the time of his death in 1999, Knorozov had seen his theories widely accepted. Mayan glyphs were readable, weaving tales of kings, conquests, and the cosmos.
What Yuri Knorozov did single-handedly is akin to solving a 1,000-year-old crossword puzzle without any clues, which makes you wonder, how many other historical whispers are just waiting for their translator?
From my home in Portland, OR, I look at Knorozov’s story as a beacon of hope for every solo scholar out there staring at an uncracked code. Keep at it. You might just be onto something.
Yes, but it had nothing to do with the procedure being inappropriate; it was an issue of consent.
I was called by a clinician to put a drainage catheter into an abscess, a pretty standard procedure; I was told that the patient had been reluctant, but had agreed to go ahead. Naturally I spoke with the patient myself, and discovered that she had not given any kind of meaningful consent; instead she had said something like “whatever”, just to get rid of the clinician, whom she described as a moron.
I called him up, with the patient in the room (but not listening in on the phone); I explained that I had spoken with her in person, and she was clearly unwilling to have the procedure. He then described her as a “seed person”, his term for someone who distrusted conventional medicine and preferred natural remedies; while I sympathized with his preference for proven treatments, it was clear that his attitude towards her was one of contempt, and that she had picked this up. He asked if he could speak to her; I told her he wanted to talk with her, she absolutely refused, and I conveyed this to him – softening her language slightly.
I then wrote a lengthy note in her chart, summarizing my discussion with her, quoting her comments, and explaining that as she had no intention of giving consent for this procedure, I was not going to perform it. I felt that she needed it, and I had explained this to her as clearly as I could; but as I was not her parent or legal guardian, I was professionally and ethically obligated to respect her wishes.
The right of a mentally competent adult patient to refuse treatment is absolute, whatever the consequences. My job is to explain those consequences as clearly as I can. The patient’s job is to make the choice.
An ex of mine, we dated for 3 months. He was significantly older.
In that time he got progressively more controlling. One day he heard a rumour I was cheating on him.
How I was meant to, I don’t know as I was always either at work (and replying to his messages) or with him.
He decided to throw me around and threaten me with 2 knives. Both of which he pressed against my throat. He also threatens to kill the friend he decided I was sleeping with. Luckily he gets angry enough and storms out of my home as there was no way I could physically move him and I lock the door.
I call my mum to come and get me away, she calls the police. All the time he is banging on the door threatening me and my friend. He keeps accusing me of calling “my other boyfriend” and how he will kill him when he gets there. He realises I’ve called the Police and goes for a walk away from my home.
I show the Police the knives and give a statement at the Police station. He is arrested and pleads guilty to the Police.
The Police Officer I was speaking to unofficially advised me to submit a request against Claires Law which eventually informed me that he had been connected to 5 other women in domestic violence cases. The last one whom he attacked with an axe, he went to prison for 3 months for that incident. These are just the reported cases, I have no doubt there are more who did not report him.
My case was deemed only to be a Magistrates case. The Magistrate on hearing the guilty plea gave a 12 week suspended sentence for 1 year so he could work on his mental health, a Restraining order for 3 years and “compensation” of £150.
I can’t believe the magistrate had a clear domestic abuser who showed clear escalation patterns increasing in violence to women ranging from stalking, assault and sexual assault and gave such a ridiculous sentence. It showed a lack of respect for female lives. I was advised not to attend court, it’s probably a good thing as I doubt I could have stopped myself shouting at the magistrate.
I had to flee my home, upend my entire life, develop ptsd and the perpetrator got a slap on the wrist.
A Nihang Bodyguard, (c.1865)
39 1
When Evil Parents Realize They’ve Been Caught
Damn! Damn! Damn!
Holy FUCK!
https://youtu.be/31AZ3x17Aq0
Curb Market in NYC, (ca 1900)
40
27 Minutes Of Rude Karens Vs Judges!
GOD! The USA is so messed up!
Observer on Iwo Jima, (1945)
41
A Massive Cat Abandoned at the Shelter Gets Adopted Within Hours
Crowded Bunks in the Prison Camp at Buchenwald, (April 16, 1945)
In the first place, I would like to say that you are right, to some extent. I agreed with you that we are somehow forced to learn some very entry level Classical Chinese, during the compulsory education stage (year 1 to year 9). This is the fact about Chinese education.
In the second place, since you asked why. I will try my best to answer your question.
The importance of classical Chinese:
In the narrow sense, Classical Chinese is the language which was actively used between Spring and Autumn period through to the end of the Han Dynasty (5th century BC to 2nd century AD). It soon became the formal written language in the Chinese society all the way until the 1910s when the Qing Dynasty was overturned. More than 2000 years of history was documented by using classical Chinese. It carried the invaluable heritage of our civilisation. In my opinion, it means much more to us than Latin to the European society.
In the broad sense, Classical Chinese is contrary to the Morden Mandarin, including classical Chinese (narrow sense), poems, novels written in the vernacular Chinese etc. It draws a whole picture of our great 5000-thousand-year civilisation, keeping people with hopes even in the darkest time of our nation.
Why government decided to introduce classical education.
China is a civilisation state instead of a national state. Anyone who recognises Chinese culture is considered as Chinese and could be integrated into the mainstream society, even he is not a Han Chinese. That is said Chinese people was united by a common written language, a universal value and a general social norm, even they may speak different dialects, live in a different region and have a different clan. This is also the most powerful argument to against the claims such as Cantonese is a distinct language instead of a Chinese dialect. The reason why schools in China teach both classical and Mandarin is, I think, it works better if taught together. Mandarin is the main structure and classical is a supplement of it. Mandarin is superficial which could not teach students some fundamental and abstract concepts. For example, people who only received Mandarin education would probably not able to understand the connections between the full moon and home sick (like a metaphor), autumn and depression etc. Therefore, promoting classical education would further strengthen the sense of national identity bound by the language and culture. That is the how to keep the nation united for more than 2000 years (Since Qin Dynasty firstly published a set of national standards). That is the political concern of the government. And this is also the answer to why not only Han Chinese, other ethical minorities are (not forced but encouraged) learning Chinese.
“月落乌啼霜满天 江枫渔火对愁眠” （The moon is setting. The crows are crying. The atmosphere is heavy with a chilly autumn frost. The maple trees and the lights of the fishing boats are reflected in the water. Yet I am unable to sleep because of sorrow.）This short poem was filled with culture symbols such as “moon, crow, autumn, red leaves and fishing boats”. Those culture symbols was consistently used till today, they speak themselves without the need of explanation. But it almost undecipherable for people without classical education.
Social response
In fact, there is far less unfavorable voice against teaching classical in school rather than that of English. Ministry of Education is planning to make the English language an elective subject in the College Entrance Examination (aka. Gaokao), but removing classical content is out of the question, definitely. Personally, I, although not excel it, rather enjoy learning classical than modern Mandarin. It is so concise, splendid, touching my soul so deeply. I was hoping one day I could like those famous poets, to put own feelings into such powerful words. People used to say ‘a picture speaks a thousand words’. Some classical quotes certainly could do the better job in the appropriate circumstance. Many Chinese leaders would like to quote some classical or come up their own.
President Jiang Zemin’s calligraphy, quoting national hero Lin Zexu’s poem. （were it to benefit my country I would lay down my life; what then is the risk to me）
China’s Premier Wen Jiabao wrote on the blackboard after 2008 Sichuan earthquake. “challenges make a nation much stronger”
Chinese also tend to use classical to name their children, their company etc. A name with good meaning would give people a better first impression. Actually, not only Chinese, people from East Asia and Vietnam will also use Chinses classical when giving the name. e.g. all Japanese emperor’s title of reign is based on Chinese classical.
Lastly, China, together with Korea peninsula, Japan, Ryukyu and Vietnam, shared a long history bound by classical Chinese language. All most all the history was written in classical Chinese. Due to some political concerns, both Korea and Vietnam abolished Chinese, making it a great loss in their culture. Now people living there could not understand what their ancestors wrote when they are visiting their historical sites. I can never imagine this happens in China one day, when our children visiting forbidden city and asking what exactly did the emperor write on the wooden boards. What a ridiculous thing?
Ps. It is rather funny to ask in such way. Forced?
It could be better to rephrase the question to ‘why Chinese student nowadays still need to learn classical Chinese’
He sacked a colleague the day my colleague was leaving for a family holiday. My boss (and owner of the business), Paul, just liked to show people he had the power. He was often petty and a micromanaging control freak. He seemed to like me, so most of the time he left me to do my thing.
My colleague, Ian, had become a friend, and we’d hang out after work. He had been planning an overseas family trip for some time, and had been talking about it for a couple of months in advance of the date. He had requested leave, which was approved, before making the booking. He was a friendly, genuine guy, and most of us in the office shared his enthusiasm for his holiday. We could see he was looking forward to taking his family away.
He was due to fly out on a Saturday. On the Friday, Paul called Ian into his office and told him he had changed his mind, he was revoking the leave. Ian tried to argue that the tickets were non-refundable, everything was booked, his wife had taken leave, and they had permission to take their children out of school. Paul wasn’t swayed. He made it clear, cancel or be fired.
Ian asked what was so important that he needed to stay, Paul didn’t give a real answer. He just shrugged and said, “it’s my company, my call.”
Ian called his wife, and then decided to do the holiday. He didn’t want to lose the money or let his family down.
He came and told me just before lunch what had happened, and suggested we go for a farewell lunch.
I was incensed! I immediately wrote a handwritten resignation, left it on Paul’s desk, packed my things, and went to lunch. I told Ian and some other colleagues at lunch that this was also MY farewell.
As lunch wrapped up, the others drifted back to the office, and it was just Ian and me, commiserating over a beer, when Paul came in, in a fluster. I had never seen him in such a state (I later realized it was because he was no longer in control). Paul loudly tried to convince me to stay, offered me everything (other than more money!). I just said no, calmly. He left saying something like “you’ll be back when you can’t find another job.”
I called in on another friend on my way home, and had a job offer that afternoon.
Beer Battered Fish and Chips
Beer Battered Fish and Chips
Ingredients
2 to 4 potatoes, scrubbed and cut into fingers
1 pound fish (cod, halibut, polluck, etc.) 500g
1 (12 ounces/355mL) can beer
1 egg, beaten until fluffy
2/3 cup milk 150 mL
1 teaspoon canola oil 5 mL
1 teaspoon baking powder 5 mL
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 mL
1/4 teaspoon salt 1 mL
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 375 mL
1/2 cup second flour amount for dipping 125 mL
3 cups canola oil for deep frying 750 mL
Instructions
Pat potatoes and fish dry with paper towels.
Heat oil to a frying temperature of 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). To cook potato chips properly, it is important to maintain this frying temperature. You may wish to increase the temperature slightly before adding potatoes as oil temperature will drop when food is added. Fry 5-6 minutes or until golden brown. While potatoes are frying, prepare batter for fish.
To prepare batter: Mix together beer, egg, milk and canola oil. Add baking powder, cayenne pepper, salt and 1 1/2 cups (375 mL) flour all at once, mixing only enough to dampen the dry ingredients.
Remove potato chips from the canola oil with slotted spoon, drain on paper towels, and season to taste.
Coat fish pieces in 1/2 cup (125 mL) flour before dipping in batter. Gently place in hot oil to deep fry. Cook until golden, about 6 minutes.
Remove from oil with slotted spoon; drain on paper towels.
When my grandmother found out she had terminal cancer, she gave away a lot of her things to her children and grandchildren. She gave my cousin her 6 year old car, she gave me her expensive vacuum cleaner, she gave my mother an 8 foot tall grandfather’s clock, that had been hand made by my mothers great grandfather, those are the only three I remember, but she had two children and six grandchildren, so you can see by the gifts, that they weren’t terribly expensive, but had some value.
She still owned her own condo, and had some savings.
Shortly after my grandmother had died, and the will had been read, I over heard my uncle talking to my mother. My grandmother had split the estate between my uncle and mother. My uncle wanted everything that my grandmother had given away, to be given back to the estate, as he felt that they were just loans. Then the estate would be split between him and mom. If the grandkids ( including his own kids) wanted what they had been given, they could buy it from the estate.
I was shocked, I had always loved my uncle, he had never seemed like a greedy man. But inheritance seems to bring out the worst in people. My mother and uncle fought for the first time that I ever knew of, and some nasty things were said.
Evidently he approached his kids to get the gifts back, and they formed a united front, and told him he was wrong. So he backed off. I would have never have known that he had a greedy side to him, if I hadn’t overheard that conversation. He died about 10 years later, and I never looked at him, quite the same as before I overheard that conversation.
When my grandmother found out she had terminal cancer, she gave away a lot of her things to her children and grandchildren. She gave my cousin her 6 year old car, she gave me her expensive vacuum cleaner, she gave my mother an 8 foot tall grandfather’s clock, that had been hand made by my mothers great grandfather, those are the only three I remember, but she had two children and six grandchildren, so you can see by the gifts, that they weren’t terribly expensive, but had some value.
She still owned her own condo, and had some savings.
Shortly after my grandmother had died, and the will had been read, I over heard my uncle talking to my mother. My grandmother had split the estate between my uncle and mother. My uncle wanted everything that my grandmother had given away, to be given back to the estate, as he felt that they were just loans. Then the estate would be split between him and mom. If the grandkids ( including his own kids) wanted what they had been given, they could buy it from the estate.
I was shocked, I had always loved my uncle, he had never seemed like a greedy man. But inheritance seems to bring out the worst in people. My mother and uncle fought for the first time that I ever knew of, and some nasty things were said.
Evidently he approached his kids to get the gifts back, and they formed a united front, and told him he was wrong. So he backed off. I would have never have known that he had a greedy side to him, if I hadn’t overheard that conversation. He died about 10 years later, and I never looked at him, quite the same as before I overheard that conversation.
They taught us how to wear boots. At the beginning of the session, the tough looking DS looked at us the only way a DS can do it.
I thought what the hell? Put them on and lace them up. Oh no. There was the Army way.
We found out how important the simple sock was in the Army.
“Socks must be pulled up TIGHT! No wrinkles or seams. Loose socks in your boot can be a painful thing and cause blisters quicker than your daddy’s willow switch. Pull them up tight. Keep them dry. Wet socks are not a soldier’s friend. If a soldier’s feet are unusable because of blisters, that soldier is unusable. Take care of those feet. Also, mark those socks.”
We had to make sure there were no wrinkles on the inner sole where the foot goes in.
“If there’s a wrinkle in your boot lining, give ‘em back and you will be issued new ones. Wrinkles cause blisters. Make sure your boot is TIGHT around your foot. Do not let your feet ‘float’ in boots. Floating feet cause blisters!”
“The boots are laced diagonally with the excess lace tucked into the top of the boot. Metal cleats and side tabs are not authorized for wear. Steeled toed boots are not authorized for wear. THAT gentlemen is why these are NOT steel toed boots. If they were, you would be crippled within two weeks. There should be at least a 3/4-inch minimum additional length at toe. DO NOT soak boots in water or bake in an oven to break-in. Boots should be worn in gradually at first with ever-increasing walking or marching distances while remaining comfortable.”
“The back of your boots must also be shined. Just because we’re looking at you from the front, wise asses, doesn’t mean we won’t give the about face order.
“The tongues of your boots will lie flat all along the top of your boots, not squished in like a piece of toilet paper shoved up the crack of your ass. Squished tongues cause blisters. We don’t want blisters around here. Blisters mean there’s a man out and the rest of you do twice the work. If I find a squished tongue in your boot, and I’ll check at times, it’ll be YOUR tongue lying on top of your foot under the laces!”
“If you do not follow these instructions, you will get my right boot up your ass and I’m telling you now, IT WILL HURT! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”
This DS had at least size 13 boots. We understood.
The story of the wife that assisted in my “retirement” from the ONI; MAJ is a long one and very painful for me to revisit.
You see, I was the FOURTH “husband” that she “retired”.
I originally thought it was two, but I discovered out later that she had three previous "husbands". Of course, they were bad, bla bla bla... And yes, each one ended up with problems. Where she profited greatly.
And while I don’t know ALL the details, it appears that I was the one that she got NOTHING out of. For she was living off the collective finances of the three previous “husbands”, whether insurance, alimony, or selling their resources. She got none of that with me.
Because of this…
… because of this failure in her efforts (sure she got me arrested, and I lost everything, she gained nothing.) She ended up with nothing. No profit. No money. No resources. No insurance settlements.
I think when you are expecting millions of dollars from bringing in “one big fish” only to see it go South, it turns you a little crazy. Or “crazier”.
And she has kept on doing everything in her power to “trip me up” and give me a hard time. Here is one such story…
…
When I was in the ADC, prison, I had to endure an all morning lie detector test. I, along with another 16 inmates were marched down to the gym, and waited as one by one, we were given lie detector tests. This one was quite different from the stuff that you see on television.
While it did measure heart-rate, body temperature and nerve impulses, it also measured voice. It was designed to look for changes in frequency and amplitude. Which was a novel idea. I had never thought about this. So all these measurements were taking place while watching my pupils dilate and all the rest. The system was designed to see ho my body reacted to all sorts of personal questions of a sexual and an interactive nature.
I answered as best as I could, and at the end the investigator told me that I wasn’t hiding anything. And of course, I wasn’t. As at that time, I had given up everything. I was stripped, defeated and was completely unguarded… an open book. Once you lose everything, you just don’t give a fuck any longer. It just doesn’t matter.
In fact, the other inmates made fun of me saying that “you can’t lie for shit“. I was that much of a predictable open book.
The point of this was to adjust our threat level. There were three threat levels. And when I was “retired” from MAJ in the ADV Pine Bluff, they established the lowest threat level for me.
But, apparently, my ex-wife, the one trying to poison me as part of my “retirement” wanted to raise all sorts of Hell for me, and this was one of her efforts. So she got the ADC geared up to give me a hard time. Sigh.
Federal Rules for classification are fixed.
I have level one. I possessed illegal pictures.
Level two would only be granted if I had physical contact with a minor.
And Level three was bodily harm to a minor.
So there was no way that my level was going to change. But they had to run a lie detector on me, by request by my ex-wife, to make sure that I wasn’t hiding anything. Sheech!
And if they suspected anything… they could keep me locked up indefinitely. How about that for control and power?
…
Ugh. Memories like this really get me into MAJ induced rages. Good thing that I auto calm, and am way, way, way outside the USA right now.
Not me but happened to a friend of mine: she worked in a large law firm in Dublin, Ireland. Her boss was a total prick, probably a psychopath. During the recession they cut people’s wages and even stopped serving coffee at meetings in order to cut costs – not that any of the senior partners took wage cuts. It is very expensive to live in Dublin; the situation was so bad that there was a constant stream of young, under-paid, financially struggling solicitors entering his office and begging for a pay-rise, any kind of pay-rise. With every one of them he pointed to a tray on his desk filled with c.v.’s and said if you don’t want to work here I have a large bundle of applicants who would be happy your take your job. No one got a raise.
Things came to a head when my friend entered an open competition for a position with the state-run Residential Tenancy Board, a kind of mediation body for disputes between landlords and tenants. It was known that my friend, along with several others in the same firm had sat the exam, and she scored extremely high, placing near the top of the panel. It was rumoured that the boss had applied as well. At the end of the office day he approached her desk and basically accused her of rummaging through another colleague’s desk and stealing his notes for the exam – something along the lines of “How can you prove to me that you didn’t go through Brian’s desk, and read his notes?” (Not that he gave a shit about Brian). This is a lawyer, asking another lawyer to prove her innocence under the presumption of guilt, that she was guilty until she could prove herself innocent. She knew this situation was untenable and said well I wouldn’t do that because it’s immoral, and illegal but it now seems clear to me that it might be best if I work somewhere else – she basically quit there and then in the most tasteful and honourable fashion. He exploded on the spot, demanding to know who would take over her cases and workload. She replied, “Well, you have a large bundle of c.v’s on your desk, hire one of them.”
China has been the biggest power for 4800 out of the last 5000 years yet China did not invade or colonise nations thousands of miles from their shore!
China will not do what the U.S. do. That is for sure. It does not want to dictate to the world. It is too mature and responsible. China don’t see it is right or is it worthwhile for it to interfere and intervene every where. The repercussions to the U.S. is much greater than the U.S. dares to admit and bit by bit the U.S. benefits will evaporate and the humongous cost to the US will come home to roost.
China wants a free and vibrant world that is doing well and prosperous. When a peaceful and harmonious world becomes a reality China will trade with everyone. That is good for China, the Chinese people and the world too. Wars, interference and interventions are costly and harmful for the world. China sees it vividly and clearly that respecting the sovereignty of all nations is good for the world.
Just think about the U.S. spend billions building aircraft carriers and spend further billions to manned it and spend more billions circling the globe aimlessly. And if these interference lead to war, more billions need to be spend to fight these wars. And what does the US gets in returned? Mainly hates and disdained is all that they earn!
China is not blind and it is certainly very smart. It won’t want to do what the U.S. do. Not now, not in the past and not in the future! To China, the U.S. is “throwing sand in the sea” and basically self destructing.
Thirteen years after my dad died, we were notified that his father purchased land in another state, now owned by his children. A gas well was drilled on the property. Since my dad had died, his portion went to his three children. This is where the greedy part comes in.
My mom heard about this, I assume from my sister. She discovered that only us kids got to divide my dad’s portion. This news pissed her off to no end. Immediately, she got an attorney and demanded her share of the gas lease.
When the company that drilled the gas well communicates with the family, they copy EVERYONE. This is how I learned that my mom hired an attorney to ensure she got a piece of the pie. (I have been no contact with my narcissistic mother for fifteen years.) My mom took me out of her will years ago; she wanted to make sure I didn’t get too much. My mom’s actions were out of revenge and greed. If she couldn’t get it ALL, then she was going to make sure that I didn’t get more money than her.
Here is the best part. After years of waiting, my husband and I finally got a big check. One day, out of the blue, we received a envelope which we thought was another letter about the gas lease. After opening the envelope we could see it was a check. We were in disbelief, our jaws dropped, we could barely contain our excitement. As we looked at the numbers on the check, our minds began to wonder about the amount that was on my mom’s check. This was unreal. It was like no other point in our lives. This check changed our lives. It was the answer to our prayers. It proved to us the existence of karma!
After my husband and I calmed down, we started discussing how and where we would spend our $35.00. But more importantly, we laughed all the way to the bank, thinking about how much money my mom spent on an attorney to get a check that was less than $50. It was the best check we had ever received!
My dad’s share of the lease was 1/8th. Since he had passed, his three kids would split that into three equal portions. From what we can tell mom got 1/2 of dad’s share and left the other half to be split into thirds. In the comments people say that my mom is entitled to my dad’s share. I agree, yes she is. But the way she went about it was based on anger, revenge, and manipulation. I would have gladly given her my share if she’d asked. The last time my mom and I talked it was on this issue, I told her if I got any money from this I would put it in savings for my son – her grandson – who has a neurological disease. She decided to get the money for herself, which meant that she was so mad at me that she would take money from her grandson.
I worked in security at Heathrow Airport for a number of years and one of my roles was to process departing passengers. One day a tallish man tried reaching over a perspex barrier to retrieve a bag that was emerging from the x-ray machine. I was in the process of removing it in order that it could be inspected. He said “Do you know who I am?
I did. I won’t name him but he was the son of our serving prime minister at the time. He was the one who got lost for a few days whilst engaged upon a car rally across the Sahara desert.
Had he been as important as he thought he was he would have been escorted by the security service.
When I was a young boy in Calcutta, one of my mother’s friends used to come over to our home on Sunday evenings and enjoy a glass (more like 7 glasses) of scotch. He was the MD of a medium size publicly listed company, a colourful character, had led an exciting life and always had stupefying stories to tell. He later went on to become the chairman of a very, very large listed Indian steel giant.
It might just have been the alcohol talking but he told us this.
He was at work one day when an ordinary looking man entered his office without an appointment. He invited himself in, sat down across the desk. Put his hand inside his bag, took out a sleek black pistol and put on on the table, barrel facing the Managing Director. He said, “look how bad your current security is, I could get in with a gun and so can anyone else. I represent XYZ Security firm. Our retainership amount per annum is Rs ABC. When do we start?”
When we moved in to our new house in 2020, my then 17-year-old son got his own bathroom. It wasn’t an en-suite, but it was right next to his bedroom and rather isolated from the rest of the house, so while others may use it, that was “his” bathroom.
One of the first things he did after moving in was get a nice-looking basket which he filled with a selection of high quality feminine hygiene products and placed on the back of the toilet.
He had read that a courteous host does that to make the women in their lives feel comfortable and welcome and to save them embarrassment if the need arises.
I think your husband’s friend needs to grow up at least as much as my teenager.
Edit —-
Before you think he’s too awesome, realize if I didn’t clean his bathroom, no self-respecting woman would ever use it.
I had tickets to see Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young at the Tampa Bowl on a nice warm evening. We got there early and as it was stadium seating we spread our blanket maybe 20 rows from the stage, right in the center. When the band came out they announced that they had a permit that would allow them to play into the wee hours but they were going to start the concert with some acoustic music.
During the first bars of the first tune the boos started. “We want rock and roll!!!” and so on. The noise from a mob of clowns down front was drowning out the music. Then someone threw a beer bottle onto the stage. The concert stopped abruptly. One of the singers again announced that the would play rock and roll until the wee hours but they intended to play an acoustic set first. The cheers drowned out the boos.
They started again but the assholes made it difficult to hear. For the second song, Neil Young sat down at the piano and started doing a solo. You may not believe this, but a “cool” thing to do among assholes back the was to get a mouthful of lighter fluid and as they spit it out they’d light it. People were shooting flaming liquids toward the stage. Finally, the police came in and hauled off a couple of morons. Young started to play again and there was more shouting and a beer bottle landed in the piano. Then a cherry bomb landed on the keyboard and exploded. Young got up and walked backstage.
The stadium went silent. Ten minutes later a helicopter landed behind the stage and it took off right away. The stadium lights came up and a guy walked out and announced that the band had left and the concert was over. We headed towards the other end of the stadium and out because we feared what the scumbags might do. That was the entire concert.
The tattoo is supposed to be a very serious and deliberate thing because it is permanent in a sense. However, here are some people who did a very funny tattoo in Chinese character. Maybe they did not know what is the real meaning of these Chinese or, I don’t know, they just want?
I saw many tattoo pictures of the non-Chinese person on the Internet and they can be roughly divided into three kinds.
1. Chinese old sayings
People did this type of tattoos generally know the meaning of that, but Chinese people rarely tattoo them on their bodies.
Beckham’s Chinese body tattoo
image 372
(Translation: Life and death are fated, riches and honour depend on the appointment of heaven)
Kenyon Martin
image 371
(Translation:Worry about personal gains and losses)
This Chinese idiom refers to very selfish people who pay too much attention to their own gains and losses.
Jameer Nelson
image 370
(Translation: Nothing is a taboo.)
2. Chinese food
A 20-year-old British designer fancies Chinese cuisine very much. One day, she came up with an idea that tattooed Chinese cuisine names on her waist.
image 369
(Translation: Sweet and sour chicken; fried noodle with beef; fried rice with egg and chicken meatballs.)
It looks like she printed a Chinese restaurant menu on the body. Next time she walks into a Chinese restaurant, all she has to do is rolling up her tops and say: I want this. Interesting.
This man got “Fried rice with pork” on his calf.
image 368
(Translation: fried rice with pork)
???
Are these people trying to cook themselves?
image 367
(Translation: Fish ball soup and sweet sour meat)
3. Some very confusing tattoos that are beyond my imagination
This is the funniest part. Many tattoos are far beyond my understanding.
My husband had been raised by his grandparents so felt he owed them. We devoted our time to taking care of them and their house. We took them shopping, did the gardening, painted, built the wheel chair ramp and anything else they wanted. They had a daughter and grandchildren who refused to do anything. She said they lived their life now we are going to live ours. Then grandparents and us got the flu, they had a disabled daughter who was staying with us since grandma was in the hospital. She got released and we were told not to go near her. We asked the daughter to go get her and take her home, she sent the granddaughter. Granddaughter let her out in the street and drove away. Grandma called us and disabled daughter wanted to go home. I called the other daughter and told her off, granddaughter had to go to the airport to get her boyfriend. Why couldn’t she come after she got him, or her married brother? Her brother had to be home with the wife and kids. Grandma said let the disabled daughter come home. Grandma defended the daughter’s family. My husband was not included in the estate only his aunt. He was nothing to them but a handyman. He gave up and said we were moving unless he was in the will. We moved away and let them take care of the grandparents however they want. Grandma was widowed by then. Not sorry I told off his aunt. I never lose my temper or use harsh language, so they knew I was mad.
Chicken with Mangoes
Mango Chicken 3 1
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 whole chicken breasts
1 (2 x 1-inch) piece fresh ginger root
8 scallions
1 (15 ounce) can mangoes
3 cups vegetable oil
3 tablespoons white vinegar
3 tablespoons dry sherry
4 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons instant chicken bouillon granules
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Instructions
Combine flour, 1 cup of the water, the salt and baking powder. Beat with whisk until blended. Let stand 15 minutes.
Remove skin and bones from chicken and discard. Cut chicken into 1/4-inch wide strips. Mix strips into flour mixture.
Pare ginger and cut into wafer-thin slices.
Cut onions into 1/2-inch pieces.
Drain mangoes and cut into 1/2-inch wide strips.
Heat vegetable oil in wok over high heat until it reaches 375 degrees F. Add chicken, one strip at a time, to hot oil (cook only 1/4 of the chicken at a time). Cook until golden, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain on absorbent paper. Repeat to cook remaining chicken.
Remove all but 1 tablespoon oil from wok. Reduce heat to medium. Add ginger to oil in wok. Stir fry until ginger is light brown, about 2 minutes.
Combine remaining 3/4 cup water, the vinegar, sherry, soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch, bouillon and sesame oil. Carefully add to ginger all at once. Cook and stir until mixture boils.
Add onions. Reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes.
Mix chicken and mangoes into soy sauce mixture. Cook and stir 2 minutes.
There’s a newspaper in St. Catharines, Ontario, called The Standard.
The lady who worked the classified ad desk never missed a day of work. Rain or shine, sickness or health, she was there taking orders for classified ads which, at the time (the 1990s), were the lifeblood of any newspaper.
Then, one day, she had to be rushed to hospital.
And that day, ad revenues were twice what they had ever been.
A quick check of actual advertising revealed the paper was only being paid for half the ads they ran. An investigation showed that their classified clerk was moving large amounts of money through her bank account, mostly to go on shopping sprees.
They quickly figured out the reason she never missed a day is that her replacement would immediately notice that a lot more money was coming in than usual, which would indicate she was skimming half the proceeds for herself.,
I was working in Manhattan. I got a call from my kid’s school that he wasn’t feeling well and had to go pick him up. I had just finished developing a CD-based training program (this is early 90s, before this stuff was done online). On my way out, my assistant told me the CD master had just arrived and gave me a little plastic bag with the CD in it. I was in a hurry to leave and figured I could drop off the CD at home with my kid before returning to work.
Getting around Manhattan basically means getting into and out of yellow cabs. It’s pretty easy to find one.
image 355
Typical New York street
I catch a cab to my kid’s school. About 15 minutes later, I get dropped off. I greet my little one in the headmaster’s office and tell him we’re off to the doctor’s. As I’m waving down a taxi with my kid’s hand in mine, I realize I don’t have the CD bag. We go back into the school and it’s not there. Nobody remembered seeing me with a bag and, frankly, I didn’t remember having it in hand when I walked into the school. Oh, well, I thought, that was stupid. This was before Uber where you could call your ride to check on the back seat. This was, in fact, before everyone had cell phones. The bag and CD were gone.
I refocused on getting my kid to the doctor. Got him checked out. Got into another cab to a nearby pharmacy to pick up a prescription. Walked home and dropped my kid off with his nanny who was waiting there.
All this time I was hopeful they would be able to reproduce the CD master, wondering how long it might take, if it might delay the project, if I should tell my boss, etc.
I wave down a cab to go back to my office. While I’m thinking about all these things I see a bag on the floor. I pick it up and pull out my CD.
My assistant sees me walking in with the bag. “How is your baby? I thought you were dropping that off at home.”
“Kid is fine. Oh, the CD, yeah…” I figured she wouldn’t believe me if it told her the truth.
I watched an investigative reporter type show look at liens in Ontario. It turns out that in Ontario they have this weird, habit of leasing hot water heaters, like it’s a car or something expensive. When they install the hot water heater, you sign a contract that lets them put a lien on your house until the hot water heater is paid off. They were typically 10 year leases. The lien is on the house , regardless of who owns it, and new owners just continue paying the lease, if you don’t pay it out. Anyway, there were some crooked companies that took advantage of this, and wouldn’t let you sell your house, without paying out the lease, and they wanted huge penalties, tens of thousands of dollars for early payment. Picture this, you have sold your house for $800,000, and everything clears, but it can’t be completed, because of this lien. They ask you for $15,000 to break the lease on a hot water heater that was worth $800 new. What do you do? Lose the sale? Pay the breakage fee?
So I would do what you can to find out early, because you don’t want to be held over a barrel when you go to sell it.
When I was in, I think, my 2nd or 3rd job in computers, my company was rolling out email and word processing applications on our central computer. This was the late 80s and it was all green screen with satellite offices using PCs as dumb terminals.
I was sent out to all the sites to do maintenance on the PCs and train the personnel how to use the new applications.
Our business was primarily prepacked concrete mix for contractors and homeowners. At each location they would mix and bag the product for distribution to their regions.
At every plant I went to, when I opened the PC case, there was a 1/2in of powdered concrete covering the motherboard. It’s a wonder any of the machines didn’t crash from overheating!
Decades ago, I received a past-due notice for a loan payment to a bank I’d never done business with. Puzzled, I called the bank. After explaining my confusion three times, I finally was talking with someone who had sense enough to look into it instead of fobbing me off to someone else.
“Did you make a purchase from Such-and-such Music Store?” Indeed, I’d purchased a piano for my wife a month or so earlier. (Might’ve been nice if the salesman had mentioned they’d turn the loan over to a third party, but whatever.)
I then asked the bank worker how the *very first* communication I’d received from the bank could be a past-due notice.
“You should have received a payment coupon book,” she said. (As indicated, this was ages ago.)
“I’ve received nothing from you till this,” I replied.
And then, to my everlasting amazement, she said, “I know. The printing company we use had an equipment breakdown and the coupon books haven’t gone out for a while.”
That “I know” blew me away. The bank *knew* their customers weren’t being told when their payments would be due, and how much they would be—and, in cases such as mine, didn’t even know their loan had been sold to that bank—and instead of notifying people, they just sent out overdue notices.
With a late fee attached, of course.
So I told the nice lady that I’d be happy to make the payment, but I would not stand for a late charge.
Now it was her turn to be puzzled. “Why not?”
“Because I wasn’t late—*you* were!”
In the end, she had to have a VP call me later, and after I went over it all again, he agreed it was kinda dumb for them to send late notices to people who didn’t even know they had a loan with that bank, he waived the late fee.
I got my driver’s license near the end of my sophomore year of high school. I got my first car a few days before that… a used ’86 Bonneville.
From that week forward, I was 100% responsible for getting myself anywhere I needed to go, including to and from school, my friends’ houses, and my after-school job. I already had a key to the house. I had a “curfew” of 10pm, but my parents always said that “whatever side of the door I’m on when they go to bed at 10 is where I’m going to be all night.” They had a chain lock on the inside of the door, so my key was useless if they locked it that way, which they did every night when they went to sleep.
Fortunately for me, I wasn’t very social and I didn’t stay out late anyway. They made exceptions for nights when I was working. I was a prep sports stringer for the local newspaper, and some nights I didn’t get home until 1am because I was covering a game several counties away.
My parents never actually locked me out. My sister, on the other hand, was locked out a few times because she missed curfew. My father was nice enough to put a recliner and a blanket for her on our screened-in porch. She slept out there more than once because she got home late.
It was the South, so it didn’t get too cold most nights. I doubt I could get away with that with my kids here in Chicago.
In 2015, one day a school boy named Amit was going to school. On the way he was hit by a car. Amit was bleeding, he needed immediate medical help but that car driver didn’t even stop and he didn’t feel to take Amit to nearby hospital. Amit was lying on the road, some people came and took him to a hospital but unfortunately he died. Amit’s dad Jitendra ji came to see his son and he was shocked to know about his little child is no more. Amit’s mom was in deep grief. In just a moment a happy family was shattered.
image 353
Image source: Web/Google
Jitendra ji filed a complaint but the police didn’t investigate. They even closed the case without informing Jitendra ji. This was ridiculous!
Jitendra ji and his wife just wanted to know his son’s killer. They wanted to question that man why he left Amit alone to die, he could have been saved if he was taken to hospital on time. They just wanted a Sorry. Was that so difficult??
Jitendra ji decided he will find that man who killed his beloved son. On the accident spot, he found a broken rear mirror and a broken car number plate. Car number was not full, but on the mirror there was a number. He asked from the local service centre but every time he got dissappointment. One day with hell lot of efforts a mechanic told him that this mirror is of a Maruti Car. Jitendra ji went to the manufacturing unit of the Maruti cars. He told his story and there people helped him. With the mirror number he managed to find the car registration number and with registration number he found the car owner’s name – Gyan Chand. It took 8 years for Jitendra ji to find the real culprit.
He went to police again with all the proofs and now again police disappointed him by not filing the complaint. He then moved to court and here also he didn’t get justice, his plea was rejected not just once but 4 times repeatedly. In Jan 2023, he again appealed to court for the 5th time. This time court accepted his request and asked the police to re-open the case but till now no arrest has been made.
Jitendra ji fought 8 years to find all the evidence and the person who killed his son. He is still fighting for the justice and he has told that he will fight till his last breath untill and unless his son’s killer get punished.
This story is deeply heartbreaking…….
image 352
Image source: Web/Google
I Salute Jitendra Ji from the bottom of my heart🙏
Amit would be Proud of his Dad❤
**Update : On 21st Oct 2023, Police has arrested the accussed, Gyan Chand.
One of my former student’s mothers. This was several years ago now. Her son was in 8th grade and read at a second-grade level. His handwriting was illegible. When he typed his assignments, his sentences were incoherent or not related to the assignment at all.
This was made worse by the fact that he was not a discipline problem. He sat quietly in class and looked like he was on task and understood the material. But he didn’t. He didn’t understand any of it. Even the easiest things in all of his classes were well over his head.
His mother said, at every single parent/teacher meeting, that her son was “a nice kid and just a little slow, but he would get it together soon.”
No. He needed special education services that our school couldn’t provide. The mother had been told that for years, but she didn’t want to hear it. In her eyes, her son was perfect. She was paying for private school for the purpose of avoiding the “special ed” label they’d give him at the public school.
So, the teachers did the best they could to accommodate his needs. Of course, it wasn’t enough, because he really needed a one-on-one, full-time tutor.
I actually know what happened to him. I heard through mutual friends that he went to a private high school which did have a special ed program (although they called it something else), he graduated from that special program, and is now working full-time as a helper in his uncle’s business. Good for him. That’s probably the best thing for him… to find meaningful work with a trusted family member.
I never really had a last conversation with my mother. She was in a memory ward in a nursing home. She had been having strokes was no longer able to walk, and the strokes had affected her swallowing. Her care was beyond us.
Unfortunately, COVID hit and the nursing home was locked down so we couldn’t go in to talk with her. We had been visiting almost daily. The conversations had become one sided due to the alzheimers, but at least she remember us. The day came when we got the call that she had slipped into a coma and that we had finally gotten permission to go in and see her. My last words to my mother were that I loved her, that she had been a great mother/grandmother and that it was OK to go home. She seemed to be waited for my sister to get there and say her goodbyes. My mom died a few hours after my sister left.
No matter how much time you have, somehow it’s never enough.
MY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL SAVED ME FROM HUMILIATION.
It was the evening of farewell for our 10th Grade. Our juniors had arranged an eventful farewell for us.
After all the entertainment and other stuffs, it was time to felicitate the top rankers of our class. I was called on stage to receive the award for securing the 1st Rank in the class.
I went on the stage brimming with pride to receive my prize from the School Principal. Little did I know what a blunder I was going to commit.
Here, 2 things you all need to know are:-
First, this was the first time I was going to stand on the stage in front of 100s of people. You can deduce what my condition was, from the fact that I was so immature that I didn’t even know what stage fright was!
Second, this whole scenario was taking place in the Evening. (Yes this is important to know!)
Then came that doomed moment. I was asked by the school principal, a young and kind-hearted lady, to speak a few sentences about my experiences in this school and the hard work behind my academic achievement.
I held the mic, still happy on receiving the award. As soon as I formed a few sentences in my mind and was just about to utter those words, the reality hit me. I saw an ocean of heads staring at me curiously to listen to what I am going to say. I went numb. I forgot everything I wanted to say. There was a complete silence for a few seconds. I knew I had to start. And then my brain which had ceased to work since a few moments, told me, “OK buddy, it’s not that difficult. You can begin by greeting the crowd .”
Feeling the breeze of that contrastingly cold evening, I gathered courage, forced a smile and softly greeted the crowd by saying, “Good Morning”.
There was a dead silence. Before I could even realize what a silly and humiliating mistake I have just committed, my principal took the mic from my hand, turned towards the crowd and said ,“As this is his first appearance on a stage, this is a new morning for him. So, it’s not a Good Evening but a Good Morning to everyone from this bright young kid.”
And then I realized what a silly mistake I just did. I felt embarrassed but at the same time I stood there in utter disbelief and appreciation of the intelligence of my principal. She just protected her student by her brilliant presence of mind.
I can’t think of a better instance of presence of mind in my whole life.
In 1859, a geomagnetic storm called TheCarrington Event¹ disrupted electrical infrastructure across the globe.
…what there was of it.
…which was telegraph service at the time.
(and that’s pretty much it)
The Event was perpetrated by solar flare activity so unprecedented that the Auroras Borealis and Australius were visible from both poles to the equator, with such an intensity that night became day, disorienting humans and animals alike.
Telegraph offices that failed to go offline in time caught fire and burned, and those that did shut down remained operational for hours, despite being disconnected from their power source, due to the massive worldwide electromagnetic surge.
All news, for all intents and purposes, was once again local for the duration of the aftermath.
Newspapers couldn’t report on events outside horse riding distance.
The 19th Century reverted to the 18th Century in one fell swoop.
Now…what we do know for certain about the Carrington Event is that it wasn’t a one off.
It had happened before and it will happen again.
And THE NEXT TIME, unlike 1859, we will likely have satellites in orbit, and planes in the air.
…and cars that run off batteries, and those that don’t which have electronic ignitions.
…and power lines to heat our homes in the winter and cool our homes in the summer.
…and an Internet that we’ve basically come to rely on to maintain a global economy.
(that too)
And all those things are gonna go bye-bye for a time.
The quote about living “in interesting times” is erroneously attributed to the ancient Chinese, but it was actually coined by the American politician Frederic R. Coudert on the cusp between the Great Depression and a second world war.
No matter how bad things get for Mankind, we can all rest assured of one thing for certain:
It certainly can be. On my second trip to India I suffered a broken cheek bone and two black eyes at the hands of several youngsters who were barely teenagers. It was my completely my fault, by thinking that playing Cricket twice at school would allow me to play with these kids who live and breathe it. Having came across a game just starting my Indian friends talked themselves into playing and must have imagined that being English I played the game. But being brought up on a council estate in London it was football or boxing never cricket or rugby. I had played it twice at school and never even touched a bat. Anyway I thought I’d have a go and how hard can it be? Fucking hard thats how hard. The bowler could only have been 13 at the oldest so I was not worried I stood there holding the bat as I had seen them do it on tv. I then saw him running up, his arm lifted to throw and then white light and pain as I stepped forward straight into the bounce of the hard cricket ball. Wow I felt stupid and had a few weeks of discomfort. But I did gain respect for cricket and often go and watch it at Lords. I always support India(unless playing England) in thanks for this lesson.
My mom died when I was 9 of a cancerous brain tumor. It hurt like hell and it took me years to recover. Maybe I still haven’t.
My Grandma, a widow, got remarried when I was about 15 or so to a great man, and when I left at 19 to do a couple years of volunteer service at my own expense in England, I remember hearing he wasn’t in good health. About 4 months in, I learned he also passed away.
It was at this time I got a letter from my oldest sister. As I pulled it out of its envelope (most letters still went this way), a small slip of paper fell out. On it was written, in my sister’s handwriting, in a purple pen, just one sentence, “Aaron, always remember to be my strong little boy” and under it was something that looked like somebody trying to get a pen to work – quick scribbles back and forth in a small area.
I thought it cute, but odd, and set it aside, then I read the letter. My sister quickly said, “Aaron, I was going through an old drawer of things today, cleaning it out and found this. In her last days, Mom asked me to write out a little note to each of her kids, and then she signed them at the bottom. I’m sorry it’s not very legible”.
I immediately began sobbing as I picked up the little paper again and felt the warmth of a mother’s love well 10 years after her death.
Dan and I were headed into the Canadian Rockies in September. The weather was miserable. On the way it a younger guy had passed us by. He was carrying a day-pack sized backpack and he made fun of our big “old-style” backpacks. He was nice enough about it and we just smiled and watched him fly by.
A couple of days later we were camped in place just below timberline and it was raining hard, windy and not far above freezing. We were comfy and dry in our tents, had hot food, good raingear and all was well, even if it wasn’t all that much fun. The young guy came into the area and set up his camp. He had a thin foam sleeping pad, a thin down bag, and a tarp measuring about 8′ x 8′ that he set up very low to the ground.
The next morning it was still drizzling and cold. The young guy came over to our camp. He was shivering and soaking wet. He had a light rain jacket and no rain pants. Also, he was barely coherent. “Ggggguys …. I … I … I’m uh, I’m ….uh …. I need help.” We sat him in the entrance of Dan’s tent and gave him hot coffee and some oatmeal. We got him out of his wet raincoat and wet shirt and wrapped him in a fleece jacket. He began to relax. We all decided the he just needed to get out of there ASAP. Dan and I went over and packed up his gear. It was like a wet sponge, all of it.
When we got back he was doing OK. He had semi-dry t-shirt in his gear and he put that on plus his wet raincoat. Dan walked down the trail with him for a mile or so. When he got back Dan said that the kid had warmed up and seemed good to go. Oh, and that he’d apologized for making fun of our packs.
It happened last night. To be fair, she was likely 18–22, so barely an adult.
STORY! My husband and I went to our city’s downtown area for dinner and a carriage ride. We paid for dinner and realized we needed money to tip the carriage driver because we only had a $50 on us. DOH!
Note: No, we aren’t bougie like that. My company paid out a small company bonus with $50 bills.
It was okay – there was a candy store and we had time. We poured out a small scoop of chocolate and checked out. There was some issue with the cashier understanding that us paying $50.04 for $6.04 was in her favor, but math is hard.
Now, this is what the US $50 bill/note looks like:
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Actual quote from her: “Who’s on the $50 bill? Is that King Edward?”
Blink. Blink. What? A KING?!
We had to explain to this adult that no, this was not a king. It was Ulysses S. Grant. There’s even a county in my state named after him.
Her manager, who was a few years older, then said, “Oh yeah! I remember his picture on the wall in my history room. Didn’t he wear a really tall black hat? He looks fatter here though”
We pulled out a penny and asked if she was thinking of Abraham Lincoln. The manager then said, “Oh yeah! That’s the guy. Isn’t that the same guy?”
Oy. I’m sure President Grant is rolling over in his mausoleum.
My cousin had an old beater car. He always drove it on empty, and only added a dollar or two of gas at a time. He didn’t think it was worth stealing, so he left the keys in it, in his back yard, while he ran into the house to get something.
He heads back to the car, just in time to see it go around the corner. He calls the police, expecting he will never see the car again.
The police phone him 10 minutes later, to tell him that they have his car.
Its at the local gas station. It had run out of gas, they had pushed it in the last few feet, and filled it up with gas. But we’re having a hard time starting it, after it had run out of gas. The gas station was only a few blocks from the my cousin’s, and the attendant recognized the car, and called the police. It was a very distinctive, beat up beater.
My cousin needed a boost to get it started, and then worried that the weight of the full tank of gas would wreck his car, because it had never seen a full tank before.
It turned out to be a bunch of teen joyriders, and the charges were dropped against them. My cousin said that they doubled the value of the car, by filling it up, so he wasn’t too stressed.
So in this case the first thing they did after stealing the car was fill it up with gas.
I’m cranky and I’m tired, and I worked hard at school…
Not me, but my sister. She was a manager for a membership warehouse and they had this one woman that would come in once a month, demand a one-day pass, do her shopping and then pitch a fit when she couldn’t use her credit card (it was cash or debit card only). And she did this every month. Well, she demanded to speak with a manager and since my sister was on duty, she got to deal with her. Once again, my sister explained the rules to her and offered to take care of setting up a membership right then and there. The woman didn’t want to pay the $55 and began to berate my sister who was waiting her out. Finally, the woman shouts at her “To go to hell” to which my sister responded, “Ma’am, I’m already there.” Could have heard a pin drop in the membership areas as all the employees turned to stare at her. The “customer” had nothing further to say, so my sister calmly turned and left.
*The woman never came back to that warehouse. My sister wasn’t fired (for that) although her boss had a good laugh about it.
Two effing massive barbecue grills that I didn’t order that were on my back door when I got home from a business trip around midnight. Thankfully UPS or whoever delivered it (can’t remember which carrier) was naive enough about cyber security to have included the correct recipient’s phone number on the shipping label.
I texted the correct recepieny about it and, being way too nice, told them that I have a pickup and could deliver them but they were way too heavy to load on my own so someone would have to come help me load them.
The husband came over, we loaded them, i delivered them and we unloaded them at his house – all was well. Years later I still get packages and mail for them. I realized that we have the same numbered address and street but I’m SOUTH xxxx Avenue and they’re NORTH xxxx Avenue.
The mail that comes omits the north or south so I assume they’re too dumb to specify that important data element when giving out their address (because the address on the envelope, each time doesn’t specify north or south). it’s happened way many times to just be a coincidence.
So now I don’t bother delivering items, I text them that it’s happened AGAIN and ask them if they want to come me pick it up from my front porch or have me mark it as “wrong address” and see what happens.
In 1967, Doug Hegdahl was on a recon mission in the Vietnam War.
His boat cruised along the river, and as he it did, a battle broke out and he was thrown into the water. He panicked and swam for shore.
Unfortunately, Doug swam towards the Vietcong side of the shore. They greeted him with prompt beating and dragged him ashore screaming.
Doug was tied up and thrown in a cage. They debated on whether to execute him. As they interrogated Doug, he realized they were trying to determine his usefulness. He gave goofy, incoherent answers, talking crazy. Then he repeatedly shouted, “No water buffalo!”
In Vietnam at that time, owning a water buffalo was a sign of moderate wealth. He was saying he was poor.
Being poor was good. The Vietcong hated wealthy people. His rambling earned him the nickname, “The Incredibly Stupid One”.
And while other US soldiers were tortured and killed, the Vietcong felt too bad for him. They thought he was an American version of the poor, dumb man forced into the front line in a war.
Little did they know, he was gathering information. During his years in prison, he memorized the names of 200 prisoners of war, along with the intimate details of the enemy base.
During a negotiation, the Vietcong chose him as their release thinking he was a simpleton and no threat.
Doug got home and immediately gave a press conference.
He told the US of those prisoners, and their freedom was obtained.
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He memorized the 200 names using the song Ol’McDonald Had a Farm. He even needed to hum it when reciting the names back over.
You may not relate to his situation, but Doug’s experience gives insight into dealing with dangerous authority figures.
For example, if a cop pulls you over, it is better to play dumb rather than listen with your mouth, and explain everything you didn’t do wrong.
More broadly, it’s generally better to be guarded with what you know. True genius is knowing when not to reveal it.
Chicken with Walnuts in Plum Sauce
Plum Sauce Chicken Recipe3
Ingredients
1 cup walnut halves
1 teaspoon beaten egg
1 teaspoon oil
1 teaspoon cornstarch
6 chicken thighs (1 1/2 pounds), boned, skinned and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup oil
2 teaspoons plum or hoisin sauce
1 (1-inch) piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
2 green onions, finely chopped (garnish)
Instructions
Pour boiling water over walnuts and let stand 5 minutes. Drain and pat dry.
Combine egg with 1 teaspoon oil and cornstarch in small bowl. Add chicken pieces and toss gently to coat them evenly.
Heat 1/2 cup oil in wok over medium high heat until haze forms.
Add walnuts and fry until golden about 45 seconds. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
Add chicken to wok and cook until golden, about 3 minutes. Drain well.
Pour off all but thin film of oil. Return pan to heat, add plum or hoisin sauce, ginger, sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil and stir until combined. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring constantly until sauce begins to glisten, about 1 to 2 minutes.
Add chicken and walnuts and mix thoroughly with sauce.
Transfer to heated serving platter and garnish with chopped green onions.
Today, my friend told us a joke. 70 years ago, the United States led 18 countries to fight with a P5 country on the Korean Peninsula (let’s call it a draw). 20 years ago, the United States led 11 countries to invade a small country with domestic troubles and foreign invasion ( eventually failed). In the past few days, the United States found 10 countries to against Yemeni Houthi. Because of the shortage of troops, they even ask China join them，China certainly refused without think too much.…Fighting with a Yemeni local armed force, even ask China to help big hooligan?(´•ω•̥`) 🐼: I suggest you back home,massacre the kindergartens and sweep the geracomiums…
Houthi isn’t ET…
The changes of opponents by the US Army shows they are more and more laggard indeed.
Now they even often make this kind of arguments,enough to explain two problems:
Some US people already brain dead.
The infrastructure in the United States has been in disrepair for a long time, and even the frequency of failure is ‘on and off like a light switch’.
So, we don’t care what you say，today communications ‘on and off like a light switch’ and tomorrow there will be more things ‘on and off like a light switch’.Keep complaining, you’ll get used to it.
The U.S. Navy has ‘experience, the PLA-N has ‘experience’ in reading about what the U.S. is doing, and how they do it. Asking ‘probing questions’ (even here on Quora) is one direction, as well as ‘working’ with Canada, which has a record of ‘loose lips’ regarding ANYTHING military that China seeks.
I’m sure China has some ‘tricks’ up their sleeve as well. This is one of their newer ships (21NOV23) in which they ‘seem’ to be ‘faking’ damage to their ship, which may come in handy when they DO find themselves under attack. NOTHING would break-off an attack faster than ‘looking like this’:
One morning, a new guy showed up. As was customary, he “shared” his tale with the rest of us.
He was legally blind, but somehow managed to work as a successful stock broker. Unfortunately, on the side he had also developed one hell of an addiction to crack.
One Christmas morning, he had dressed up as Santa to entertain his kids. But he needed to sneak outside to take a few quick hits of crack before the family woke up.
Due to his visual impairment, he didn’t see the cop car rolling up the street. He got arrested.
Next day the local newspaper featured the headline that a crack-smoking Santa Claus was arrested Christmas morning.
I looked down at the grass. Clenched my jaw. glanced around and people were desperately trying to contain themselves.
The guy said, “it’s OK. Go ahead and laugh, guys. You have to.”
It was a full minute before we’d laughed off the image of a crack-smoking Santa Claus in cuffs.
I and a couple of friends headed to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor for a conference followed by dinner. We ate at the Tir Na Nog Irish pub and sat next to the windows that looked out over the little amphitheater space where street performers entertain tourists. Lovely view of the corner of the harbor and the other pavilion. Directly below the window was a vendor’s cart selling all sorts of electronic gadget accessories (think cellphone covers, etc).
As we were eating, I watched the crowds milling around the plaza and people buying stuff from the cart. Then I saw a teenager sneak around the back of the cart (which was facing the window) and start pilfering stuff from the cart. He just jammed it into his backpack with glee while the vendor was busy talking to customers on the other side.
Turns out those “customers” were the teen’s parents. Once the teen had filled his pack, a second younger child moved in and did the same thing while the other one kept watch. Then a third child, even younger, darted in and took stuff as well. The vendor finally caught on to the scam and screamed for police. The BCPD always patrol that plaza to protect the tourists, so three bicycle cops appeared pretty quickly.
Meanwhile, we watched as the three kids met with mom and dad to show their loot. Then they spotted the police and all three bolted in three different directions, which appears to have been predetermined as a method of escape. One of the kids wasn’t so lucky and got pinched.
Mom and dad were screaming bloody murder about the police harassing their children.
At that moment I realized how stupid we’d been up in the restaurant because none of us thought to video the incident. But we all felt we owed that poor vendor some help, so down we tromped to the plaza, leaving one person to man our table so no one thought we’d jumped the check.
We informed the police of everything we saw, that the kids were the shoplifters, but that the parents knew full well and participated. The officer asked us if we would testify to that and we said of course.
End of the story: All three kids were arrested, but the police didn’t have enough to arrest mom or dad (because that’s how the scam works). We were called back to Baltimore to testify. The kids were really hard core according to the prosecutor. They were playing all sorts of innocence BS. But when she told them four witnesses were primed and ready to name them all, they folded and agreed to plea deals.
Very sad day for American childhood that parents used them in this way.
There is no such thing as the world’s best? Each country ought to have what they each see as the best for their nation and their people under different circumstances unique for them, over a development level that is different from country to country.
You can say every nation thinks they have the world’s best for themselves. They ought to be. Otherwise why would they choose it? Surely they all want to do the best for themselves right?
These words or symbols or slurs such as Communism or Democracy or Socialism are tags for various purpose. Some times to simplify some times to discriminate one against another or worst to slur and demonised. These labels meant nothing more, as each nation is shade of grey and not black or white.
The U.S. for example calls itself Liberal democracy. But in reality it is neither democratic nor liberal at all. Is 0.8% of the rich or and powerful decides that the 60 odd % of their people who bother to vote have only two choice Biden a senile or Trump a perpetual liar to choose from, surely that is not democracy!
The U.S. with a mere 4% of world’s population has 25% of the world’s prisoner’s population, surely it cannot liberal nor free? But U.S. can called itself whatever it wants!
China calls itself socialism with Chinese characteristics but the U.S. insists on the label. “Communism” for worst connotations to cast fear and hate on them! If you repeat it like this questioner do, it simply help your media cast hates on China.
To me if the west can call the U.S. a Liberal Democracy why can’t they tern China as Socialism with Chinese characteristics? It is no different from Western media calling Palestinians as “terrorist” and Isreal as freedom “fighter” These slurs and suggesting good is clearly a set. narrative!
It goes well for several months. They begin to squabble a bit and have disagreements.
He figures, if they don’t get along, they should just break up.
Later, he begins dating Rebecca. She’s pretty. But after a few months, he realizes she’s not smart enough for him. That relationship ends too.
Later, Mike begins dating Katie. Katie is super brilliant. And cute too. But he realizes he doesn’t think she’s cute enough. He wants brilliant and super cute.
And funny. Where is funny?
Finally, he meets Angela. Angela is smart, pretty, and funny. But not exceptional at either three. So he ends things with her too.
Mike never ends up settling down. He ends up living as a lonely old man in his final years.
He became a victim of advice taken too literally and at too much of an extreme “don’t settle”.
The truth is – we all settle. In some form or another. People regularly subject themselves to unfair expectations of a prospective partner.
We all have work to do. It’s better to find someone to do the work with. Or accept them as is and forget the work.
Remember, with any advice you read, from me, or anyone else, there is a huge grey area to work with. I can’t tell you how to read that grey area. That’s where you’ll need to swim on your own.
Don’t be a knucklehead who only thinks in black and white. We have enough knuckleheads in the world already.
It was a small local ‘high-class’ restaurant (no longer in business) I went to with some colleagues to celebrate one of their birthdays. The first thing I thought was a joke was the uninformative and poorly-formatted menu that contained things like “Different fish and chips 12”, with not another word to explain what was different about it and the ‘12’ meaning a price of £12.00 being far from obvious.
Even more of a joke was the way the food was presented. I ordered a burger from the main course menu (described of course as something like “house burger 11”), expecting something that would fill the plate and come with chips and salad as is the norm. No, what I got was a tiny bun less than half the size of the plate containing an equally tiny burger, a slice of tomato and a lettuce leaf, all by itself with not a single side. The punchline of the joke: to make it look bigger and fill the empty plate, the burger was served ‘open’ with the top half of the bun placed alongside it for no apparent reason!
I ate the whole burger and someone else’s leftover chips but was still hungry and had another meal when I got home. The whole experience still feels like a surreal joke, yet was deadly serious, and I wasn’t at all surprised when the place closed down not long afterwards.
Because Alexander the Great’s Army was leagues ahead of every other Army on earth. There was no close second. Alexander himself gets the credit but I don’t think this is fair. I honestly think Alexander was “meh” and won thanks to his great Army.
Let’s start by breaking it down.
1: Foot Companions
The regular infantry was called “foot companions”. These guys wielded a very long spear/pike and a small shield. Now at this time, everyone fought with a shield and spear however most spears were rather small.
It took years of training for the soldiers to learn to use the pikes. Additionally, these guys were all trained in small unit tactics, hand-to-hand combat, and all sorts of special stuff.
image 357
2: Companion Cavalry
The Companion Cavalry was the greatest unit of cavalry ever (arguably) and certainly the best at the time. Cavalry at this time were mostly scouts and fast-moving infantry. They couldn’t really charge into enemy lines given stirrups were not around.
Alexander’s cavalry was unique. These guys were trained for years and years on fighting on horseback. They could charge an enemy head-on, flank around them, or dismount and fight as infantry. They were the elite of the elite.
3: Shield Bearers
The Shield bearers were the “SpecOps” of the Macedonian Army. These guys fought like standard infantry with shorter spears, swords, and shields. They were hyper-flexible, extremely well trained, and capable of nearly anything.
Alexander’s Army was capable of things NOBODY else could do. They could fight in the trenches, outmaneuver an enemy, perform complex tactical actions, and do it all with ease. These guys were the most experienced, best-trained, and most elite soldiers on planet earth.
In a time when armies were civilian-based militia with a small core of trained troops, Alexander had a professional Army at his back.
A stack of bricks isn’t a house as much as a mob of men is an Army. Make sense?
Now, most give credit to Alexander and his brilliance but I disagree with this.
Alexander made mistakes. At the Battle of Granicus Alexander recklessly charged across a river with a waiting enemy Army on the other side. This would have been a disaster for any other Army in history except Alexander’s and even Alexander’s Army took way too many losses.
Alexander was overconfident. In engineering, there is an acronym called “KISS” which stands for keep it simple stupid. Warfare is much the same. If tactics are overly complex then it creates situations where things could go wrong. No plan survives contact with the enemy so plans need to be simple and flexible.
Alexander didn’t create anything. This great Army Alexander had- it was created by his dad. These guys also gained experience fighting for Alexander’s father. Alexander didn’t unite Greece nor was attacking Persia his idea. Sure Alexander did conquer Persia however his Empire immediately fell apart because he was a terrible King and a terrible State-builder.
Alexander was wreckless personally. Alexander’s job was the lead the men, not fight with them. Yet Alexander led every battle from the front. Sure this is brave and all but this is the wrong place for a General. In an Army of 50,000 there are lots of fighters but only 1 leader. Caesar for instance would place himself behind the crux of the battle, issuing orders and watching as things develop.
Alexander the Great’s father was Phillip the 2nd. This guy fought and won dozens of Battles and conquered all of Greece for the first and only time. Was Phillip the greatest General ever? No. Like Alexander, Phillip benefited from a highly experienced, highly trained, and uber-expensive professional Army.
Hiring for our county office out in the boonies was done centrally, so often times someone was hired before we knew who it was. So when we saw the name Jim (redacted), we let out a collective moan.
Jim was well known around town. He was 6′7″, about 325 pounds, and was mean looking as hell. He often did rent collection/ evictions for local landlords, usually by intimidation. I mentioned this to HR, and was told to “work with him.”
So he started in our office. First order of business was to banish certain words from his vocabulary. Words like “wetback”, fag*ot, and of course, nig*er. Also, because he had contacted so many of our clients from his rent collecting days, often when clients found out he was to be their worker, they immediately withdrew their application for welfare. They were terrified of him.
After a couple of months, he seemed to have calmed down and was doing an OK job. But then, in the break room, he said the following:
You know what would be fun? If (co worker) Corrine would drive around in a convertible with a bikini on, and when someone would hit on her, I would be hiding in the back seat with a shotgun, and would suddenly sit up and point the gun at them, and watch them sh*t their pants!
This was it. The next day, three fraud investigators (armed) plus two sheriff deputies came in and escorted him out. I wanted to call HR and tell them “I told you so” but everyone was just glad he was gone; especially Corrine.
Note: he also helped get the head of HR fired. When he was removed from the office, he was put on paid administrative leave pending his firing. But the head of HR had a fear of lawsuits due to improper firings, so he was on paid admin leave for almost a year! Worse yet, there was another guy that had been on paid admin leave for even longer. So the HR manager eventually got fired…with no paid admin leave, just gone out the door!
I come from a family that struggles with finances severely. In the second grade my teacher noticed that the few clothes I had were now Ill fitting so she bought me new ones so I would fit in. I lived in a very, very wealthy area and because of this I was already being bullied for not having what other kids did. I was happy to receive the clothes. I came home with them that night and my mother, who spent our food stamps on cigarettes (the cashier at the liquor store rang them up as other things) and a disgusting quantity of mountain dew every month, walked into my school irate and high off of my ritalin prescription ( that was prescribed to me for my ADHD, as an 18 year old I still haven’t had thr medication that I need since I was 6), bypassed the office and walked into my classroom and began to yell at the teacher. I thought the bullying was bad then, she made it a lot worse. I am thankful for that teacher though. My mother threw the clothes back in her face (literally) and so my teacher kept them in the classroom for me to change into when I got to school and washed them for me. This is only one of several scenarios involving my mother. To put it shortly, I had my first suicidal thoughts around 11 and the state took away her rights to custody when I was 15. You are not your situation, you are how you deal with it. To anyone in that situation or any situation they don’t want to be in, it gets better.
Maybe it is just my imagination, but I think my “locked up” ploy has somehow made the rounds of all those backroom scam operations which call to say your computer has a virus.
Initially, I kept the “agent” and his manager on the phone for nearly an hour, until they finally just gave up. The exchange went something like this:
Scammer: Please press the Windows and CTRL key at the same time.
Me: I can’t. The computer is locked up. It won’t respond to the keyboard, and the mouse does not move.
Scammer: Turn the system off, then turn it on again.
Me: I can’t. The computer won’t shut down.
Scammer: Use the power switch!
Me: I did. Nothing. It stays on, but doesn’t do anything.
Scammer: Then unplug the machine.
Me: Ok. Still nothing. It stays on, and is still frozen.
Scammer: How can that be?!
Me: I don’t know. I guess it just switches over to the internal battery.
(Then, a manager is put on the phone, and promises to make the machine right if I pay $99 for a one time fix, $200 for an annual plan, or $499 for a lifetime plan)
Scammer: Which plan do you want?
Me: Uh, lifetime, I guess.
Scammer: Ok, please give me your credit card number.
Me: I don’t use credit cards. How about PayPal?
Scammer: We can’t take PayPal.
Me: Hey! Wait a minute! The machine just started working! It’s perfect! Everything is working! What did you guys do?
Scammer: That’s impossible! We didn’t do anything!
Me: But, didn’t you say you had detected a virus on my machine?
Scammer: Yes, that is why we contacted you.
Me: So, that must mean you were connected to me, right?
Scammer: No. Your machine sent a message to us!
Me: Ok, so I was connected to you, but you weren’t connected to me?
Scammer: That’s not how this works!
Me: Well, you must have done something, because everything is fine now.
Scammer: It is not. Machine still infected. It will lock up again and be destroyed. You still have virus!
Me: Wait, wait. I’m going to shut down and reboot. Hold on.
(I tap a few keys to make noise, then…)
Me: Ok, I shut down and started up again. Now, I am running a virus scan. Hold on… ok, scanning memory, registry, hard drive, checking for malicious code… stand by, almost done. Great! No virus detected! Fantastic! And, it seems to be running faster than ever!
Scammer: That is not possible, it will fail!
Me: Look, I don’t know how you fixed it, but I would like to send you $100. I’ll send a check. What’s your name and address?
Scammer: We can’t accept checks.
Me: A money order, then?
Scammer: No money orders. I think you are bulls****ing me.
Me: Do ya THINK?!
Scammer: I will f**k your mother!
Me: You like f**king dead people? You’re going to get a sooty Johnson; she was cremated.
Scammer: Click.
I can’t recall when I have had a more uplifting conversation, but the ultimate result has proven to be the most valuable. For several months after the above exchange, I would continue to receive the virus calls; but the moment I said the machine was frozen, the caller hung up immediately. So now, I just say, “Am I ever glad you called, this machine is totally locked up!” In response, a reassuring click.
Saw this question and immediately thought: Teresa.
Teresa is my sister in law’s best friend. She was also good friends with my brother, Dale. When Dale disappeared, Teresa was right there grieving with us. She shared stories about things she and Dale had done that had me rolling with laughter. Teresa is a bright spot where ever she goes.
Teresa is a respiratory therapist. Been doing it for years. Been single for years. Been putting smiles on peoples’ faces for years. She collected crochet afghans to give to her patients. They loved it. They loved her. She retired recently, bought a house in another state, and moved there on her own. I will miss her.
It was 2020, the year we buried my brother’s remains, after he had been missing for many years. It was around the time of the services, and I was having a rough time. Crying a lot. Teresa popped in one day and called me out to her car. She dug around in some bags and boxes in the back seat, and pulled something out. “This is for you” she told me. It was a cross made of wood with fragments of broken glass glued to it to make it shine. And in the middle it said simply, “laugh”. She told me she thought of me as soon as she saw it. It touched my heart. It made me realize maybe it was time to laugh more than cry.
Teresa is a special person. Salt of the earth. We need more like her.
huawei mate60 is using 5nm chips from unknown source, but for sure its made in China with 100% Chinese technology. Although it’s not the most cutting edge technology yet, it is the most widely used. So it’s going to bring down the price of all chips and ASML EUV will be too expensive in terms of producing chips. China is infamous for it industrial crushing ability, Whatever technology they proceed they will smash the market price to under half even to just 10% of the original market price. everyone in the same market will be gone in no time
On August 2, 2007, Majid Kavousifar was excuted along with his nephew Hossein Kavousifar for the assassination of Masoud Moghadasi ,a judge from the Islamic Revolution Court in Iran.
Masoud Moghaddasi was one of several judges of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court, that collectively sentenced more than 2800 to 3800 political prisoners to execution during the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners.
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Majid Kavousifar showed no remorse to hangman in his last words, telling them “I reached the point at which I decided to eradicate any injustice.”
His last words before being hanged next to his nephew Hossein Kavousifar:
“My name is Majid Kavousifar, I am Iranian
I didn’t wait for someone in this world to give me my right
I reached the point at which I decided to eradicate any injustice
I smile because I know that a small smile at that moment will be a great message of hope for every oppressed human being on the face of the earth.
The memory of Majid Kavousifar and his triumphant smile will live forever in the hearts of freedom lovers in Iran and all over the world.
Actually, a police officer once said to me: “What did you do with my patrol car? Why did you steal it?”
The back story is that when coming out of the back door of the courthouse late one evening my friend and I saw a running, unlocked police car sitting in the driveway between the jail and the courthouse. My friend and I wondered why this was and decided to watch a while. After 10 minutes nothing happened and the car was still parked, unlocked, and running. My friend and I decided something needed to be done to prevent the car from being stolen so we flipped a coin and I lost so I got in the car and drove it around the corner and turned it off, locked it, and returned to await the arrival of the police officer who had been assigned the car. My friend and I watched and waited and about a half an hour later the offending officer came out and found his cruiser missing. Since he left his radio in the car he couldn’t radio the missing car in and he’d left the jail and the return door was locked. He panicked and started running around in a confused state. My friend and I who were hiding began laughing and he couldn’t understand why. He was really confused and upset. I held up the keys and told him I’d “stolen” it to keep it safe and showed him where it was. He was both relieved and highly pissed. Relieved at first and the gradually more angry. My friend and I just kept laughing and he got even madder. Then he said he was going to arrest us. I said why? It’s not stolen and who’s going to prosecute me, I’m the County Attorney? Then he said he wasn’t worried because he knew the judge would put it on me because he was a good friend of the judge. I just kept on laughing because my friend who had been standing in the dark background listening came forward and said, “You mean me, Steve?” And the judge began to laugh too. He then said he’d get us both hand I said, “Go ahead! How do you think the Chief is going to feel when he learns you let your cruiser get “stolen” under these conditions? He didn’t say much else but just took his keys, got in his car and drove away. So that’s the story on how the Judge and I stole a police car.
My husband got offered a higher paying job with a different company, and one that treated their employees better. He tried to refuse the exit interview, but when pressed, agreed, if the big boss was in the room. He proceeded to tell the room exactly what led to his exit, and then they had the nerve to ask for 2 weeks notice. He looked the big boss right in the eye and asked if he would have gotten a 2week notice if he was being fired. The boss’ eyes dropped to the floor and he said no. My husband then asked if he could expect any changes to be made in policy regarding the treatment of blue collar workers. The boss again said no. My husband said, “ok, don’t consider this a ‘quit,’ consider as me firing you as my employer.” Then he walked out. We had to wait almost a month after he left to receive his last paycheck, even after calling the state labor board.
Christmas Watch-Along / AMA / Goof-off
Lot’s of good stuff in blurbs in this fun video. Grab some popcorn.
I enjoyed all of them, but my favorite is Non-geological shock. HAARP.
As a boy, living in Pennsylvania, I possessed the normal (and perhaps natural) brick-a-bract and flotsam and jetsam that accompanies most boys in the 1960’s. Model airplanes. Cubscout uniforms. Bottle collections. Debris that I picked up here and there. Scale models. Baseball playing cards, and the like.
Some of my most prized treasures consisted of my arrowheads… and my Indian-head pennies (and Buffalo Nickels). These were kept in an old Mason Jar on a shelf in my room.
Every now and then I would take them out. I would hold them. Fondle them. Feel the weight of them, and look at the details on them. I would then put them back, and go on with my life.
Eventually I went to university. During that time, my brother was selling odds and ends of mine for money or trade. I started to notice that things were missing, but since I hadn’t been “playing with them” for four years or more, it just didn’t seen significant to me.
…At that time.
…
Tiny treasures. Lost in time.
My unappreciated fragments of my life, discarded by others who cared not for their significance to me personally. They just did not care.
This trend continued throughout my life.
Tiny treasures. Lost in time.
…
Things that were important to me. Things that mattered to me. Things that represented memories, thoughts, ideas, and my personality… discarded by others who did not share my emotions about them.
Yes. The first year that they opened Buckingham Palace for tourists, I happened to be in London and got tickets. We had the girls and the wait was long so we walked behind the annex and let them move around. There was a gift shop I bought a catalog from.
When our ticket time was close to the front when we came back. There was a lovely Japanese women who was working the crowds and checking tickets. There was a fiftyish woman who tried to walk by her. She politely asked for her ticket. It if course was for a much later time. I only want to (looks at the catalog) buy one of those. The guide politely refused.
Then it came. She loudly screeches, “Do you know who I am. I am a millionaire in the US.”. I quickly interjected that most of us were at her age. I knew I had to shut her down before she got going and the guide was terrified she was so antagonistic. “Luckily you do not need to go in there if all you want is the guide and told her where to buy one.” She of course stormed off. I apologized for my fellow countrywoman. I told her you have to nip them in the Bud or you have an incident. The philosophy is to create such a scuffle you let them through. That is not wise when other people are waiting in long cues. Could not believe it.
I was on a flight to Mexico City, my daughter and I were sitting in business class. My daughter was 6 then and she was reading a kids book, the flight attendant started talking to her since her niece read the same books.
She was nice and asked for a pic with my daughter and the book etc. When we deplaned, I forgot my ipad on the back of the front seat. I didn’t realize that until 5 hours later which was the time of our layover so I only realized it when I had to go through the security point again.
I went to lost and found and they had nothing, I called American Airlines and they had nothing. Then one day later I got a phone call from the flight attendant telling me she had my ipad.
The passenger on the return flight found it and gave it to her. She should have turned it into security, but she knew if she did that I would not see it again, instead she had someone check on my details and get my number so she sent it via FedEx to me and made sure I got it when I was back in Miami.
My daughter chose a nice art craft thing in Oaxaca and we sent it to her as a token of appreciation. She went out of her way to make sure I got my ipad returned to me and for that I will always be grateful.
Edit 1: Thanks all for you nice comments and upvotes, even to the skeptics that thought this didn’t happen. Trust me it did. Thanks!
This is DISGUSTING and Biden is about to sign it into law
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.
I was bluffing — I don’t have a law degree!
Respect is earned not demanded
Grilled Peanut Butter Sandwiches
image 107
Ingredients
Peanut butter
Sliced bread
Butter
Chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
Spread peanut butter on one piece of bread and put another slice on top to make a sandwich.
Butter the outsides and cook on skillet until golden brown.
Flip and cook the other side.
Notes
Chocolate chips can be added to the peanut butter if desired.
This girl had to have surgery, it was her 9th but 7 of the surgeries were done when she was a baby (all by the same surgeon). She has these tubes called shunts that drain the excess fluid from her skull to treat a condition called Hydrocephalus. Well after she went into the ER with abdominal pain (she had appendicitis) they checked her shunts to make sure they weren’t what was causing the pain. They were working but unfortunately one of them needed to be fixed later because it was disconnected. (Her neck muscles kept the space open to let fluid out.)
A few months later she returned to the surgeon who had done those 7 surgeries (she sees him every year for a checkup) and surgery was scheduled.
The day of the surgery arrived. She checked into the hospital with her parents and was wheeled back to the OR. The anesthesiologist told her to breathe in the laughing gas. He asked if it was working. She said “No…no…no-yes! Yes! Yes!” As she said that she began to lose consciousness which frightened her so she began to cry out “I’m scared! I’m scared! I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna die!” The anesthesiologist removed the mask and said “It’s ok, you’re ok, you’re not going to die.” But she was still crying and scared.
To try to soothe her, her neurosurgeon came to her side and said, “Hey, why can’t dinosaurs talk?”
“Why?” She asked
“Because they’re dead!” She burst out laughing and passed out.
She woke up perfectly calm and not the least bit anxious.
How do I know this story?… That girl… is me.
*Drops mic. Walks away*
In all seriousness though, I remember every detail of that. It was very scary. I later told my surgeon that I remembered all of this by saying, “Hey I have a joke for you!”
He asked “Is it about dinosaurs?”
“…yes.” I said smiling sheepishly.
“I fell unconscious really quickly.”
“That would be the propofol. Either that or you were so tired of my bad jokes that you passed out.”
I laughed “Maybe.” I said.
So there’s my weird story! I hope you liked it!
(I’m ok by the way. My post op appointment is on the 15th.) I’ll update on Monday if you guys want, let me know in the comments!
Update:
I had my pst op appointment today. Everything went well.
I was waiting in an exam room with my dad when my neurosurgeon popped his head in the door and said he’d be in in a few minutes and asked if I was behaving myself. (He was kidding of course as I was just sitting there.)
A little while later he came back and asked how I was doing. I said I was doing well, he examined my scar, and said that other than a large amount of scabing (which will eventually come off) everything looked good. He instructed us to come back in 6 months and asked what I planned to do over the summer.
We shook hands and then I headed back to school.
Are all men a 10?
This is How Delusional Modern Women have Become ft.
As you drive through the state, you’ll see a pattern of strip clubs and adult cinemas sandwiched between churches, Jesus billboards, and gruesome pro-life medical photos.
It feels like the state can’t make up its mind on what it wants to be. Consequently, our cities have super strange laws and weird rules around adult entertainment.
For example, in Tampa, you can’t drink alcohol at a fully nude strip club. Yet if the dancers have (tiny) tape over their nipples and crotch, you are free to drink your face off.
In 1983, it was even stricter, with a full anti-nudity ordinance in place.
Someone went to an exotic club and then filed a complaint about strippers showing too much skin. Which invites the question, “Why are you even going to the club and getting mad about what you paid for?”
In reality — it was probably part of an investigation, reserved for a few senior police officers who went “undercover”. I’m sure they enjoyed the investigation very, very much.
Three exotic dancers were dragged into court and put on trial for indecency.
The actual court case
The women weren’t even dancing nude. They were wearing crop tops and tight, short shorts while dancing on tables. Their underwear was visible.
A freelance photographer, Jim Damaske, was given a call by legal aid, “You might want to stop by this trial on Tuesday. You’ll be able to capture a very unique shot.”
The photographer wasn’t disappointed. The below photo was part of the trial and evidence. It was not a stunt intended to disrespect the judge:
image 11
The 20-year-old dancer was trying to show that her underwear wasn’t too revealing.
The decency law stated that underwear could not substantively reveal a woman’s privates, including highlighting any lines or curvatures of her lady parts.
Initially, the lawyer for the three dancers suggested the women would be happy to dance in the courtroom in their work attire — as a form of evidence. Judge David Demers ruled this was too much. He was also apprehensive about the defendants bending over in court.
Judge Demers had only been elected 4 months prior and worried about compromising his position as judge.
The defense lawyer suggested that the women could bend over at their law firm, photos could be taken, and brought into court. Judge Demers insisted it would need to take place in court in order to count.
The women did not see this case as a joke.
Indecent exposure can bring a large fine and up to a month in prison. Typically, the law would apply to someone running around naked in public. Or, if a man stands in his home and presses his junk up against a window towards the street — that would count as well.
Three decades later, the judge was interviewed about the bizarre scene.
image 104
He is aware he’ll always be remembered for the photo.
He said that when they took the photo, “I looked at the girl and thought, whatever happens, I shouldn’t have any facial expression. Don’t smile, don’t frown. Do nothing. Because whatever it is, it will be misinterpreted.”
“When you look at the photo,” said Demers, “my face is as blank as possible — and that was pretty deliberate.”
Why even sue dancers?
This was likely a moral crusade of a district attorney or other official with strong conservative convictions.
It failed.
The women won their case.
The photo was so compelling that Playboy magazine featured it in their photos of the year collection. Also, I have to mention — look at the stenographer’s face:
image 10
She’s thinking, “What sort of bizarro land career have I taken up?” And then, she has to decide what exactly she will write to document this event in court.
I also couldn’t help but wonder if the dancer was making eye contact with the judge. And was she smiling?
In all seriousness — this case was yet another example of my local tax dollars going to a grotesque waste. Tampa Bay has all manner of crime issues and our legal system is prosecuting strippers for stripping.
We have more strip clubs per square mile in Tampa Bay than any city except Las Vegas. The adult industry generates huge, huge revenue for our city, and stuffy politicians can’t stand it — unless they are the one getting the lap dance.
I’m proud to be American but we are the epitome of hypocrisy. We do so much moral posturing and pass stupid indecency laws — while also hosting the largest pornography industry in the world.
Or perhaps this is right on brand with being American. We only operate in opposing extremes. We are both the most brilliant and stupid people you will ever meet.
You might think that the ancient Romans were clueless about medicine and hygiene, and that they just let their wounds fester and rot. Well, you’d be wrong. The Romans actually had some pretty advanced techniques and knowledge for their time. They were not afraid to cut, stitch, and cauterize wounds, and they used various substances to clean and heal them. They were not barbarians, after all. They were civilized people who built roads, aqueducts, and colosseums.
One of the things they used to treat wounds was opium. Yes, you heard that right. Opium, the stuff that makes you high and addicted. The Romans knew that opium had pain-relieving properties, and they used it to numb the pain of surgery and injuries. They also used scopolamine, a plant extract that causes drowsiness and amnesia. They would mix these substances with wine and give them to the patients before operating on them. This was their version of anesthesia. Not bad, huh?
Another thing they used was vinegar. Vinegar is a type of acid that kills bacteria and fungi. The Romans would soak a cloth in vinegar and apply it to the wound. This would disinfect the wound and prevent infection. They also used honey, wine, and olive oil as antiseptics. These substances have natural antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, and they also help keep the wound moist and promote healing. They would mix them together and apply them to the wound, or use them separately. They were like the original Neosporin. 😁
Now, you might be wondering, did they use worms like in the movie Gladiator? The answer is no. They did not use worms to treat wounds. That was a Hollywood invention, not a historical fact. The movie Gladiator is a great film, but it’s not very accurate when it comes to depicting ancient Rome. It’s full of anachronisms, errors, and exaggerations. For example, the gladiator fights were not as brutal and bloody as they are shown in the movie. Most of the time, the gladiators did not fight to the death, but to the first blood or surrender. They were valuable assets, not disposable slaves. And the emperor did not sit in a box and give thumbs up or down to decide their fate. That was a later invention, too. 🙄
The use of worms to treat wounds is actually a modern practice, not an ancient one. It dates back to the American Civil War, when some doctors noticed that soldiers who had maggots in their wounds healed faster and better than those who did not. They realized that the maggots ate the dead and infected tissue, leaving the healthy tissue intact. They also secreted substances that killed bacteria and stimulated healing. This was called maggot therapy, and it was used until the discovery of antibiotics. Nowadays, it’s still used in some cases, especially when antibiotics are ineffective or unavailable. It’s not as gross as it sounds, trust me.
This is How Unattainable the 1% MAN is For Women
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.
How to Build a Working UFO | Alien Reproduction Vehicles (ARVs)
Monday morning and it’s cold and raining. I had asked everyone to be in an hour early because we were getting an early delivery of concrete. Three of my most trusted employees made it in like I asked. Although, a little hungover from the night before, at least they were present. Now Tony the fourth guy I have on my payroll was nowhere to be seen. I kind of half expected it. I could never rely on him, but this was the final straw. I ring him up and the phone rings out. I try him again and he picks up. At first he doesn’t say anything, then suddenly I hear sobbing down the phone. “Is everything alright,” I asked feeling a little concerned for him. I hear sounds of dry heaving over the phone. “I’m sick. I so bloody sick. He continued to repeat how sick he was in between inconsolable crying. I was beginning to feel bad for him. “Jesus Tony, you sound awful, how sick are you?” I asked. There was a momentary pause over the phone. “Well boss, I woke up naked from a heavy night drinking and my sister is in bed beside me.
I was traveling overseas. When I do, I have a special little leather bag on a long string that’s just the right size for my passport, which I never let out of my sight while out of the country. It’s about four inches by five inches by maybe a quarter in thick, if that. Basically flat.
I string it around my neck so I don’t lose the passport. I usually tuck my tickets and ID in there as well because it’s almost impossible to pickpocket.
Flying to Switzerland, I have a small overnight bag and my laptop computer. Woman at the counter says “Whoa there big fella! You have three bags. We have to charge you $100 for the extra bag.”
I stared at her. “What three bags?”
Of course, she pointed at the carryall, the laptop, and then my little passport holder around my neck.
I said “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
She said, “If I can see it, it’s a bag, no matter the size.”
So I stuffed it into my slacks. “Can you see it now?” I asked.
She glowered and said “No.”
I said “Have a nice day.”
What a bunch of tools to consider a passport holder a “bag”.
I was working a 12 hour shift as a gate guard on a military base. 8 PM to 8 AM, in this case. ’Round about midnight, it got VERY boring, so I came up with all sorts of ways to keep awake and keep moving. I’d tune the radio in my little weather shack to NPR, Go out into the middle of the street, and ‘air-conduct’ the orchestra in my mind. Got pretty good at it, actually.
One night, about 3 AM, a Jeep Cherokee came round the corner onto the base entrance road. I snapped to attention, checking the plates and glancing at the decal on the vehicle. The Base Commander. I gave him my best parade ground salute, and waved him through, but he paused, rolling down his window and staring at me for a few seconds.
“Petty Officer Harrison, what in the name of the Most Holy God were you doing?”
Now, I can imagine it must have looked terribly odd, to see his gate guard waving his arms and poking at invisible things in the dead of night, with classical music blaring in the background. Don’t know what he made of it. Maybe he thought I was hallucinating, or something… But I gave him my best sheepish grin, saluted again and replied.
for cello and orchestra. The second violin is a bit behind the beat…”
He sighed, shook his head, gave a vague sort of wave and said. “Carry on, then.” and drove off.
Two days later, a new standing order was published. “All gate guards will be issued batons and metronomes at the beginning of the night shift, in order to keep that pesky second violin in line. Said equipment will be returned to the Armory at the end of the shift along with the duty weapon.” The look of disbelief on the department head’s face was priceless… 🙂
In 2012, the United States discovered suspicious Chinese access to the country’s critical infrastructure.
After some research, security officials found the culprit. It was not a Chinese hacker, but a Verizon employee, simply called “Bob.”
Bob did not have criminal intentions, as everyone initially suspected.
He did not feel like working hard all day and had found a creative way to enliven his day with more pleasant things.
The 40-year-old programmer had managed to outsource his work to Chinese programmers. He had physically sent his RSA token to a Chinese company so that Asian programmers could use his credentials during his working hours pretending to be him.
image 109
This is an RSA token. It is a security id, a kind of “ID card” of the employee.
Chinese programmers received less than 20% of his six-figure salary.
Over the years, Bob had become a highly regarded employee for his “clean, well-written” code. He was called ‘the best developer in the house.'”
In reality, however, he spent his days on Facebook, Ebay, and Linkedin, watching many cat videos.
At 4:30 p.m., before the day was over, he would send a report to management.
After the investigation, Bob was obviously fired, and presumably his Chinese colleagues also lost their jobs.
Which, in my opinion, was not smart on the part of the company. Because the Chinese had really shown themselves to be trustworthy.
All of my classmates were “popular” from my outside-of-the-social-circle view. But here is what I know caused the “downfall” of two of them who were particularly popular. I graduated in 1998, and this is all from what happened when we were still in high school, what I’ve heard through the grapevine in the 22 years since, and what they post on Facebook:
Martha – Was one of the most popular girls in school, mainly because puberty had been very kind to her. She was dating a man in his 20s when she was a junior, so she was either 16 or 17. She was in his car one night when he flipped it over twice on the highway. It was a single-car accident. I believe alcohol was involved. She never came back to school after that. She survived, but was never quite the same. The man she was with died. Later, the rumor came out that her parents didn’t even know she was dating him. Had he survived, he could have been arrested for statutory rape.
Kyle – The school’s token “surfer dude.” I grew up near the beach, and surfing was a popular pastime with the rich kids. He was the most popular one in that group, and he even looked the part: dark tanned skin, bushy blonde hair, fairly “ripped,” etc… So he was popular with the girls in school. That popularity lasted beyond school and, sometime in his early 20s, he got caught sleeping with someone else’s wife and got the crap beat out of him. As in, an extended hospital stay for facial reconstruction kind of beating. The assault even made the local news. I’m not sure if the guy who beat him did any jail time, but I know that, according to all of our mutual friends, Kyle’s life hasn’t been very great since then. Everyone just describes it as “sad.” Did you hear about Kyle? It’s so sad, what’s happened to him…
I had a friend who was let go before his three month probation period was over. He was competent, I had worked with him before, and he always got his work done on time, when I worked with him.
His wife was suspicious that somebody was finding out where he got a job, and phoning in a bad reference. I don’t think that was the case, but its possible.
You know how some people have whats called a resting grumpy face. Well he had a resting happy face. It looked like he was always smiling. So when his boss would explain something serious to him, he would be smiling like he had not a concern in the world. He also had a sense of humor that alternated between dry and sardonic, that many people didn’t get.
Some people were insulted by his humor, because they didn’t get it. Then they would ask for an apology, and he would have the biggest smile, while he apologized.
I think that was his problem. But he didn’t even know he was constantly smiling. So he was totally unaware of the effect it had on people.
I’ve been in restaurants with famous people—I’ve been on film sets WORKING with famous people.
One time—long ago, on lunch break from working on the film “Pump Up the Volume” [1991] —was director John Waters—having lunch with porn star Traci Lords—an odd pairing, I thought—but not too odd.
I just noticed and didn’t bother them.
When I was a young fan—in film school—being exposed to the NYCity celebrity scene—I got a few autographs—Robin Williams, Peter Frampton, Monty Python Terry Jones, Charles Durning, Mike McGear [Paul McCartney’s brother], Joey Ramone.
But once I was in the business—it seemed kind of weird.
Especially with people I worked with—Christian Slater, Robert Englund [Nightmare’s Freddy!], Paul Dooley, and others.
Funny thing is—I’ve met far more celebrities “off the clock” than I did working in the business.
And oddly—I’ve been in LA for over 32 years now—and I think I met more in New York than I have here.
Being on foot in NY is more common than being on foot in LA—where I’m mostly in a car. This allows accidental meetings to take place more often.
Just not talking to women
Grilled Lasagna Sandwiches
Grilled Lasagna Sandwiches
The recipe ingredients are per sandwich.
Ingredients
2 slices bacon or ham
2 slices mozzarella or Swiss cheese
Sour cream
Tomato paste
Bread
Oregano
Instructions
Spread sour cream and tomato paste on bread and sprinkle on a little oregano to flavor.
Fry bacon or ham and put it between two slices prepared bread.
On his 18th birthday, I sat him down in front of the television and played him a video of his three-year-old self.
He burst out laughing so hard he had tears rolling down his cheeks.
The video was an experiment based on delayed gratification, known as the ‘Marshmallow Test’.
In a classic experiment from the 1970s, a psychologist named Walter Mischel placed a treat in front of children and offered them a choice – they could either enjoy the treat now or wait a brief period to get two snacks.
When the experimenter left the room, many of the kids couldn’t wait and ate the treat (often a cookie or marshmallow), but a portion of the kids could delay the urge to enjoy the treat and wait for the reward of getting more delicious goodies.
What Mischel concluded was that the kids able to delay gratification had several advantages later on over the kids who could not wait.
The children who waited performed better academically than kids who ate the treat right away.
He found kids who delayed their gratification also displayed fewer behavioural problems and had much higher SAT scores.
His findings have since been largely debunked for not taking into consideration socio-economic factors. The latest research suggests there is a lesser correlation between the results showing willpower, and a greater emphasis on delayed gratification being an indicator of intelligence.
I don’t know if it matters to this, I only did it as a bit of fun.
In the video, I sat my son down at the kitchen table and placed two bowls of sweets in front of him; one bowl had five sweets, the other just the one.
I told him he could have the one sweet now, but if he could wait for five minutes – and I pointed at the minute hand on the clock and showed him where it needs to go to – then he could have the bowl with five sweets.
I then left the room.
His facial expressions were hilarious.
The angst.
His face alternating from contemplation to expectant glee and then more angst.
He employed diversion tactics… looking away, checking the sweets, looking at the door, checking the sweets, studying the clock, checking the sweets.
Rubbing his eyes, checking the sweets.
His 18-yr-old self was in kinks at this 3-yr-old child.
He couldn’t remember doing it and it brought him to tears of joy.
It was brilliant.
I recommend all parents do this… for the fun of it alone.
Five minutes later, I returned.
He had not eaten the sweets.
His face was a picture of delight.
He grabbed the bowl with 5 sweets and stuffed them in his pockets.
Smiling like a lemon shark.
Then, an afterthought… he went back to the table and took the single sweet too.
I had a friend in my school. In Class 10th, the registration forms for boards were getting checked by our class teacher. He was calling each student roll-number wise and asking their details. When his number came and he was asked, “ Father’s occupation”, he replied, he is a house husband.
Our Sir mocked him saying, “So, he packs your tiffin boxes, hahaha!! ”
My friend also laughed at it, taking it a good joke.
Actually, my friend lives in my colony. His mother is a nurse in a reputed govt. hospital and his Dad stays at home, doing all the works a genuine housewife does.
They are well economically. The husband is damn caring. Each evening, he goes hospital and takes his wife to home, lifting her bags in his hands. Both are happy.
But the man is nothing but a laughing stock in our colony. No man, literally no man is his friend here. No one talks to him as he is busy in his house chores too and he doesn’t do “manly” activities. He washes clothes, wipes the floor, maintains bills, buys groceries etc. But he is mocked behind his back. People say words like,
“E kouno kaam na Kari…jeevan bhar aapan mehraaru ke kamaayi khhat rah jaayi.”
He’ll never do any work and will keep feeding on his wife’s earnings forever.
But have we ever asked any women like, “Why she’s a housewife?”
In fact society’s eyes start glittering when they hear that this woman is a housewife.
But being house husband is shameful, malicious, atrocious, non-manly thing.
What do you wish was socially acceptable?
That if a couple has agreed to their terms that one will work and others will stay home, then we must shut our mouth if the gender is not suitable to our eyes. Neither housewife nor househusband is a pity task if the couple has decided to work this way.
my father was a great parent, but he was often not home, and when this incident happened, he was fighting the Korean War. I was not quite five when I discovered that my mother was basically a piece of garbage. Dad traveled a lot with his work after the military, and my mother would have never done any of this stuff when he was around.
Going back to age 4, we were shopping for new Easter dresses. I saw a pretty pale blue flowered dress that I really wanted. I was born blind in one eye and you could tell. I was skinny and had kinky black hair while my older sister was very pretty and blonde
My mother told me I could not have the blue dress because ugly little girls should wear brown and dark green so people would not notice them. I threw up on the floor of the store. She bought my sister the blue dress I got a dark green checked dress, that was so ugly. I have torn up any picture that ever showed any sign of it.
Now if this was the only thing my mother ever said to me like that, it would be OK but it wasn’t. But she never hurt my feelings again because I thought she was a drunken piece of garbage. In fact, I kind of got a kick out of the things that she said. My favorite was when she told my too much younger sisters, that they should be very careful or they might end up like me, not a normal woman. My little sister laughed at her and said“yeah, we might grow to be lawyers too. shoot me now“
My husband told me that my father‘s funeral was the worst display of emotion that he had ever seen because my father had five children who adored him and overtly mourned his passing. I did not see a tear at my mother‘s funeral.
if I could change things in my childhood, I would want a mother who loved me and a mother that I loved.
Ah, the classic cheese question. The red layer you’re referring to on the outside of cheese is known as the rind.
image 12
The first thing to know is that not all cheese rinds are created equal. Some are edible and tasty, others are purely functional. But let’s talk about the red rind, specifically.
That red layer is often found on a type of cheese you might see on a pub menu or nestled in a fancy charcuterie board: Gouda, Edam, or sometimes even Cheddar. It’s a wax coating, and it serves a grand purpose. The wax prevents the cheese from drying out and also protects it from unwanted nibbling critters while it ages to perfection.
So, should you eat the wax? I’ll stop you right there. No. Wax is not meant to be eaten. It’s like the shell on a peanut; it’s part of the packaging. You’re supposed to peel it off and discard it. Now, some might argue that there might be a cheese or two where the outer layer is dyed but isn’t wax. It’s rare but in these cases, you can eat it. However, the real star is what’s inside.
Now let’s go a step beyond. Some cheeses do have rinds that you’re meant to eat. Think Brie or Camembert with their soft, white mold rinds; they’re part of the experience. The rind adds texture and flavor complexity that cheese lovers seek out.
But back to the red wax. When you’ve got a chunk of Gouda and you’re really getting down to it, you’ll cut away the wax as you slice off delectable pieces to enjoy.
To wrap up—pun intended—most red layers on cheese are like a book cover for your cheese, telling you a bit about what’s inside and keeping it in good condition until you’re ready to dive into the story. It’s not part of the meal, it’s just a protective layer. Peel it off, toss it aside, and enjoy the cheesy goodness within.
Enjoy your cheese adventures, and remember, just because it’s wrapped up doesn’t mean it’s meant to be eaten. Happy cheese hunting!
Right now, as I type this, I’m in Florida helping care for my mom. My dad and I have been doing 12-hour shifts with her, because she needs round-the-clock care. Between that and all the thousand things around the house that need tending to that my dad isn’t able to, I haven’t been sleeping much.
Last night at about 5am my mom started having trouble breathing, so I called 911. We just heard from the hospital 10 minutes ago. The cancer has spread to her lungs and brain. She really wanted to make it to her birthday in 6 days. The doctors don’t think she’ll make it.
So I’m not maybe the best person to talk about loving life right now.
And yet…
A few days ago, my wife and I spent a couple of hours at the Festival of Lights in Cape Coral. They had hot cocoa and a campfire with marshmallows.
When I stumbled out of bed this morning (well, technically this afternoon), the first thing that happened was my mom’s cat sat at my feet, meowed at me, and headbutted me to say hi.
image 101
Right at this very moment, I’m looking out the window onto my parents’ patio, where three squirrels are chasing each other across the screen roof, and it’s delightful.
I was born just barely early enough to see humanity walk on the moon—-some of my earliest childhood memories are sitting in front of a B&W TV watching the Apollo launches. Odds are good I will see humanity walk on Mars. Isn’t that amazing?
I am surrounded by love. I’m spending Christmas with my Talespinner. My life is filled with creativity and joy—I write books with some of my lovers, my wife and I created the Borg Queen xenomorph parasite cosplay from an idea she had three years ago, I’m teaching myself CNC machining and laser engraving.
I live in a time of unprecedented peace and prosperity in human history. We can fly through the air. Every day, we learn more about the universe.
This photo:
image 100
was taken by a probe that landed on a comet. We have the capacity to launch a probe that can travel for years and then arrive precisely on a small rock traveling at 84,000 miles per hour, which is about like a person in Boston shooting a rifle and hitting a golf ball in midair in Moscow. (Bizarre how many people think science is “just another belief system,” eh?)
And, I mean, I get it. The world isn’t all roses. Right now, far too many people in my country are too uneducated in history to recognize when they’re being lied to by yet another populist grifter selling them the same old tired lie that all their failures are the fault of somebody else.
We have a political party that takes gleeful, sadistic delight in mendacious cruelty, and a voting populace that sincerely believes it’s okay to vote for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party because surely the leopards won’t eat their faces—only the faces of the Mexicans and the gays and the trans people, right?
image 99
There is pettiness, and cruelty, and meanspiritedness. There are people who make voting choices because they want to hurt other Americans just to own the libs.
But viewed on a large enough scale, the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice. We may be in the “one step back” part of the “two steps forward, one step back” cycle, yet this too shall pass.
I want to be here to see what happens next.
Saving the cub
Disney Left Out the Most Gruesome Aspects of the Original Snow White Story
Oh, Snow White, that classic, if a little retro, fairytale of good triumphing over evil. It’s a sweet story of an innocent young beauty who is banished by a vain, cruel, and jealous stepmother and who, with the help of seven lovable dwarfs, ultimately finds everlasting true love. Walt Disney turned the fable into the first full-length animated musical feature film in 1937. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is to this day one of the top-10 films of all time (adjusted for inflation), beloved by generations of children.
It turns out the American animator left out a few gruesome details. Disney’s well-known Snow White is a sanitized version of the original German Brothers Grimm fairytale, which was a lot more, well, grim.
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm didn’t actually come up with the story of Snow White or Cinderella, Rapunzel, or any other storybook princess associated with their (and now Disney’s) name, for that matter. The Grimms were German scholars, researchers, and authors who collected folktales that were part of a rich oral tradition, having been passed down from generation to generation of women telling the stories to pass the time. In 1812, they published the collection as Nursery and Household Tales.
Despite its title, the book was not originally intended for children. The text included violence, incest, sex, and perhaps most deadly of all—footnotes. In the Cinderella story, for instance, the stepsisters cut off their toes and heels in order to fit into the glass slipper.
In “Little Snow-White,” as the original story was called, the Evil Queen asks a hunter to take Snow White into the forest to kill, as happens also in the movie. (In the original version, the child is also only 7 years old, as opposed to Disney’s 14. Neither seems old enough to consider marriage.)
In the Grimm version, the Queen orders the huntsman to bring back Snow White’s internal organs, saying “Kill her, and as proof that she is dead bring her lungs and liver back to me.”
He kills a boar instead, and brings back to the Queen the boar’s lungs and liver—which the Queen thinks belongs to Snow White and so promptly eats. Ewww!
“The cook had to boil them with salt, and the wicked woman ate them, supposing that she had eaten Snow-White’s lungs and liver,” as the Grimm brothers wrote.
The Queen tricks Snow White three separate times in the Grimm version. The first time, she has Snow White try on a corset, which is so tight, Snow White passes out. (The dwarfs save her by cutting the laces.) The second time, she sells Snow White a poisonous comb, which the young girl puts in her hair, causing her to pass out. (The dwarfs take it out.) The third time the Queen tricks her with the same poisonous apple we see in the Disney film.
Having fainted and presumed dead, young Snow-White is placed in a glass coffin in both book and movie. When the Prince happens by in the Grimm version, he insists on taking the deceased beauty away, even though he’s never met her. The dwarfs hesitantly agree, but as they are carrying her coffin out of their house, one of them stumbles. Jostled from her resting place in the coffin, Snow White spits out the apple lodged in her throat and is immediately revived. Without the influence of the Prince’s kiss.
In movie and in folklore, Snow White and the Prince fall in love and get married (never mind that in the original tale, Snow is only 7 years old). In the movie, the seven dwarfs chase the Evil Queen into the forest, where she tumbles off a cliff—with a push from a convenient lightning strike—and falls to her death.
In the book version, the Queen attends their wedding where she is meted out a just punishment of dancing to her death. (Perhaps this last was thought up by a 19th century noblewoman forced to dance endlessly to the 1812 version of Bruno Mars’s “Marry You.”)
The more Grimm version of the Queen’s death goes like this: “They put a pair of iron shoes into burning coals. They were brought forth with tongs and placed before her. She was forced to step into the red-hot shoes and dance until she fell down dead.”
You can see why Disney wanted to clean up that unsavory image!
I am working as a police sergeant in a small city in the midwest. A man comes in, wearing a very nice suit. A young woman is standing next to him. He tells me that about an hour ago one of my officers pulled over his 16 year old daughter. The gentleman says the officer told the young woman she would have to give him oral sex or he would write her a ticket that would cause her to lose her probationary license. The man wanted the officer terminated immediately or he was going to call his friend “the mayor” and have both of us fired.
I asked to see the citation he is holding. I asked if his daughter would be willing to give a sworn statement so I have evidence of the situation I can use for further action? He agrees. I bring a court reporter and an audio recorder. I date and time stamp the start of the tape and ask her describe the situation that occurred when she was issued citation number XXXXXXX on this date.
She gives a full complete account just like the details her father had given to me a few minutes before. When she concludes her statement, the court reporter asked her to sign a promise that all information is true and factual to the best of her with the understanding it may be used in criminal actions in this matter.
At this point I only know what I have been told by her father and her. But I knew something the father and daughter do not know. About a month prior to this event the police department installed cameras in all the squad cars. Whenever the red lights are activated the camera starts recording and microphone mounted on the officer’s shirt picks up audio and puts it on the tape (it was the initial use of squad cameras, we used VCR tapes, But the officers had no ability to over write or erase recorded tape).
The court reporter took the dictated statement to the girl and had her sign, and her father had co-signed because she was underage, the court reporter then took the statement upstairs to the clerk of court for filing.
I went to to the Evidence Room and watched the video tape of the traffic stop that had been recorded on our new squad cam system. 15 minutes later I came back to the interview room. The father was mad this was taking so long. I explained we had some new systems and I was reviewing how they matched up with his daughter’s testimony. I put a tape in the VCR and played every second of the traffic stop from the time the lights were turned on till officer ended the recording by manually shutting off the record feature by turning off his red lights and camera. The officer was professional and told the reason for the stop and requested the driver’s license, registration and insurance card from the driver. He went back to the squad with no further discussion other than to tell her to remain in her vehicle while he checked her status and wrote her citation. He came back to her car explained the citation, she asked”Isn’t there something I can do to get out of this ticket?” The officer said, “no, the citation has been issued, pay the listed fine or appear in court on the date shown, just slow down in the future, please use caution merging back into traffic. And then the officer walked back to his squad as the young lady drove away.
No sexual offer from the officer to void the citation, no discussion outside of the details of her responsibility to handle the fine or appear in court. And a standard warning to use caution merging back into traffic.
The father stood up, looked a little embarrassed. He said they had taken enough of my time and they should be going. I told him he was free to leave but his daughter filed a false police report. And Juvenile Probation Officers from the county were enroute to the station to charge her as a minor and determine if she should be placed in protective custody. I urged the father to remain and meet with JPO. I looked at the young lady and told her how lucky she was this happened when she was only 16 years old. An adult making the same false accusations would face felony charges. I told the father they could remain in the interview room until JPO arrived. If they tried to leave she would be taken and place in our juvenile holding area.
He was most cooperative at that point.
Now I believe the young lady thought a dramatic story would deflect any anger her father felt towards her for the citation. I am sure she did not realize how this would spin out of control and her father would make an official complaint. But if we did not have cameras the officer would have been been pulled from street duty and placed on an administrative assignment till Internal Affairs had completed their investigation. If they failed to find evidence enough to charge the officer I am sure Daddy would have have made loud and angry complaints to his friend the mayor.
There are many, many cases throughout law enforcement, public employees and private business where males in positions of authority have pressured women. It still happens today. Remember many but not all are true. I used this story for many years to convince officers that the need to document what they do correctly outweighs the same amount of time one of them does something bad.
And when they do we catch them, punish them and fire them. Camera system are expensive and keeping the recorded files is a logistical nightmare…but it is all worth it. Maybe we could require all politicians to wear cameras every day?
I don’t think, I know. each sanction lead to more sanctions and each new sanction will create an anti sanction action. Countries throughout the world will pad themselves with measures where sanctions will be nullified and totally ineffective. More sanctions is pushing a new world order in that everything western and U.S. will be replace and alternate anti sanctions mechanisms and systems that make future sanctions not work any more.
That is what all sane and sensible people will do and react when you fxxked them up. They have dumped the dollar faster, they will stop using SWIFT, they will not accept western standards and set up their true world standards, the will avoid western banks, the will stop depending western financial institutions and system. They will ignore western rating agencies, they will stop depending on the west swiftly and speedily. That is what I know happened.
To me the U.S. are losing its unfair advantage. And each new sanctions is like another nail in coffin of the western rules based international order. I am certain the U.S. sanction because it getting desperate to keep its rules based international order but instead it is speeding the demise and implosion of the U.S.
That is what is happening in the world each time the U.S. sanction.
U.S. Military Has More Unfeasible Plans For Ukraine
Yesterday the Biden administration ‘declassified‘ laughable numbers about alleged Russian losses. It did not help. Zelenski’s mission to get more money from Congress has failed:
Following a roughly 30-minute meeting with Zelensky – their first one-on-one encounter – House Speaker Mike Johnson said the Biden administration’s response to congressional Republicans’ demands has been “insufficient,” and reiterated his stance that a deal remains unlikely without a “transformative change” at the border.
The Republicans also asked the White House for its strategy in Ukraine. But as the New York Times reported yesterday, there is none.
American and Ukrainian military leaders are searching for a new strategy that they can begin executing early next year to revive Kyiv’s fortunes and flagging support for the country’s war against Russia, according to U.S. and Ukrainian officials. … The United States is stepping up the face-to-face military advice it provides to Ukraine, dispatching a three-star general to Kyiv to spend considerable time on the ground. U.S. and Ukrainian military officers say they hope to work out the details of a new strategy next month in a series of war games scheduled to be held in Wiesbaden, Germany.
That the counter-offensive had failed has been obvious since mid of June. A reason for the failure were fake war-games during which the parameters were skewed until the games showed that Ukraine would win:
Logic dictates that any responsible use of the KORA simulation system would have predicted the failure of the 47th Brigade’s attack. According to The Washington Post, the officers of the 47th Brigade “planned their assaults and then let the [KORA] program show them the results – how their Russian enemies might respond, where they could make a breakthrough and where they would suffer losses.” The KORA simulation allowed the Ukrainian officers to coordinate their actions “to test how they’d work together on the battlefield.”
Given that the Ukrainian force structure was insufficient to accomplish the mission-critical task of suppression, there was no chance for the Ukrainian forces to accomplish the actual assault requirements of a breaching operation – the destruction of enemy forces on the opposite side of the obstacle barrier being breached. The Ukrainians, however, came away from their KORA experience confident that they had crafted a winning plan capable of overcoming the Russian defenses in and around Orekhov.
When one examines the structure of a KORA-based simulation, it becomes clear that the system is completely dependent upon the various inputs which define the simulation as a whole.
Now the U.S. is sending one of its generals to take command of the Ukrainian army and will launch more war games. To what outcome will their parameters be skewed.
Apparently the time since late June was insufficient to come up with a new strategy for Ukraine. This will not do:
Some in the U.S. military want Ukraine to pursue a “hold and build” strategy — to focus on holding the territory it has and building its ability to produce weapons over 2024. The United States believes the strategy will improve Ukraine’s self-sufficiency and ensure Kyiv is in a position to repel any new Russian drive.
The goal would be to create enough of a credible threat that Russia might consider engaging in meaningful negotiations at the end of next year or in 2025.
At the same time, Ukrainian officials are examining strategies that build on their successful deep strikes on Crimea last fall. They are searching for creative ways to keep Russia off balance with attacks against arms factories, weapons depots and train lines for moving munitions, and to score symbolic victories. One Ukrainian former senior military official declined to discuss the proposals but said the new plan is being refined and is “very daring.”
The plan is that Ukraine will go into defense mode while committing more terrorism. But why would Russia let Ukraine build real defense lines? Ukraine is starved of artillery ammunition. It does not have the troops to hold all lines.
And whatever line it can build will break under intensive fire.
In the Summer of 1943, after German attack on Kursk had failed, the Soviets went into an offensive mode that did not stop until its troops captured Berlin. The German army retreated to defense lines, then retreated again and again – all the way back to Berlin. It took nearly two years, but the outcome was obvious as soon as the attack on Kursk had failed.
Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli, the top American commander in Europe, has been taking a bigger role in coordinating with Ukrainian officials.
The Pentagon has also decided to dispatch Lt. Gen. Antonio A. Aguto Jr., who commands the support of Ukraine from a base in Germany, to spend lengthy periods of time in Kyiv. General Aguto will work more directly with the country’s military leadership to improve the advice the United States is offering, American officials said. While the White House has opted not to have U.S. military advisers in the country permanently, General Aguto’s frequent rotations in and out of Kyiv would inch toward the end of that restriction.
A three star general does not come alone. He has a full group of staff, dozens, which will now become military advisors on the ground in Ukraine. They will also become priority targets.
And what do those advisors know about an industrial warfare that Ukraine soldiers do not know. Well, nothing.
I for one see no change yet of the trajectory Ukraine is on. It is losing badly while its propaganda is still claiming victory. Consider this from today’s Washington Post:
Loud explosions jolted many residents out of bed around 3 a.m. in central Kyiv, followed by air raid alert sirens a few minutes later. Ukraine’s air force said that antiaircraft defenses shot down all 10 ballistic missiles that were launched at Kyiv. That assertion could not be independently confirmed.
Multiple missile impacts happened BEFORE the air alarm went on. But the Ukrainian military claims to have shut all incoming missiles down. That does not sound like a plausible time line to me. I, in fact believe that the few air defense system Kiev was give, like its artillery, pretty much out of ammunition.
With no further aid coming from the U.S., and potentially also not from Europe, it is high time to shut the war down.
Posted by b on December 13, 2023 at 15:04 UTC | Permalink
WW2, the deadliest conflict in human history. Yet there are some incredible stories of survival by soldiers. I’ll give two.
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One was Alan E. Magee. He was a gunner on a B-17 bomber.
He was on a mission over France in 1943 when his plane got hit by German flak and started to go down.
He tried to bail out, but his parachute was damaged and he couldn’t open it. So he decided to jump anyway, hoping for a miracle.
He fell 22,000 feet without a parachute and crashed through the glass roof of a train station.
He survived with only some broken bones and cuts. He was captured by the Germans, who were amazed that he was still alive.
They treated his wounds and sent him to a POW camp, where he spent the rest of the war.
He was liberated in 1945 and returned to the US. He lived until 2003, when he died at the age of 84.
There’s another guy who might be even luckier.
His name was Alistair Urquhart, and he was a Scottish soldier in the Gordon Highlanders regiment.
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He was captured by the Japanese in Singapore in 1942 and sent to work on the infamous Death Railway in Thailand.
He endured torture, starvation, disease and beatings for years. He was then put on a cargo ship that was torpedoed by an American submarine.
He survived the sinking and spent five days floating in the ocean with sharks and corpses.
He was rescued by a Japanese whaling ship and taken to Nagasaki, where he was forced to work as a slave laborer.
He survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945 and was freed by the Americans shortly after.
He returned to Scotland and lived until 2016, when he died at the age of 97.
Women’s Dating Standards have Ruined Relationships
Number of close relationships…
What was the most satisfying conversation you had with someone who tried to intimidate you?
What was the most satisfying conversation you had with someone who tried to intimidate you?On first impressions, Frank was a nice guy. He extended his hand the moment he walked in my door, “How the devil are you?” he said, all bright and cheery.
Frank spoke and acted like he was my new best friend.
I’d asked for a move back to street duties – a year of pandering to our self-aggrandising chief had been enough. I’d got my wish and Frank was taking over my job, Sergeant of the Safer Streets Scheme. Despite the title, it was a political role. Allegedly, its remit was to make our streets safer – in reality, it was to make our chief look good.
I handed the reins over to Frank.
Within a day, he was badmouthing me behind my back. Within a week, he wasn’t doing half the things I’d shown him. Within a month he was taking credit for several of my long-term operations.
Within three months, they promoted him.
But that’s okay because they promoted me too.
A few years later, my boss urged me to apply for a post at headquarters. It would mean another promotion if I got it. They accepted my application and the next step was an interview.
I don’t know how he found out I’d applied, but I got a phone call from Frank.
Frank informed me he had also applied for the position and that we were the only two to go forward for an interview. He boasted that with his ‘superior CV’ he was pretty much guaranteed to get the job. It wasn’t a friendly call; Frank was trying to mess with my mindset. He tried to belittle me with insults.
The good thing about that kind of behaviour is, if you have a little emotional intelligence, it’s easy to deal with.
When people are nasty to you, do this one thing — imagine the person is talking about themselves and go-ahead and agree with everything they say.
It works on two levels.
First, you don’t get upset. In trying to cause offence, bullies tend to say things that would upset themselves and what upsets them is the truth. More often than not, people like Frank are merely describing themselves.
Second, the intimidator gets no fulfilment. Their goal is to upset you, but by agreeing with them you show you are not concerned by their words — there is nothing so dispossessing as indifference. You own them.
So that’s what I did.
The day after his interview, Frank called me again.
“Congratulations,” he said, all bright and cheery as if I was his best friend again. “I’ve just been told I didn’t get the job, so well done.”
There is a sweetness in settling an old score, and Frank deserved the bombshell I had for him.
“Frank,” I said, “you must have had a terrible interview because I decided I didn’t want to work at headquarters and withdrew my application last week. That means you were the only person in the process and still they didn’t want you!”
Italian Sandwiches
6117 4k
Ingredients
4 sub buns
4 Italian sausages, sweet, mild or hot
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1 jar pizza sauce
Instructions
Grill sausage until done.
Slice buns open like a hot dog bun.
Spread some pizza sauce inside, then place a sausage and cover with cheese.
Wrap with foil and place over coals or on grill just long enough to melt cheese.
Add mushrooms or whatever other garnishes are desired and available.
I had a messy divorce with children. Wife left the children at home alone while she traveled out of state to see her new internet boyfriend. The children ran out of food and were scared to be home alone. They called the court appointed attorney ad litem. She called me. She told me – send your client to pick up the children immediately. She told me that she was going to set a hearing and tell the judge about the wife leaving the small children (all under 14) home alone for days with no food. I called Dad. He said “I am getting read to pick up my date and I am going to have sex tonight.” I told him to cancel his date and go get his kids. He refused. I asked him if I could have his mom (grandma) pick them up since they were home alone and hungry. He said no and refused to allow me to ever talk to his mom again. I had to call the court appointed attorney ad litem and tell her what was going on. She had to find someone else to pick up the children that night. I had represented 3 generations in this family for many years about all their legal issues. His mom kept calling — but I could not talk to her since he had instructed me not to do so. She was so angry at me. She “stalked” me for over a year. I really wanted her to know what her son did – she would have “kicked his butt”! Plus, he never paid his legal bill. This case was a real disaster and I’d spent hours working on it. As I recall his legal bill was over $10,000. I withdrew from the case. I was so mad. I had worked for months to get him primary custody. I worked hard to get the court appointed attorney ad litem was on Dad’s side. I actually watched the trial because I was so pissed. Dad came off as a total jerk with his new attorney. Mom’s attorney “got her to clean up” and ditch the internet boyfriend. Mom had a really good attorney who worked with her client to make her seem like a great parent. Mom was given primary custody of the children.
My Christmas wish is that grandma see what I wrote and understand why I withdrew and what her son did. This was probably 20 years ago and the kids are grown. I don’t know if grandma is alive. But due to this crummy client I never got another call from anyone in that family again.
In Texas, we have attorney-client privilege. If a client says you cannot talk to anyone, then you cannot. You cannot even defend yourself when they call you and scream at you. It can be frustrating at times.
Many years ago I had a nut case of a Regional Manager named Bob. Bob got a bonus based not only on sales, but lowering expenses
At this time, phone calls were not free, even local calls cost around 10 cents per minute. Bob walked by my office while I was on a call with a customer and waited for me to finish. Then he said to me “asking the customer how he was doing today cost us 10 cents, stop wasting money”. Thereafter everyone made calls only when he was not around, and productivity dropped
The office was in New Jersey where it was at that time illegal to have self serve gas stations. One day he announced that all our gas receipts had full serve noted, and we were wasting money by not using self serve. Any receipts not marked self serve would be rejected. We all drove across the border to NY in order to pump our own gas, for 20 cents more per gallon.
He posted a sign stating that if you made more than 4 photocopies of something, you must go up 6 floors to the copy center and use the massive copy machine, not the local one. He said it saved .03 cents per copy! Someone posted an analysis showing the electricity for the elevator up and down cost more than .12 cents.
For the answer to this question one need look no further than Titanic’s sister ship, RMS Olympic. What most people don’t realize is that, as the older sister, Olympic was much more well known. All those superlatives we associate with Titanic — ship of dreams, floating palace, world’s largest moving object, etc. — were originally lavished on Olympic. In 1911, when she was launched, an entire issue of the trade publication The Shipbuilder was devoted to Olympic, with barely a passing mention of the other sister then under construction. Before the sinking Olympic was far and away the more famous sister and arguably the most famous ship in the world.
Unlike her ill-fated little sister, Olympic apparently WAS unsinkable. She had three serious collisions in her career, the first of which (with the warship HMS Hawke) left her severely damaged but still afloat. The second such incident was in 1916 when Olympic turned and rammed a German U-boat that had tried to sink her; the U-boat attempted to dive but to no avail — Olympic’s propellers tore open the sub’s pressure hull like it was aluminum foil. The liner emerged from the encounter with a slight dent on her lower prow and a legendary reputation as the only civilian vessel to sink an enemy warship in World War 1. Finally, in 1934, Olympic collided with and sank the Nantucket lightship LV-117 in heavy fog. Again Olympic escaped serious damage.
Olympic transported thousands of troops to and from the theaters of war in WW1, earning the undying devotion of those who traveled upon her. They called her “Old Reliable” because she always brought you home. Others referred to her affectionately as simply “Oly.” Captain Sir Bertram Fox Hayes, Olympic’s longest-serving commander and a towering figure in British maritime history (he was in command when they sank the U-boat), called her, “The finest ship, in my estimation, that has ever been built or ever will be.”
But alas, all good things must come to an end. The Great Depression hit the shipping companies hard, and by then Olympic was over 20 years old and showing her age. When White Star merged with Cunard she was retired. She was sent to the scrapyard in 1935. Fortunately some of her interior fittings and panels were preserved and can now be found in the White Swan Hotel in Alnwick, England.
A YouTube user, Neville, posted a video that completely changed the way I look at Social Media.
He and his wife suspected Facebook was listening to their phone calls. They started noticing ads popping up that were eerily similar to the things they’d been talking about the day before.
They decided they would do a test.
They didn’t own a cat. They hadn’t had a cat in 20 years. They never talked about cats.
They set up a phone call, where they both repeated the words “cat” and “cat food” over and over again during a 10-minute phone call.
A few days later:
Both his and her Facebook feed were filled with cat food commercials.
image 108
After seeing this video, it primed my awareness to it, and I immediately began noticing the same pattern on my own Facebook feed. And this has since been tested by other users who confirmed similar creepy results.
Social Media Apps can and do listen to your phone calls.
Why?
The more targeted they can make their ads, the more they can charge companies for those ads. To make more highly targeted ads, they want to get right inside of your head and know everything about you.
If you don’t want Facebook (or any app) to listen to your calls, you need to go into your settings on your phone, find the app, click on permissions, and disable access to the microphone.
Social Media companies will get as much information as possible about you with little regard for what is right or wrong. Just as long as it is legal (enough), they’ll do it.
I must have been in fifth or sixth grade. I was visiting my paternal grandmother, and I well remember just fooling around the maze of Pittsburgh hillside buildings. I remember peering though the network of porches and stairs to peer into the next door house. It was a home where my great uncle lived. He was my grandmother’s oldest brother.
And I peered in silence. It was a scene that impressed me deeply.
The old man, was in a bare and lonely dining room. He sat there, and slowly, very slowly was eating a bowl of soup.
Alone.
In gloomy darkness.
I do not know what my future holds for me, but one thing that I DO NOT WANT is to be eating alone in gloom, in a bare and empty house.
The U.S. cannot compete with China or for that matter, any oriental nations over time. American wants to earn lost of money but are willing to work half as hard, and as a nation they focus on wars, war mongering, and doing shit throughout the world earning nothing but hate of the American people.
The only way for it to be sustainable and functional again is to make Americans work twice as hard earn a pittance of money compared to now, and become discipline and retrained in new skills. All of which the U.S. government will not dare to change. Hence it will always have to buy from someone else and grow its deficits and debts.
Get use to it and prepare for the total implosion and collapse of the U.S. over time. The real income of Americans has ceased to grow since 1960 or 63 years ago! Meanwhile your political system will always select the most popular politicians who are not the best or the most capable. To run your country. They will make wrong choices but popular ones.
As long as you continue to operate the way you do, China and the world will eat you for lunch. I am merely saying the obvious. Something your media and politicians will be totally in denial. Hence its up to you to make a difference.
This gentleman Sun Zhengcai thought he was deep enough within the CPC to get away with a 170 Million RMB Bribe ($ 28.25 Million or ₹ 206.7 Crore)
He engaged in some bogus accounting
Back then CPC officials needed to submit their Asset and Liabilities every 3 years and so it was easy to hide money
Xi Jingping now said every CPC official of a certain rank had to disclose Assets and Liabilities every 12 months
He appointed the Xuebao commission, 192 dedicated people aimed to establish who were corrupt
Anyone who showed more than 15% increase in assets over a year or 100% across 5 years were questioned
Many proved they invested in property and shares and showed the source
No Issues said Xi
This Moron claimed he invested his money in a Spanish firm. It took a few days to establish that this was false because CPC members had to declare every outward transaction out of China, capped at a maximum of $ 100,000 a year that too for education or healthcare only
He was caught red handed
He tried to use Party connections to Jiang Zimin
A Total of 76 officials were caught
Xi and the Party offered them a choice –
4/5 of the Assets paid back to the Party plus permanent resignation from all Chinese politics and mandatory exile to the Outer Provinces with permission needed to return even for a 7 day visit to Beijing
Or
Trial & if guilty , life imprisonment
75 thankfully paid the Party and China and went to exile
Sun boldly said he would face Trial
He was found guilty and sentenced to life
Under Chinese law his daughter was recalled from Stanford and forced to establish her innocence and it took until 2022
He is in a 10*10 cell, languishing away
All because he was STUPID enough to believe he was immune
Lieutenant Ted Macie, an active-duty officer in the United States Navy Medical Service Corps, has been barred from accessing his work computer by the Department of Defense (DOD), after publicly revealing Heart Damage to Navy Pilots after the COVID Vaccine.
Macie’s exposed significant increase in heart-related issues among military pilots, post-COVID-19 vaccination.
The data presented by Lt. Macie reveals a dramatic spike in various heart-related ailments among fixed-wing and helicopter pilots. The statistics show increases in conditions like hypertensive disease (36%), ischemic heart disease (69%), pulmonary heart disease (62%), heart failure (973%), other forms of heart disease (63%), and cardiomyopathy (152%) compared to the five-year average prior to 2022.
After making public the horrifying, real-life, danger post-COVID-Vax, the U.S. Department of Defense has restricted Lt. Macie’s access to government computer data.
Hal Turner Personal Opinion
Apparently, the DoD has forgotten they work for the American people, and are trying to conceal the damage done to our military – and, by extension, to the American people — by the so-called COVID-19 “vaccine.” Especially galling is the 973% increase in Heart Failure; which DoD is apparently trying to cover up.
People in the DoD would do well to remember their entire organization was CREATED by . . . . us. The American people. We created the military to serve . . . us; to protect . . . . us. We train, equip, feed, clothe and house the military, to protect and serve . . . . us.
We PAY the military to do these things . . . for us.
If anyone in the armed forces of the United States is under the wrong impression that they work for anyone other than . . . . us . . . . they need to quit.
Many years back, my mother was frying chicken, not noticing that my baby brother, back then, managed to enter the kitchen and was crawling around.
He touched her leg, gave her a fright and before she knew it, the pot had flipped, and the boiling oil spilled on my brother’s face.
He got a huge burn on more than half his face. She thought she ruined his life forever.
My mother’s first instinct was to grab some ice and quickly place it on the burn. But she decided to call my father who’s a doctor first, thankfully. And he told her to never put ice or even very cold water on such a burn or it will only damage the tissue.
Instead, “the best thing to do for a minor burn is to cool it off by running the burned area under cool water for about 5 minutes. You can also apply a clean, cool, wet cloth.”[1]
And that’s exactly what she did before taking him to the hospital.
Thankfully, they gave him the proper care, and after a few months of using proper creams and honey to cover the wound, it was nowhere to be seen. It helped a lot that he was still a growing baby so his skin recovered fast.
But yeah, if she had acted on her instinct, and placed ice on it, who knows how that would’ve affected my brother’s face to this day?
My -ex used to be a nurse in a psychological care facility. When they were dealing with someone who was going completely ballistic, out of their control mind, the wrong thing to do was be completely calm.
She said she’d often go in and act a level or two calmer, but agree with the patient about their anger, because that would get them on board to listen to her and connect. And from there, she’d be able to wind them down a bit and talk them into chilling.
When she’d go in and immediately tell them to calm down in her ASMR voice, they’d just get even angrier.
It’s a good insight into learning to manage someone’s emotions. Leaning into them a bit allows you to get some control of the situation in many cases.
The other trick, that works big time, is to smile and look happy to see people. You’d be amazed at how far this goes to score points right off the bat. It seems like such basic advice, but many people don’t do it. It’s page 1, line 1 from the charisma bible.
It’s 2009. You’re in your friend’s basement, laying on a couch that doubles as your bed.
Your alarm is going off, but you don’t see the point in getting up. All you can do is stare at the ceiling and wonder how you ended up in this situation.
Bills are accumulating at an alarming rate and your savings account is all but depleted.
You know you need to make a change. You know you need to get back out there, find a job, and work your way out of this slump you’re in.
A friend tells you they could put in a good word for you at their office, but you hate the idea of working for some corporate snake that’s only out for himself.
Mark’s Landscaping posts a help wanted ad. No experience necessary.
It’s exactly what you’re looking for. It’s honest work, no managers breathing down your neck, and you can start immediately.
You brush yourself, put on your best smile, and sell yourself as a hard worker.
3 days in and you already hate it. It’s too hot, the hours are too long, and Mark is the one reaping the benefits of all your hard work.
You finish up for the day, head back to your friend’s basement couch, and start coming up with a plan to start a rival landscaping business.
The alarm goes off the next morning, but the snooze button is all too easy to hit.
You’re not worried about making it to work on time. You’re about to start your own company that puts Mark out of business.
The phone rings. Mark’s name flashes on the caller ID, but you send him to voicemail.
Instead of going into work, you fall back asleep.
The alarm goes off the next morning, but you hit the snooze button.
Mark calls, but you send him to voicemail.
Instead of going into work, you head out to look at landscaping equipment.
Everything is way too expensive and way out of your price range. If only you had the money.
You pull out your phone and give Mark a call, but he sends you to voicemail.
Mary’s Pool Cleaning posts a help wanted ad. No experience necessary.
It’s exactly what you’re looking for.
3 days in and you already hate it. You go back home to your friend’s basement couch and start coming up with a plan to start a rival pool cleaning business.
The next morning, Mary’s name flashes on the caller ID, but you send her to voicemail.
Fast forward to 2019. You’re in your friend’s basement, laying on a couch that doubles as your bed.
Your alarm is going off, but you don’t see the point in getting up. All you can do is stare at the ceiling and wonder how you ended up in this situation.
Best video Ever
Men, Listen up. It doesn’t matter (to anyone) if you win or lose. What matters is how you take it.
Two things to learn. 1, be strong regardless 2, pick your women better
New Zealand ARRESTS Government Database Admin for Revealing 24% DEATH RATE for certain COVID Vaccine Batches
A New Zealand Covid-19 vaccination database Administrator turned whistleblower, and revealed how many people died after taking certain batches of the Pfizer vaccine. New Zealand has now ARRESTED that man for “accessing computers for deceptive purposes.”
According to the man, certain batches of the Pfizer vaccine had death rates over 24% within about a week of persons being given the jab:
ARRESTED!
Today, Sunday morning, we are told the database Administrator has been ARRESTED by New Zealand authorities for revealing this information!
According to New Zealand media outlets “A health worker has been arrested and charged after allegedly misusing and disclosing vaccination data, while spreading misinformation about Covid-19.
The 56-year-old man will appear in the Wellington District Court tomorrow charged with accessing a computer system for dishonest purposes, police said.”
I worked for a company that decided to block ALL internet websites except for sites that were approved by management, one by one. There was no warning, not even a memo that went out that Monday morning it occurred. The IT person was overwhelmed the first day with complaints that the internet was broken. The reason eventually given was that too many people were using the company network for social media time wasting.
One small example, and there were many, of the short sighted policy, was in booking travel reservations. Sites like Continental, United, Delta, American, Hilton, Marriott, and Holiday Inn all had to be approved to allow for access, one at a time. What happened is people got approvals for one or two sites and used them, without regard to cost. The travel expenses doubled. Doing research to find the lowest cost supplier for parts was gone. You simply bought from the last guy you bought from since his site was approved. Costs went up across the board.
Sure, people weren’t using the company internet to access Facebook and Twitter anymore on their phones, so they switched to using cellular data. Time wasting continued. Expenses went up.
1: When my eldest son was about 2, I had a few friends come over for bridge once a week.
One time we were all standing in my kitchen and my stomach rumbled. He picked up my dress and went “Ewww! Sis! Stinky!”. I was so embarrassed and everyone burst out laughing.
It wasn’t a fart, just a growl of a hungry tummy.
2: This same son used to have timeout in the bathroom. This was more than 30 years ago, so please don’t judge me. Things were done differently then. He would open the door so I would lock it from the outside for the duration of his timeout.
One day I was using that bathroom and he decided to lock me in from the outside. Poetic justice, you may say, except…it wasn’t.
When I asked him to unlock the door again, he was unable to and he was becoming hysterical. Here I am, on a Friday evening, inside the bathroom and my little 2 1/2 year old on the outside. I wasn’t expecting anyone for the weekend and there were no cellphones yet. The situation was dire.
We tried everything. He tried to take the key out to pass it to me, but couldn’t manage. Tried to push a knife under the door, but I couldn’t use it successfully.
After about an hour and many hysterics from his side (and a little bit from mine), I leaned out the bathroom window to see if anyone was perhaps passing.
I live in a dangerous country. All windows have burglar bars and people stay off the street after dark. It is a city and we don’t really know our neighbours.
After a while, I saw someone arriving at their house about 30 meters from mine. I shouted and shouted for help. He first looked at this crazy woman and I could see he wanted to ignore me, so I shouted even louder.
Eventually he came to the window and I explained the situation to him. He was laughing a lot, I remember.
Thankfully he scaled a 6-foot high wall to get into my property and thankfully I hadn’t yet closed the sliding glass door which gave him access to the inside.
So a stranger had to come into my house to unlock the door my darling son thought prudent to lock.
Needless to say, that was the end of timeout in the bathroom.
Oh SH*T! This is why they’re INVADING America, it all makes sense now | Redacted w Clayton Morris
When I was a kid, I asked my parents for a cat. They smiled and said that I can have a cat if I can catch one and tame it. Living in the country, they figured that put the matter to rest, since there’s no way I could pull that off. Imagine their shock two hours later when they saw me walking up the holler with a knapsack in tow, carrying a stray barn-cat eager to live the cushy indoor life. We kept her.
When I was eighteen, we argued over a boy. Really, it was about boundaries. I roared, “I’m leaving!” They said that’s fine, see what it’s like out there! You’ll be back! Though it probably would have been best for me, I did not come back.
”We’ll show you.” No, I’ll show you.
After peeling an orange for my toddler this morning, she peered into the garbage can, wanting more. I explained that we don’t put our hands in the garbage, and that the bitter peel is nasty. “It burns, honey.” I had just changed the bag and the peel was the only thing in there, so when she grabbed it anyway, I thought, “Okay, good. This is a teachable moment. She’ll eat the peel, see that it’s nasty, and I can say, ‘See? That’s one reason…’”
I studied her face as she munched on the bitter skin and started to say, “See? It’s oogy oogy – nasty. Ewww -“
Except she broke out into her full-toothed smile and reached for another piece.
To my delight, we are very much alike. To my concern, I’m beginning to suspect that means we have our work cut out for us. Oh, yes, what goes around comes around.
The best advice I ever received was from my father, which may seem simple and homespun, but it has proven invaluable throughout my life. He had a certain protocol during mealtime in our family, emphasizing the importance of not wasting food and finishing everything on our plate. While he often had to remind me to be mindful of my butter consumption, it is not his specific advice that stands out.
His advice was rather straightforward – to eat what I didn’t like first and save what I enjoyed for last. I have carried this advice with me ever since. It doesn’t mean I suddenly become a fan of Brussels sprouts when I devour them first, but it has translated into other areas of my life. When faced with unpleasant tasks, I make it a point to tackle them first, so I can then fully enjoy the more pleasant ones without any guilt or lingering responsibilities.
I am grateful to my father for his wise counsel, and I still adhere to his advice by being mindful of my butter consumption and savoring the best moments until the end.
My wife and I were at a movie decades ago. It was shortly after Ace Ventura came out, back when they had previews and an attendant would come on stage and say a few words.
The attendant came on, a young guy of 16–17. He said, to the crowd’s astonishment, that he was quitting because his boss was a prick. Then he turned around and talked out of his bum like Ace did in the movie and told a hilarious story about his boss. Then he took off his uniform shirt and walked. He got a standing ovation!
I would say that one thing that has changed here in the U.K. over the past fifty years ago, or since the 1960s when I was a boy, is the etiquette of calling on or visiting friends and relatives. I remember in those days how instead of going to the coast or the countryside on a Sunday afternoon as many people do now, especially on a fine summer afternoon, my parents would instead drive to my grandmother or one of my great aunts, and this (or so it seemed to me at the time) was in the hope of being given a free tea when they arrived. Indeed it was the custom in those days, at least here in the U.K, to drive around and pay a surprise call on relatives and friends like that on a Sunday afternoon, who were then expected to welcome you and rustle up something for you to eat.
If my grandmother or elderly relatives did not do this, they were regarded as mean and inhospitable. They probably realised this too, and so they would make an effort to be generous hosts and feed their guests, and indeed would have some tinned food in their pantry that they could bring out. It was always tinned food rather than fresh food of course because the host did not know whether or not anyone would turn up, and if nobody turned up fresh food would go to waste whereas tinned food would keep for the next Sunday afternoon.
The meal would be tinned salmon, the brand usually being John West (popular in those days and pictured below). I should also mention that in those days smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwiches, which are so popular now, probably even more so than tinned salmon and cucumber, were unheard of because smoked salmon was so expensive and regarded as the food of only the very rich.
image 27
The tinned salmon would often be followed by a tin of pineapple chunks, i.e. a tin of pineapple chunks (like the one shown below, except that in those days tins did not have ring pulls like this one shown, and would need to be opened with a tin opener).
Nowadays it is different, because people do not normally call on friends and relatives without making prior arrangements to do so, and people who do not do this but call unexpectedly without giving notice are regarded as selfish and inconsiderate for the way that they presume that the person they are visiting has the time or is available to see them, or indeed has food in the pantry for them. However when I was a boy it was different, and the onus was always on the person receiving unexpected guests to rustle up a meal for them, like my grandmother always did.
My husband was Covid retired at 66, and we thank God every single day it happened. At the time he was hurt and a little bewildered but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
We realize now that, left to our own devices, we would have just keep going. His job had changed and the stress levels were ghastly but we needed the money because we had two houses. We weren’t thinking clearly, really. We didn’t want to get rid of the one house because we loved the location and owned it outright, so it was our “vacation house” but it needed a lot of work, was in a rural area and would require a 300 mile move away from friends and family. Meanwhile our primary residence had been remortgaged due to my divorce in 2003. The inertia was powerful.
After Covid lock downs ended and some other experiences (specifically the death of three of our four cats, three months in a row) we did something we’d never been able to do, spend a full month in our vacation home. We packed up our last cat and went to spend what we thought was our last time there. It was supposed to be to grab our stuff and meet with a realtor last hurrah.
Long story short, we changed our minds. We realized how much we hated where our primary residence was. Literally it’s only redeeming qualities were that it was convenient to our loved ones, doctors and shopping. Suddenly the major repairs and renovations the vacation house needed weren’t so insurmountable with my husband retired. We would be moving to New England and were looking at an increase in expenses, and now we were on a fixed income, but a different heating system and smaller house generally offset that. Also, vacations wouldn’t need to be factored in because we wouldn’t be escaping from our noisy, smelly, increasingly urbanized and progressively more scary neighborhood.
I now live on a dead end street with a total of three neighbors and don’t expect to ever have more. The biggest noise is my neighbor’s roosters, and I can’t even hear them with the windows closed. I’m planning the gifts I want to give my neighbor/friends (homemade food) when we never used to even know the names of the people who lived in the house attached to our twin. We are on a budget, will always be, but money literally cannot buy happiness. We are so utterly at peace and content, more than we ever imagined, and it is a pleasure we never would have experienced if my husband hadn’t retired.
My husband took early retirement as a high school administrator a year before I did the same. The plan was for him to use that year when I was still teaching to fix up the house and get it ready to sell.
In November of my final school year, a stranger saw him working out in our front yard and asked if we wanted to sell our house. My husband said it would be for sale next June.
The man explained that he was the person who had just bought our next door neighbor’s house, and that he would like to buy our house as well for family members. My husband told him we’d think about it.
When I got home and heard the story, I was adamant that it wouldn’t work to move out before school ended in June. My husband had a plan, however. I didn’t have to lift a finger; he went on to arrange a short term duplex rental for us from a neighbor, arranged to have most of our furniture and “stuff” moved to a storage facility, and cleaned the empty house himself.
Our California house sold for our full asking price before it was listed for sale.
I wouldn’t recommend manipulating anybody, as the act itself is unethical. But I would recommend learning these tricks to stay aware of what is going on inside other people and behind their image.
The Zeigarnik Effect (named after the psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik): This phenomenon suggests that people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed ones. To use this, if you want to ensure someone remembers something, start discussing it and then intentionally leave it incomplete.
The Benjamin Franklin Effect (Named after the eponym of effect: Benjamin Franklyn) : This effect suggests that people are more likely to like you after they’ve done a favor for you. So, asking someone for a small favor can actually make them feel more positive about you. (Maybe even trust you).
The Illusory Truth Effect: The more you hear something, the more likely you are to believe it’s true, even if it’s false. Be cautious about repeating false information, and fact-check before sharing because this is how gossip negatively influences our brains and functions.
The Pygmalion Effect (Named after a Greek Myth): This is the idea that higher expectations lead to an increase in performance. If you have high expectations for yourself or others, it can lead to better outcomes. Of course, there are exceptions, where people would feel pressured when high expectations are placed on them, like a stone on their shoulders. But it is a valuable tip for your professional teammates or family members.
The Power of Visualization: Visualizing success can boost your confidence and performance in various situations.
Contrary to what one might believe, as you age you get less materialistic. My wife and I always laugh when we realized that we spent most of our young lives gathering “stuff” and most of our older lives getting rid of “stuff”.
As you age, you realize what’s really important in your lives (relationships and doing things you enjoy to do are the two biggest things) and understand that all that materialistic stuff just weigh’s you down. You not only shed material things but also things that you realize are of no value.
The “cranky old man” is usually more true than not because you stop trying to be everybody’s friend and discard relationships that add quality and enjoyment to your life.
You stop trying to present aires on who you wan’t to be and are now happy (in most cases) with who you are. My belief is that all this comes about when you realize you have more than likely achieved whatever you’re going to achieve in your lifetime and you have only a short time to really “enjoy” what’s left of your life. In effect, you finally become comfortable with who you are because, at this stage, you’re not going to change AND you’re not going to change what others think of you.
Don’t take this as a negative because hitting this “milestone” in your life, to use a common saying is like “taking the monkey off your back. You finally become “you” and the hell with what the rest of the world thinks.
My old manager at a fast food restaurant went for a night out. He was having a great time. Bar hopping all around town.
His girlfriend started receiving weird calls from random numbers, then his mom and dad, then his brother and sister. Everybody was getting calls. “Give us $20k or we kill Jacob” (name changed for privacy)
He was drugged and tied up while the men made ransom calls to everyone on his phone. They ended up getting no money and dumped him in the street below the most famous sign in town. The “biggest little city in the world” sign in Reno NV. He woke up there in his underwear. Police were called but none of the men were ever found
I did Houston to Dubai and I think that was 19 hours. Typically, once you get past about 9 hours, it’s all the same. You watch movies, read a book, chat with your travel buddy, sleep etc. It’s just really not a big deal.
Even if you’re a nervous flyer, like me, you can only be terrified for so long before you get over it and just get bored.
I have a few tricks that I use that I will share with you.
Every hour, on the hour, I like to get up an do a lap. That is, I will walk all the way to the back of the plane, use the restroom, Hit the galley for a water or a munchie, go all the way to the front, at then circle back around. Again, all of it where I need to use the bathroom or not. It just helps break up the monotony.
Any time they give you food, take it and eat. It breaks up the monotony.
Bring a laptop or tablet and put a BUNCH of movies on it. Some long flights don’t have good entertainment options and it can be difficult to find out before you are on the plane. I bring my Ipad with about 20 different movies and TV shows saved on it. It doesn’t even matter if it’s a bad movie, it’s just to pass the time.
Try not to get too wound up about it. Just relax and enjoy the ride. You’ll get there when you’ll get there.
Two instances come to mind, more funny than serious though.
After Army basic, we were in AIT and the Drill Sgt was a little guy, smaller than many recruits. He called everyone into the barracks for some kind of pep talk or something. I don’t remember topic but we were all “at ease” and he was sitting on a top bunk facing us. Just then a recruit runs in late, jumps up top with him, slaps his arm and tells the drill to scoot over. He didn’t realize it was the Drill Sgt. A good smoking ensued while we all tried not to laugh.
A couple years later my unit at the time was in Korea on a field excercise. We had a tent with our cots set up inside and the command tent was right next door. We all had blanks for training excercise and those muzzle blocker things installed. I forget the name, but they were red and cube shaped. Anyhow, day was over and a guy whos cot was against the wall we share with the command tent was carrying an M249. He walked in all tired, went to his cot, and kinda just dropped his weapon on the ground next to it. He never unloaded it. 3 rounds (blanks thankfully) went off from burst mode. It was aimed into the command tent. They noticed.
Some years ago I worked in a large office and the pretty receptionist used to wave at me every time I came in.
I used to grab a bite – usually alone – at lunch in the canteen, and she asked if she could join me. This became regular for a couple of weeks and we’d chat about non-consequential stuff. Sometimes she appeared to try and steer the conversation towards sexual stuff, but (back then) I was uncomfortable and didn’t follow up.
She would flick and twist her hair, smile and tilt her head when I talked.
After a while, when I walked past reception and she started blowing kisses to me.
I hope nobody else has already said doing press-ups with a backpack filled with vodka bottles, because that woud be disappointing. (Also fairly unlikely.)
Because my most bizarre injury was probably sustained doing press-ups with a backpack filled with vodka bottles.
Having recently finished Uni, I was living alone in a lovely (cough) studio apartment. Not wanting to shell out on a gym membership, I used some impressive initiative that would probably have been better served on finding a half-decent job.
I combined two of my main passions at the time — working out, and drinking.
You have to make do with what you’ve got. What I had, was several empty bottles, both plastic and glass, and a backpack.
Being a smart cookie, I realised that, if I filled said bottles up with water, I could make them pretty heavy. I could then put several of them in my backpack, and make my bodyweight exercises (press-ups and pull-ups) considerably harder, so I could continue to make progress (or at least maintain a bit of muscle) sans gym membership.
Being a not-that-smart cookie, I didn’t really foresee that glass could be breakable. (Well, I did put some form of clothing in the backpack, to prevent the bottles all smashing against each other, but I don’t think it would have passed a safety inspection.)
Halfway through a set of press-ups, one of the vodka bottles cracked, and started leaking over me. It also caused some of the broken pieces of glass to dig into my back, so my blood started leaking over me as well.
OK, actually, it wasn’t a particularly bad cut. I do still have a faint scar on my back from it, though. So, while I’ve had several much worse injuries, I don’t think any of them were quite this stupid, or preventable.
(Actually, spraining/almost breaking my ankle jumping over some small shrubs by a kerb while yelling “parkour” might give it a run for its money.)
I had never known true grief until my wife died four years ago. I did not know the cruel tricks my mind would play on me after her death.
Michelle was a diabetic. Her diabetes caused so many problems with her body. She had early onset osteoporosis. People would not believe that she needed a hip replacement in her early thirties. I lost count the number of times I woke up but couldn’t wake her up because her blood sugar had dropped. The day we closed on our house, she wasn’t there. I had to call 911 that morning. She was in the hospital when I signed the papers to buy the house.
Over the years, her health continued to worsen. She was shopping with her parents when she tripped and fell. She broke her leg starting a years long odyssey involving several surgeries and the doctors installing an external fixation device on her leg. The doctor had said at one point that the easiest thing would be to amputate her leg after her broken bone had become infected. She did not want to.take that option hence the external fixation device. For almost two years she had a heavy metal set of rings on her legs with pins that went directly into the bone. She was wheelchair bound as she couldn’t walk with the device on her leg. She required assistance from either me or her parents just to go to the bathroom. During this time she developed necrosis in some of her fingers. We spent one anniversary at home with her crying in pain because her fingers hurt so bad. She eventually had several fingers amputated. There was no choice. She also went into renal failure and required dialysis.
Hospital staff knew her by sight. Two week long hospital stays were a routine part of life. Then came the day that life ended. She couldn’t stay at home with me because she couldn’t take the stairs up. She stayed at her parents apartment. Her father woke up to go to work. He would assist her using the bathroom before going to work. That morning he couldn’t get her to wake up. He called 911. The paramedics performed CPR for over an hour but nothing more could be done. She was 40 years old when she died.
My wife was Jewish. Jewish funeral tradition states that a person must be buried very quickly after they die. She died on a Tuesday. Her funeral was held on Thursday. There was a rush to get her sister in from where she lived in a different state, but for the most part I spent the days between her death and her funeral in a state of shock. Feeling no emotion whatsoever.
During her wake, her coffin was in a separate room where only a few people could enter at a time. A couple of my cousins that Michelle had been good friends with over the years asked me to accompany them while they paid respects. They wanted me to be their rock. The funeral home had done Michelle’s hair and makeup. She had never looked more beautiful except for our wedding day. My cousins each cried a few tears but I was still in shock.
After her wake and the Rabbi giving his service, we went to the cemetery. There was a service held at the graveside. Another Jewish funeral tradition followed. Her coffin was lowered into the ground then each mourner would put a shovel full of dirt on top. I remember the Rabbi being very specific that you do not hand the shovel to the next person in line. You put the shovel down so that it is standing up in pile of dirt next to the grave. My turn came. I did as the Rabbi instructed. After placing the shovel back I took a few steps away then emotion hit me like a freight train. It was literally a surprise when the tears came. The tears flowed and I couldn’t stop them. I stood there for I don’t know how long. My best friend that I refer to as my brother came up and wrapped me in a hug. His wife also hugged me and tried to console me. She told me how there would be no more hospitals, no more pain, her suffering was over. Still I cried. I had known Matt since high school. It had been 20 years since we graduated. He had been married for six years by then. He told me how after the funeral his wife said she had never seen me cry. Matt realized at that point that in over 20 years of knowing me, he had never seen me cry either.
It took a long time for me to recover enough composure to drive away from the cemetery. Even then a had to wipe away tears as I drove.
The next week I went to a cell phone store to have her phone deactivated. I again lost control of my emotions inside the store. The act of turning off her phone was another finality that hit me. I had to leave the store and go cry in my car before I could finish that task
The worst cruel trick my mind played on me came a few days after her funeral. I had a dream about her. In that dream we went to a store to go shopping for coffins. She would lay in a coffin to test it out. She got into one coffin and the lid started to fall shut. In the dream she was saying “Don’t let that close on me, don’t let that close on me”. The lid fell shut and that’s when I woke up. The coffin lid had closed and would never open.
It’s been over four years. Not a day goes by where I don’t think of her. Often I will see something on the news that would interest her and my first instinct is to grab my phone and text her. She was a huge baseball fan. She loved the Detroit Tigers with a passion (I’m surprised our house was still standing after the umpire blew the perfect game call). When I learned that Tigers hall of famer Al Kaline had passed away, I had my phone in my hand hand before I realized what I was doing. There are emotional scars that will never go away. The pain doesn’t go away. You just learn to cope with it.
I’m going to try and shorten a long story. Many years ago we had one guy in the crew who seemed to have bad luck following him around. One morning he was hours late getting to work and the entire crew was wondering what new pitfall had occurred and when he finally arrived everyone ran over and asked him what had happened. He said a severe storm had hit during the night and lightning had struck his chimney and blew a hole in his roof and set it on fire. He climbed up on the roof with a garden hose and put the fire out. Got some plastic and covered the hole. Inside the house had gotten pretty damp from the rain and the water hose and about that time his neighbor came over and suggested he come over to his house to sleep where it was dry. Said he went to the neighbors for a couple of hours and couldn’t get to sleep so he returned home. There was a van in his driveway. Walking up to it he noticed while backing up it had dropped a wheel over his culvert and gotten stuck. He looked in the back of the van and could see many items from his home and no one around so he ended up calling the police. He inventoried all his stuff in the van and asked the police to sign it but the police refused. A few weeks later when he got his stuff back some of the electronics were missing. Just life as usual for the guy. On another occasion he said they built a new apartment complex behind his property and dug a huge drainage ditch and dead ended it up against the back of his property. He got out the tractor and started building a berm. Said he managed to get it three foot high before the apartment builder got an injunction to stop him from building it. At that time a heavy storm rolled in and the water came down the ditch and hit his wall backing the water up and flooding all the apartments instead of his home.
Because they were born, educated and grew up in China.
China has a completely different history and social record compared to the US; in China, the state is considered to be the parent and guardian of all Chinese citizens, and is trusted more than the private sector, who are often considered to be scoundrels who crave personal wealth at everyone else’s expense.
This is the opposite of what most Americans believe.
Full Metal Jacket is probably the most accurate film ever made about the US involvement in the Vietnam War. It is absolutely the most accurate film ever made about the US Marine Corps’ service there.
While I’m only 44, and was never a Marine, and have never even been to Vietnam, those are not the uneducated opinions of a viewer. They’re simply facts.
Enormous care was put into making this film as historically accurate as was humanly possible, largely independently of Stanley Kubrick, himself an obsessive researcher always aiming for absolute historical accuracy, even at the cost of his own story telling.
Every major player except for Kubrick himself who was involved in its writing and technical advice was a personal witness or participant to the events leading up to, including and following Tet 1968, in Da Nang, Phu Bai and Hue, the locations the film is set in in its second act.
image 5
(Kubrick was the only major player involved in military and historical input into the film who had not actually been on the ground, at the locations described in the film, during the period of the Vietnam War shown in the film.)
Gustav Hasford, the novelist who wrote Short-Timers, the novel on which the film is based, and a member of the screenwriting team adapting the novel into Full Metal Jacket, actually served as a Marine Corps combat correspondent from 1967–1968 in South Vietnam (alongside his “frenemy,” future military advisor to Hollywood and actor, Dale Dye). He was actually present in Da Nang during the initial stages of the Tet Offensive, actually had to transit between Da Nang and Phu Bai during Tet and actually covered the Battle of Hue for Stars and Stripes. The character of Joker is based on him, personally.
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(Gustav Hasford)
Michael Herr, a member of the screenwriting team adopting the novel Short-Timers into the movie Full Metal Jacket, was the pre-eminent journalist of the US involvement in Vietnam. Dispatches, his 1977 memoire of his time covering the Vietnam War for Esquire magazine from 1967–1969, was judged to be the best book “to have been written about the Vietnam War,” by the the New York Times Book Review. Espionage novelist, former military intelligence officer and former MI5 and MI6 agent David Cornwell, better known to the world by his famous pen-name John Le Carre, described Dispatches as “the best book I have ever read on men and war in our time;” high praise indeed from an author generally considered the best British writer of the second half of the 20th Century. Any incident not directly attributable to Hasford’s service in Full Metal Jacket was something Herr himself had personally witnessed – in fact, the door-gunner incident is a verbatim account of a real incident Herr was present for, in which he was the journalist talking to a door-gunner killing women and children and asking to be covered in a story. Michael Herr also personally covered the Tet Offensive in Phu Bai, Da Nang and Hue.
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(Michael Herr)
R. Lee Ermey, the military advisor and eventually the actor playing Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, was actually a Marine Corps Drill Instructor from 1966–1967, and served in South Vietnam as a helicopter ground crew chief from 1967–1968. He was personally allowed to ad-lib 50% of his dialogue for this film, an absolutely unheard of event on a Kubrick picture, where, typically, you had to be named either Peter Sellers or Jack Nicholson to be allowed ad-lib at all. Ermey himself also served in Da Nang during the Tet Offensive.
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(R. Lee Ermey)
Street scenes were reconstructed from photographs belonging to Hasford, Herr and Ermey dating to late 1967 and early 1968 and taken in Da Nang, Phu Bai and Hue. Often the location and costumes reconstructed exactly matched the photographs, straight down to the clothing worn by civilians and the contents of the billboards and other advertising.
Some things in the film are notably SO accurate that those without intimate knowledge of the time and place sometimes call them into question – ie, the film enters the Uncanny Valley. For example, a Westland Wessex, a British-made, license-built clone of a Sikorsky H-34 Choctaw, is used as the helicopter transporting Joker and Rafterman. Most people assume only the far more famous UH-1 Iroquois, the Huey, was in use in South Vietnam by that point in the war. The USMC however operated the H-34 well into late 1968 and even preferred them to the newer Hueys. Its use, particularly in a second line role transporting journalists around, was absolutely period correct – as I said, it helps that Ermey, in addition to being a Drill Sergeant was also a helicopter ground crew chief, and that both Hasford and Herr personally recalled being transported by H-34’s at the time.
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(Picture of an H-34 taken from inside another H-34 in use by the USMC in 1965 in South Vietnam. This image is from the extraordinarily famous and important photo essay, One Ride with Yankee Papa 13, published in Life magazine in 1965. While used in the assault and even gunship role by the Marines in 1965, by 1968, unless requested by name – HUS – they were used in support roles; things like hauling journalists around, and doing mail and supply runs, as seen in the film.)
So an obsessive Kubrick surrounded himself with actual participants to the events described in the film. It makes the film absolutely accurate, except for the limited license Gustav Hasford took while writing the novel itself (his real-life Drill Instructor was not murdered, and there was no real-life Private Leonard Lawrence aka Gomer Pyle, but that’s about it). And while some of the novel’s elements were changed for the film, none impacted historical accuracy so much as they changed the tone and became less like Hasford’s personal experiences and more an amalgam of his and Michael Herr’s.
First China HAS DE-RISKED from the U.S. and the west in Chips, Software and Technology. Period.
China will never be dependent on the west ever again. It will make everything better, cheaper and faster than the west and make all the money themselves. It was happy to share a loaf of bread with the west but since the west wanted to cut China out. China do that as a favour for you. They cut you guys out. For good.
Forget 7nm. Think about Chinese 0.5 nm chips! For get google or IOS thinks Harmony that can do everything faster, more efficiently and cheaper. Forget blue tooth. Think a wider receivable less power consumption Chinese equivalent at half the price.
Too bad some players in these technologies sucked up to the west and threaten China. You harvest what you sow. China will cut out at least 70% of the world market. The west and make stuffs for your own small tiny market. You guys can cheat or coerce each other! Good bye Intel, Qualcomm, Nivdia, Apple, Microsoft, Google, blue tooth. China, the global south will cut you out. You asked for it. No tomorrow or in 5 years. Starting now!
I worked at a newspaper that had a dark room for developing negatives. When you enter and turned off the main lights, a red light turned on just outside the door. No one would dare enter as they could ruin hundreds of dollars of film.
It was a good place to go if you wanted to be alone. Just as I started my shift I entered the dark room and found about ten empty beer cans. They were from an employee on the shift before me and he had got drunk and forgot to get rid of the cans
From my arrival in the country as the head of school, I was concerned that people didn’t seem to be getting my emails. Many said they eventually found them in SPAM, but I couldn’t understand why a school email would consistently be sent to people SPAM boxes. I made a new address and saw a moderate improvement – better than nothing.
One of my employees kept getting viruses on his computer. We had brand new computers and while this was a poor country in Africa, the internet service was pretty good when we had electricity. Mac computers were not as susceptible to viruses as Windows, so I was getting pretty annoyed. I had cleaned up his computer several times by running software for that purpose, but after the second or third time of this, I decided I needed to delve deeper. What I found totally floored me.
This employee was running one of those money scams where people are told they can get millions if they simply help get money out of a bank in ‘country-x’. I found over 800 documents of copies of a variety of passports – many with his picture on them, official letterhead from the US embassy, letters that looked like they were from the US Ambassador, pictures of piles of US currency, pictures of credit cards that appeared to be from people who had been scammed, ‘official-looking’ documents from the local government, all used to convince people the plea was legitimate . . . I was up most of the night, printing off everything that I found.
Now I understood why our email was going to SPAM and why he got so many viruses. He had been running all of this on school computers, often doing this instead of doing the work he was hired to do.
If the people in your life aren’t happy for you after a big win, then you need to find new people. Full stop.
People say opposites fall in love but the truth is relationship having same music tastes, food vibes and night life lasts longer.
Choosing a romantic partner isn’t just about the romance-you’re also choosing a confidant, counselor, career advisor, therapist, investor, teacher, travel buddy, roommate, best friend, and business partner.
The reason why you can see through some people is that they have what you used to be.
Most people don’t care what you say, or do, most of the time.
No one is going to stand up at your funeral. Life is about loving people, not impressing them.
The longer you try to force what doesn’t feel right, the longer you delay finding what does.
My husband and I used to tease my dad and his “lady friend” when they would tell us what they ate on a regular basis—a small breakfast, a big lunch, and cereal for dinner.
But now the tables have turned as we’ve aged because my husband and I have become those people. In fact, I just had cereal for dinner about an hour ago.
With the exception of dinners with family or friends, we mostly eat a hot lunch as our main meal. Fruit and cheese, cottage cheese and fruit, or cereal and milk are our go-to dinner choices. I also like a spoonful of peanut butter for a quick snack if I start feeling hungry in the evening. And we both have a sweet tooth so some snacking does take place during the day.
When you age, your metabolism slows down and, for us at least, three full meals are just too much. We also feel better if our heaviest meal is midday rather than in the evening.
Again, we’re flexible and social occasions will find us eating a big dinner. But on those days, we just have a sandwich for lunch so we have room later to enjoy a big meal at night.
Norton’s Cafe Jambalaya
Whole30 Jambalaya Recipe Primavera Kitchen 1
Yield: 15 cups
Ingredients
1 medium onion, chopped
2 green bell peppers, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 ounces Norton’s Cajun Seasoning (about 1 cup)*
2 cups (4 sticks) margarine
1 pound raw chicken, cut into bite-size pieces (about 2 cups)
3 cups hot water
3 cups tomato sauce or canned diced tomatoes
10 ounces andouille sausage, cut into bite-size pieces (2 cups)
10 ounces ham, cut into bite-size pieces (2 cups)
1 1/2 tablespoons beef base
2 1/2 cups uncooked white rice
Instructions
In a large pot, combine onion, peppers, celery, sugar, seasoning and margarine. Cook over low heat until margarine is melted.
Add chicken; cook for about 3 minutes. Add hot water, tomato sauce, sausage, ham, beef base and rice. Stir well, cover with tight-fitting lid and simmer for about 30 minutes or until rice is cooked, stirring4 or 5 times to prevent sticking. Add water near end of cooking if extra liquid is needed.
Notes
* Substitute Paul Prudhomme’s Magic Seasoning Blend for Vegetables if you cannot locate Norton’s Cajun Seasoning.
Once upon a chilly evening in late autumn, my friend hosted a dinner party. Among the guests was someone known for their rather abrupt demeanor. As the evening progressed, this guest, let’s call him Mr. R, made a particularly rude comment about the host’s choice of wine. The room fell silent, the air thick with discomfort.
My friend, the host, faced a moment of choice. She could either let the comment sour the evening or handle it with grace. Choosing the latter, she responded with a light-hearted yet firm tone, “Well, Mr. R, it seems this wine isn’t to your taste. I believe in embracing a variety of flavors at my table. Perhaps the next one will be more to your liking!”
The guests chuckled, appreciating her tactful handling of the situation. Mr. R, realizing his faux pas, nodded and even managed a small, albeit sheepish, smile.
This moment, while seemingly trivial, became a masterclass in handling rudeness with grace and humor. My friend’s response not only diffused the tension but also reminded everyone that kindness and a bit of wit can turn an awkward situation into a pleasant one. The rest of the evening continued with laughter and lively conversations, the earlier rudeness fading into a distant memory.
LOL. I opened an email in my in-box, sent out to our whole region. In the email my (less than intelligent) boss listed out why he wanted to fire me, and the next email – copied to everyone (from HR) said to “get rid of the worthless piece of s**t today”. I sent a copy home, made my rounds of my team, and started packing my office.
I sent a note to the region (not counting my boss and HR) thanking them for their help in my short tenure. Then I sat and waited for my boss to show up. He got there to find my office packed, my computer wiped and my paperwork in order. I made him count and sign for my petty cash and assume all liability on my corporate credit card, and I was gone.
I did send a copy of the emails to the head of HR and the Chief HR Officer, along with my intent to file a lawsuit for releasing confidential HR information to non-essential personnel. 60 days later, both the HR contact and my former boss were gone. So was I, but I shouldn’t ever worked for that company in the first place.
My husband and I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail (AT) in 2000. Those who know of the experience know that most hikers cannot eat enough to for all the calories they burn. A friend’s in-laws lived just a little ways off the trail in NC and they offered to let us shower, eat with them, etc as we passed through.
First off we had to wait for another couple to arrive. Then, out came lunch: thin-sliced bread with low-cal cheese, one thin slice of sandwich meat, and lettuce, making it a sandwich. On the table there was a small dish of chips. A brownie for dessert. Steve and I looked at each other and sighed. These people were exceptionally kind and generous, but they also were very health conscious. They offered another sandwich, if we wanted, so Steve insisted that he could make his own, intending for it to be bigger. When we got back on the trail a couple of hours later, we hiked about two miles and then stopped for our usual lunch.
The people were so kind that we couldn’t let them know we were still hungry! It’s a story we still tell when giving highlights of our AT Thru-hike.
Back when my son was about 5 years old he was invited to a friend’s birthday party at a waterpark. There was also a park area where they set up a bunch of games for the kids and one was a sack race. Well I started to video this as any crazy parent of a young child is going to do.
They started the race and all the kids took off towards the finish and my son was absolutely last falling way behind. The other kids were passing the finish and he was still struggling. I started feeling horrible for him because every one else had finished and he was still going. My heart was beginning to break for him and I was ready to stop videoing and thought I am going to run out and give him a hand to finish.
Well that would have been my mistake if I had have because all of a sudden I could hear him and he was saying “I’m doing it! I’m doing it!”. I started beaming and continued to video cheering him on! He didn’t care that he was last, he was proud of himself for doing as well as he was and I knew I had to let him finish. I still tell that story to this day and it chokes me up. He still has that “don’t quit” attitude and he keeps moving forward. I LOVE this memory!
I woke up one morning with my eight year old son hugging me and telling me that “everything will be fine.” Yet, he wasn’t actually physically there. He was staying at his father’s far away. I asked him how he got home and then he was gone… I jumped out of bed and began searching all over the house for him. My daughter woke up and I asked her if she saw her brother. She looked at me like I was losing my mind – uh, mom, he’s at dad’s… But, I felt I had actually felt and talked with him and it was as real as anything. Kinda dazed, I went about my day until hours later I received a phone call from my children’s father – our little son had just died from a terrible car accident. I still believe to this day that he came to me ‘before’ he passed and have been comforted by this. The next day I traveled to the scene of where he had died. All of a sudden I heard him say clear as anyone “mom, look at me, I can fly!” Then he said another thing I will never forget. He said “mom, there is no such thing as time… and everything will be fine, you will be fine…” A couple of other things have since happened but the most important was the pre-passing hug…
Many years ago, I brought my Cortina to the local Ford dealership for its annual MOT test. This was not a major issue as I had thoroughly inspected the car in my own lockup beforehand. Since my father had an account with the garage and I was working late, the service desk was closed when I picked up the car. As a result, I simply collected the keys from a salesman and drove home. The next day, I collected the paperwork and was informed that they would send me the bill through the mail.
About a week later, I received the bill, which stated that they had replaced all four sets of brake shoes. Immediately, I phoned the garage to question the bill’s accuracy and requested them to verify if it was meant for my car or if they had made a clerical error. In response, I received a letter with a threatening tone, implying legal action if I did not settle the bill immediately. Frustrated, I replied saying, “I will see you in court.”
In Scotland, we have a system called Small Debts Court, where local magistrates preside over minor cases. I received a letter stating the date and time for the hearing, and I was quite eager for my day in court.
During the proceedings, the magistrate inquired why I had chosen to represent myself without a lawyer present. I explained that I did not believe the case warranted the expense. The garage’s lawyer then provided a summary of the facts. When asked if I disputed any of the statements made by the garage, I replied no, accepting everything that their lawyer had said. I proceeded to present copies of the correspondence exchanged between the garage and myself. At this point, it seemed like an open-and-shut case, as I refused to pay for something that was clearly not done on my car.
It was then that I inquired if the magistrate was knowledgeable about the technicalities of motor car braking systems. He confirmed that he was, but also mentioned that if there were any technical points beyond his understanding, he would seek expert assistance and pause the proceedings. I subsequently presented the bag of worn-out brake shoes that had been left in my car as per the garage’s regular procedure. I explained that as a qualified mechanical engineer and a car enthusiast who frequently participated in car racing, I had upgraded my Cortina’s brakes to disk brakes all around several months prior and had a bag of brake parts that were incompatible with my car. It was clear that the mechanic had never even inspected the brakes. I firmly refused to pay for work that couldn’t have been performed on my car.
Although the magistrate didn’t laugh, a broad smile appeared on his face as he declared, “Case closed.”
What most people don’t realize is how close the Germans came to victory.
Forget Bastogne and the river crossings, the crucial battle was the Battle of the Elsenborn Ridge.
The 21st Army Group was planning on crossing the Rhine in early 1945 in the Netherlands, but the massive supply depots for this operation were located in Belgium as the stretch of land held by the Allies in the Netherlands was too narrow.
Beyond the Elsenborn Ridge was the largest supply area in Western Europe and without these supplies, the 21st Army Group could no longer operate.
But US troops in the North belonging to the 12th Army Group also got their supplies from this crucial area.
By now, the port of Antwerp with a capacity of 40,000 tonnes a day was open and US troops depended less and less on French ports.
If the Germans break through at Elsenborn, this massive supply area falls into enemy hands meaning the Germans have all the fuel, food, and medical supplies they need while the Allies run out of ammunition in a matter of days.
The intense V-weapon offensive against Antwerp (the small city of Antwerp got more hits than larger London) is disrupting resupply at the port … so those 40,000 never actually materialized until March 1945.
With the 21st Army Group out of the way, the Germans can rather easily take Antwerp.
Thanks to the heroic resistance of American troops at Elsenborn, this never happened, but it came close.
Lloyd’s Cajun Blues Cafe Cajun Riblets
Lloyds Cajun Blues Cafe Cajun Riblets
Ingredients
1 slab ribs (split down the center)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
All-purpose seasoning
Garlic powder
Cayenne pepper
Black pepper
Instructions
Pull skin from back of ribs. Trim all excess fat.
Rub ribs with Worcestershire sauce.
Sprinkle ribs with all-purpose seasoning, cayenne pepper, black pepper and garlic powder.
Sprinkle brown sugar on ribs and pat, rubbing sugar into ribs.
Oil grill or spray with nonstick spray.
Place ribs on grill. Slowly cook until fork tender.
Notes
Ribs may also be baked in the oven at 400 degrees F for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Shortly after he and his wife moved in next door, he started nailing a squirrel trap to my side of the fence. I told him if he wanted a trap, he could put it on HIS side of the fence. He would regularly have workmen over and I kept catching them in my yard. When asked, they’d tell me he said he owned the property, so I’d set them straight and tell them to leave. He wasn’t big on asking my permission for anything, especially being in my yard.
But the satisfying one was when he parked in front of my driveway. I had some things delivered that were sitting in front of it, so he felt entitled, despite the fact that he had a long driveway, and I did not. And when I’d ask him to move, he’d yell at me. He liked yelling at women, and I lived alone. One day, after everything had been moved, he parked right across the driveway. There was nothing in front of the garage, lots of parking on the street, and his driveway was empty. So I called parking enforcement. When she showed up to give him a ticket, he came belting out of the house, screaming at both of us. Part of his rationale was that my garage was full of “shit”. Parking enforcement said she didn’t care WHAT was in the garage, and that it was MY driveway. After he got done screaming and stomped off, she typed ABUSIVE into her handheld computer, said, “No one yells at me,” got in her car and left. I looked it up later. He’d tried to go to court to fight it, and instead of a $47 fine, he got $250. And he never parked there again. I was thrilled when they moved.
Ok, this is weird and sordid and I’ve never posted anything like this before.
I was married at sixteen to a man seven years older, a felony convict, and illiterate. And NO, I wasn’t pregnant and was in fact a virgin when we married. And YES, this travesty took place in the U.S.A.
A couple years after marriage, we drove to Louisiana with a an eight month old baby so he could (he thought) get a job. Instead he and his brother robbed a gas station and my mom and dad flew me home. I went back to visit him at his request (I lived in Chicago) and he made me aware that he managed to pay the guards (with MY money) so we could have sex in a visiting room. In retrospect, (the kind you’re graced with fifty years later) I realize PART of the agreement was so they could watch!
When I think of how fucking stupid I was at that age, it makes me want to vomit. Anyway, someone shot and killed him a year or so after he escaped. So I married again in 1979 to a wonderful man and we’re still together and happy.
When I was in High School, I would often work until late at night in the mines, and then go home. But more often enough, no food was left for me. While my mother told my sister to make a plate for me, most of the time it was either [1] completely missing, or [2] starvation plate; one baby spoon of corn, one baby spoon of potatoes, and one half of a meatloaf.
Now, to keep up my energy, I would often buy my own food, and make it and eat around 10 at night.
One day, I was making a pizza for myself. I was alone at the house. But you know, suddenly I had to go to the bathroom. So I went upstairs while my pizza would finish cooking.
Unfortunately, while I was upstairs, my sister came home, with two of her friends. Took out my pizza and the three girls ate my dinner.
When I came down, I was livid, and they just laughed at me.
They taunted me. They told me how stupid I was, and all the rest of the silly kinds of games that adolescent girls play on the weak.
Meanwhile, my FUCKING father defended them saying “You are the oldest son and it is your responsibility to take the hits”.
…
He was always a BLUE PILL dweeb.
I’m much older now, and you know what, I should have beat their god-damn faces in. Let them cry and holler. Let them scream in pain.
But, you know, I didn’t. I was a “good boy”.
As far as my father is concerned… he passed on, and I forgave him. But I have to tell you all the real truth… he taught me to become the wimp nerdy blue-pill “kick me” beta simp that I had to endure with for decades.
DO NOT DO THAT TO YOUR KIDS.
You do not take abuse.
You PUNISH the abuser(s).
Swiftly. You rub their faces in the shit that they just laid down upon you. As they scream and hollar, let them. Soon enough they will shut the fuck up.
Mine was in the Air Force. I had a racist for an immediate supervisor who always gave me average ratings on my performance. I didn’t realize how bad I was getting screwed until one of my counterparts (who was a total screw up) was shocked that he higher ratings than myself. A “3” is considered average (which I was getting on my reviews). This “screwup” was getting 5’s which is the highest score. I was thinking “how the HECK did he get a 5??” This dude missed time, came to work drunk, was reprimanded for fights….been to jail….etc. my record was SPOTLESS. Always the first on the job and the last to leave. Kept my uniform super clean. So I realized that I’m working twice as hard as this other dude and getting a much lower score.
This was in the 1990’s. I overheard a conversation with my racist supervisor one day about what he wanted to be when he leave the military. He stated that he wanted to be a highway patrol officer “so that he can legally hit minorities”. He always made crude jokes about Mexicans and blacks. As an African American myself I hated this dude’s guts. His leadership skills were the worst. I hated every day of working with him.
One day it was his last day of work. The shop was going to throw a going away party for this racist pig. There was an option to donate $10.00 to the potluck to participate in the party or miss out and work. I chose to work. I’m not donating a DIME to this dude’s going away party.
After he gracefully disappeared from the job I thought that would be the last I’ve heard of him. NOPE! I was wrong. Found out later that he did apply for the state highway patrol position.
The timing on this particular day couldn’t have been more perfect. Two men from the highway patrol were visiting our unit and I happened to be the ONLY person there. They asked me “who’s in charge?” Well, I’m the only airman in the shop so I was actually in charge. I asked them what’s going on? They told me that they are doing a follow up on a gentleman who applied for highway patrol who used to work at this unit. I told them I have detailed files on this person. What made this even better was the fact that one highway patrol officer was black, the other was Hispanic. I was so nervous in hopes that our main supervisor didn’t show up because he would give this guy a decent feedback. I wanted them to hear the DARK side of this scumbag.
I told them that he was a decent worker at best but here are some documents I wanted to share. Luckily I kept my old floppy disk handy with all of the stuff I wrote to the higher chain of command about this racist pos. The statements had dates and times I written down of his racist comments over the years. Too many to write in this essay. But let’s just say it was two pages worth (front and back).
The look of disgust was very apparent on their faces. One of them asked me “people like him still exist in the military?” I replied “shockingly, yes”. They asked me, “did you ever want to knock this dude the F- -K out?” (Many Times I did).
To make a long story short, months went by and I didn’t hear anything. Then one day I overheard a conversation about my former supervisor being turned down for his highway patrol job and was working at a Wal-Mart as a warehouse worker. In all honesty, I take GREAT pleasure in feeling that my sneaky swift actions were the reason.
Dave and Buster’s Muffaletta Salad
an amazing salad
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 1/4 pounds Romanelli pasta
4 ounces sliced turkey
4 ounces sliced ham
2 ounces (24 slices) pepperoni
2 ounces sliced salami
1/4 cup sliced black olives
1/2 cup chopped green salad olives
1 cup sliced celery
3 tablespoons Italian dressing
12 ounces prepared assorted lettuce
2 ounces julienned spinach leaves
1 cup diced Roma tomatoes
1 cup assorted pizza cheeses: fontina, mozzarella, asiago or parmesan
4 tablespoons chopped green onion
1 cup roasted red pepper
1/4 cup shredded aged asiago cheese
Instructions
Julienne (cut into strips) the pepperoni, salami, ham and turkey then place in salad bowl.
Cut celery, green onions and roast peppers, add to the bowl.
Chop and add both types of olives and add to bowl.
Add the Italian dressing and pesto and toss all together well to mix.
Cook pasta in boiling salted water until done, drain and place in salad bowl. Pour the Italian dressing on the pasta and toss all together gently.
Place assorted lettuce, spinach, pizza cheeses, diced ripe Roma tomatoes and onions on cold platter (leave a space in the middle for pasta).
Add tossed hot Romanelli salad mixture; pile high in the center of platter. Add shredded asiago or parmesan to garnish.
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.
An Egyptian woman insisted that her husband’s sperm be checked, because something was obviously wrong. They were trying to get pregnant, but nothing happened at all. And she wanted that baby.
His semen sample turned out to be a bit of a surprise, because it was dead. There was not a single living sperm cell detectable, and it had always been like that, because the man was consequently diagnosed with a rare congenital condition in which patients are infertile from birth.
His sperm had always been dead. The suckers never swam.
You might wonder why the woman’s question was shocking in the first place.
Well, they had three children. And her husband was convinced that he was the biological father of all three of them. His wife, on the other hand, knew only too well that maybe — just maybe — that might not have been the entire naked truth. Because back in Egypt — where they lived when all their children were conceived — there must have been another kind sperm donor. With living sperm.
And yet she was the one who insisted that her husband’s semen be checked by their urologist, because something was wrong. Only to be unmasked as a serial cheater.
I was working as a computer programmer. I was given a task with an impossible deadline with the threat “if it’s not finished on time, you’re fired”.
I was working late, very late like past midnight late. For some reason, I had an urge to snoop in my bosses desk. I was shocked to find a hand-written report on everyone in the department. The boss was following everybody around, timing and recording our movements. For example “A” took 3 minutes in the rest room, “B” took 7 minutes getting coffee then went to the rest room 17 minutes later, “C” returned from lunch 3 minutes late.
I was appalled and quit soon after that without telling anyone what I found. The rest of the team quit before the summer was over. From what I heard later on, they were all given a project with the same threat; “if it’s not finished on time, your fired”. Upper management called the boss in to find out why 75% of the department quit in less than 6 months.
I learned a very important lesson; if a boss hands you a project and says “if it’s not completed in time, you’re fired”. Quit immediately because that project was deliberately chosen for you to fail.
Its not exactly revenge, its more getting paid back.
I lived in a condo, I parked right next to a main door.
I would drive to work every morning, and one morning when I pulled out of my parking spot I noticed pinkish red transmission fluid on the parking spot. We have an expensive waterproof coating in the parking garage. You are not allowed to get oil on it, as it degrades it. There are huge fines for dripping oil
So I drove to work, called a transmission repair place, and told them that I had a leak, and they said I could drop it off at lunch. Towards the end of the day, they called me back, and said that they couldn’t find a leak, and they were sorry, but they were going to have to charge me $20 for the time spent looking. I thought this was a screaming deal, and put them on my list of places to deal with. A couple of years later, I did use them.
I drove home, and there was more transmission fluid in my parking stall, and I hadn’t had the car parked there.
So I went shopping, and bought a trail camera, that I placed in my stall. I also put up a sign, saying Parking $200 an hour. Which by condo bylaws was illegal, but I hoped no one would catch me on the first day.
I went to work the next day, and when I came home I checked the trail cam, and a delivery truck parked in my stall 4 times during the day, and the guy ran in and delivered packages. If he didn’t have the leak, he wouldn’t have been a problem. But it was like a $1000 for an oil spill on the membrane, so I had to stop it.
I called the company the next day and told them they had a driver parking in my stall, and they owed me $200, in parking fees. This covered my $20 at the transmission shop, my time off work, and my trail cam. They argued, but eventually paid, because I had pictures of the van parked in front of the $200 an hour parking sign.
He never parked there again. As I said, I wouldn’t have been upset, except for the leak. He might have been doing it for years, before he had a leak.
Yes. I am one of six siblings, the youngest was my sister. At 20 she got married, to what turned out to be a physically abusive husband that raped her. She got divorced. He began tormenting her.
I was ten years older than her; and I had started a business that was doing well. I was aware my sister was having problems with her ex, but I wasn’t paying much attention. She called me, and said she wanted to talk to me about if I could help her.
I could help her, but I was busy dealing with something, and told her I’d call her back when I had more time. Then I forgot to call her back.
A week later, her ex broke into her apartment in the middle of the night, and stabbed her to death, stabbed her 22 times.
It was up to me to go through her apartment after the police turned it over to us, and collect her things. I found a diary. And in the diary, she had written she thought her ex was escalating, he had cut the brake lines on her car, and she was afraid he was going to kill her. So she called me, she wanted me to help her run away for a while, where he couldn’t find her. And I said I could help.
And I forgot to call her back, for a week.
I had plenty of money, I could have easily supported my sister anywhere she wanted to go, indefinitely.
And if I had remembered to call her back, she’d still be alive. But I was too busy to talk to her, and learn how bad it really was. And I was too busy to remember to call her back.
Instead, I spent about $50,000 getting her ex prosecuted and sent to prison. I was prepared to spend even more, but back then, that’s what it cost.
That was over 30 years ago. I put my business ahead of my family. I still know I am guilty, my sister cannot forgive me, and I cannot forgive myself. That will be true for the rest of my life.
Edit: Thanks for the upvotes and sympathy. To save some trouble, I will say I do not want any advice on getting over this, or what my sister would have wanted for me, or forgiving myself, or that her ex is guilty but not me. If I could do any of that, I would not have written this answer. I’ve dealt with this 30 years ago in the way I still think is best: I accepted my mistake, and I changed my priorities and thinking to never make the same mistake again. And at retirement age now, those changes have helped me with other losses; they were not due to my neglect or wrong-headed priorities.
Edit2: several have asked how this cost me money; it is the States job to prosecute and they pay for it. True. But the DA has a budget, and spends it all on cases based on which ones they believe they will most likely be able to get conviction on. Especially you don’t want to prosecute a murder case, fail to get a conviction, and then if new evidence comes to light you cannot prosecute again, due to double jeopardy. They thought our case was just circumstantial and hearsay from the family that hated her Ex. (I understood that.) So I went looking for a solution, and found a law partnership with two ex-Assistant DAs, still on good terms with the current DA. They were now defense attorneys, but I paid them to reprise their former role as prosecutors, they hired private investigators (by the book professionals) to develop the evidence needed to get her Ex prosecuted. I paid a retainer of $10K up front, and every time that ran low, I bumped it up $10K. It took several months, but eventually they brought their case to the DA (I was not present for that meeting, they thought it would be easier to talk if it was just them and no civilians). The DA decided to prosecute. So I didn’t pay for the prosecution, I paid to make it cheap and easy for the DA to prosecute, and that was the new evidence they needed. None of that was illegal or used any illegal means. Her Ex was convicted, and the Jury deliberated about 30 minutes before sentencing him to 30 to life.
Shortly after graduating from the police academy, I learned of a three-day course for police officers called “Street Survival.” I paid my way and attended the event. I learned a tremendous amount from going to that course. One of the biggest things I learned is what happens to a person when they are shot. We reviewed a lot of actual videos of police officers being shot. Some fell while others remained standing.
The skill they were attempting to teach us, was that as a police officer you never stop fighting. Not if you’re shot, not if you’re stabbed, stay in the fight as long as you are alive. This was at that time, shown to be the officer’s best chance at survival.
They showed examples of officers severely wounded who continued to fight until help arrived and survived. Conversely, some officers that were hit and simply disengaged were more likely to either die of shock or subsequently be killed by more gunfire.
I have watched videos where police officers in a gunfight don’t even realize they have been shot. I have always been taught that in a gunfight you keep fighting as long as you are able. It will hurt, and there will be blood, but an officer’s best chance at survival is to fight.
Secret doc AND modern policy aims to slow development in China
I got called for an interview two days after submitting an application. I cried after getting off the phone, because heck, I need this job and I have an interview tomorrow.
For context: I was out at the beach with my niece and nephew, and it was cold water and their first time at a beach so of course I follow them into the water because someone has to keep an eye on these trouble makers.
I failed to realize the consequence of having sniffles combined with taking care of kids and a cold beach. While were out to lunch, I get the aforementioned call.
I wake up the next morning and I am sick. Sick as in flu, runny nose, throwing up, coughing, barely speak sick.
I get my butt up and go to the interview. That alone is crazy.
And this interview goes incredibly well. I manage to get through it.
The manager extends his hand and says with a big smile, “Well, we’d like to extend an offer to work here to you.”
I’m about to shake his hand when, because my life is an actual joke, I throw up. Onto his shoes. All over the carpeted floor.
I look at him, and I’m scared. I thought I royally goofed. He hands me tissues and smiles like a dad does.
”Don’t worry. The offer still stands. I hope you take it too, because it’s obvious you are a determined young woman. I’ve never had anyone come to an interview sick before.”
1) 80% of people would write their name if asked to write something with a new pen.
2) If a person laughs at a low quality joke then he is suffering from loneliness.
3) The big toe indicates the nervous weakness hidden by the other fingers, indicating that the person wants to be unnoticed by many.
4) Psychology is the first 6 seconds of meeting with someone, the first impression about him is formed.
5) It is a proven fact that our response to any situation is capable of radically changing that situation.
6) Many times someone’s indifference indicates his utmost care which he does not want to express.
7) If you write down negative thoughts and throw them away like garbage, your mood will get better.
8) In 90% of cases, those whose handwriting is bad are more creative than usual.
9) It has been proven that orange helps reduce anxiety. That’s why doctors recommend eating an orange before going to work.
10) Never reveal your goals to anyone. It produces the equivalent effect of achieving goals in the brain.
11) When surrounded by plants, the brain releases certain chemicals which increase the thinking power of the brain. That’s why walking in the garden is part of some psychiatric procedures.
12) The conversation of the parents with the child becomes the language of his mind.
13) 8 positive statements disable a negative statement.
14) If someone’s foot is back towards you during the story-gossip with many people, then it should be understood that he is interested in you.
15. If a girl likes you, she will play with her hair while talking to you.
16) You will rarely die in your dreams, if you die in your dreams then you have started something new in life.
17) Dream is a conversation between you and your subconscious mind.
18) But before we go – a click on the upvote button will make both of us happy.
Even if Xi requested for a Loan of $ 900 Billion, the request would be made by the Bank of China to the US Treasury and would be an official request
The Loan would need Congressional Approval
Besides why would Xi need Biden for $ 900 Billion?
He has $ 3.1 Trillion in Forex reserves and even if China pays off all the debts it’s committed to, that leaves $ 1.2 Trillion in the clear for China
That’s more than the next 17 nations combined
Plus even if Xi needs money to bailout some aspect of China, his people have almost 80–100 Trillion RMB in Savings and Investments and all he needs to do is to offer 8% interest and tomorrow morning he gets his $ 900 Billion.
Plus where exactly does Biden have $ 900 Billion?
Plus why would Xi need $ 900 Billion in US currency?
Obviously this news is not just wrong but fundamentally stupid
Xi and Bidens meeting was done at Bidens request
Xi took the opportunity to meet the businessmen of USA and present to them his three new policies on Foreign companies
A. Reducing the time needed to withdraw capital from 36 months to 12 months
B. Extending IP protection from 1 year to 5 years (Many US Businessmen loved this)
C. Decriminalizing Espionage which didn’t have National Security Implications and changing 15 year imprisonment to 100 Million RMB fine
Biden and Xi met to mainly bide time
Biden has the US Elections next year and has his plate full of conflicts and simply can’t afford a third conflict
Xi said he would not invade Taiwan without red lines being violated including the declaration of Independence
My cousin once ordered some louts out of the store he was a manager at.
Later that day, as he drove home, he spotted them following him. He didn’t speed, he didn’t weave, he just drove carefully to a nearby suburb, turned down a side street and then turned into a driveway between two blocks of residential units, with them closing the distance and pulling in right behind him . . . right into the parking area behind the local police station.
The louts realised where they were, started to reverse out as a bunch of police looked up at what was going on, only to have a police car pull up behind the louts, blocking them in.
My cousin got out and explained what was going on to the officers on hand. The louts denied following him but it didn’t matter. They had outstanding warrants AND were already on the ‘Be On The Lookout’ list for some antics they had gotten up to earlier in the day.
My cousin gave a statement and went on his way, the louts didn’t get to do the same.
My family has been involved in sourcing the cows for McDonald’s for decades. I use the word “cows” as opposed to “cattle” because almost all of the meat comes from dairy beef. Now dairy beef is not a bad thing if you make hamburgers out of it and it is very lean. Growing up on a beef farm I was raised on premium ground chuck. The texture is totally different. Our burgers would easily fall apart. However, you do not want that in the fast food industry. Dairy beef creates a “chewier” patty. Processed thin, it is perfect for McDonald’s and it is 100% lean beef.
As cattle buyers, our family has had their fair share of tricks pulled on them. Unscrupulous sellers make give a cow an injection right before she enters the sale barn and we would buy her thinking that she was just a cow that had quit given milk. Since there is a time period between the sale barn purchase and the cow’s arrival at the processing plant, the ailment would inevitably show up and she would be rejected by McDonald’s. We, of course, had to bear the cost of the reject. McDonald’s was strict!
Additionally, all the cattle are brought to a central source where they are butchered and processed to provide a more “generic” flavor as opposed to one particular breeds distinguishing taste (if that makes sense). In other words, all the patties taste the same.
Though I do not eat at McDonald’s very often, I am not afraid of their meat. I recently read an article on Pollock (the fish in Filet-O-Fish). McDonald’s only uses PREMIUM Pollock! And their tatar sauce is one of the top-rated in the world for flavor! Crazy. Try the Filet-O-Fish with added bacon – game changer!!
I tore a guy’s arm apart at the wrist, elbow and shoulder. I dragged another guy’s face along a brick wall.
I was out walking late at night. I’d just had unexpected news that my daughter had died. I was sitting on a bridge near my home contemplating jumping. I was completely broken.
Three men approached me. I was called a Paki and threatened with violence, and rather than run or de-escalate (which is the standard/correct response and one I had consistently tried to use until now), in my emotional state, I threw the first punch.
I dragged one of their faces along a pebble dashed wall, cutting up most of one side of his face.
I grabbed one of them by the wrist, twisted and yanked using a nearby wall and my foot as fulcrums. Elbow popped. Shoulder popped. Wrist cracked. He screamed and it looked completely misshapen.
This is why this was the worst: I was not trying to save myself. I was trying to hurt them. The self defence was coincidental. I was angry beyond anything I could control and they made themselves a valid target for my rage. I did not need to do those things to those people to protect myself.
They ran away with their injured friend(s). I went home and called the police. They sent me to a psychiatrist who assured me that my response was not “abnormal” given the sudden exposure to several extremely stressful events back to back, but that I did need further counselling.
I was put in touch with a longer term psychiatrist to help me process both my grief and anger, who also helped me deal with my subsequent depression.
True violence is very rarely the result of a healthy mind.
Where we live daycare is $500 a week for an infant with almost a one year waiting list. My daughter and my son in law (SIL) were making hard financial decisions on who would give up their career to watch the newborn – trust me they make good money, but not enough in this economy.
I said “I am eligible to retire. I can watch her”. I watch her 7–5, five days a week and do not ask for a penny.
What do I get in return? A bonding with my amazing grandchild that I never had with my own children that went to daycare when I worked.
I see daily, the world through her eyes, and the pure joy only a child has. Days filled with laughter. Singing her to sleep. Reading books. Playing together. Taking walks in the park.
Also they buy or cook food for me so I have a free breakfast, lunch, and snacks everyday. My SIL also helps with our routine home maintenance and also provides the muscle for jobs our old bodies can no longer do.
I receive special gifts from my grandchild every holiday and birthday that I know my daughter and SIL bought – items my daughter knew I wanted, but never would purchase for myself.
Yes, I could have worked a few more years at a very nice salary but I put my own ambitions aside. Family is all you have in the end. Hold them close.
Before the 1990s super corrupt Deng Xiaoping’s son and Macau Gambling debt is testament to that.
Then the 2000s rolled along and there were anti corruption drives. Literally people with bricks of RMB in their homes.
By the mid 00s human flesh search came along. When a citizen saw a government official with stuff beyond his pay grade? Or Flaunting it. They reported it. The CPC went and investigated it.
Li Gang is the poster child for this – This son said I’m LiGang’s son showing his power/wealth influence. He lost everything.
By the end of the 00s corruption existed but it was good fellas
You see by the 2010s cashless payments were the norm. So yeah sure you COULD have bricks of RMB in your home… but you can’t get it out the country… you also can’t spend it as above people watch for things you have above your pay grade if you pay in cash.
BIG cash payments draw attention to you as everything else is paid electronically.
But there are still 420,000 prosecutions each year out of 80–90 million CPC members for corruption.
The big difference? Jon Corzine steals 1 billion dollars. He apologies pays a small fine (significantly less than he stole) and got no prison time, oh and he resigns… the ULTIMATE punishment and the ULTIMATE HIGHEST WORST PRICE IN THE UNIVERSE!
Meanwhile in China. Corrupt politician equals DEATH!
Most westerners laugh at how soft this punishment of death is! I mean if he resigned that would be a MUCH MUCH HARDER punishment!
One day, while I was working upstairs in my office, my German Shepherd came upstairs, stood in my office doorway barking at me.
Then he walked over to the top of the staircase barking as he looked down the stairs. He lifted his head, looked towards me and continued barking.
He walked back and stood in the office doorway again looking at me, barking.
He did this repeatedly for a few minutes while I worked. It became obvious he wanted me to follow him downstairs. I got up and asked him, “What’s the matter?”
As soon as I asked this our house began to shake.
Everything on my walls and shelves were rattling.
I did not understand exactly what was happening, but we both ran down the stairs while I yelled, “Let’s get the hell out of here!”
We got outside and I felt the ground moving.
Then it stopped.
We had just experienced an earthquake. They are practically nonexistent in our region. Somehow, my boy knew it was coming and came upstairs to warn me.
He did many intelligent things in his lifetime, but that was the most amazing.
My grandmother won’t throw out food. If the strawberries go gray, soft, and moldy, she’ll carefully cut out the bad parts and eat them anyway.
When I was a kid, a friend and I played frisbee with a pita bread in a public park. An old man sitting on a bench nearly had a heart attack yelling his lungs out at us.
Both my grandmother and the old man had survived the Holocaust. My grandma watched her own mother wither away, her ribcage protruding more and more every day, her face becoming skeletal until she died from malnourishment.
They lived on unsweetened tea, watery soup, and a fistful of rockhard black bread. You were lucky if you had a potato peel floating around in your bowl.
When the prisoners were liberated, many died because of taking in too many calories too soon. Their bodies couldn’t handle the sudden nutritional richness. Imagine how the Allied soldiers must have felt when they realized their generosity was lethal.
The vast majority of us can’t even imagine a life like that. We live surrounded by an abundance that is unfathomable for people who have gone through such heinous adversity.
We have access to the basic necessities of life.
We have the luxury to dream, create, and even help others.
A long-term relationship not always ends up with a marriage.
Love exists but it is preferable for many to become a slave and cry in a BMW rather than laughing and enjoying every moment with another person sitting right behind his/her two-wheeler.
Money is not everything but it is everything.
Looks are not everything but it is everything.
Sex is a need and is a way to every enlightenment.
The unconventional form of the profession or acts like writing, blogging, taking a year gap, traveling seems tempting by self but not appreciable by society.
“I need some space” is the most hypocritical statement ever.
Change is the only constant thing which stays immortal.
This used to be me. I’m successful in tech & love being with family. I was a travel RN for many years & I have family all over America. Fifteen years ago I was assigned to San Diego for six months. My Uncle Trent lived there with his wife & three kids. I’d see them once weekly for dinner & always paid. The family always ordered the most expensive on the menu but never finished the food. This went on for months. A few times I suggested that they all order what they could eat to no avail. So after four months of this I stopped going out with them when I visited. When they suggested dinner out I took my leave.
Father’s Day my Uncle calls me to come celebrate with them at an Italian restaurant in the mall. Sure! I’d love to be treated for once! I even bring my daughter with me since she’s visiting the city for the first time. We arrive at the restaurant & it’s one of those buffet type places where you pay first then eat. As we are walking up my uncle & his family line up in front of us. My daughter is in front me & we are all laughing & talking.
As I get up to the cashier & order she tells me the total. At my shocked face she says ‘He said you’re paying for everyone.’
My daughter hears this, puts her tray over mine & we turn & leave.
China has succeeded way beyond its own lofty goal 2 full years ahead of time. The goals were to match or overtake the west in all key technology for today and tomorrow’s world to the point that the U.S. and the west can no longer control China technically.
Roughly 2 years ago a Neo funded, Australian think tank call ASPI or Australian Strategic Policy Institute researched and comprehensively concluded that China today lead in 37 out of the 44 key strategic technologies and know how and the U.S. only has a marginal lead against China in 7 out of the 44.
China calls this technology sovereignty and China has them right where they wanted to be at. Frankly the U.S. by being so obnoxious about preventing this actually speed China along. The more the U.S. tried to contain and control China the harder and faster the Chinese work to overcome them.
So don’t asked this bias and ignorant question China is ready and China has overtaken. The question is how can the west win it back!
Start by getting the highest paying job you can get . Be the hardest working man in the room, always.
Get more responsible. Pay your bills on time and reach your workplace on time . Remember, you are capable of so much more.
If you have got any skill, level up and make it earn money for you . Start any side hustle , women love it and men respect it.
Adopt the 5 hours rule . Spend the 1 hour a day , 5 days a week , leveling up your skills , be it reading , studying or painting.
Become dangerous. Start boxing or karate classes , learn how to hurt people , destroy things and take a beating.
Increase your self discipline. Remember pain of discipline is less than the pain of regret and disappointment.
Create your own set of beliefs and standard about what you expect and will tolerate in your life . Like , I will not hang out with people who drink , smoke or have no ethics.
Improve your lifestyle. Cultivate good habits like reading, meditation and cut on bad habits.
Start working out be it yoga, boxing or hiking.
At the end of the day, you have to answer yourself and your conscience,” Did I live today according to the values and beliefs ? Was today a day of peace for me?.
Tibet has been a part of China for more than 700 years. Before 1950, Tibet was a brutal serfdom under Dalai Lama and had a cast system similar to that of India. The Monastery class were the slave masters and owned 99% of the land in Tibet. As a matter of fact, Dalai Lama was the biggest landlord and slave master and owned more than 6000 slaves. As a result of the brutal treatment of serfs, such as judicial bodily mutilation, Tibetans life expectancy under Dalai Lama was only 32.5 years. Now it has more than doubled.
I constantly am told how can I support China considering what they have done to Tibet? For one, the Dali Lama is not the “pope” of Buddhism, the man claims to be Buddha reincarnated, 99% of Buddhists world wide reject this claim, it would be like if someone said they were the second coming of Jesus. Tibet was a backwards feudal theocratic society that tortured people, burned out peoples eyes as legal punishment with heated metal balls. It was a barbaric backwards society that in no way represented the teachings of Buddhism. China has since developed and provided massive humanitarian aid, schools, hospitals, infrastructure, and did away with the barbaric inhumane practices, if you know the truth about Tibet, how can you not support China?
Let’s not forget when Dalai Lama was in Tibet the top 5% own the remaining 95% as serfs. Dalai Lama was from a rich family that has 27 manor houses, 13 pastures and 6,000 serfs. He didn’t want reform and coerced with foreign powers to fight the PLA. He and his rich big land owners now live in India like kings from the huge wealth they moved out of Tibet. The foreign powers used to operate in Tibet as about 20 years I once saw a video pointing from a second floor to a ground front door where a group of rioters suddenly came and systematically set fire up to the property in a staged and well rehearsed manner. I was taken back by the clarify, perfect position of the camera and the exact timing that it captured the entire sequence from the beginning. The video was supposed to prove Tibetans were suppressed and rose up to protest. It appears China has since put an end to these foreign-backed rioters. The CIA also played a huge role in Hong Kong riots in 2019 as they were filmed personally took charge in directing the crowd. Many protesters were paid. Some judges were bribed, arrested protesters were provided with legal lawyers, families of the arrested were given financial helps and those wanting to escape the law were arranged paid transport to Taiwan. The US has infiltrated the the education system, the civil servants, control some media and own one major newspaper.
Dockside Grill Shrimp Remoulade
classic shrimp remoulade plate front
Ingredients
Remoulade Sauce
2 cups mayonnaise
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup horseradish
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons Creole mustard
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 head shredded lettuce
4 Roma tomatoes, cut into quarters
Shrimp
1 pound boiled shrimp
Instructions
Mix all sauce ingredients well and refrigerate two hours.
Place boiled shrimp on shredded lettuce.
Add the tomato, top with Remoulade Sauce and serve.
What’s the craziest or weirdest thing a new hire at your job has ever done?
I went back to my office after lunch and sat down at my desk. There were crumbs on it.
I called out to my secretary, who had a desk just outside my office, asking,” What are these crumbs all over my desk?”
My secretary says, “I told her not to do that. I told her. But she wouldn’t listen.”
“What is going on,” I asked my secretary, my voice rising. “Who did you tell not to do WHAT?”
Turns out a new hire decided that she needed a change of scenery for lunch, so instead of eating at her desk or in the cafeteria that she’d eat at my desk.
To me, it was:
1. a violation of my personal space
2. rude to leave crumbs all over
3. a stupid thing for a new hire to do
I chewed her out, but then a couple of weeks later a contractor called to let me know that this same new hire had told him not to tell me about a big costly mistake she had made. As if he’d risk his relationship with me!
I fired her sorry ass on the spot.
But when I came back from lunch after I fired her she was still there!
I asked her why she hadn’t left and she said because I couldn’t fire her without a written warning first and then counseling. I informed this sorry excuse for an employee that she was still on probation. She said that couldn’t be because it was past her first 30 days. I told her that she had been causing so many problems (her colleagues were furious with her) that I had officially extended her probation with HR, so I could fire her without any warnings or counseling, and that if she didn’t pack up and leave immediately I’d have Security do it.
When I was a young boy, perhaps in second grade, we lived in Monroe , CT. It was a housing development that was being carved out of the forests, and was very nice. We only lived there for a year or so, before my father was transferred to Pittsburgh. We sold the place. Bad move, as the house ended up being worth millions of dollars.
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Anyways, at that time in my life, I loved roaming the woods. All 7 years old, and it was a big part of my childhood.
I would often go into the homes being constructed with wire cutters and rip out the wiring and electronics for fun. Oh, that is, until my father had a talk with a building contractor. LOL.
But, you know what?
Yeah, what I most remember about that time was spending all day hiking and exploring, and then coming home to a nice big “sit down” dinner. These were often improved upon as I got older, but at that time, my mother was just getting into her “stride” and it was simple but delicious fare.
Meatloaf, roasts, soups, chicken, and the like. All very delicious and filling.
Instant Pot Spaghetti 1
One of my fondest memories was the meat-laden spaghetti, with plain “wonder bread” on the side, and a nice large salad. Other popular meals consisted of pork chutney over rice, and submarine sandwich meals.
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But it’s the spaghetti that I miss the most.
one pot spaghetti and meat sauce image 9
I used to take the bread, and butter both sides. Then, I would spoon the spaghetti into the bread, making a fine thick sandwich. Oh, I was so simple and silly then.
I guess the MM audiences would go “ohhh yuck” at this story. But for me, nah. it’s good memories and good times.
I was a young, recently divorced, single mother of a 3 year old and one Christmas my grandmother gave me a HUGE box to open. In that box I found a little bit of everything! It had paper towels. Toilet paper, cleaning supplies, canned goods and many other items that you may want or need for your home and pantry! I was so grateful as it is pretty costly when you run out of everything especially all at the same time and because my Grandmother had no money she said she added everything a little at a time all throughout the year in order to help me the best way she could. My Grandmother was the sweetest, kindest Lady you’d ever know. I loved her with my whole heart!
I made $7.50 per hour for 3 years before I got a sweet .50 raise that catapulted me no where.
And I only got that because the lady was guilted into it.
I was told, as most people are, if you work hard and prove yourself, you will make more in time. Well that never really happened.
When I first started I just answered phones and worked the register. Then I got my vehicle inspectors license and begin inspecting vehicles. And answering phones and the register.
The business was a window tinting business, primarily, and they tinted vehicles, homes and commercial buildings. Soon I was prepping jobs for tint and doing bids for residential and commercial jobs. And doing well, I might add!
Then helping with the books. Opening, closing, picking up and dropping off customers. Driving out of town to pick up materials. And finally tinting commercial windows.
And I worked, often 80 hours per week. For $8 per hour. Which is a problem because at a certain point, over time starts to hurt. The extra would be taken out in taxes and the effort is not worth it.
Let me also mention that I didn’t have a car and used a company truck for company business but my commute to and from work everyday was just over 3 hours. I woke up at 4 to be there at 8:30. (Hitchhiked, rode 2 buses and walked…both ways…yep)
When I inquired about a raise she kept putting me off. She’d think about it. Couldn’t afford it, etc. Finally she said to me…
”It’s not like you need more money. It’s not like you have a family to take care of, house or car. It’s not like you have any bills.”
I will never ever, forget that. Ever.
Apparently it never occurred to her that I didn’t have any of those things because I was poor. And it was totally ok with her if I never had anything because it benefitted her.
And I had other issues with the place like rarely getting a day off and it would be the end of the world if I took a break at work because only smokers are allowed breaks. Twenty breaks, a hundred, doesn’t matter, because you need those cigarette breaks!
“If you don’t like it, then go work somewhere else.”
When she told me that.
I quit.
She was so certain I would come back because I had no prospects. Two weeks later, a friend told me she was looking for me, she wanted me to come back.
Why, you might ask??
Because she can’t find any decent help (read: people who’ll work for nothing!). And she wanted me to come back for…
Wait for it…
$8.50!!
See, I needed to understand that she could not afford more than that.
I told her. “No thanks.”
Then she called me selfish. She was struggling to find help and I didn’t care. Selfish!!
She ended up having to hire 4 other people. And for the next 5 years she contacted me off and on to try to get me to come back.
“Ok, how about $9! Be reasonable!!”
So on and so forth until she got to $12 over time.
I can’t honestly say I was irreplaceable. I can say that she needed a lot more help after I left. I can also say the business did not exist the fifth year after I’d gone.
I learned a very important lesson working for her. I needed to look out for myself. Work hard but only stay so long, based on the rate, frequency and size of raises. And all the while, always keep my ear to the ground for other opportunities.
I need to look out for me with the same ferocity the companies look out for their own interests.
In 100 years 5% of those who use the U.S. dollar will remember how it look. And 15% of the nations who bought weapons in 2023 will still use weapons from the U.S. still! In 100 years US economy will be lying at best a distant 3rd behind China and India by a very long way. China will be roughly 5–6 times the U.S. size and even India will be close to double that of the USA!
The G7 at best is a fifth the size on BRiCS economy. The U.S. will be broken up into some 3–4 nations. And Democrats and Republicans are close to the full scale or outright U.S. civil war 2.0 in 2123! The U.S. and some 4–5 die hard dogs like UK, Australia and Canada will meet and still talk shit. But no one bother, no one even listen.
China has made the world 10 times more prosperous and 20 times more peaceful by then. Talking about the U.S. in 2123 is like talking about the former Yugoslavia today. By 2023 the U.S. would have long collapse and implode it’s economy and a full scale fight between Democrats and Republicans and also between the whites and coloured and also between the rich and poor has destroyed the so call liberal democracy.
In 100 years, China is selling moon and space tourism, become the leader in autonomous vehicles, supersonic planes, biggest ports and airports world wide. China will be in the business of hypersonic weapons, quantum computers. Artificial intelligence, Bio technology and nuclear technologies. A far cry from selling cheap T-shirts and plastic toys in 1980! By 2123. China has built an alternative Panama and Suez Canal 5 times its size! And a bridge to cross Russia to Alaska!
BRICS by that time consist of 50 nations. And gets supports from 190 out of 200 nations. Meanwhile as many as 10 million are living in tents homeless in the U.S. suburbs. Random mass shootings incidents happened at least 50 times a day in the U.S. killing roughly 100 people a day in the U.S. Confederate flag flies more widely than the Stars and Stripes in the U.S. in 2123.
China has just given warnings on visiting certain parts of the USA no different from the warnings of visiting Ethiopia or Yemen in 2000. That is what is likely happening in 2123 a hundred years from now. But the U.S. still scream liberal democracy like a 80 years old lone hippie!
My husband and I are avid cruisers, which means food, food, and more food. That being said, I typically eat what I choose, save the occasional pick of something that is just not good. I usually eat breakfast alone, as he is still sleeping, and I sit and people watch in the buffet. My breakfast is always the same: oatmeal with fruit, some scrambled eggs, and a couple of pieces of ham or Canadian bacon. The same as I eat at home, essentially. I get to witness the Sodom and Gommorah of food sin every day on a cruise, especially at breakfast. Football sized mounds of food get piled on a plate, and a lot of it is eaten. But it pains me to see a muffin with one bite. A bowl of cereal that had one bite, uneaten food galore. Yes, we pay for the food in our cruise fare, but it is as though we have no conscience when it comes to waste. We often stop in Haiti at the cruise line’s resort, and they prepare a barbeque style lunch there. What many don’t know is that the leftovers are given to the locals, and I have watched them pick a piece of discarded watermelon off of the ground and brush off the sand to eat. While people are tossing full plates of food into the trash, these people are desperate for our scraps.
Food waste bothers me. For the farmer that took the time to sow the crops. For the cow kept pregnant to provide milk. For the pig slaughtered to provide us with ribs and bacon. For the countless hours spent preparing the food. We don’t honor what we have. We assume it is there because most of us have not had to go without. I am lucky, I always had a meal to eat, and I don’t waste food. I eat leftovers until they are gone, I cut my own fruit so that I can get the most out of the rind, and I toss produce scraps out for the deer and groundhogs that frequent my backyard.
We don’t appreciate the food we have. That is the sin.
The future of American women
Cajun Chicken Club Sandwich
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Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 slices Swiss cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan salad dressing
4 hoagie rolls, split and toasted
8 slices tomato
8 strips bacon, cooked
Instructions
Pound the chicken to 3/8-inch thickness; sprinkle with Cajun seasoning.
In a large skillet, cook the chicken in oil for 5 minutes on each side or until no longer pink.
Place one slice cheese over each chicken piece.
Remove from the heat; cover and let stand for 1 minute or until cheese begins to melt.
Spread dressing over cut sides of rolls.
Place two slices of tomato on bottom of bun, top with chicken and two strips of bacon.
Serve with crispy fries or potato salad on the side.
When I was married to my exhusband, I got a ‘‘bee in my bonnet’ that I wanted to learn how to sew. I’d never sewed a day in my life. So we went to different places, looking at machines. Hubs was a ‘research on Consumer Reports’ kinda guy. He didn’t want to buy something that would fall apart. Who knows though, honestly, if I would suck at this?! I’m not sure if he looked at it that way. He just wanted to get me something good.
So, we kind of narrowed it down to a couple, and tbh, they were ridiculously nice. One was a Singer, the other I don’t remember but it was pricey I think like $800 in like 1990. Crazy, for just wanting to try something. It was going to be a ““surprise” for Christmas… but I sneaked a look in his wallet one night (I KNOW, bad wifey) and saw he bought the $800 wonder. I was SOOO excited!!
Christmas morning comes.
I’m still very excited, because this IS an awesome gift. Knowing did not diminish my excitement. I opened up the wrapping, and inside, it was a different machine.
Tears rolled down my face and I couldn’t speak. The $800 wonder wasn’t there. Apparently, he had exchanged it. For an upgraded, fancy $1100. Wonder.
It was amazing. It did embroidery, a zillion stitches. It was a very high quality name I can’t spell 😂 Husqvarna? But wait, there’s more. There’s another box. Inside that box was a 5 thread Serger, a BabyLoc. I had everything I needed to be successful.
I sewed my butt off for years.
But I’ll never forget that feeling of ““I want to give you the moon” that he gave me that Christmas. That was epic.❤️
If the controls are successful, they could handicap China for a generation; if they fail, they may backfire spectacularly, hastening the very future the United States is trying desperately to avoid. Alex W. Palmer, NYT.
The Chinese cannot understand why we fight with “Fists of Seven Injuries” (七伤拳), inflicting as much harm on ourselves as on our target. The sanctions hit our high-tech companies hard, as they lose not only their biggest market, but also important partners in their supply chain. Qualcomm’s profits fell 23%. Samsung’s dropped 95% . Louise Low. Face-off on the Grand Chessboard.
The year of living vulnerably: 2015
By 2015, when President Xi warned of China’s vulnerability to a chip embargo his team, led by the redoubtable Liu He, had spent two years preparing to create an indigenous chip industry. By 2022, the first fabs were producing commodity chips in high volumes at low cost and China spent $300 billion importing high-end chips.
The first breakthrough came when Huawei quietly released its 7 nm. Kirin 9000 chipsets, and its Mate 60 phone sales quickly surpassed Apple’s – as they were doing when the US embargoed Huawei. While the Kirin CPU was a remarkable achievement, professionals were more impressed by Huawei’s indigenous communications chips, like cellular modems, previously a Qualcomm semi-monopoly.
Three months later, YMTC shipped its 232-layer 3D TLC NAND memory chips. Their huge capacity and speedy 12 GB/s I/O make bleeding-edge drives possible.
But the sexiest market right now is insulated gate bipolar transistors, IGBTs. They’re the CPU ‘brains’ that conduct the orchestra of sensors and inputs and reduce EVs’ power loss and improve reliability. They’re expensive: 7% – 10% of an EVs’ final cost. Back in 2020, BYD supplied IGBTs for 20% of Chinese EVs’ and Infineon supplied 58%. The IGBT market has grown from $5.27 billion then to $8.42 billion this year and expects CAGR of 15.7% for some years.
There’s also money to be made in less sexy chips, like microcontrollers, says TP Huang. “Has anyone heard of Zhixin’s chips? You’ll find SMIC’s 40nm auto grade processor in Zhixin’s MCU microcontroller – domestically designed, fabbed and packaged entirely in China. This has huge implications for STMicro, Texas Instruments, Infineon and TSMC. Few automotive applications will ever need processes beyond 28 or 40nm, which is SMIC’s mass production sweet spot. Why wouldn’t Chinese automakers buy domestically? I bet Wall Street analysts covering TI have never looked into new Chinese competitors and considered what that entails. SMIC will be a monster soon enough”.
I was strung out for about 4 years from shooting up dope. After losing almost everything, I finally snapped out of it. It took, however, losing friends, my career, my therapist, my car, my motorcycle, my musical equipment, my instruments, my tools, my electricity, my water, all my savings which was in the tens of thousands, my sanity, almost my freedom, almost my life, and almost my house. I’m still in danger of losing it bc of unpaid property taxes of 3 years now going on 4. So when I was about 2–3 months sober, I had a friend drive me to Little Caesars to see if they were hiring. The manager was there. I asked. She said yes. Then she asked if I had manager experience. I said no…but I kinda did. I just wasn’t prepared for that gig being that I’m just barely out of a horrific addiction. She asked if I had an ID and a bank account for direct deposit. I said yes to the ID but no to bank account. She told me where I can get one at that moment and as soon as I get it to come back and I can begin to fill out the paperwork. Within 30 mins I was hired & started to fill out the necessary forms for employment. This was at the end of January this year and I’m still there and I’m sober.
I know this is a long story for such a question. My reason for including the other info is strictly for those that are currently where I was at when this happened. If this can help one person snap out of it then I will feel like I did a tremendous good for not just that one person but the world. Drug addiction affects way more than the drug addict. If you’re struggling, don’t give up. Be strong. It may take one time to quit or many times. Just don’t give up on yourself. I now have electricity and water and trash service. My house is still a wreck but it’s come a long way. I rode my bike to and from work which was 8 miles there and 8 miles back. But now I have a vehicle. I’m 6 feet tall and at the height of my addiction I weighed about 155lbs. Now I weigh a plump 210lbs. With time, that will change bc I want to be physically healthy. I am, w/o a doubt, physically healthier now than I was when I was using. And I prefer this to that any day. So if you’re reading this, you have to be strong and committed to this change no matter how tough it gets. It’ll get better. There’ll be shit days but it’ll pass. Keep going. We are made of sterner stuff. We’ve been through hell but now we are returning. And don’t think of it as starting over. You’re continuing your journey w a wealth of knowledge and wisdom. You may have lost everything but you’re not starting over. I wish you luck and lots of love. You’re not alone. I know that feeling of loneliness and despair. I felt lonely all throughout my journey through hell. But I wasn’t. You aren’t. If you need someone to vent w, message me. I’ll listen. I will not judge. If not me, reach out to someone. Anyone. And if you get rejected, fuck them. Move on. Don’t let that deter you. Look at me. I’m still here and am getting better everyday. Sure, we are all different but, in many ways, we are the same. We fuck up, and to fuck up is human.
One more thing: don’t beat yourself up if you quit and then go back to using again. Sometimes it happens. Sometimes it doesn’t. Just don’t let that stop you from quitting again. I have days when I feel so weak. I miss it so much. Coupled w the overwhelming feeling of how far I have to go to get back to where I was before my downfall, it feels hopeless. These moments test me, and I’ve come so close to shooting up again but I haven’t. I hope I don’t. In my journey, I always feel so glad I didn’t give in. Those feelings will wash away but they’ll be back again like waves in the ocean. You just stay afloat. It’ll pass and you’ll admire yourself for not giving in after it flows away. You’ll be proud of how strong you are becoming.
Anyway, there are my 2 cents.
Love yourself.
Love those around you.
Don’t be afraid to say it.
Don’t be afraid to show it.
Amp It The Fuck Up!!!
Antony Blinken Wrecked By Protesters In Congress
Great episode, Lee. Your humor is top dog here.
China and the Chip Wars: a Battle It Cannot Afford to Lose
The race for supremacy in the semiconductor industry is about much more than just technological dominance. It is about shaping the future of civilization.
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“Can China ace the chip wars?” This was the central question that framed my talk at the Future of Finance China Forum held in Beijing on July 28. The forum, run by The Asian Banker, served as a critical platform for thought leaders amid the unpredictable economic and financial landscape of 2023.
While these wide-ranging discussions were informative, my focus was squarely on the place and potential of China in the semiconductor industry. Instead of merely asking if China can win the chip wars, it’s more insightful to consider whether China can afford not to. This reframing provides a sharper understanding of the stakes for China’s economy and its global standing in the semiconductor industry.
Current situation
“Valuation extravaganza” is a phrase I use to describe the surging market caps of companies like Nvidia and AMD. The remarkable value growth of these companies has raised eyebrows and led to questions about whether we’re witnessing a semiconductor bubble. However, the rational ubiquity of semiconductors, essential to various sectors, might justify these high valuations.
In 2021, over 1.1 trillion chips were shipped worldwide, finding their way into everything from cars and consumer electronics to industrial applications. Semiconductors, quietly yet crucially, have become a part of nearly every aspect of modern life. According to a recent survey of industry executives, the industry’s future direction is being steered by emerging sectors like the metaverse, sustainability, mobility, and digital health – each calling for unique semiconductor capabilities.
This importance of semiconductors is reflected in the market’s response. Nvidia’s stock price tripled last year raising its valuation to more than $1 trillion with a Price-to-Earnings (P/E) ratio over 240. AMD’s stock price has also doubled, its P/E ratio almost reaching 500. This valuation growth is partly due to the robust demand for semiconductors, with the global market projected to grow to $1.8 trillion by 2032.
Even with the current chip shortage, some industry observers argue that these high valuations are justified. They view the long-term growth prospects for the industry as strong and believe these valuations are based on the expectation of persistent semiconductor demand.
Despite short-term disruptions like the global chip shortage, the long-term outlook for the semiconductor industry remains bright. Semiconductors play an integral role in the global economy, and their importance will continue to grow in the future, shaping our tech-driven world in ways we’re only beginning to understand.
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Future growth
We must also consider the potential drivers of future chip demand, taking into account the radical changes that advances in artificial intelligence (AI) may bring. A compelling perspective on this comes from Sam Altman, a prominent figure in the tech industry and CEO of OpenAI, in his manifesto “Moore’s Law for Everything”.
Altman applies the principle of Moore’s Law, which traditionally refers to the exponential growth in computing power, to a broader societal context, predicting a future where rapid growth permeates all facets of our lives and economy. Coined by Intel’s co-founder Gordon Moore, the law originally observed that the number of transistors on a microchip double roughly every 18 months. Altman, however, envisions its implications beyond the realm of computing power.
This broader interpretation anticipates an era of abundance, where the ubiquitous adoption of AI causes a steep drop in labor costs that fundamentally transforms society. Altman posits that as automation replaces human tasks from plumbing to R&D, labor costs will plunge, leading to significantly cheaper goods and services. The cost of the essential inputs shifts from labor and raw materials to data, driving prices towards zero and marking the advent of an era of profound abundance.
But abundance here isn’t just about an increase in available goods and services. It’s also about equalizing access to these resources, democratizing what was once the exclusive privilege of the affluent. High-quality healthcare, education, travel experiences, and even a secure standard of living—Altman’s vision suggests these will be accessible to far more people, with the cost of a “great life” approaching zero.
At the core of this transformation is AI, its learning and decision-making abilities propelling us towards this era of abundance. Yet, the manifestation of this AI-driven prosperity depends heavily on a robust, efficient, and advanced computational infrastructure— semiconductors or chips. Semiconductors are the foundation of our digital world, powering everything from personal devices to advanced machinery.
The complexity and scale of AI necessitate more advanced and efficient semiconductors. The AI algorithms promising this era of abundance require enormous computational power to process large volumes of data and make complex calculations. The task of providing this computational power depends on a wide range of semiconductors.
The abundance that Altman predicts will not only be driven by AI but will also critically hinge on the availability and advancement of semiconductors. In the coming era of AI-driven abundance, those countries and companies that can ensure a stable supply of chips will hold the upper hand. Thus, as China strategizes to win the chip wars, the stakes become clear—it’s not just about surviving but thriving in this world of unlimited abundance.
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Domestic politics and geopolitics
In the global context of the race for technological supremacy, the semiconductor industry is emerging as a key battleground. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI), with its potential to usher in an era of unprecedented abundance and revolutionize labor economics, amplifies the national security implications of the semiconductor industry. Indeed, the ‘resilient redesign’ of the global supply chain is becoming an essential facet of national strategies to ensure sustained success in this critical sector.
The complex web of today’s supply chain, spanning continents and countless entities, is inherently vulnerable to geopolitical shocks and pressures. The need for countries to develop resilient domestic capacities is becoming increasingly clear. Governments worldwide are already showing a keen interest in the sector’s growth and security, a trend that is set to heighten as strategic reorientations, regulatory shifts, and a heightened focus on security come into play. The semiconductor industry is becoming a significant geopolitical flashpoint, a field of intense competition for technological dominance.
In the context of China’s domestic politics, this resonates profoundly with President Xi Jinping’s vision of ‘common prosperity’. The potential abundance enabled by AI could pave the way for realizing this vision, democratizing access to what is currently available only to the affluent and creating a more equal society. The era of abundance that Sam Altman envisions could, in fact, help manifest President Xi’s aspiration for the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
In this light, China’s broad conception of national security – which encompasses not only traditional military aspects but also economic and even cultural security – becomes particularly relevant. The advancements in AI, underpinned by the semiconductor industry, will be vital for maintaining and enhancing China’s national security in this broad sense.
Therefore, China cannot afford to lose the ‘chip war’. The stakes are beyond high – economic vitality, technological advancement, geopolitical influence and even the future of the human race. The semiconductor industry is not just another industry; it is a cornerstone upon which human civilization may be decided.
In conclusion, the race for supremacy in the semiconductor industry is about much more than just technological dominance. It is about shaping the future of civilization. For China, acing the chip wars is not just a matter of national security in the traditional sense. It is also about securing the future of its society and realizing its vision of prosperity for all.
Before a class room of three hundred 1st year students, I was teaching, and my cell phone started vibrating. And I totally froze.
Just a couple of months earlier, I had become a father for the first time, and my girlfriend and I had agreed not to call during class hours, unless it was an emergency.
Often, I muted my cell phone during class hours, but this time I had forgotten. And this time the phone also rang. My girlfriend was the only person who would ring me at this unearthly hour in the morning. And suddenly it crossed my mind. Something is wrong with the baby.
Instead of two minutes, I had more than fifteen minutes left to cover while my mind blocked my every mathematical thought. So I taught the rest of the class through a true other-worldly out-of-body experience — I literally heard myself talking to the students, explaining things on the blackboard, and answering questions, while I was constantly thinking —
Something is wrong with the baby—Something is wrong with the baby—Something is wrong with the baby—Something is wrong with the baby.
When class was over and questions had been answered, I immediately called my girlfriend. She had forgotten about our agreement.
I’m a landlord and went to renew the lease on one of my rentals once. And when I pulled in to the neighborhood and turned the corner towards the house, the very first thing I saw was the screen door hanging off the front of the house.
I pulled into the driveway, knocked on the door, and while I was waiting for them to answer I looked at the screen door. It was literally ripped off its hinges.
Then they came out and greeted me as if nothing had ever happened.. I asked what happened to the door, and I swear they both looked me straight in the eye and said..
“It was like that when we moved in.” I was absolutely shocked…
I said, “Doug. You two have been here for TWO YEARS. You signed a move-in checklist when you first moved in that said everything was ok. I took and have pictures of everything before you moved in. And last but not least, I was here exactly ONE year ago to renew your lease then! Now, is this seriously your story, and are you sure it’s the one you want to stick to??”
“Yes.. It was like that when we moved in.”
So I called bullshit and told them that I would not renew their lease, and to be out before the end of the week. OR if they wanted to stay then they could fix the door.
They fixed it – reluctantly. Still swearing that it was like that when they moved in.
When I was an administrative assistant to the dean of a department at a 2 year college, there were a couple times during the year that I ate at my desk for various reasons. There was another admin in a different department that took a dislike to me and tried to get me in trouble for only taking 30 mins to eat then leaving 30 mins early. She went to my boss and he said I had his permission to do so. She then went to HR to file a complaint and I got called in. After that, I requested a sit down with HR, my boss, her and her boss which we had. Over several weeks, I had documented everything she had said and done to undermine me and she turned beet red and had no real defense since she documented nothing. A couple of weeks later, she no longer worked there and they hired a woman who became a good friend.
Document everything—day, time, incident, what was said—and keep it in a safe place. I used an old fashioned college notebook and hand wrote everything with just a blank line between each incident. I about filled the notebook in less than a month.
He was the head janitor at my school, a teddy bear of a man, under 5 feet tall with the sweetest little smile and laugh. He had worked at the school since he was a teen and was due to retire.
Da Tuk (not his real name) was gentle, kind and generous, a soft touch for a sob story. He and his family had just enough but always ended with too little because of his ‘kindness.’
A relative had begged him for a large sum, almost all that Da Tuk and his wife had saved for a deposit on a home. He signed over a land deed to Da Tuk and then disappeared into the gambling dens of Klong Tuey.
When Da Tuk took his family to see the land, they found a hilly, barren, nowhere-near-anywhere, unsellable plot. Da Tuk was inconsolable, realizing that he had been duped and had lost almost everything.
Fortunately, the chairman of the school found a way to help the family to buy a small house and deal with the costs of their children’s educations. They never really recovered from the loss.
As the school grew, so did Da Tuk’s staff, to the point where he was overwhelmed. An ‘assistant’ was hired but was, in fact, in charge. However, he always treated Da Tuk as the boss and saw to it that others did as well.
For Da Tuk’s retirement day, the Board had arranged for a huge luncheon, and we were all seated, waiting for Da Tuk.
When he arrived, he looked stunned, which surprised us because everyone had been talking about the party and teasing him for over a month.
Then an equally stunned member of the Board made a shocking announcement.
Da Tuk had just been paid forty million baht (approximately two million U.S. dollars) for that ‘worthless’ land because it was adjacent to the planned eastern seaboard industrial estate.
I got laid off from my work. It’s an awful experience. I just had the yearly performance review and got a raise, I was thinking ‘life is freaking good’, then one fine morning, I woke up to a sudden 1:1 from my boss, and he told me I was let go (together with half of the company).
It’s unexpected, and I was shocked.
I sent my coworkers texts, told them my goodbyes and my wish to stay in touch with them.
All of them offered the same message:
Please let me know how I can help in any way at all!
I was touched seeing those messages, truly.
The only thing I asked from them was: I need to retouch my Linkedin Profile, the job market right now is super tough and competitive, anything can help my profile stands out would mean a great deal and I really appreciate a recommendation from them – if they have a few minutes to write me one. It would be a huge help.
Only 2 out of 10 people offered me the message to help in any way actually did give me a recommendation. And one of them actually referred me everywhere she could trying to help me to get interviews.
I don’t think any less of the 8 people that didn’t give me a recommendation. I understand perfectly that there are millions reasons for that, like I might not worth giving a recommendation, or they just simply forgot to give one, or writing a recommendation is not their cup of tea, etc… I just wish they didn’t tell me that they would help in any way if they didn’t mean it.
And I do admire the ones that offer and live up with their saying “let me know how I can help in any way”
Being a person of their own words is a super power.
Way out in the stick in the north of England there was huge project ongoing to build a dam. A new site manager had been brought in because workers were reportedly lazy, either turning up late or skiving off down the local pub (which I worked in) during working hours. On his first day on the job he grabbed someone from the admin office and headed off round the site looking for a sacrificial lamb. He was going to fire someone as an example to the rest of the staff.
After half an hour or so he came across a young guy sitting behind a building, against a wall, drinking coffee.
“Who are you?” he bellowed. “What’s it got to do you with you?” asked the guy. “I’m the new site manager, who are you, and where do you work?” “Fuck off, leave me alone!”, replied the young guy. “OK, you’ve had your chance, you’re fired!” He turned to the admin guy, “get his details, give him his cards!” The site manager then stormed off thinking this was a good start to his tenure.
Later that day I was serving behind the bar in the pub and the guy came walking in. “Give me a pint of Guinness, I’ve just been fired”. “Oh dear, first one’s on the house!” “Cheers, that’s very nice of you.” he replied. He had his Guinness then asked how much? I said, “no, it’s on the house. Anyone who gets fired from the site gets a free beer.” “No – it’s okay, I’d better pay!” “But you got fired – it’s free!” “I did get fired. I’m just sitting there having a cup of coffee when this idiot appears out of nowhere screaming and shouting at me, and fires me on the spot. He seemed so happy about it I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I didn’t work for him, and I’m just a hiker who had stopped for a coffee.”
Surprised My Cheating Wife With Divorce Papers at Her “Secret” Hotel Getaway Affair.
I nearly hit ENTER on my resignation email. I’d been with the company for 24 years at the time and I was tired of my boss contradicting everything I’d say. Sometimes he was right, usually he wasn’t but of course he only remembered that one out of 10 times he was right come review time.
Most people say I’m too much of a pacifist but he’d ding me as pointlessly argumentative. And, the reason why I was never promoted (he’d tell me year after year) is because I’d said or done “the wrong thing yet again to” and it would always be an unnamed executive. If I asked what I did or said, I’d get “you know I can’t tell you that” and if I asked who’s cage I’d supposedly rattled, it would be another “you know I can’t tell you that.”
This day, he said something that was completely wrong about a field he knew zero about and that I was an expert in. I should have known better but I said something just “in passing.” He erupted and screamed at me. “YOU ARE WRONG and you felt the need to ruin my day. I walked in here this morning feeling okay for the first time in months. You couldn’t let it go. Noooo … not you … you had to correct me and ruin my whole day. And you aren’t even right Mr. Know-it-all. Fine. You ruined my day so now I’m going to ruin yours. I expect a written apology, three copies, and this is going in your file.
I will then have your final written warning for insubordination and disrupting the office ready when you come back with your apology. IF I accept it, you will go on warning. But if I don’t like what you said, I tear that and the warning up and you will be done. You have pretty much just thrown away 24 years of work and any goodwill you might have built up with me because you just always have to say something.
You just can’t let anything go and you always have some story. No matter what anyone says, you were there, did that, had that or something too. Well now I think you can add fired for cause and blacklisted from a whole industry to your awesome list of life experiences. I’m giving you one hour. I’ll see you then or you can spend the time packing up your stuff. I really don’t care which at this point.
And because you are a critical employee with no backup or replacement, I will see to it that you pay for this for a long time to come if I have any say over anything. Now get going. The next time I see you, it will be either carrying your shit to your car or in here with a heart felt written apology.”
I typed out a resignation, just a terse one paragraph indicating only that I resigned effective that day and would agree to make my last day two weeks hence. Dated and my signature typed. I was ready to hit SEND and the email would go to my boss, HR and the Sr VP (who was the department head).
But then I thought: first, I’d be out of a job and it would not be easy for me to get another one. It’s next to impossible to describe what I really do — it’s a bunch of low level tasks where the high level aspect is that I can do them all. I already knew that no one in my industry was interested — had they been, I’d have been contacted at least one of the times where competitors or clients tried to grab employees from us. I was about the only long time employee who’d never been contacted by anyone.
My resume would make even less sense outside my industry. I’d at best have to hope for some small employer looking for a jack of many trades willing to work for next to nothing. Not very appealing.
He was right in one sense about something: whenever someone had a story, I’d often have a counterpart. I’m not a know it all, just a lot older than many of my colleagues and I’ve been around. I’d always thought I was just participating in a conversation but maybe that’s not the way some took it. Perhaps I should sit and listen more even if I did have such an experience myself and even if the teller was way off base.
So I resolved to say a lot less and not correct people unless there could be a serious consequence for letting it go. Even if I’d done whatever 50 times to their 1 and was considered an expert, just let it go. Let them tell their story.
Ruined his day? That was his responsibility. He was going through many personal problems but people other than I were getting tired of his ripping our heads off at work because his personal life was in a tailspin. I know that when I was having many issues one time (many years ago, different boss), my manager came along and told me I needed to straighten myself up.
He knew what I was going through and that’s why nothing had been said for a couple weeks. But now I had to pull myself out of it or he’d have to let me go. That was a couple weeks … but my current boss had been going on that way for months.
So there was wrong on my side and that was on me to handle. But I wasn’t responsible for ruining my boss’ day with an offhand comment of a factual nature. I needed to speak a lot less: not counter a story with one of my own, and don’t correct someone unless there was a vital business need for it. On the other hand, I was not about to take written responsibility for someone else’s life and emotions.
I apologized verbally including indicating where I was wrong and what I planned to do about it. But I made clear what I was apologizing for along with being clear without saying it that it would not be in writing. I also made clear without throwing anything in his face that if he chose to give me a final written warning, I would not sign it but rather resign effective immediately.
Nothing more came of it in large part because by the time I walked in there, the anger was gone. I dealt with this in a clear headed way and that’s the point to this long answer. Anger solves nothing, even if justified or at least partially so. We’ve probably all snapped at work and with what results? If you have sufficient clout, others might respond out of fear. But that never results in a good long term effect. You’re far better off resisting the urge to go off until you’ve had a few minutes to think about the whole situation.
I’m boy, When I was 13 , The principal always checks students’ hair and nails and punishes them if they were long
One day, he came to the line and checked our nails, I had forgotten to trim my nails for a long time, and my nails were long like a girl’s.
When he saw my nails, he asked sarcastically: Am I a girl?
I was embarrassed and lowered my head
The principal sent me to the corner of the wall and I stood facing the wall with my head down
he sent about ten other people to the side of the wall because their nails were too long
When all the students went to class, the manager and the principal came to us with a ruler, the principal said, we have to give them a nice punishment!
Principal said that we should paint their nails to make them girls!
They took us to the manager’s office and forced us to put our hands on the table
Then the manager took out a bottle of red nail polish from his drawer and started painting our nails completely
We felt ashamed and humiliated and our heads were down
They took us to the front of the line in front of all the students and calles us girls!
All the students laughed at us and we cried and felt humiliated
They hit our palms with a ruler to make us cry more!
From that day on, we didn’t have the courage to keep our nails long
1. Successful people don’t leave their life in the hands of luck. Life is too unpredictable to leave it in the hands of luck. Therefore, successful people choose to take control of things rather than sit around and wait for luck to finally smile at them.
2. Successful people take risks at the right place, at the right time. Successful people know that they don’t have the luxury to be taking mindless risks that can do more bad than good. Rather, they wait for that perfect timing and occasion when they can justify taking the risk.
3. Successful people trust their intuition. Many people underestimate the power of gut feeling. But in reality, it’s one of the most efficient and free tools you can utilize profitably. And successful people know how to do just that.
4. Successful people are the masters of their own destiny. Some people believe that one’s destiny is predetermined, and so they decide to simply let things unfold accordingly. But successful people prefer to take charge and carve out the destiny they aim for.
5. Successful people know the importance of having control over their emotions. They understand the impact emotional control or the lack thereof can have on their motivation, perseverance, and overall success. Therefore, they always try to keep their emotions under control so they’ll be the ones having the power over them.
6. Successful people practice positive self-talk. Successful people try not to listen to that negative voice in their head that tells them it is not going to work out. They don’t insult themselves, either. Instead, they train themselves to be compassionate, understanding, and encouraging toward themselves so they never succumb to the destructive effects of negative self-talk.
7. Successful people know that making mistakes is an essential part of the process leading them to ultimate success. They are aware that no matter how many mistakes they make along the way, they can make use of each by learning from them, guiding them toward success they’ve been working hard for.
8. Successful people know how to take constructive criticism well. Not only do they understand the benefits of constructive criticism, but they also appreciate getting it because they see it as a way to improve themselves or get closer to their goals.
9. Successful people have an unshakeable faith in themselves. Even if everyone else around them thinks they are just idealistic dreamers chasing after unrealistic goals, they refuse to see themselves from the same lenses because they know they have what it takes to get the things they are after.
My first thought was to say no but as I was paying for my gas I grabbed the milk. Outside was his girlfriend holding a box of cereal. He thanked me and I started to walk to my car. Something in me made me turn around. I told them I was about to get a car wash but if he wanted to wash it for me I’d pay him $20. We went to the nearest car wash and he had tears in his eyes after I paid him!
He told me that more than anything he appreciated me giving him the opportunity to be a man again in the eyes of his girlfriend and work for the money. The whole time his girlfriend helped him. It’s like she was proud of him. You could tell the love was so real. Real beyond material things and what he could do for her. She told him he did a great job and he couldn’t stop smiling. I had a long talk with him and her and he had a backpack full of paperwork from all of the places he’s been going to get help for them. I drove them to my apartment complex and gave him clothes for interviews and a few outfits and fitted caps. I don’t have much but life is about sharing what you do have.
Be a blessing to someone today because you could be in that situation before you know it! I gave them my number and I plan to take them to any interviews or appointments they have. It’s a great day to be alive no matter what your situation is. Someone has it worse than you! Share this message and inspire others to do good.”
Well it was a older Ford heavy duty truck, a three axle mini dump truck. It came in for brake work and when I opened the hood I discovered that most of the underhood wiring was redone with household electrical wiring cable, Romex and stripped Romex. It ran fine for a truck of the era that it was built and when the guy came to pick it up after the brake work, I had to ask about the wiring. He had the truck sitting unused for several years while he was working for someone and mice or squirrels had gotten in and destroyed the wiring and he had a roll of Romex in his garage and redid the wiring using another very similar truck as reference and got some bits from another truck he found in a junkyard. Mechanically the truck was solid and I was more impressed than anything else with the craftiness.
Woman Demands A Train Ran On Her! This Is Why Men Question The Value Of MW
Lack of purpose. All your young life you are given purpose of passing exams and learning, then all of a sudden you are thrown into the world and told to find your own meaning.
You can stay up as late as you want. But you shouldn’t.
Where did all my friends go?
Didn’t know that other adults have the emotional intelligence of teenagers and its almost impossible to deal with logically.
Getting burnt out.
Having to make dinner every. Fucking. Day.
Not having a lot of free-time or time by myself.
Figuring out what makes you happy. Everyone keeps trying to get you to do things you’re good at, or that makes you money, but never to pursue what you enjoy.
The more life you’ve lived, the faster time seems to go.
I once stopped to help a guy change a tire. He had an arm in a sling and two very young kids in his car. He thanked me saying he didn’t want to hurt his arm any more and wanted to get back to work.
Fast forward three months and I’m in a very ugly motorcycle wreck. One of the EMTs noticed my back was broken. Had they continued I’d have been paralyzed. His quick thinking prevented that.
After I recovered I got to meet the EMT crew that saved my life.
The guy that noticed my back was broken? The guy whose tire I had changed.
About 25 years ago, while living in Tucson Arizona, I received a phone call (bold = caller, non-bold = me):
Hi; Is this David Joseph? Dr. David Joseph?
Yes, who’s this?
Hi David!! It’s Garry Shandling!
Now at that time, Garry Shandling was a pretty well-known comedian, with his own show (“It’s Garry Shandling’s Show”), which was well known for its hilarious opening theme song. I was a big fan of his show, so I assumed a friend was pranking me:
Oh really?? Garry Shandling? Prove it; sing me your opening theme song!
He went ahead and sang me his opening theme song, and then went on:
David, how have you been? It’s been forever — can you believe it’s been over 20 years since we graduated?!
Since we graduated? Graduated what??
High School; Palo Verde??
Wait, I think you have the wrong David Joseph; are you looking for Dr David Joseph, the vet?
Yes; that’s not you? I thought your voice sounded different!
Yeah, that’s not me; I’m a people doc. I think that David Joseph moved away from Tucson a few years ago.
Oh, bummer. OK, I guess I’ll keep trying to find him — we were really close in High School.
Well, if you don’t find him, feel free to call me anytime; I’m happy to be your back-up Dr David Joseph!
Haha! Maybe I will! Thanks!
Good luck!
Then he called back a couple of hours later, explaining that he hadn’t been able to find his high school friend. We chatted a bit more, and then, once every few years, out of the blue, I would get a call from him, wanting to ‘catch-up with his back-up David Joseph.’
After I made a successful (static line) parachute jump – which turned out to be my first ever (and last) jump from a plane – I traveled back to the jump site three more times with Jeff C. to do it again. Various conditions prevented that from happening again, and after the third time that we were unable to jump again, we saw a fire a couple blocks off the interstate that was being fought by a team of professionals. A police officer instructed us to move along, but Jeff chimed in with “Why don’t they just let a good fire burn?” The officer walked to the front of Jeff’s car and wrote down the license plate and village sticker information, then asked Jeff AND me for ID. During the following week, I talked to mutual acquaintances of Jeff and related the aforementioned story to them. From one former coworker of Jeff, I learned that he was suspected of possibly starting two fires at his place of employment, with the second allegation causing him to be let go – I decided not to key ‘fi_ed’ – immediately. I no longer answered any of Jeff’s subsequent telephone calls, and did not answer the door when he came over.
Psychologist Addresses FEMALE DISRESPECT: why this is essential to relationship success
Damn! This is one HELL of a great video! Shit! Amazing video!
What most people don’t understand is that disrespect is a process. The best predictor of overt disrespect is covert disrespect. And this is why it is important to address disrespectful behavior while it is still in its nascent form. Failing to do so will jeopardize your relationship, primarily due to the fact that it is not possible for a woman to love a man she does not respect.
“Seeing how my now ex wife treated me compared to everyone else was an eye opener. I realized why everyone liked her, she treated them with respect and care, while I got the cold, cruel, disrespectful part.”
He beat me with a belt until I would bleed when I was very young and then when I became a teenager he would beat me with his fists. He broke my nose and blacked my eyes a few times. He’s dead now and I’m 69 years old. I have never for forgiven or forgotten. He beat my mom too. They divorced after I left home at 17. May he rot in HELL!
Oh man! I sure have. Often. Up until recently I worked, either with a guy or on my own, doing demolition, kitchen removals and buying/selling used building materials. I also ride a motorcycle. A big-ass noisy motorcycle. And, personally, I think I am a pretty nice person. I am considerate, kind and polite. But sometimes I am covered in drywall or brick dust, insulation, paint or sawdust. I usually carry Handy Wipes to, at least, wipe my face and hands clean. I may be dressed in work clothes and/or motorcycle gear. I am otherwise a well-groomed, clean, and pleasant 54 year old woman. I currently work outside all day and am in and out and crawling around assessing cars and trucks. Again, in work clothes or cover-all’s I am often dusty and wind-blown with dirty, with grease under my nails.
AND I GET TREATED LIKE SHIT.
I get followed, have had rude and disparaging comments made or completely ignored. Some staff treat me like I am invisible and are dismissive, assuming (I think) that I have no money to spend. At other times, they have been openly mistrusting and suspicious.
ALL BECAUSE I WORK FOR A LIVING!
Two of my very worst experiences occurred at places connected to religious institutions. One a church bazaar and the other a faith-based second hand shop. Another time I was speaking, as a counsellor, on a panel about alcoholism and addiction. Independent of each other, the hosts TWICE assumed that I was the newly recovered individual as opposed to the presenting professional.
In NO WAY am I ashamed of what I do or how I look. In fact, I am proud of who I am and the jobs I have done (and still do). I just wish people would judge me on my character or my actions rather than the way I look.
Bought a small place years ago that had a nice shed that could be used for tools, mower, etc and I asked if it conveyed and was told yes. Went to move in after settlement and no shed. Since it was in the contract, I called my realtor and told her the she came back or I would immediately stop the sale. No shed by the next day when promised so I notified the bank again that the sellers were in breach of contract. I was living in the house but had not put my furniture in yet, still in the box trailer belonging to a friend. The sellers had the shed at their new place but moving it damaged it so I refused to accept it and they had to order a brand new shed, same size, for the deal to be completed. The bank held the check, I finished moving in, and 2 weeks later the shed arrived.
Don’t try fast ones when selling since you may seriously regret the expense of fixing it.
Do what my garden-savvy cousin did to keep deer away from her garden. She set up hoses and multiple impact sprinklers with a motion sensor that set them off when deer approached, startling them and soaking them. Very effective, and not mean.
If the neighbor complains your sprinklers got him wet, say “Sorry, I had to do something to keep the deer/bears/monkeys/kids from stealing all my peaches before I can make pies/cobblers/jam from them.
You could even say, if I have a good crop this year, I’ll bring you a bowl of peaches.
In Chinese culture, sharing a meal with friends or family is a time to socialize. It’s actually something I very much enjoy being part of. As a Westerner, growing up in a Western and traditional Southern family, children were “seen and not heard,” and the talking points of a meal were, “Please pass the salt,” or “mind your manners.” The lively, upbeat, excitement that is exuded by Chinese people sharing a meal is something I adore.
When I bought my house the seller told me he had lost a ring a few years prior, and if I ever found it, it would mean the world to him to get it back. Three years later I saw something shiny while I was raking leaves. I picked it up and realized it was a ring encased in mud. I cleaned it off but didn’t think it could possibly be the lost ring. The stones were so large I thought it must be costume jewelry. I phoned the old owner and told him I found a ring but didn’t think it was valuable and asked if he could come take a look. When he saw it he started to cry and said it had great sentimental value. He offered me a reward but I declined. It didn’t seem right to take money for something that belonged to him. What I thought was a cheap ring with glass stones turned out to be $70,000 worth of diamonds.
a friend of ours who at the time was single mother of two, her son is autistic. She complained she had no heat in her mini van and winter in southern Ontario can be bitter cold. Local franchise repair shop quoted her north of $1700 to fix it!
I said let me take it to my trusted repair shop.
After a quick diagnosis he says “is she a teacher?” I’m like “how’d you know?”
He says “I cleaned a pile of papers out of the vents by the the heater core…lots of heat now!”
$75 and she had heat again…and was advised to keep papers off her dash!
Yeah actually… A few years ago I went out on the town for a mates birthday – straight from work. I’m carrying with me a £2.5k laptop and my mates got his full pay packet in cash and a thermos of soup given to him by a friend for his birthday (separate story).
These two kids come up to us and demand all of our worldly belongings. We dismiss them, as the bravery of a nights worth of fairly strong Hazy Pale Ale courses through our veins. As we walk off, the braver of the two pulls out a pretty small knife and demands more of our attention.
With a look from my mate we start off round the corner. Once we’re there we in whispered, quick voices form a plan and we wait for them.
I caught the first guy with a swing of my rucksack right under the chin and all 15” and 2.6kg of my MacBook Pro knocked his head back nearly off his feet. My friend followed with the Thermos on the 2nd. We didn’t hold back on those hits.
Once they recovered enough to speak, the braver one asked the other one if he was bleeding… he was… and the other guy told him.
Angry from the revelation he was bleeding, he said if he ever saw us again we’re dead… My friend, living round the area didn’t take kindly to this and threw the statement back at him. Told him, NO if you ever come back here YOU’RE dead and flew at the guy with the Thermos a second time. He chased them both up the street with that flask, with me laughing in hysterics at the bottom of the road.
In a strange way, being drunk that night changed the whole outcome of that encounter. Doubt we would have stood up to them sober.
He most certainly has a case. One of my neighbors tried to have two of our old silver birches and one 50-years-old Cedar tree cut, and it cost him dearly. It started with a Christmas tree though.
We came back from the United States, and as usual when we are back from holidays, I checked the garden — just to see how the plants, flowers and mushrooms (but also our rabbits and barn owls) were doing.
And then I noticed that one of our beautiful Christmas trees had been cut. The top half was gone, and no higher Mathematics was needed to conclude who had done it. One of our neighbors — I once had a relationship with his youngest daughter Ebba, but he seemed reasonably normal in those days — goes berserk if even only a couple of leaves fall on his property.
This time, he had cut an evergreen conifer, and we were sick of it. We called the neighborhood police man to sort this out, and he reprimanded the neighbor — to no avail. We decided not to go to court for the time being.
Instead, he sued us.
Together with another neighbor friend (who apparently also had problems with leaves and needles without us knowing), he filed a complaint against us in Justice Court. Big goal: having some of our trees (two old birches and an old Cedar) cut.
It did not quite work out that way, though.
Instead, he was forcefully reprimanded by the judge, who explained that leaves and needles are a part of country life, and that there was nothing wrong nor illegal about them falling in his garden.
The judge also dismissed the demand that our trees would be cut —
“It is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN to cut old trees, Mister C., so NO ONE will touch them. And very high maximum penalties would be issued if someone would.”
(Goal not attained.)
Since then, our neighbor had become even more mental than before. He throws all the leaves and needles he can find in our garden, and he has, since recently, started to throw buckets of his own stinking urine in our backyard.
I’m also one of those foreigners who think China is not just good, but a great place to live in! After working in China for the past few years, I have realized so many reasons for loving China.
A quick list of my personal observations about China:
1. Life has been very peaceful in China: I am never worried about my personal safety, or disruption of work. Life has been going quite smoothly.
2. Cost of living: About RMB 5,000/month (~$700). For the quality of life that I have enjoyed in China, it can’t get more affordable.
3. Jobs: my job is going fine. No issues with salaries.
4. Tax holidays: expats from a good number of countries (including US) enjoy tax holidays in China (due to the Double Tax Avoidance Treaty). I have not paid any tax in China so far. 🙂
5. Great food: China offers one of my favorite cuisine (I also love Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian, and Indian food). You can order from home. RMB 15 for 20 dumplings (饺子, jiaozi). Even if you cook at home, it can’t get cheaper than that.
6. Online shopping: you can buy almost everything online in China. Taobao is probably one of those few sites I visit every day. I buy something every day.
7. Cashless payments: we don’t carry cash in China. We just need to bring a phone, scan QR codes and pay. In fact, you can rent bicycles by just scanning QR codes (first 1hr ride is free).
8. I have a history of diabetes. Going anywhere, including back to the US, puts me at a very high risk of Covid-19 pandemic. There are great medical facility in China. Every Chinese city has a good number of hospitals. It’s very convenient to visit hospital in China (Btw, my city is virtually covid-19 virus free).
9. Learning Chinese: if you want to learn Chinese, China is the best place. The whole atmosphere is warm and welcoming. You’ll learn Chinese fast. This was also a reason for me to move to China.
10. Travel: Lots of nice places in China. Recently I visited Zhouzhuang (周庄), a water town (江南水乡). It was a pleasant experience. Chinese tourist attractions are generally very different from the typical western tourist attractions.
11. No illegal immigration: you can’t enter China illegally. You will be caught if you try. Penalties are heavy. You will be deported, however, only after serving the sentence.
Living in China is a very different experience. It doesn’t make sense to compare China with other countries (or vice versa). Explore what China has to offer, and you’ll love it.
Also, I wish to thank China for taking a good care of me throughout my China stay, especially during my diabetes phase. Otherwise, I couldn’t have survived probably.
The U.K.: much, much more working-class than Americans are raised to assume. It’s a textbook example of American ignorance that we tend to believe Brits are all very sophisticated and “aristocratic.” (And I don’t mean that as an insult, just a reality check.) Britain can be polished and classy, and it can be tougher than a bad neighborhood of Philly.
Ireland: deep beauty, deep gloom, too. Really depends on where you go and when and what you’re up to. One of the friendliest countries I’ve been to. Just don’t expect everything to be rainbows and sentimental fantasy and you’ll be fine. Again, from an American perspective: virtually all Americans need a reality check here.
Mexico: been there multiple times, still haven’t been killed. Haven’t witnessed so much as a mugging let alone a cartel operation. The worst thing I’ve seen is sexual harassment. The worst thing that personally happened to me was an epic case of farts. In general, what I’ve seen of Mexico is more truly cultured and sophisticated than a large chunk of the most hyped places in Europe and certainly more cultured and tasty than significant swathes of the United States. (Some of Mexico is pretty benighted, but the chances of you ending up in those corners of Mexico are next to none.)
The United States: lived here most of my life, still haven’t been shot. A country with places as diametrically different as Vermont and Miami Beach, New York and the Sonora. What’s pretty true about one place isn’t even remotely true about another. And contrary to the stereotype that Americans brook no criticism of our country, I think it’s actually the most hyper-self-critical country I’ve ever personally been to. If you can’t hear copious criticism coming out of the United States, see an ear doctor, your ears are plugged up. (Too much of this criticism is tribal criticism and not enough self-criticism, but Americans love to bitch and moan about the place. How do you not hear this?)
Canada: lovely people, lovely country, but nowhere near as happy or perfect as a big part of the world believes they are. Canadians are aware of their problems, because they’re honest. This isn’t a comment about Canadians. It’s a comment about the mystery of why so many other people aren’t aware of the problems and unhappiness that do exist in Canada.
Colombia: didn’t get killed. Didn’t see any obvious drug deals. Freakishly hot. Got horrifying Montezuma’a Revenge: do not ever ever EVER drink the water. Would I revisit? Yes.
Cuba: very much like the pictures of 1950’s cars and bars would have you believe. Fucking amazing to fly down there from Wisconsin in February: it’s not a long flight at all, but you feel like you’ve gone back 60 years in time and also dropped into what Southern Europe felt like a generation or two ago, not just the Caribbean. Lost worlds, truly. The sanitation will get you, though. The poverty is shocking. The people are wonderful but deserve so much better.
Italy: the only part I really liked was Sicily, where I didn’t killed by the mafia. Sicily was extraordinary.
Greece: incredibly cold when I was there. I think I picked up a minor case of pneumonia. It was March and I was freezing to death.
Turkey: went in 2002 and no Muslims killed me. The waiter brought his kid sister out, maybe 10 years old, to practice English. She giggled and thought Americans were funny. I thought the Turks were friendlier than the Greeks. But I was an asshole kid back then.
Bulgaria: also went in frozen weather in March 2002. Bulgaria was probably the closest to the grim Iron Curtain stereotype I’d sort of been expecting. (You half expected to see Stalin at the train station in Sofia.) But I’ve heard it’s changed a lot for the better. I was there 21 years ago. Would I revisit? Yes. In July.
Spain: didn’t see anybody going to bullfights. Tacos are not the dominant cuisine there. Paella is overrated tourist food. Seville beats Barcelona and Madrid. Go to Lanzarote for surreal quiet time (I was there last April, showed up in a tiny town at night, sat on the balcony watching the moon, and I was like “I’m in Spain and there’s no noise. This is weird.” Also, you’re more likely to see people having big parties than going to a Catholic religious procession. Spain has an exaggerated reputation for being “extremely Catholic.” The American Midwest is 10 times more Catholic.
Sweden: only went to Stockholm. Incredibly empty. Not very exciting. Dirtier than I expected.
Finland: severely underrated people.
Iceland: not as cold as Minnesota. (I’ve been to both in January. Iceland is Ipanema Beach compared to Minnesota.)
Portugal and Slovenia: Europe’s most underrated countries.
Czech Republic, Poland and Croatia: not gray. Everybody who heard I was going there said “that sounds so gray.” These places were bursting with color and life. Ate like a king for the price of a Big Mac meal in the U.S.
Bosnia: didn’t get killed. Contrary to stereotypes, that war ended 30 years ago. Being afraid to go because there had been a war and some bad shit in the past would be like being afraid to go to Germany in 1975, thirty years after WWII. Ridiculous. (I drove on some roads in Bosnia that were better than roads in Michigan. There are other roads where if you’re not paying attention, you’ll drive off a ledge and end up upside down in a cabbage patch.)
I’ve been to a few more countries, but that’s the gist.
One thing I’ve learned from travel is not to put too much stock in other people’s opinions. I’ve been to places they love that I hated. I’ve been to places they bashed or were afraid to visit that I thought were some of the best experiences of my life.
It’s not that I don’t trust anybody. It’s just that I’ve traveled enough to know that I’d rather go somewhere myself and form my own opinion.
Xi knows China needs the US, and of course the US needs China, maybe more so today.
Xi also knows that the world, which is facing more than enough difficulties right now, needs a stable US relationship and can not endure any major conflicts between the two largest economies.
Xi knows he can handle the situation here within China.
Then, looking around, who can help stabilize the bilateral relations? Who have a big say on the US domestic issues to try to calm down the sentiments there?
Is it possible, helpful and practical for him to talk to those big bosses of MICs, the Military Industrial Complex? Not quite possible — they prefer war than peace, they are thirsty for wars.
Is it helpful for him to talk to the US politicians? He has tried. He talked with Trump, and treated him well in Beijing, then what? Trump can tear down any agreements as he likes; He talked with Biden, last year in Bali, Indonesia, then what? Biden can’t even really govern his own administration team, neither the Democratics, let alone those from the GOP. But Xi tried once again, this time, he met Biden in San Francisco. But, again, then what? What if Trump came back after next election? He would again turn everything upside down.
Is it useful and helpful to talk to the general public? Might be of some help, but how many can he talk to? And how much help would that be of? No one really knows.
Then, who are left? The ones with a big say in the US politics, economy and even society — Yes, the business executives.
What they care more about is the market, the profits, the money, where China can offer. And with the money, they can stand with those candidates who are more practical and support a more pragmatic approach towards China, instead of those full of ideologies in their minds and even can’t wait to drum up a war with China.
Thus a comparably virtuous circle is hopefully to be formed to prevent the China-US relations from further spiraling down, which neither can China afford, nor can the US, as well as the whole world.
I joined a ship in Rotterdam and on sailing for Suez, noted that the generator oil temperatures were rather high. On asking the other engineers, they said “They’re always like that” which was often a reason given by those of an idle nature… I investigated and found that they had raised the alarm point to stop the alarms going off instead of actually fixing the problem, which I assumed to be the generator lube oil coolers being fouled. On arrival at Suez and waiting in the anchorage, we opened up the LO coolers but found that they were clear, though with a fine sand lying in the tube bottoms, suggesting a lack of seawater flow-rate. We transited Suez but on meeting the warmer seawater temperatures of the Red Sea, had to reduce the generator load to avoid them tripping out altogether. We put into Aden to fix the problem, blacked out and started working back from the seawater lines into the coolers to the pumps themselves, eventually having to take out just about all the seawater lines until on opening up the main piping from the pumps (some 650mm diameter) we found them to be just about blocked with an aggregate of mud, sand and shellfish, such that only a small diameter of some 250mm was available for passing water to the generator coolers. Out came the main length of piping and we started to shovel out the muck. As we cleared it, a large, Triffid/Hydra-like apparition started to appear, causing the more faint-hearted to jump back in alarm, though it was only moving by virtue of us shovelling out its supporting mussel bed… It turned out to be a submarine tree of surprising length and girth (around 5–6m long and about the diameter of my arm in the main trunk, with lots of squid like leaves on it which had been waving in the ever reducing breeze of seawater passing through the pipe. We eventually removed all the gunk and the “animal” itself and laid it along the plates for a photo opportunity (we only had the ship’s Polaroid instant picture camera in those days so I don’t have a record unfortunately).
How did such a large beast get into the system? Presumably it had entered as a micro-organism and found a handy place to anchor itself in the rubber jointing between flanges (its roots were entwined around the bolts) and then fed itself from the handy warm water stream passing its front door. It gradually grew, causing other marine life such as shellfish to cling on where the water was less turbulent, and then gathering mud and other essential nutrients from its environment. Amazing thing, but fortunately harmless in that it didn’t actually attack us… Being in Aden the temperature in the engineroom without the fans running was around 50C (we had to shut down the generators and rely on emergency lighting), such that we could only work for around 20 minutes each before having to go on deck in the (relatively) cooler air of some 35C Aden night time temperature. It took us most of the night to clear the piping and refit it – a big job indeed.
Final job on restarting everything was to wind the generator LO temperature alarms back to the proper alarm point; I checked back through the ship’s engineroom log books to see where the problem had first started, and it was some 3 years in the making without anyone investigating the slowly rising temperatures.
I was Marketing Director for a major, easily recognized company that manufactured female oriented products. Our President was in over his head, as evidenced by our declining market share and revenue. I was hired to help turn things around given my successful track record at other companies. However, the President couldn’t handle any outside suggestion or strategy unless it was his so I was constantly reprimanded for doing my job.
One day, my timid, suck-up boss sends me an email about a report she needs me to do ASAP. I scoll thru the entire email and at the end, I see it originated with a request from the President. Basically he wanted my boss to assign the report to me and once she had it to fire me. The email also contained some very derogatory & crude & inappropriate comments about my appearance.
I forwarded the entire email to my personal email account, HR and members of the Board. In exchange for me not pursuing legal action or sharing the incident with my press contacts (would have killed any credibility in the female marketplace), I received my bonus, 6 months severance including paying my health insurance, & a strong positive reference letter. I had a new position in 6 weeks.
The President was let go after about 2 months and it took him over 1 year to find a new position at a less prestigious company and lessor salary.
I wasn’t a mechanic, I was a service manager. A guy drove into the lot, he had poked a rod through his block. How the car was still running was a mystery. For some context, this was 1978, he was driving some little 1970 English import, a Vauxhall Viva, possibly. The blue book price was less than $500. He was a recent immigrant, with broken English, and obviously didn’t have much money, from the car he was driving.
I explained that it would cost twice as much to fix the car as it was worth. He didn’t appear to understand. So he called his pastor, who was his sponsor. I talked to the pastor when he arrived, and he called me a racist for refusing to work on an immigrants car. I explained it two different ways, and it didn’t make any difference.
I finally gave up, wrote up a work order, for $1200. Then I ran down the street to a convenience store, and bought an autotrader magazine. I handed him the work order first, and he audibly gasped. Yet it was just what I had verbally told him. Then I flipped the magazine open to a car like his, but in better shape, for sale for $500.
The light switched on. He wasn’t happy, but he now understood why I didn’t want to repair it. Since it was worth more than the car was to repair it, we would have required cash up front. Before starting the job.
My boss wasn’t happy with me, for spending my time driving away a customer.
I have no idea if the guy could have afforded to make the repair.
The next week the pastor started sending other members of his flock to us.
The following is a translation of a recent essay that examines the circumstances of close encounters between Chinese and U.S. militaries in China’s vicinity, explains China’s grievances, and identifies the factors that further heighten risks.
The author of this essay is Hu Bo, Research Professor and Director of the Center for Maritime Strategy Studies, Peking University, and Director of the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative.
Full text below.
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Recently, the U.S. DoD “declassified” some of the videos and pictures of aerial encounters with PLA military aircraft in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, accusing China of “risky intercept” and “unprofessional behaviors.”
This is, of course, a one-sided narrative from the United States. The Pentagon has not made it clear where these air encounters took place or why they occurred. As the China-U.S. military competition intensifies, the frequency and intensity of air and sea encounters are increasing, and the risk of possible friction and conflict does exist.
However, the United States is hyping “anxiety”, partly because of real concerns about risks, and partly because it wants to take hold of the “moral high ground” in international public opinion and diplomacy.
In fact, in the waters surrounding China, such as the East China Sea and the South China Sea, despite the growing competition between the China-U.S. militaries as well as air and sea encounters, it is important to emphasize that the vast majority of the air and sea encounters between the China-U.S. militaries, which occur more than a dozen times a day and thousands of times a year, have been conducted in a safe and professional manner.
For example, in a 2022 emailed statement about transit through the Taiwan Strait, US 7th Fleet spokesperson Mark Langford said in an emailed statement that “all interactions with foreign military forces during the transit were consistent with international standards and practices and did not impact the operation.”
In August 2022, Capt. Amy Bauernschmidt told the press after the USS Abraham Lincoln, which she commanded, finished a deployment in the Pacific that “We were operating in the vicinity [of] Chinese warships at times, mostly … that shadowed our ship……It was safe and professional the entire time that we interacted with them. During some flight operations, our aircraft did interact with some of their aircraft, but again it remained safe and professional each and every time we interacted with them.” [1]
Both the U.S. and Chinese militaries have made it clear at the highest levels that they “do not want war” and want to avoid direct military conflict.
While formal communication mechanisms between the two militaries (e.g., the China-U.S. Military Maritime Consultative Agreement meetings, Defense Policy Coordination Talk, and China-U.S. Theater Commanders Talk) were interrupted after Nancy Pelosi’s Visit to Taiwan, there are other channels of communication between frontline commanders, such as the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 (COLREGs), and the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES), which was adopted in 2014.
High-level exchanges between the U.S. and Chinese militaries have also been slowly restarting since President Xi Jinping had a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden in Bali. Overall, the situation of China-U.S. air and sea encounters is not as dire as portrayed by the media and some scholars.
▲ Four scenarios for confrontational encounters between China and the United States
However, under certain circumstances, the risk of conflict could run high. When the United States and China talk about military frictions or dangerous encounters and blame each other, the first thing we should be clear about is where these frictions or encounters are taking place. For both sides, air and sea encounters in different areas have different legal and political implications. Most confrontational encounters between China and U.S. military forces occur under the following four scenarios.
1. When U.S. forces approach the territorial waters and airspace of mainland China or Hainan Island, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) reacts vigorously, taking such actions as interception or forcing out.
2. U.S. forces enter the territorial waters and airspace of the Xisha Islands to carry out so-called FONOPs and are warned and driven away by the PLA.
3. When the U.S. military conducted FONOPs within 12 nautical miles of China-controlled islands and reefs in the Nansha Islands and Huangyan Island, The PLA warned and drove away the U.S. military. For example, on September 30, 2018, the USS Decatur conducted a so-called FONOP in the waters near Nansha Islands’ Nanxun Reef and had a close encounter with a Chinese warship. The two ships were only 40 meters apart at their closest.
4. Both China and the United States engage in close reconnaissance of each other’s military forces during military exercises, including live ammunition exercises. While mutual tracking and surveillance of military activities are common, the reconnaissance operations conducted by the U.S. military sometimes come dangerously close.
Particularly during the PLA’s live ammunition exercises, the U.S. military often disregards the no-entry notices and unlawfully enters the relevant sea and airspace. For example, in August 2020, a U.S. U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft intruded into the PLA’s Northern Theater Command’s live ammunition exercise airspace, and an accident was barely avoided.
▲ China has legitimate concerns about the close encounters between Chinese and U.S. naval and air forces
While China is dissatisfied with the U.S. military’s actions in the waters near China and believes that the root cause of the encounters at sea and in the air is the aggressively close reconnaissance and other targeted military operations conducted by the U.S. military, it nevertheless tracks and monitors the U.S. military in accordance with international conventions, which is no different from reciprocal reactions of U.S. and Japan for China.
China only reacts more strongly in the four above-mentioned types of military encounters, which is in line with international common sense. Any country would take all feasible measures to safeguard its territorial, sovereign, and platform security against any actions that attempt to approach its territorial waters and airspace or pose a threat to its training exercises.
Strategically, China opposes the continuous challenges posed by the U.S. to China’s sovereignty over islands and reefs and its national security. Technically or in specific actions, China opposes actions by the U.S. that endanger the safety of personnel onshore at sea and in the air. In addition to strategic and legal differences, China also has three legitimate concerns:
First, some of the U.S. military’s reconnaissance missions are too close to China and overly provocative.
For example, on September 4, 2021, a U.S. RC-135S Cobra Ball missile surveillance aircraft approached Jiaozhou Bay in Shandong Province for close reconnaissance, with its closest point of approach to the Chinese territorial baseline being less than 20 nautical miles. On December 8, 2022, a U.S. P-8A anti-submarine patrol aircraft flew over the Taiwan Strait, at times with a distance of less than 13 nautical miles from the Chinese territorial baseline.
Second, China has reasons to be concerned about frequent accidents involving the U.S. military. In recent years, the high frequency of U.S. military operations and the negative impact on training and proficiency have led to numerous unfortunate accidents (such as the collision incident involving the U.S. Navy’s USS Fitzgerald missile destroyer in 2017).
When the Chinese and American militaries come into close proximity, the possibility of accidental incidents occurring due to a decline in the professionalism of the U.S. military is increasing.
Third, the United States has intensified the public hype and politicization of encounters at sea and in the air and military actions. In recent years, the United States has amplified the political and diplomatic implications of its military actions, with the most iconic examples being the so-called FONOPs carried out by the U.S. military within 12 nautical miles of China-controlled islands in the South China Sea and its transits through the Taiwan Strait.
On October 27, 2015, the U.S. destroyer USS Lassen conducted a highly publicized FONOP in the waters near the Nansha Islands. Although the U.S. had previously conducted such activities in the South China Sea, they were rarely so open and high-profile. The same is true for U.S. transits through the Taiwan Strait. Since 2018, after each transit through the Taiwan Strait, the U.S. Navy would either feed information to the media or directly issue announcements, claiming to “maintain freedom and openness in the Indo-Pacific region”. Such hype and politicization have increased the complexity and difficulty of military communication between China and the U.S. and added to the risks of encounters between Chinese and American naval and aerial forces.
[1]Note: the original essay wrongly attributed the above quote to Rear Adm. J.T. Anderson, this newsletter corrected the inaccuracy.
You smile, bank the check and say thank you! I had a very small role in the Spiderman movie starring Emma Stone. The scene never made it into the final cut. It wasn’t necessary for the story line. But I got paid union rate and residuals and spent a very pleasant afternoon and evening filming a 2 person scene with Emma Stone, who was absolutely delightful and charming. No complaints. And they sent me the specially designed movie baseball cap. I was treated as a professional and my contribution was valued at the time of filming.
In many western nations it fails on both counts. What they have left is an electoral system that goes through the motions. I remember a module on Law I did at UCL. It’s an elected dictatorship mostly. Before you screech but you’re in China, yeah but I was born in the UK. I watche the 1997 election (too young to vote) participated in 2001, 2005, 2010 and sat out 2015. I had left the UK by 2017 and 2019.
We can go through the common failings:
We can vote out those who fail!
We can freely criticise our leaders!
We can vote somebody in new and different!
Western systems ensure the BEST standards of living
Western systems are accountable!
Western systems ensure the most capable people!
We can vote out those who fail!
Except you don’t. The Labour regime of from 1997 to 2010 didn’t really achieve anything. They had some decent literacy programmes with the gremlins campaign but this was dismantled by the late 00s.
We can freely criticise our leaders!
Less so now, the UK has massively restricted free speech since the 80s, it has massively restricted protest. And guess what? Call the current prime minister a bum what happens NOTHING to you and NOTHING to them.
We can vote somebody in new and different!
Except it’s a false choice. You can choose a Neoliberal or a Neoliberal. The policies are a venn diagram that is a circle.
Western systems ensure the BEST standards of living
Maybe in the past 70s, 80s maybe the 90s. But once it got Neoliberalised productivity got disconnected from wages and there’s been a massive stagnation.
Western systems are accountable!
Yeah, they apologise or say let’s draw a line under it and then simply ignore it. I still remember Blunkett UK MP (EDIT) simply saying I don’t accept that to dismiss a well crafted argument against him.
Western systems ensure the most capable people!
No it ensures popular people. The UK’s Johnson for instance. What qualities other than being popular did he have?
Now let’s return to the above:
For the people.
For the people, are your lives REALLY getting better? My life in the UK:
Access to medical care: As a child I remember being able to get appointments with Dr Sharma same day for the times I was ill. As a teenager when I was beaten up, I could be admitted to hospital pretty quickly. Nose operations to put it back were done in as little as week. Into my 20s. It became increasingly difficult. Barriers kept being put up to see my GP. First off it was you had to book a day in advance, then a week in advance. By the early 00s. My GP had a 10 minute window at 8am to book appointments. There were 10 available a day.
My commute times : Each year it took longer and longer. I recall sitting in my dad’s car. To get to the big city nearby it was 20 minutes door to door. We moved a couple miles East but by the mid 00s it was taking 45 minutes and by the 2010s it was taking an hour each way door to door.
Policing There was a small police station in my dad’s town. It was gone and consolidated by the mid 00s. My dad had things smashed and police would attend same day. By the 2010s they wouldn’t attend and simply give you a crime number.
Of the people.
There’s the odd outlier like Mahri Black? The youngest MP ever. But the trend is establishment candidates. Only those backed by the party apparatchik have any chance of success. Tons of people like Lord Binhead try.. or the Monster Raving Loony Party try but always lose their deposits.
Sheltered, to begin with. In elementary school, I thought that friends who lived on Park Avenue were middle class.
One thing, though, that many don’t understand — not all of the students in these schools are rich. The schools generally offer financial aid, and many students are from upper middle class families. Increasingly, they have some poor children as well.
But of course there are lot of rich kids at them — kids who go skiing in the Swiss Alps, kids with household staffs, what have you. This can leave kids from middle class backgrounds thinking that they are poor.
The schools themselves — mine anyway —
Very high standards. You did not skip class, and you were not absent unless you were ill or there was a major crisis like a death in the family.
Very solid, college preparatory curriculum with lots of electives. Math and language classes were tracked by ability. The curriculum was accelerated to the point at which many students went to college after their junior year — there just wasn’t much left to do.
No bad teachers; they ranged from good to superb.
Few bad students. Admission was competitive and those who couldn’t handle the work were asked to leave. All students went to college, any or most to Ivies or similar, and most got advanced degrees.
Small class sizes. Ours were about 15. Teachers had low course loads, and latitude in what and how they taught — no submitting lesson plans. And they could focus on teaching, rather on lunchroom duty and such.
No “teaching to the test.” But then, such a thing didn’t exist when I was in school.
That said, there was good prep for the SAT’s. This can’t make a dramatic difference in scores, less than 100 points, but it can make some.
Beautiful campus, also like a small college. Here’s where I went to school — that’s the library building:
image 144
9. Excellent facilities.
10. No bells, etc. But very high standards of behavior. You didn’t arrive to class late, and there were no fights or anything of the sort.
11. A friend who transferred in from public school told me that he was delighted to be at a school where the teachers actually liked the kids!
12. I recall visiting my cousin’s public school when we were juniors and was appalled at the way the kids were treated by the administration. Obnoxious.
13. Smart kids were admired rather than bullied or looked down upon.
14. Today, there is a lot of pressure on the kids to get into a top college. Less so in my day. In any case, the schools are feeder schools, known to top colleges. At my school, for example, six kids went to Yale every year. Not five, not seven — they had six slots set aside.
15. The quality of the students was remarkable — probably more so at privates that cater specifically to the children of the rich. Out of a class of 100, one of my classmates became the first female editor of The New York Times. One became a philosophy professor at Cambridge, the other at Harvard. Another became a physicist. Most became doctors and lawyers. (Only three of us, I being one of them, became engineers.) One of the lawyers worked for President Obama. Etc.
16. I asked a former teacher why it was that, on a standardized test administered to students in New York City, the public school students did better than the private school students, but that in life, the private schools students did better, and he said it was simple — the private schools taught the students to think. They don’t stuff your head full of facts like a public school, but you can write an essay or prove a theorem.
In retrospect, if there was a downside, it’s that we were so sheltered. But overall, my experience was just about as good as it could be, within our current educational framework and given the requirements set by the colleges. I wish that every student could enjoy a similar experience.
There is no threat to the Chinese political system. 95% of Chinese support China and its government. People live longer, today their life expectancy is 78 years old and the U.S. is 2 full years lower at 76 years old! They live better lives. Their real standard of living less inflation has grown 30 times in 40 years. Meanwhile during the same time. The U.S. real standard of living not only not grow. It deteriorated back 20 years into the 1960 level!
Chinese has full universal healthcare coverage and college education is free of charge if one qualifies for it. All of which is not free in the U.S. and close to a third of Americans are not covered by healthcare and may die if they fall sick! That is the U.S. not China! Kids gets into college debts before they even start life in the world.
So who want to change their political system? Well by trust on government measurement carried out by trusted western research in the west showed Chinese trust their government 95% and only 30% of American’s trust their government!
And your question is what is the biggest threat to the Chinese political establishment? Not what is the biggest threat to the so call US liberal democracy? Why do you not ask the obvious? And why do you worry about a non issue? Where is your intellect? Where is you rationality and sanity?
Ok I get it you are a China and Chinese hater and you term communism as a slur to demonised China. But let me help you. 87% of the world don’t buy your shit. Sure the 13% westerners may be fooled by your media but even that a higher proportion of westerners are smarter than you. They know this is a nonsense question. But I addressed it to call you out. If you can ask this question you don’t amount to much.
What was odd thirty years ago, is my new normal, but here are a few random remembrances from 1990 Germany, 6 months after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Brutal truth rewarded me when I asked “how are you?”. Replies weren’t always “great”, “awesome” or “just fine thank you.” Germans actually thought I cared (and eventually I learned not to ask if I didn’t).
Germans are direct. They don’t beat around the bush. When they have an opinion they share it with you. And they expect you respect it and deliver honesty in return. Political correctness was non-existent.
Service workers didn’t smile and chirp sugar-coated pleasantries. Shop attendants ignored me unless I asked for help. Restaurant meals were uninterrupted by the obligatory-every-five-minute repetition of “is everything OK?” I learned to ask for the bill rather than wait for it.
Smiling at strangers often seemed to discomfort them. I soon learned to recognize when a smile was welcome and when not.
Football (soccer for me at the time) rules. The 1990 World Cup began soon after I arrived. During games the world stopped. Loud cheers or groans occasionally livened up silent and traffic free downtown streets. As games ended, streets filled with honking cars waving huge flags (Italian, Spanish, Brazilian, Romanian and of course German).
I thought the Super Bowl huge, but the World Cup is much bigger.
Sporting events and television programs were advertising free. Ads appeared only between scheduled programming.
Everything was expensive. A used car with over 80,000 miles cost more than a new Hyundai in the US. A pair of brand name jeans cost 3 times more.
The electronics store salesman spent an hour trying to talk me out of a Toshiba television and a Samsung microwave. He insisted Asian goods broke as soon as the 2 year warranty expired. (The microwave is still going strong 30 years later, and the TV was only replaced because it was no longer smart enough for the digital age).
Nobody ever asked me about my religion or my profession, but damn were they curious about life in America.
Talking about money or charity is taboo.
Alcohol was everywhere. It was common to see people drink beer in the park or walking down the street. Lunch usually included a beer or carafe of wine.
There was no free water in the restaurants. And soft drinks were more expensive than beer. All drinks are served without ice.
Nobody littered! The public waste bins were emptied daily.
Germans pedestrians wait for a red light to turn green even on a deserted street at midnight.
Zebra-striped crosswalks get the same respect as stopped school buses in the US.
I was never asked to show ID to prove myself of legal drinking age. Sixteen-year-olds are allowed to drink wine and beer (even in a bar).
Magazines at the supermarket checkout featured naked breasts (no longer).
Shops closed at 6.30 p.m. on weekdays, 2 p.m. on Saturday and were all closed on Sunday (this has changed).
There were only three types of soda on offer, Coke, Fanta and Sprite (the selection is slightly larger now – but nothing like in the US).
Bagels and donuts were not to be found (that has changed too).
Bread was light on air and heavy on grains. My digestion became like an alarm clock.
Cities and streets are designed for pedestrians, bicycles and public transport – not for cars. Pedestrian zones are everywhere, parking is in expensive garages.
Downtown streets aren’t straight. They wander among the buildings and sites. Highways don’t mention north, south, east or west. They only tell you what towns and cities are ahead on the route.
Restaurant meals took hours not minutes and lack of television in the restaurants forced me to communicate with my friends. Meal portions were smaller and menus much more varied. Chain restaurants were rare. Tipping was optional and the wait staff gets 20 days of paid vacation.
Dogs are allowed in restaurants.
German flags were only displayed during the World Cup.
Everybody took a one hour lunch break and left work promptly before 5.30. People took three or four week vacations and left work behind.
Construction workers drank beer during their morning break. Obesity was unusual, beer bellies were not.
People walked for fun, but nobody seemed to run for fitness.
Some women at the pool sunbathed topless. Young children at the pool often wore nothing.
Public transport was immaculately clean and ran on time.
Brothels are legal.
Nobody ever seemed to get shot (though there were plenty of stabbings in Frankfurt where I lived).
Gas was four to five times more expensive than in the US.
My hour lunch break is over now. I’ll add to this if anything else occurs to me.
Back in the 70s, when smoking was legal almost anywhere except elevators. I stepped into an elevator in an office building with a coworker when another person stepped right in as the doors closed, smoking a cigarette. I pointed out it was illegal to smoke on an elevator and she replied, “what are you going to do, call the police?” My coworker, who happened to be a reserve police officer, pulled out his badge and said, “that won’t be necessary.”
Ah, I still remember her expression.
Varginha UFO Crash: Alien Contact, Government Denial and Coverup
You must be joking!!! I don’t understand how you could be unaware. China has been the target of massive anti-China propaganda in Western media for years.
And not only in mainstream media but in social media like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and here on Quora.
Curiously, there are very few positive stories about China in Western media. They’re nearly all negative! How can that be?
Can a country that…
built the world’s largest economy from scratch within 40 years
lifted 800 million people out of extreme poverty
created the world’s finest infrastructure of roads, bridges, high-speed rail, airports, etc.
landed on the dark side of the moon
sent an ambitious space mission to Mars
built the spectacular BeiDou navigation satellite system
reforested 34 million acres of land
produces the most renewable energy in the world
created the world’s best 5G technology
sent pandemic aid to dozens of countries around the world
…have practically nothing positive to report on at all?
Well, that’s what the American (Western) narrative is.
China don’t throw innocent people into jail like the how U.S. cook up some shit and throw the Huawei CEO daughter in jail in Canada. The 2 Michael’s are spies and doing things in China to hurt China and the Chinese people to spy for the 5 eyes. These are facts. These are self confessed facts. Canada, do the honourable think and apologise to China and the Chinese people.
Canada you are a hypocrite and a liar. You cohort with all the media to claim that they were innocent. Well they now says in their own free speech that they spied for you! You are lucky China don’t sentence them to death. China ought to. China should do. After all what they do could kill many Chinese.
The time that a white persons life is worth more than another race belongs to the 19th century today. We should sue every media that claims the Michael’s are innocent. We should end every journalist that lied. We should fine the media and politicians so hard the will never dare to lie again. Caucasians do the right thing. Do you like to be lied to? Again and again and again?
I thought that freedom of speech is so vital to you. And surely you want the truth, nothing but the truth? Why the hell are you keeping quiet? CNN and BBC. Why are you quiet as a mouse? Lying News channel?
I raised a young family in the 1970’s as a TV repairman. Made good money. TV’s were so unreliable there was a TV shop on every other street corner. Drug stores had a vacuum tube tester for DIY’ers (You can’t guess how many service calls I made where the customer had a bag of tubes they took out to test but didn’t have brains enough to read the tube layout on the inside of the cabinet to return them in the proper place.) When the RCA XL100 came out as one of the first solid state TV’s, repairs started a slow decline. When integrated circuits became the norm, the bottom opened. Microprocessors blew the bottom away.
Drive down ANY 5 streets and tell me how many TV repair shops you can find. Go ahead, I’ll wait………..
I saw the handwriting on the wall, jumped into early PC repair, became an electronics teacher, saw the build you own PC market crash, got into networking, watched Cisco plummet in the 90’s, did cyber security and retired. Modern TV’s are far superior to any previous generation by my firsthand experience. Not to mention a color tv in 1960 cost $300 – 500 dollars. Do the math with inflation vs any brand of 40″ flat screen. Be amazed.
image 149
This is what fed my wife and daughter for 12 years.
Because I got married and had her very early in my 20s, at that time, none of my friends had kids. My baby was the sweetheart for all the aunties – mom’s three close friends. We threw her a party.
It was fun. Each auntie got her a present. They handed it to her one by one so she opened it and got excited. To the last auntie, before she handed the present to my daughter, she ‘demanded’ my girl, “Say ‘please’ and bow, so auntie will give you the gift!”.
I thought she was joking, so I interrupted and told my daughter, “Auntie got you a present, you say ‘Thank you’ out loud!”.
My daughter exclaimed, “Thank you auntie!”, then opened the present.
It was a Lego Friends set. Needless to say, my daughter was so happy, and jumped up and down with the Lego set.
Then suddenly, the auntie snatched the Lego set from my daughter’s hands again, held it up above her head, and demanded my daughter, “Say ‘please’ and bow, or auntie’s gonna take it back!”.
This time, I knew she wasn’t joking.
I got angry but tried very hard to keep my voice calm, “No one demands my daughter to beg. We’re poor but we are not cheap”. “I was just joking!”, she said. “No, you weren’t.
That’s the second time and I don’t like it”, I told her.
Now she got angry, raised her voice with me, “Even so, this is an expensive toy, what wrong with begging a little?”. “You take the gift back and please leave”, I told her, while getting up and holding the door open.
She left and never came back.
The next day, I took my daughter to the toy store to get that Lego set. My friend was right. It was a damn expensive toy, it cost me a big chunk of my skinny paycheck and a friendship.
Of course it is the U.S. but to be fair the U.S. is the biggest threat to the entire world. China included. And the world. As a whole the world need to jointly and severally stop the U.S. excesses. I dare say for the good of the human race including the Americans.
The U.S. is the only nation that will push human into extinction through an all out nuclear war if uncheck. We humanoids on earth need to be very mindful of this fact and the U.S. powers must be checkmate at every turn and ever aspect. Militarily, politically, financially, economically and strategically.
The U.S. must be brought back into being a member of responsible human society where the common good of humanity must prevail over the selfish interest of the U.S. military industrial complex profiting from wars, chaos and violence worldwide.
China is a very peaceful loving nation and it survived 5000 years because it has a peaceful coexistence between nations as a priority. China don’t want enemies and certainly do not like war. Since 1979 some 44 years has passed since China last fought a war. But during that time China phenomenally grew rich and strong to deter any nation from threatening them.
China wants a peaceful world where we can live peacefully and harmoniously. We can all get prosperous and live better and longer lives. And we trade with each other. Today there are only some 12–15 nations that are part of these war threatening pack. Most of them are either forced into this pack as slave vassal states or coerced or bribed into this grouping. Glued together by the U.S. and the western media, this loosely defined as western powers need to be dismantled for good.
Chinese history
Cajun Beef Po’boy Sandwiches with Red Eye Gravy
For Cajun Beef Po’boy Sandwiches with Red Eye Gravy, sirloin steak is rubbed with espresso coffee powder and pepper, then broiled to perfection. Red Eye Gravy is added to the steak.
cajun beef po boys
Ingredients
Po’boys
1 (1 pound) beef top sirloin steak, cut 1 inch thick
6 teaspoons espresso coffee powder, divided
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 large French bread rolls, split
8 slices tomato
1 cup shredded lettuce
Redeye Gravy
3 tablespoons butter, divided
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup diced tasso or pancetta ham
1/4 cup diced onion
1 tablespoon Creole Seasoning
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/3 cup hot water
2 cups beef stock
1 to 2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce (Louisiana-style)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
Rub beef top sirloin steak with 2 teaspoons espresso powder and pepper.
Heat broiler to HIGH.
Place steak on rack on aluminum foil-lined broiler pan so surface of beef is 3 to 4 inches from heat. Broil for 16 to 21 minutes for medium rare (145 degrees F) doneness, turning once.
Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons butter in large skillet over medium heat; whisk in flour. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes until caramel color, whisking often. Remove mixture from pan; set aside.
Melt remaining tablespoon butter in same skillet over medium heat; add tasso, onion, Creole Seasoning and garlic; cook for 10 minutes until onion is translucent.
Dissolve remaining 4 teaspoons espresso powder in hot water; add to skillet and cook for 1 to 2 minutes until browned bits attached to skillet are dissolved and sauce is reduced almost completely.
Whisk in butter mixture until smooth.
Add beef stock, hot sauce and Worcestershire; bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until sauce is reduced to 1 cup.
Add roast beef to skillet. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes until heated through, stirring often so sauce coats beef.
Divide beef mixture between rolls. Top beef with tomato and lettuce. Close sandwiches.
There is no need to answer such boring questions anymore.
All infrastructure in China, including logistics, communication, power supply, water supply, and gas supply, is very complete.
In 2021, China produced 8.5 petawatt-hour (Pwh) of electricity, approximately 30% of the world’s electricity production.
There are two most advanced transmission technologies in the world, one called “ultra-high voltage transmission” and the other called “flexible direct current transmission“. China is far ahead of other countries in these two top technologies.
Overhead power lines can easily cause fires and can also lead to power outages.
Outdoor power poles and overhead power lines in China have been basically cleaned up during the renovation of old cities, and all cables have been buried underground without any exposed or disorderly phenomena.
If you have traveled to cities in Taiwan, Japan and Chinese Mainland, you will find that only cities in Chinese Mainland rarely see bare overhead power lines.
I haven’t experienced a power outage in China for 40 years.
Young people born in China after 1990 may not even understand what it feels like to have a power outage.
In China, even remote rural areas have stable electricity supply.
The Tibetan village at an altitude of 5000 meters has also been electrified.
But whether it’s India, Vietnam, or the United States or Europe, power outages are frequent.
The machines running in the factory require electricity, while the computers in the office require electricity. If the power supply is unstable, how do you make the enterprise work?
Taiwan’s power system has always had various problems. Taking TSMC as an example, due to a power outage in Tainan City, 30000 wafers on TSMC’s production line were damaged, resulting in a direct loss of US$200 million. No matter how rich TSMC’s finances are, it cannot withstand the losses caused by several major power outages.
Anyway, since you want to attract foreign investment, the first step is to ensure a stable electricity supply.
Otherwise, these enterprises will have to face downtime and production stoppage.
Through the the Belt and Road Project, China will help these countries improve their power systems and will actively transfer some enterprises to countries along the the Belt and Road.
China’s homegrown TP500 unmanned transport plane makes maiden flight, and transportation between Chinese cities will be faster in the future. Goods that originally took 3 days to arrive can be transported in 2-3 hours.
I was a workaholic, working 16 hour weekdays and 8 hour weekends. This was about 20 years ago.
It was Christmas eve, and I still hadn’t done my Christmas shopping, I had my list for everything, most of it specified by my nieces and nephews.
I had been reading how a few malls in our city were in trouble, as everyone was switching to big box stores to shop. They showed pictures of traffic jams in big box store parking lots. I was finally out of time and had to shop, and hope I could get the stuff on my list, at the last minute.
I pulled up to Sears at the local mall, that had been featured in the news, as being in trouble. The parking lot was empty. I was afraid it was closed. I parked in the closest parking spot to the door. I walked in and manager saw me enter, and was on me like glue. I was the only customer in the store, ON Christmas Eve!!
He asked me what I was looking for and I pulled out this long list. He smiled and called someone over to get me a hot chocolate from the mall, he sat me down in a recliner in the furniture section, and called two more workers over, and asked them to get the stuff on the list.
We talked, and I drank my hot chocolate. He was pretty sure Sears wouldn’t last another five years, and he needed it to, to collect his pension.
After about 15 minutes, the workers were back with my presents. I paid for them. They had a gift wrapping service, which normally cost extra, but he said that the staff weren’t doing anything anyway, so it would be free.
In another 10 minutes, they helped me load the wrapped presents in my car.
It was maybe 25 minutes from when I walked into the store, and I was done. Wrapped and everything.
I had almost never shopped at Sears, but after that I was a regular, until they closed the doors. I saw the manager until he successfully retired.
I later read that Sears ended up shorting the pension fund. I hope he made out OK, as I have never had service like that, before or since.
Just read this out to my wife and she burst out laughing. In 1996 I had been widowed over five years when a crazy woman burst through the door of our car sales site with so much enthusiasm and vibrance and chatter and said she wanted to buy a car. It was a quiet time so I stopped playing my guitar and set about helping her. She bought a car and left and I turned to my mate and said, ‘She’s totally bonkers’, he replied, ‘you’re telling me’, I replied, I could do with some of that’. I delivered the car a few days later and took her to the pub for a chat, after a few dates we were driving towards the Mersey tunnel, Merseyside from Wirral to Liverpool and I asked her if she would like to go on an adventure and her answer was yes, just then we entered the tunnel just as the petrol light came on, I said, ‘welcome to the adventure’.
We sold our houses, bought a B & B, called it ‘Firkin House’ and thirteen years later retired to sunny Cyprus and will have been married twenty years next May with lots of fun and laughs along the way.
Oh, boy. I’ll never forget this one as long as I live.
I had been living with my significant other for about four years. He always treated me well … but other people? Not so much. In this case, it was his grandparents, who I adored. They were just the sweetest people. They really loved their grandson, too, even though he rarely gave them the time of day. They wanted him to fly home for Christmas—I’d made plans with my family, so we were going solo that year.
Anyway, this guy refused to buy a plane ticket unless his grandparents paid for it. Here’s the kicker: he had the money to spend on plane fare. He just didn’t want to. A$$hole that he was. So, his grandfather, who was around 90, had said that he’d put the check in the mail. It hadn’t arrived, due to the holiday mail delay.
I bore witness to this guy browbeating his elderly grandpa into Fed-Exing another check over the phone. This was two days before the cut-off date to book the flight. So his grandfolks sent another check, because they wanted their grandson home for the holidays. These were old, frail people who barely got out of the house. Not good drivers. You know, why didn’t my S.O. just pay for the fare and let his grandfather pay him back once he was there?
A day or so after he left on the trip, his grandfather’s original check arrived in the mail. I looked at his spidery handwriting on the signature line, and I felt positively ill.
I ended up breaking up with my significant other because of that, and for countless other times that I’d seen him be really mean to other people who loved him—family members, even. I knew that one day, I could be next in line, and I wasn’t about to wait around for that to happen.
In the late 1970’s / early 1980’s was a short-lived period of time where Beowulf restaurants made an appearance. They were briefly popular. And didn’t last long. But it was something that happened and then disappeared long before the invention of the Internet.
2023 11 19 09 45
I never attended one of these venues, and so all that I know about this fad was second hand and from articles that I had read at that time. Apparently, what was popular was a rather crude communal table where everyone ate rather simple meals of meat, mead, and rough breads.
Time moves on… and the world revolves. The past is forgotten, and replaced with new things. We all need to deal with this reality.
Aged 13, just after school two pretty girls ask me to come to the bicycle lot to “show me something”. Wow – attention from two pretty girls – I’m in! (OK, I was also headed there anyhow to get my bike to cycle home, but still!) So off we go. They’re flirty and friendly, I’m wondering what the heck is going on but I’m too stoked to be suspicious.
As we come around a corner two boys jump me, each grabbing an arm and holding fast. Another approaches carrying a big plastic container, filled with some kind of lumpy slimy stuff – looks a bit like oat porridge. As he gets closer he is flanked by the two girls and gets ready to chuck the stuff on me. I am desperate. I kick at it, just hoping to prevent him achieving his goal. It spins out of his hands, flinging slime into his and both girls’ faces, as well as all over the boy on my left’s chest and stomach. They’re all screaming and scatter. Now I am angry. I turn and pick up the container, spin and throw it wildly away from me. It randomly hits the one boy that was not initially splattered square on the back of his head as he is running away and spills the last of its contents down his back. Five for five.
I go get my bike and head home, not a speck on me.
True story: I had a student who was 15 minutes late to my 1st period class every day. After a week of this, I asked what the hell was going on. Turned out his single parent mom was an alcoholic and every morning was passed out on the couch. He took it upon himself to get his younger sister ready for school each morning, making sure she showered, had clean clothes, and ate breakfast, homework completed, etc. Then he drove her to middle school which was in the opposite direction of the high school to assure she arrived safely. Because of the different 1st bell times, he was always 15 minutes late. I told him to skip going to the office and just come directly to class, enter quietly, and we’d be good. I never questioned his story. Other students whined and asked why THEY had to be on time if he didn’t. “You want to trade places with him? Take his life for yours?” No takers. Everyone knew.
So it wasn’t really an excuse, it was a legit reason.
I was walking my dog around the marina and I was going back to my dad’s boat. I saw a couple standing next to it. I walked down to the end of the dock and the guy told me only boat owners are allowed on the docks, and I have to get out. Then he turned to the woman and was telling her about the places he’s been on his boat, and how he has to find someone to clean it…all this time he was pointing at my dad’s boat.
I was just standing there wondering what’s going on. Then he told me that if I’m lucky enough I’ll find a rich guy like him, and told me to go away before he called security. The woman said I’ll have to find some other guy because he’s taken. She made a face at me and was hugging him. I tried going around them and he asked what I’m doing. I told him I was getting on my dad’s boat, and they both laughed at me.
Then Ed (one of the crew) came out from the back of the boat and told me dinner is ready. I told him I’ll be right up as soon as these idiots got out of my way. I stuck my tongue out at the woman and said he’s all yours. She got mad and walked away. The guy was following her and she kept yelling at him to stay away and how he’s a fake. Tom (another crew) opened the side door and asked me what’s going on….I said she didn’t like him as much as she thought she did.
I am an alcoholic. Warning, answer may contain triggers.
When I have one beer, although I will drink it slow, I will want another one directly afterwards. Because I will have opened something inside of me that is similar to a lock.
Once this lock has been opened I immediately relax. I feel good. That beer tasted great and made me feel great. I want to feel more of that.
So I have a second beer. This one I drink a little quicker because I now have the taste for it. After my fourth beer I start drinking rum. I don’t even remember drinking those last two pints, but I’m sure that they tasted great too. I feel fantastic.
I buy a bottle of rum to take home, and make sure that there is at least six beers chilling in the fridge for tomorrow. I drink through the night.
The next day I wake up and there’s only one beer left in the fridge and the rum is nearly empty. I polish off the beer directly after breakfast and pop to the shops to buy some more. I’ll buy 20 beers this time to last through the week, and another bottle of rum. But I’ll save the rum for the week, and buy a couple of bottles of Prosecco for today. It’s a nice and sunny day, and will be lighter than drinking beer.
By 3pm the Prosecco has gone and I am back on the beer and the rum. I run out of beer on Monday and the rum has gone by Tuesday, so I pop back to the shops to stock up mid week.
After fifteen years of living like this my kidneys start bleeding urate crystals into my blood stream which gives me gout. I lose the ability to walk, sleep or function as a normal human being for weeks at a time. Over the next few years my life becomes a living hell.
I decide to quit drinking and have now been sober for 26 months. I no longer suffer from gout.
I avoid going to the pub, because it is frankly boring if you are not eating or drinking. “Why don’t you just have one ?” my friends always ask.
Because I am an alcoholic. When I have one beer, although I will drink it slow, I will want another one afterwards.
Back in middle school, I would bike my way to school, about 1.7 miles each way. I rode a $40 10-speed bike as two days of work was all that my parents could afford at the time.
The route would take me through city streets and up and down an overpass that stopped at a red light with cross traffic. Every time I came down that overpass, I would hope the light is green so I didn’t need to push my bike’s crappy brakes to their limits.
During the winter months when rain added to my misery, that downslope stop got extra sketchy as wet bike tires won’t grip the pavement. I really tried to time for that green light on the way down.
One time, when the rains made the pavement extra slick, I worked my way down when the light was green. So, I didn’t bother slowing down as much. But, just as I was about the enter the intersection, about 30 feet away, the light turned yellow. At that point, I had no chance to stop. I had two choices. I could either wipe out and slide straight into traffic or take my chances shooting through it.
I went with what seemed to be the lower risk move and went for it. As I entered the intersection, the light turned red and the cross traffic light turned green. A big pick up truck, one of those from the 1980s with the chrome trimmed grill, came straight at me from the left. Apparently he had seen his light turn green and was trying to catch it.
Somehow, he caught sight of me flying across in front of him and slammed on his brakes. I heard his tires tear at the wet pavement as they brought the big truck to a stop inches from me. I felt the steamy heat from radiator pour right on my face.
Stunned, I didn’t stop. I crossed the intersection and continued on the other side without daring to look back. I heard the truck roar across the intersection as I kept going, still shaking from the close call.
Those days, I never wore a bike helmet as I was young and an idiot. Somehow, I lucked out instead of becoming a vegetable.
Why Are Japanese Women Blowing Loads On Men
This is super interesting. And it is NOT what you think.
My buddy Tyler and I were out at a pool hall shooting a few games of 8 Ball.
A couple of jerkoffs fueled by liquid courage sat down in our area, pulled out their fancy cue sticks, and asked “You guys want to play doubles against us?”
When we declined their offer, they assumed we were just scared of losing.
We were having fun and not taking our game too seriously, but after every missed shot, we heard their snide remarks.
“C’mon, man! A toddler could have made that.” “If you guys played against us, you’d probably learn a thing or two.”
Tyler had enough and invited them in for a game. He is an excellent billiards player, but he kept quiet, didn’t hype himself up, and didn’t trash talk.
Those guys maybe sank 3 of their balls before Tyler cleared the table.
Even after he demolished them, he didn’t gloat or rub it in their face. He just said “Good game” and we went about our business.
Humbly putting people in their place will always be cool.
No. There’s no such thing as “too flawed a character.” Just look at A Song of Ice and Fire. Everyone in the story is flawed, and about half of them are entirely irredeemable. Still, it captured the hearts and souls of a generation of readers.
You can even make your flawed, irredeemable character your protagonist, like Lolita. Humbert Humbert was a pathetic child rapist who lived in his own fantasy world. He took us (the readers) on a ride and forced us to think about our own preconceptions about “love and romance.”
However, there are some pitfalls you need to be mindful about.
First of all, be very clear about the flaws of your character. There are a lot of supposed good characters engaging in extremely questionable behaviors and were considered “acceptable” by the author, by the characters around the flawed characters, and the author wanted the readers to root for the flawed character, ignoring or sometimes because of their problematic behavior.
For example, Edward’s obsession with Bella in Twilight is deeply problematic and abusive. Bella constantly puts herself in danger so she can see Edward is deeply problematic and manipulative. And yet, the author obviously thought these behaviors were OMG so romantic, and we’re supported to root for a 100-year-old vampire taking advantage of a teenager’s vulnerability. That’s bad storytelling.
If you want to write a flawed character, you need to make sure other characters in your story react to your flawed character in realistic and reasonable ways. One good example is Elementary on CBS. Granted, it is a TV show, but the concept applies. Similar to other modern Sherlock retellings, Sherlock Holmes in Elementary is deeply flawed in your typical Sherlockian ways. But unlike other modern Sherlock retellings, people around Sherlock don’t take his bullshit. They aren’t unreasonable enablers of his abusive behavior. They call him out for it so Sherlock can grow to be a better person.
And that’s the KEY of having a flawed character. The point isn’t writing the flaws. The POINT of the story is for the flawed characters to GROW and become better (or become worse if you are writing a tragedy). A flawed character who remains the same from beginning to end is a boring character (unless they are a villain).
Secondly, there’s a difference between being flawed and being likable. Han Solo is a flawed character, but he’s also instantly likable and remains so throughout the series. On the other hand, Princess Leia was also a flawed character, and she started out entirely unlikable. Han Solo’s character growth is about him growing some conscience and doing the right thing, while Leia’s character arc is about her becoming more and more relatable and likable, which is a lot harder to write (Lucas absolutely doesn’t have the skill to write it). If the story was about Leia as the protagonist, Star Wars might not be as enjoyable as it is.
The reason I stopped reading Name of the Wind is because I found Kvothe to be entirely unlikable. Yes, yes, I understand the writer wants to pull a Humber Humbert and give us an unreliable narrator, but the point of an unreliable narrator is to show how unreliable the narrator was. In the case of Lolita, the author shows us the devastation of Humbert Humbert’s actions on Lolita and how it ruined her life. And if the “Lolita is 12” doesn’t make the point of Humber Humbert being an unreliable narrator and a despicable child predator from the beginning, I think you should be on some kind of list.
The problem with Name of the Wind is that the author was so wrapped up in the awesomeness of his own unreliable narrator and never bothered to show us just how stupid and arrogant the guy actually is. Sure, in later books, we get to see some failures of Kvothe, but the author went out of his way to make justifications for Kvothe so we, the readers, would still root for him.
I found Kvothe’s narrative to be juvenile. If a 15-year-old edge lord wants to write a self-insert wish-fulfilling fantasy where he’s the best of everything, the youngest of everything in the whole damn world, and save the day being the hero, get multiple girls to fall for him, you get Kvothe. I roll my eyes every other page until I have to give up before I get an aneurysm.
Of course, Name of the Wind is an award-winning book. And there are plenty of 15-year-old edge lords who see themselves in Kvothe and will defend the book to the death. So… to each their own.
That leads me to my third point: You can’t please everyone. There will always be people who don’t like your story, and that’s OK. As writers, the only thing we can do is to be authentic to ourselves and hope that authenticity will connect us to our readers through our works. So, if you want to write deeply flawed characters doing horrible things, go right ahead. There are plenty of writers who make a career writing extremely gory stories about horrible people torturing and killing each other (Yes, I’m looking at you, GRRM, where’s the Winds of Winter? Hum?).
One of the worst feeling is letting someone go from your life but still keeping them in your heart, you miss them but you can’t tell them because situations aren’t the same anymore.
Sometimes, you end up losing yourself trying to hold on to someone who doesn’t care about losing you.
Strangers can become best friends just as easy as best friends can become strangers.
Spending a large amount of time with someone literally causes you to a pick up their habits. Choose your friends wisely.
No one ever discovers the depth of their own loneliness.
Most people have their own shit to worry about.
When in doubt, don’t act. Wait for that moment of inspiration to strike.
Denying the truth doesn’t change the facts.
It’s weird how we sometimes think we can’t live without them again then you blink and you don’t even miss them anymore.
We often pretend that everything is getting better, when it’s not.
Sometimes being all alone and enjoying our own company helps a lot.
It’s awesome when someone understands you more than you.
HR lady I was friendly with did me a solid. We were at the coffee maker and she was fuming about something, so I asked what was up. She looked at me, sighed and said “You might want to start looking for a new job. Your manager is not your friend”. That’s when I realised I wasn’t being paranoid and my manager really was trying to push me out. A week later, I was sacked.
Sanctioning, confiscating, and robbing “enemy countries” is a Western specialty.
If Xi’s family or relatives owned land in the United States, it would have been confiscated by the US government in the Sino US confrontation. Confiscating the assets of Xi’s family is much more justified than robbing the assets of legitimate Chinese businessmen such as Huawei.
The West has not even let go of sanctions against Russian cats, Russian artist, let alone the land owned by the Xi’s family.
Meng Wanzhou was inexplicably detained by Canada for three years simply because Huawei received payment from Iran in its HSBC account.
Mao loves swimming, and when Americans learned this information, During the Mao era, even bikini swimsuits and trunks sold to China were subject to US sanctions. Lol!
I quite enjoyed the “cheat” I used in a mock A-level exam many years ago. We all had Casio FX-7000G programmable calculators that had room for ten custom programs. For our maths exams (and probably physics as well?) it was standard practice for the invigilators to wander up and down the line of desks before the exam, where you had to show the program home screen that displayed the list of ten slots and showed them all as being empty. I thought it would be funny simply to create a program that, when run, displayed a mock-up of the home screen, showing text that looked identical to the actual home screen with all ten slots being (apparently) empty. In one of my exams I had this set as the sole program on the calculator, just to prove (to myself) that the invigilators would not be able to notice the difference. I ran it just before entering the exam hall, and, yep, the invigilator took a look at the calculator and was satisfied that there were no programs entered on it. If I recall correctly, there WAS one visible difference, which was that the real screen had a flashing text caret at the bottom whereas my mocked-up screen did not. But the invigilator didn’t spot it. I suppose you’re just expecting everybody to comply and your brain sees what it wants to see when 99% of the screen is exactly as predicted.
I probably wouldn’t have had the guts to pull the same stunt in the real final exams, let alone actually use it to mask the presence of other hidden programs. But I did have fun testing out my little proto-cheating hypothesis that one time.
Not me … but once I took a former student of mine and her eight year old daughter to breakfast when I was visiting her city. While we were catching up, the daughter was doing something quietly with her fingers. We asked what she was doing. “Oh, I’m counting in binary, see? One, two, three, … ,” as she raised and lowered successive fingers to represent the 1’s and 0’s of the binary system. “But I can only go to 32, holding all five fingers out. Oh, wait! 33, 34, 35 … “ as she used her other hand to coninue. Her mom asked where she learned that. She said, “I saw some older kids do it, so I taught myself.” I don’t think we should worry about that child.
My dad said he should get his “cancer” looked at. I asked what he meant and he opened his shirt. There was a 2-inch long mole-like growth on his chest, brown and black and rough on the surface.
I’d had many skin cancers removed, and dermatologists have lots of pictures around showing both the benign and the dangerous kinds. This looked exactly like the photos of very dangerous Melanoma, the lethal version that had no cure.
I got him to go to the best doctor in Dallas. His diagnosis: Lie on the operating table – now! We have to remove the cancer today, without waiting for the biopsy. It was definitely the deadly kind.
He removed it all using the then-new Mohs technique of mapping the sample, flash freezing it and checking if there were any ‘edges’ that may still leave cancer cells.
My dad came home with 23 staples in his chest; my mom fainted at the sight. But he survived.
He’s 94 years old, living comfortably in Arizona, and still mentions how I saved his life sending him to the doctor 30 years ago.
In college, I made a pretty good living writing papers for trust-funders.
My background is dirt poor: single mother, trailer park, small town. I earned a scholarship to a Top 20 private university. It was my first exposure to True Wealth.
Where I grew up, the farmer who drove his Cadillac into town was “rich.” The doctor who built a Tudor monstrosity beside the lake was “rich.”
They weren’t, as I realized during freshman orientation.
A guy down the hall had the same last name as a Wall Street brokerage. His great-(or great-great) grandfather founded it.
A girl upstairs (coed dorm) was the daughter of a household-name media figure.
My roommate’s dad wasn’t famous, but he owned a company that manufactured parts for the Big 3 automakers. It was quite a conversation stopper when he asked, “So what does your dad do?”
I met many others. I became friends with some. Others, I noticed, were patronizingly polite toward me.
They took money for granted, to the extent that they were baffled, even resentful, when lack of it was an impediment. A friend and I discussed moving to an off-campus apartment the next year. I calculated that my scholarships (plus the side hustle) would cover half the rent and utilities for basic two-bedroom squalor.
He found us a condo that, for a mere $150,000 apiece (40 years ago), we could live in for three years and then resell for a handsome profit. He couldn’t understand how my single mother, still living in a trailer, didn’t have $150,000. “Well, can’t she just borrow it?” He found a future roomie with deeper parental pockets. We were never as friendly again.
He was the son of a lawyer and a Fortune 500 VP. Like so many others I met, he had attended prestigious prep schools, some of which even a hick like me had heard of.
And many of them didn’t give a fuck about the education an elite university could provide. They viewed their admission the same as their trust funds — as a present given at birth.
My roommate skipped far more classes than he attended, but he managed to pass. (Not only are the rich different from you and me, as Fitzgerald observed, but so are the rules that apply to them.)
His mom had even written his admissions essay. It was how things worked in their world. Other people did things for you, while you floated along in your cloud of privilege.
He was my first customer — an English 101 five-pager comparing-contrasting Holden Caulfield and Huck Finn. He wanted to go skiing instead.
I was careful not to write it too well. He got a B-minus and was satisfied.
Word got around. I charged exorbitantly — $100 (about $350 today) and sometimes more, depending on length and deadline imminence. The Fifth-Avenuers and Connecticut-estaters were happy to be overcharged and undereducated.
These were not stupid people. Their range of experiences had made them far more sophisticated than I. They just didn’t see the point of learning for learning’s sake. No classroom-derived fact or principle or perspective would make a material difference in their lives’ trajectories.
My roommate, for example, knew that once he shook the dean’s hand and accepted his fancy paper, he’d begin working in his dad’s company. The four years until then were Party Time. All he had to do was not get kicked out.
Years later, I realized that as an executive in the family business, he’d never dream of sorting out a complex problem by himself. If critical thinking or analysis were required, or research and a report to summarize it, he’d hire someone to do it — some jumped-up striver, some social-climbing grind educated on scholarships.
Someone like me. In a way, college actually was preparing him for the future.
Effort is for the little people. Nothing screams “upper class” louder.
EDIT: A few replies have criticized my answer for equating monetary wealth with social class. Fair point, although in my experience the noblesse oblige plummet rather swiftly without wealth to keep them aloft.
On the other side of the coin, even the nouveau-est of the nouveau-riches often establish their begrudged place among American aristocracy within a generation. Papa Joe Kennedy was a crass, rum-running thug, yet his kids were perceived to be shining knights of Camelot.
Upper class is longitudinal wealth and privilege. And power. Always power, even when wielded without malice or intent.
With that in mind, I’ve made a few tweaks to clarify that the old classmates I’ve mentioned grew up in an upper class cocoon, where they developed the patronizing obliviousness toward struggle/work/effort and an occasionally disdainful amusement toward social climbers.
I left message with a cruise line stating I was a dealer looking for work.
30 minutes later I got a call back.
Hi this is Ed from Dolphin cruise lines. Do you deal roulette?
Me: yes
Ed: you have a passport?
Me: yes
Ed: we have an opening but you need to make it to Miami in 3 days. Call me when you’re here.
So. I sold my car to get money for a flight. Told my girlfriend I was moving out and leaving for Miami. (It was a crappy relationship. Part of the reason I applied).
As soon as I got to Miami I called Ed and he told me to hurry and get to the port. I arrived and was amazed at how big the ships were and was trying to guess which one was mine when I met Ed. He gave me a plane ticket to Aruba and told me to hurry back to airport as the flight was leaving in a few hours.
Flew on the first and only smoking flight on Air Aruba. Got off and joined the M/S Oceanbreeze. Was the start of a 12 year journey that had me see over 100 countries, 27 ships, and 9 cruises lines until I met my wife on one and we returned to Canada to settle down.
In retrospect it was the most influential call of my life.
Fifty years ago, on my honeymoon in San Francisco, my new bride asked if she could drive my car. I said “Sure!” – without hesitation, knowing that was the only conceivable right answer. It was a Porsche 356 coupe I had while still in grad school and while we were dating. She had been with me on lots of drives, but had never driven the car.
image 138
But you don’t drive in San Francisco without, at some time, being stuck on a hill – the city is hilly! And sure enough, a car came right up behind us and stopped.
“What do I do?”, she cried out. I talked her through it: With your feet firmly on the clutch and brake, pull on the parking brake. Then with the car in first gear, move your foot to the accelerator pedal and rev the engine so it doesn’t lug. Now slowly let the clutch out until you feel the car try to move forward, then release the parking brake. Up the hill we went (whew!).
I’m a physician and used to work in a small town. One evening a tree cutter knocked on my door. He had cut his thumb off. I made sure the bleeding was slowed and suggested he see a specialty hand surgeon but he insisted he had no insurance and could neither afford the emergency room or a specialist.
I agreed to do the surgery. I blocked his arm with anesthesia and I spent all night in my office re-implanting his thumb.
The next day, my office staff saw the blood in the exam/surgical room and asked what happened and asked how much to charge. I instructed them NOT to charge him as he had no insurance.
Although the first few days were rocky, my patient did well and now has a normal functioning thumb.
Years went by and Hurricane Hugo smashed the North and South Carolina coast directly hitting Charleston and began to move inward and upward. The storm hit my town and knocked trees over and many were in my yard including one that fell and hit my two-year-old daughter’s window!
The morning after the storm, I heard the noise of a chain saw. I looked out and there was the tree cutter cleaning up AND grinding the stumps of all my trees! He yelled and waved- “Doc, no worries – I’m just paying you back!” Quite a nice barter deal!
A couple of years ago, I noticed a hunchbacked figure standing in our front garden, but I had no idea what it was doing there. Instead of approaching the figure, I watched it patiently, and noticed that she seemed to be pulling weeds. And then she was gone.
Over the next few weeks and months, the woman reappeared on an irregular basis, and proceeded with pulling weeds on her own in our frontyard, slowly and decidedly, but also absently — as if she was meditating.
Sometimes, I also heard her singing.
One day, we walked up to her to have a chat. And so she told us she was a widow who had lived on her own for almost a decade now, only a couple of houses further down the road, and that in lack of any company (except for a son who only seemed to surface if he needed something), one day she had decided to pull some weeds — be cause she loved doing that.
And she had chosen our frontyard.
She asked us if that was alright, and we happily acknowledged. It was the start of a curious frontyard relationship which sublimated through (watching) pulling weeds, (listening to) old forgotten songs, waving hallo to each other with a smile, and the occasional short chat. It lasted for some years.
One day, the weeds kept on growing and the old songs started to fade, and in front of her old house, an ugly “TO SELL” sign appeared which symbolized her passing. In between the high grass and long thistles in our frontyard, you could still find some crumbled musical notes if you had some luck.
So to answer your question: it does matter to anyone.
It matters to us.
Creole Goulash
Beef Goulash
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
2 pounds beef round steak
1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen soup vegetables
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen Brussels sprouts
1 bag frozen hash brown potatoes
1 can tomato juice
McCormick’s Creole Seasoning
Garlic powder or salt
Instructions
Cut meat into bite-size chunks and brown in olive oil.
Add frozen vegetables and a nice amount of the hash brown potatoes and dash liberally with Creole seasoning.
Dash slightly with garlic salt. Stir well.
Add enough tomatoes juice to make a nice thick sauce and dash more Creole seasoning/mix to taste.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are cooked and/or reduce heat for desired thickness of tomatoes sauce.
I work at a reception in London. I’m Swedish, as are some of our guests.
Guest: “The light bulb in our room is out.”
Me: “I’m so sorry about that! The maintenance guy will be here later, are you OK until then?”
Guest: “Sure, thanks!”
Guests among each other in Swedish, right in front of me: “How fucking hard can it be to change a light bulb?”
Me: “Oh, you’re Swedish, cool! The problem is that I have no idea where he keeps the light bulbs.”
I will never forget the looks on their faces! I take customer service and my job very seriously, but I must admit I enjoyed that moment at the expense of the guest 🙂
I have a solution to the gender imbalance problem. I also have a solution to the “I cant afford to marry a girl because I can’t afford a house, car, and bride price” problem. Are you ready for it?
Chinese men should actively pursue and seek to bring women from America, Australia, Europe (etc) to China. Western women don’t usually expect their partner to automatically have a house or even a car, and they certainly don’t expect any sort of dowry or bride price.
China has historically been very good at absorbing any invading people groups. This would be no different. Let the Western women “invade” and in a generation they will be absorbed into the culture. If China put effort into exporting soft power appeal in the same way that Japan and Korea do, then getting women to come over and marry would be easier. Would there be cultural differences as wide as the Grand Canyon and a big language barrier? Yes. But they could be overcame easily enough with time and patience.
My answer is a bit silly perhaps, but you must admit, it’s creative!
US business men are normal successful people who knows right from wrong. And they know China is a humongous and unavoidable market that makes or break them. The average Joe here is QUORA who are hubris, naive and ignorant thinks the U.S. is a ten foot giant and it can do any shit it wants. That is why they are less read, less travelled, more conservative mainly white trash don’t get it.
But U.S. business men are articulate and mindful. The came in force here in San Francisco to greet and express support to China and Xi Xinping. Waves flow to the shores everywhere and businesses go where money can be made.
Your U.S. media can say or do shit it wants. It don’t work. Your despicable politicians can say or do anything it wants but it won’t work. Every firm get out of China 3 new firms move into China. These companies unlike the average Joe the racist are smart and knows how to grow.
Unfortunately in the U.S. is mainly made of average Joe, so it seems the entire U.S. are made of fools. But the U.S. business men are no fools.
Kenny Veach Vanishes on his Quest for the M Cave | Mojave Mysteries Vol. 1
The Why Files is just on another level compared to other Youtube channels. Everytime Why Files uploads a video, it makes you question reality, it makes you laugh (looking at you Hecklefish), and sometimes (like this time) it makes you feel. I’m so glad that I stumble on this channel.
Back in high-school, I regularly had game night with a couple of good friends, and being that we were a group of socially awkward nerds, we had plenty of hilarious experiences.
One night while we were playing Grand Theft Auto V, my friend’s mom suddenly came into his room, and she seemed incredibly concerned.
James: “Hi Mom. Do you need something?”
Her: “James. We need to talk.”
James: “Uh, okay. Let me turn off my mic real quick.”
Her: “No no, leave it on. I want your friends to hear this too.”
James: “Uhhhh, okay? So what’s going on?”
Her: “James, I want you to be honest with me. Are you gay?”
James: “What? No! Why are you asking me this?”
Her: “Are you sure? It’s okay. I don’t mind. It’s just that you’re almost 18 now, and you still haven’t had a girlfriend yet.”
James: “…”
Her: “I mean, I’ve never even seen you talk to a girl before. Are you afraid of women or something? It’s okay. You can be honest with me.”
James: “No Mom, it’s not like that. Can we please talk about this later?”
Her: “James, I’m just really concerned for you. Guys your age should be getting experience.”
James: “Oh my god. Mom, please…”
Her: “Is there anyone that you’re interested in? Maybe I can help you out. Or what if you ask some of your friends right now? I bet they know some good girls for you.”
James: “MOM. PLEASE. AHHHHH.”
The rest of us could barely hold in our laughter.
Now, I don’t know if his mom was just trolling us or not, but it wasabsolutely hilarious.
If you are in an English speaking country, and you over hear a Chinese person say to the cashier in the general store, or waiter/waitress in restaurant some thing like:
“Give me a pack of Marlboro, and a lighter.”
“Give me a pack of gum, and a mint.”
“Give me a House Specialty Grilled Rib with mashed potatoes on the side.”
And it cringes you, because you find it rude and impolite.
It made you think of a robber in the dark alley saying:
“Give me your fucking wallet, or I’ll cut you!”
You are right to feel that way…
But mind you, it’s not that the Chinese people are rude.
It’s because this asking for something is extremely acceptable in the Chinese language.
If I were to go to buy stuff in China, I’d say:
“给我一个冰淇淋， 谢谢。”
“给我们一个红糖冰粉，加西瓜；油爆鳝糊；莼菜银鱼羹；两客生煎；一份时令鲜蔬；两碗米饭。”
literally, it means “Give me an ice cream, thanks.”
In China, it doesn’t have strong command implications.
But the acceptable way of ordering and buying in English speaking cultures, it’s:
“I’ll have…”
“I’ll get…”
“I want…”
To sound less aggressively demanding and more “asking politely”.
I was working a seasonal second job as a cashier at Toys R Us to earn extra money for the holidays. I was working Thanksgiving evening. We opened the doors at 6:00 pm to give an early start to Black Friday customers. The man who was first in line went running back to the exact spot where the specific toy he wanted for his granddaughter SHOULD have been. Each store was guaranteed to have at least one Barbie Escalade that year, but it was strangely not the case at our large store.
I knew there were certain employees who would often buy the limited items before customers ever had the chance to buy them. Sooo….when the gentleman came to my checkout aisle, panicking over not being able to find the car he had been waiting for out in the cold since that morning, I apologized and took him straight to the manager.
Since I was seasonal, I didn’t really care if I lost my job or not. I explained to the manager, right in front of the customer, that the gentleman was here for the one guaranteed Barbie car, but it was not on the floor. When the manager said someone must have gotten to it first, I then said, “This gentleman has been waiting first in line outside all day, skipping Thanksgiving, and was the first person back to that department. The registers have not had anyone check anything out yet. Clearly, we owe this man a car.” The manager simply said, “I’m sorry, but there are no rainchecks and we probably won’t get anymore in before Christmas.” I told her, in front of him, that I suspected an employee had rung it out and taken it to their car before we opened. “While this gentleman is here, can you please track this inventory number to see who checked it out?” The manager said she didn’t have the time.
I gave the gentleman, after she walked away, the inventory number and the number to the district manager so he knew who to report it to and what to say.
I found out later it was a friend of the manager who worked in the back room who had grabbed it up. I guess that still happens at a lot of stores…..Grinches they are.
I stumbled upon a DVD of old home videos in my dad’s stuff. They were from ’96 so I wasn’t even a thought back then — all the footage was of my sister, age 2, doing nothing of importance but everything worth filming to first-time parents.
And you bet your ass I sobbed while watching it.
I have lost a lot in the past three years.
We lost our family house, built five generations ago.
One dog. One cat. One bird. A few fish.
My parents’ marriage.
My mom’s new apartment.
Friendships because of depression.
When I could no longer afford it, college.
And the small stuff. I think someone sold my guitar while I was away. I don’t know where my records went. Where are my keepsakes, my high school yearbooks I will never look through but what if I wanted to?
My solution is, was, and has always been, to simply not think about it.
Don’t ask Mom where your guitar is. Don’t ask Mom what happened to your cat. Don’t ask, don’t question, don’t wonder.
It’s gone. Just let it be.
For months now I haven’t grieved because grieving is what you do when someone dies. It’s how you process the loss of a physical person, and through all the turmoil all of my physical people — whether I liked it or not — had survived.
But just a few weeks ago, my dad passed away.
Suddenly I was faced with my own definition of what grief should be, and even so I rejected it because I simply didn’t need to grieve.
I hadn’t seen him in nearly two years by the time he passed. Never mind the fact I lived with him for 18, clearly we weren’t close and therefore I had no real reason to grieve.
Done. Problem solved. Grief averted.
A week after he passed my sister and I traveled back to Wyoming to sort through his stuff and in the mess we uncovered a DVD labeled “home videos.”
Out of curiosity I polished it up and popped it in a disk drive. I figured it’d be some nice nostalgia, something fun and lighthearted.
At first, it was. I laughed a lot. The first video was my sister’s 2nd birthday party, so I watched her open presents and play with toys and blow out the candles on her cake.
Then the camera panned around the room and I saw everyone in attendance — both my grandmas, all my uncles and aunts and cousins and great-aunts and everyone in one room, laughing and joking and telling stories.
It hit me like a freight train.
Over half of the people in that shot were either dead or estranged. Most of them hate each other now. Some I haven’t seen in years. Others I’ll never see again.
The footage cut and continued to a few days after her birthday party. My sister was on the couch watching TV while my dad chattered from behind the camera.
“Taylor, what are you doing?”
She grins.
“Look at that smile.” He laughs.
“Taylor, I love you. I love you Taylor. I love you.”
I had to pause to get tissues. My chest hurt. I felt lightheaded.
Look at everything we’ve lost.
I would never have that life again. No big family coming together happily for a birthday party. No dad cooing from behind the camera, just proud to be a father. No watching my parents be in love. It’s gone. It’s all gone.
And I can’t keep pretending it doesn’t bother me.
Is it any wonder why I don’t want to date because I know they’ll always leave? Why I don’t make new friends, because they’ll leave too? Why I hate leaving my apartment because I know my cat will die, or leaving my car because I know they’ll tow it away even though they have no reason to? Why I refuse to get a regular salaried job because I know they’ll fire me and I’ll lose everything — my home, my stuff, my life?
Is it any wonder I’m afraid?
I know that if I never grieve, I’ll always have that clinging onto me. I’ll always be scared to do anything, to gain anything, because I’ll always be afraid that I might lose it again.
So as much as I dislike it, I have to confront where I’ve been. I have to accept loss and find ways to move forward with it.
It hurts. It hurts so much.
But carrying it with me every single day is so, so much worse.
My Girlfriend Failed A Loyalty Test And Had A Complete MELTDOWN After I Told Her It Was Over
Human relationships and the turmoil that can occur. Ugh! I am so very glad that I past that stage in my life. It’s so difficult for so many people.
It was 80’s Florida, a party at some college students’ apartment. My older sister, 18 and I, 16, went. My sis didn’t do drugs and wasn’t a big drinker. After a couple hours, we were standing outside talking, all was normal. The next second, my sis couldn’t stand up. She just slumped to the ground as if all her bones had suddenly disintegrated. Luckily her bf was there too – between the two of us we managed to get her in the back of the car and outta there. When we got home we put her in her bed and explained to mom what had happened. As she didn’t drink much or do drugs, somebody must have spiked her drink. Luckily she was with us when it took effect, or God knows what would have happened.
The department store personnel director lady slid the familiar-looking booklet across her desk. “It’s just a short test we give all our applicants,” she said. “You have five minutes.” I glanced down at the first page. “Uh … I really can’t take this test,” I told her. She looked puzzled. “And why not?” I smiled. “Because I know all the answers,” I replied. She smirked. “Well, I guess we’llsee aboutTHAT, won’t we?”
It wasn’t an idle boast. During my sophomore year of college I did an internship at a local mental health clinic where I administered and scored various tests. In addition to personality profiles, many of our clients were given a timed, multiple choice IQ test that had been developed by the military. It was the same test the store personnel lady had just handed me. I’d scored hundreds of them. And, with lots of practice, I’d memorized the answer key.
It took less than a minute to color in all of the little circles on the answer sheet. “Did you even bother to read the questions?” she asked. “Sort of,” I replied. End of interview.
My mother was standing by the phone as I walked through the kitchen door. “The store just called,” she said. “They want to offer you a job.” I climbed back into my car and returned to the store where the flustered personnel lady spent the next few minutes gushing over my “highest ever” test score. I was quickly ushered into the store manager’s office. My test was on his desk. “How?” he asked. He cradled his head in his hand and tried hard not to laugh as I recounted my repeated attempts to explain my knowledge of and experience with the test I’d just aced.
“So you really did know all the answers,” he said with a smile. Yup.
No point in being an Ostrich. After all we can’t be like our Indian brothers
Two of its largest earners – Exports and Real Estate have taken a hit plus due to the Global slowdown and Fed interest rates , Investments are in mild net outflow
The point is SO ARE OTHER ECONOMIES
They are doing way worse than China which is not being covered in any way by anyone
The Narrative is that China is the only economy that is doing badly, giving the illusion that every other economy is booming and thriving
That’s the problem and that is propaganda
Every Economy has good and bad points
China’s bad points are it’s Real Estate, it’s Exports , it’s Investment outflow and it’s Local Government Debt
Yet it’s good points are it’s surging domestic demand, domestic consumption, very strong fiscal stability and very low National Debt for a GDP of that size
It’s Resilience so to speak of
The Western Media continuously harp on the negative aspects of Chinas economy while ignoring the positive aspects completely
The Western Media almost always harp on the positive aspects of countries like USA while turning a blind eye to the negative aspects
The reason is over the last two years or so, the Western Media and the Western Nations have decided to go back to the DEMOCRACY IS THE BEST MODEL mode
Thus they target primarily China and Russia for all the flaws and illustrate that both nations are likely to collapse any minute
image 142
Putin doesn’t care too much
He has his Oil and Gas and his army and he simply has no dependence on the US. He knows at the end of the day, for thirty years at least, maybe forty, the world needs his Oil badly and as long as he sells Oil, he gets whatever imports he wants
Besides at 2 Trillion, Russia isn’t an Economic threat to the West
Their threat is Military and hence the barrage of so called Russian Military Collapses predicted since 2022 May by every Western Journalist
image 141
Xi meanwhile is dependent on the West today for a lot of business and so he can’t say f*** you like Putin can
Besides at $ 19 Trillion, China is an economic threat to the US directly rather than a Military one
So the narrative is one sided, badly one sided
The reality is US and Europe are doing worse than China
Its just a bad time for the Global Economy due to three years of Covid led economic fracture plus the Ukraine conflict plus now Gaza
People are in recession mode and aren’t jumping to buy stuff and build stuff, the way they were in 2016–2017
Democracies hide and sugar coat the issues they face due to election fears
China faces the problems head on
That’s the simple difference
In 1917…
China
Excerpts from some speeches:
Mr. President,
China is a socialist country, and a developing country as well. China belongs to the Third World.Consistently following Chairman Mao’s teachings, the Chinese Government and people firmly support all oppressed peoples and oppressed nations in their struggle to win or defend national independence, develop the national economy and oppose colonialism, imperialism and hegemonism.
This is our bounden internationalist duty. China is not a superpower, nor will she ever seek to be one. What is a superpower?
A superpower is an imperialist country which everywhere subjects other countries to its aggression, interference, control, subversion or plunder and strives for world hegemony. If capitalism is restored in a big socialist country, it will inevitably become a superpower.
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, which has been carried out in China in recent years, and the campaign of criticizing Lin Piao and Confucius now under way throughout China, are both aimed at preventing capitalist restoration and ensuring that socialist China will never change her colour and will always stand by the oppressed peoples and oppressed nations.
If one day China should change her colour and turn into a superpower, if she too should play the tyrant in the world, and everywhere subject others to her bullying, aggression and exploitation, the people of the world should identify her as social-imperialism, expose it, oppose it and work together with the Chinese people to overthrow it.
Deng’s speech represents Mao’s attitude and is also a declaration from the PRC government to the world.
This speech actually represents China’s long-standing foreign policy and national positioning:
mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non- interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence.
FFS, it was not an intercept. No one got shot at or shot down.
The Canadian plane was there, far away from home. The Chinese plane was there, close to home. They flew together for a while, but the Canadian crew got anxious. Perhaps they know that they do no have a real excuse to be there.
If and when a Chinese military plane ever flies close to the Canadian coast, a Canadian flight might do the same.
The last time an errant Chinese balloon drifted over the North American continent, it was shot down. That is what you’d call an intercept.
Let’s stop with the hypocrisy and the hyperbole.
No action…
Biden Sends “War Powers” Notification to Congress over Gaza Situation
Al Jazeera is reporting utterly massive and continuous bombardment of the northern Gaza Strip; unlike anything seen so far. They believe a ground offensive has begun. ALL COMMUNICATIONS CUT OFF. Phones, Fax, Internet, Cellular all off.
Russian Television (RT) reports complete loss of contact with their crew inside Gaza. Even TV satellite uplinks are not working; possibly being JAMMED.
Sources in and around Gaza are claiming that the Artillery, Tank, and Airstrikes on the Northern Gaza Strip tonight are the Heaviest they have seen since the start of the War.
Israeli naval vessels have begun shelling the northern tip of the Gaza Strip. This is in ADDITION to ongoing air strikes, and artillery shelling.
— Reports of General mobilization announced by Palestinian resistance in West Bank.
— IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says the military has ramped up airstrikes in the Gaza Strip in the last few hours: “The Air Force is striking underground targets very significantly. Ground forces are expanding the ground activity this evening.“
–Palestinian Red Crescent says it has lost contact with its operations headquarters in Gaza.
— IDF Spokesman Hagari announces: “The ground forces are expanding ground operations this evening”
— IDF set to expand ground operations in Gaza tonight; Israel considers giving up on hostage deal & fully invading Gaza.
— U.S. President Biden has just been Briefed by his National Security Team on Updates regarding the Situation in Israel and Gaza:
Iran Foreign Minister: “They pressed the button.” (HT remark: I take this to mean the Ground Offensive is a “Go.” )
— Israeli Channel 12: “Israel abandons the prisoner deal and prepares for ground entry.”
— Israeli Diplomatic Officials have stated tonight that they believe Hamas has been “Dragging their Feet” on Hostage Negotiations within Qatar in order to Delay or Halt an Israeli Invasion of the Gaza Strip, and that despite the claims made the last few days by U.S, Egyptian, and Qatari Officials there is No Breakthrough that has been seen; further stating that they are Finished with Waiting.
UPDATE 3:48 PM EDT —
Columns of Israeli tanks are on the move, approaching the Gaza Border north of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun:
— Hamas official tells the Financial Times the organization ‘did not expect this much of a response from America’ after the 7th of October attack, adding ‘what we are seeing now is the entrance of the US into the battle, and this we didn’t count on’.
3:50 PM EDT — Hamas: We hold Israel, Washington, and Western capitals responsible for the massacres in Gaza.
— Oil prices surge by 3% over Middle East tensions
— Hamas calls on Arab countries and the international community to help ‘stop the crimes and massacres against our people’
***** BULLETIN *****
3:54 PM EDT —
ISRAELI TANKS ARE NOW STORMING INTO GAZA
Israeli Tanks have crossed the Border Fence into the Northern Gaza Strip near the City of Beit Hanoun.
— Gold hits $2,000 an ounce for the first time in five months
— Oil just spiked 3% and rising.
UPDATE 4:02 PM EDT —
Israeli tanks have just now begun crossing the Northern Border into Gaza.
4:05 PM EDT — Hamas-Linked Accounts are claiming that Israeli Tank has been Struck by an Anti-Tank Guided Missile and Destroyed to the East of Beit Hanou in Northern Gaza.
Meanwhile, up at the West Bank . . . . There is a shootout between Hamas and the IDF at the Nitzani Oz checkpoint in the Tulkarm region. Three homemade bombs were thrown at Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint.
***** FLASH *****
Update from Israeli Defense Force: “The Expanded Activity into Gaza Is Not The Anticipated Larger Operation”
— The Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs states that the Israeli Invasion of the Gaza Strip has begun.
4:10 PM EDT — Large IDF infantry & armored forces operating in several towns; exchanges of fire and massive airstrikes reported
4:12 PM EDT — JUST IN: Rocket attacks have begun against U.S. facilities in both Syria and Iraq.
NOW ALSO IN THE WEST BANK — The city of Nablus is uprising against the Israeli invasion of Gaza. Thousands taking to the streets.
4:16 PM EDT — The map below shows where Israeli forces have entered the northern Gaza Strip:
— this may be a probing attack . . .
— Adviser to Israel’s PM says military operations are underway and ‘when this is over, Gaza will be very different’.
— Explosions reported in another US illegal base in Kharab al-Jir area in Hasakah Syria.
Entire West Bank Erupting:
4:21 PM EDT — Large Explosions have now also been reported at the Al-Omar Oil Fields in Northwestern Syria which houses a U.S. Operations Base.
4:24 PM EDT —
HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM . . . . . . .
Reports of Egyptian Air Force and Israeli Air Force airborne over the EGYPT/ISRAELI border at Eilat and Taba.
Why did Egypt put fighter jets up, and why is Israel mirroring them?
MORE:
Just-in: Egypt deployed air defense systems to the Sinai Peninsula. Well, Egypt certainly isn’t doing that over the Palestinians . . . is Egypt going to war against Israel?
UPDATE 4:31 PM EDT —
Houthis in Yemen are launching ballistic missiles and drones towards Israel.
— IDF infantry and armored forces are now operating in Bureij, Beit Hanoun and Jabaliya in the Gaza Strip, with gunfire and heavy airstrikes reported.
EGYPT . . . .
Grand Imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar Ahmed el-Tayeb condemns what Israel is doing now in Gaza as ‘blind terrorism, clear violation of all conventions, norms’
FROM INSIDE GAZA VIA SOURCE WITH Turkish cellular SIM Card:
“The area of Beit Hanoun adjacent to the Erez crossing point is being annihilated into oblivion”
DUGIN IN RUSSIA: “Israel has just declared the beginning of ground operation in Gaza. The Judgment Day is announced. Now the most important events have to follow. All US efforts to prevent or at least to delay it were in vain. This is the war between islamic world and collective West.”
4:38 PM EDT — Initial Reports of Explosions over the City of Eilat in Southern Israel.
— Turkish President Erdogan is urging residents to come out tomorrow for a rally in support of Palestine.
— Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades says it is confronting Israeli ground incursion into Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip; violent clashes taking place on the ground
4:57 PM EDT — In the Update above showing 4:31 PM, I reported Yemen was launching Ballistic Missiles at Israel. At the Update above showing 4:38 PM, I reported “Explosions over the city of Eliat” Israel. Moments ago, Hezbollah’s official channel posted a message from a member of Yemen’s Ansarullah movement with a single word: ‘Eilat’ — following recent explosions in the southern Israeli city. Hezbollah had previously hinted at involvement if Israel pursued a ground invasion. With it’s posting saying “Eliat” Yemen becomes the first outside country to attack Israel over the Gaza situation.
USELESS . . .
UN General Assembly adopted a draft resolution calling for an “immediate, permanent and sustained humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza and demanding a cessation of hostilities immediately. (HT Remark:Useless words, from Useless people in a Useless organization. The UN should be dissolved.)
Naval Assault By Israel
SPAIN . . .
Spain’s social rights minister says after communications cut off in Gaza, “The objective is clear; they want even more impunity to commit the worst atrocities’
UPDATE 5:08 PM EDT —
Claims now POURING IN saying a Yemen Missile struck Eliat,Israel and this photo is ALLEGEDLY the aftermath of that hit:
— Senior Pentagon official: CVN 69 aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower has passed through the Strait of Hormuz and will be in the waters of the Persian Gulf.
***** BULLETIN *****
UPDATE 5:12 PM EDT —
Syrian army artillery in Daraa has begun shelling Israeli army positions in the Golan Heights. Syria now becomes the SECOND outside country to begin attacking Israel over the Gaza situation. At this hour, Yemen and Syria are now, apparently, in this fight.
UPDATE 5:17 PM EDT —
Al Jazeera reporter Wael al-Dahduh: “We are not all right. Human body parts are everywhere. Missiles are aimed at everyone. The bombing (of Gaza) does not stop for a second.”
********** URGENT **********
5:19 PM EDT —
Coastal areas of Gaza report that American troops of the Delta Force unit are fighting on the ground. (I am attempting to verify or corroborate these CLAIMS. I __did__ call the Pentagon Press Office. It went like this: “Hello this is Hal Turner with radio stations WBCQ and WRMI. I am receiving reports that American troops from the Delta Force allegedly made entry into the Gaza Strip and are engaged in battle. Does the Pentagon have any comment to make? The reply: ‘Not at this time.” Sooooo, they didn’t confirm it, but they also didn’t DENY it.)
5:40 PM EDT —
Reports of Heavy LOSSES of Israeli armored vehicles (including tanks) destroyed, and Soldiers KILLED.
RELATED: The Dutch embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, urges all Dutch citizens to leave Iraq immediately.
UPDATE 5:44 PM EDT —
President of Belarus: “Any attack on Iran will lead to the third world war.”
— Two Senior U.S. Officials have told CBS News that the Israeli Strikes and Ground Operations tonight in the Gaza Strip appear to be the “Rolling Start” to the Full-Scale Invasion of Gaza.
UPDATE 7:00 PM EDT —
The U.S. State Dept. recommends that U.S. citizens in Lebanon leave now while commercial flights remain available due to the unpredictable security situation. Please see available flight options at Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport
— Israeli Channel 14 says “Disappointment for our army tonight”
— MILITARY OBSERVERS: Israeli army has so far failed with a ground invasion and is practicing a scorched earth policy through indiscriminate bombing of Gaza.
***** FLASH *****
UPDATE 8:09 PM EDT —
North Korean leader Kim Jung Un in a Special Announcement to the people of North Korea, announced: “We are on the threshold of World War III and everyone must prepare.”
— “Moses Staff” an Iranian computer-hacker group warning Israel: “You will undergo irreparable damage in the field of cyber and infrastructure. From now on you should pay for each spilled blood. Wait for huge combined attacks. Our target is clear, specified and accurate”
— Military Analyst of Israeli Channel 14: The first land operation is a complete disappointment. The government is gambling with the lives of soldiers.
— Israeli Media is reporting that Thousands of Israeli Troops alongside Hundreds of Tanks and Armored Vehicles have entered the Northern Gaza Strip tonight near the City of Beit Hanoun with Heavy and Difficult Fighting against Terrorist Forces ongoing.
— Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan said there are ‘no talks’ currently taking place between the group and Israel over a potential ceasefire and prisoner exchange.
— The Israeli army received a devastating blow on the outskirts of Bureij camp, and the tanks were burning as if they were toys and dolls — Walla News
UPDATE 8:19 PM EDT –
In New York City RIGHT NOW, thousands of people are engaging in a “sit-in” at Grand Central Station. The event, organized by Jews, DEMANDS an immediate cease fire and saying:
WE’RE TAKING OVER THE GRAND CONCOURSE. WE’RE REFUSING TO ALLOW A GENOCIDE BE CARRIED OUT IN OUR NAMES. CEASEFIRE NOW! NEVER AGAIN FOR ANYONE!
— A source in the Palestinian resistance to Al-Mayadeen: “Israeli army is in a state of hit and run and has not been able to stabilize any of its forces in the main effort areas northeast, northwest, and central in Al-Bureij, therefore it intensifies the shelling at the fronts where they intend to advance.”
UPDATE 10:25 PM EDT —
Palestinian sources report that Israeli forces have stormed the Jalazone camp in the West Bank.
— STATEMENT FROM HAMAS LEADER ALI BARAKA ON THE GAZA GENOCIDE
“Bleeding for the people of the Arab nation. The failure of the ground attack launched by the occupation forces on the Gaza Strip through three fronts, and there are heavy losses among the enemy’s ranks in terms of soldiers and equipment.
The enemy fell into ambushes prepared by the Palestinian resistance on a number of fronts, and since the beginning of the battle there have been defensive plans against any attempt.
Kornet missiles and Yassin missiles were used to repel the attack, and we expect the enemy to try again.
The Israeli occupation used helicopters to evacuate the wounded and dead from the battlefield.”
UPDATE 10:31 PM EDT —
Biden sends War Powers Notification to US Congress.
He will move on
Biden Forced To Call Off His Plans For Ethnic Cleansing Of Gaza
The U.S. government under Joe Biden had developed plans to ethnically cleanse Gaza by moving all of its 2.3 million people into Egypt:
Amazing: President Biden is working on a plan with other countries that would allow civilians to safely leave Gaza and cross the border into Egypt. This is great news. President Biden is making sure that innocent people don’t die due to the actions of Hamas. That’s leadership.
The US is in active talks with Israel and Egypt to establish “safe passage” corridors for civilians in Gaza to flee ongoing Israeli airstrikes, the White House said Wednesday amid an expected ground offensive in the besieged enclave.
“We’re actively discussing this with our Israeli and our Egyptian counterparts, we support safe passions for civilians. Civilians are not to blame for what Hamas has done. They didn’t do anything wrong,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at the White House.
“We are actively working on this with Egyptian and our Israeli counterparts. Civilians are protected under the laws of armed conflict, and they should be given every opportunity to avoid the fighting,” he added.
This all was based on a plan originally developed by radical Zionist within the government of Israel:
Israeli culture magazine Mekovit published on 28 October a leaked document issued by Israel’s Ministry of Intelligence recommending the occupation of Gaza and total transfer of its 2.3 million inhabitants to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
The document, issued on 13 October, identifies a plan to transfer all residents of the Gaza Strip to North Sinai as the preferred option among three alternatives regarding the future of the Palestinians in Gaza at the end of the current war between Israel and the Hamas-led Palestinian resistance.
The document recommends that Israel evacuate the Gazan population to Sinai during the war, establish tent cities and new cities in northern Sinai to accommodate the deported population, and then create a closed security zone stretching several kilometers inside Egypt. The deported Palestinians would not be allowed to return to any areas near the Israeli border.
Egypt of course rejected any such plans. As I had explained:
Israel, with the help of the U.S., has tried to push the population of Gaza into Egypt. From Egypt’s standpoint that would be a humanitarian solution, at least as long as others pay for it. But it would cause a serious strategic problem. Resistance by Hamas and others against Israel would continue indefinitely, but Egypt would be held responsible for it.It can not and will not take on that burden.
Despite that logic the White House continued to proceed with its plan. Its request to Congress to finance the wars in the Ukraine and Gaza with up to $106 billion included these lines (pg 40):
These resources would support displaced and conflict-affected civilians, including Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the West Bank, and to address potential needs of Gazans fleeing to neighboring countries. This would include food and non- food items, healthcare, emergency shelter support, water and sanitation assistance, and emergency protection. This would also include potential critical humanitarian infrastructure costs needed for the refugee population to provide access to basic, life-sustaining support. This crisis could well result in displacement across border and higher regional humanitarian needs, and funding may be used to meet evolving programming requirements outside of Gaza.
Russia had called out the plan for the nonsense it is:
“It is clear that such an approach is disastrous, because if the Gaza Strip is destroyed, if two million residents are driven out, as some politicians in Israel and abroad are implying, this will create a catastrophe that will last for many decades, if not centuries,” Sergey Lavrov noted.
Backed by Russia the Egyptian resistance against the plan continued. A phone call held yesterday finally buried it:
During the call, El-Sisi reiterated Egypt’s firm rejection of policies that collectively punish and displace the Palestinian people.
Biden, for his part, affirmed to El-Sisi that the US likewise rejects the displacement of Palestinians outside their homeland, expressing his appreciation for the positive role played by Egypt in this crisis, said Egyptian Presidential Spokesman Ahmed Fahmy.
The call touched upon the importance of preventing the expansion of the conflict into the region, added Fahmy.
During the call, El-Sisi reiterated Egypt’s firm rejection of policies that collectively punish and displace the Palestinian people. Biden, for his part, affirmed to El-Sisi that the US likewise rejects the displacement of Palestinians outside their homeland, expressing his appreciation for the positive role played by Egypt in this crisis, said Egyptian Presidential Spokesman Ahmed Fahmy.
Biden was forced to publicly declare that his plans for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza were called off:
I also spoke with President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to share my appreciation for Egypt facilitating the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
We reaffirmed our commitment to work together and discussed the importance of protecting civilian lives, respect for international humanitarian law, and ensuring that Palestinians in Gaza are not displaced to Egypt or any other nation.
This is another failure of the dimwit policies cooked up by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and SecState Anthony Blinken as directed by their Zionist puppeteers.
I for one support all plans that would allow them to safely leave Washington DC. They can move to Antarctica or to wherever the climate is severe enough to cool their genocidal moods.
Posted by b on October 30, 2023 at 9:35 UTC | Permalink
Of course. There are many instances. One of the most conspicuous was the case of Lt. Friedrich Lengfeld. He not only died to help a wounded American soldier during the battle of Hürtgen Forest, but is one of the very few Germans honored by his American enemies who in the 50th anniversary of the battle set up a monument in his honor. Here is an excerpt of the story:
By November 10, Lengfeld’s company was exhausted. The group had been decimated, and those who survived hadn’t bathed in days. Everyone was suffering from a serious bout of lice, hunger, malnutrition, and severe cold, as well as damp because of the snow and rain.
They had been fighting over a forester’s lodge in the woods to the south of where the Hürtgen War Cemetery now stands. At the time, the lodge had been used as a shelter by both sides depending on who held it.
The structure was beside a minefield the Germans called “Wilde Sau” (wild sow) and despite its decrepit condition, it provided some shelter from the elements. The following day, Lengfeld lost two men from sniper fire, so they prepared for another attack.
Later that evening, the US 12th Infantry captured the lodge, causing Lengfeld to lose more men. Rallying around him, they launched a counterattack and managed to drive the Americans out the following morning. As the Americans retreated, one of them ran directly into the Wilde Sau with disastrous consequences.
Though severely injured, the American survived and began calling out for help. Beside the minefield was a safe path guarded by a German machine gun. Lengfeld ordered Hubert Gees (a rifleman and his communications runner) to go to the gunner and tell him not to fire at any Americans who came to rescue the man.
Hours passed and no one came for him, either believing he was dead or because the Americans had retreated in disarray. Unable to take the man’s cries any longer, Lengfeld decided to mount a rescue himself.
The lodge was located beside a road protected with antitank mines the company had placed and knew the locations of. At around 10:30 AM, Lengfeld led a team of medics beside the road till he got opposite the American soldier. He then went into the minefield, but as he got off the safety of the path, he stepped on a hidden anti-personnel mine which blasted him away.
They quickly carried Lengfeld back to the lodge, but it was too late. There were two deep holes in his back, and he was suffering from serious internal injuries. They managed to get him to the First Aid Station in Froitzheim where he died later that evening.
The identity of the American soldier remains unknown.
The Battle of Hürtgen Forest was one of the longest battles fought in WWII, lasting from September 1944 until February 1945 at a cost of some 33,000 American lives and about 28,000 German ones.
Despite this, Lieutenant Colonel John Ruggles, former Regimental Executive Officer of the 22nd Infantry felt compelled to honor Lengfeld’s heroism during the battle’s 50th anniversary. And that’s why veterans of the 22nd US Infantry Society set up a monument in his honor at the cemetery.
In part, it reads: No man hath greater love than he who layeth down his life for his enemy
I think the very first thing you notice is people’s behavior towards you changing.
Even before you are on the streets, even before you notice how random strangers now treat you differently, call the cops on you for existing, or feel justified in harassing or persecuting you…
Before that, you learn that for so many of the people you considered to be friends, you dont exist anymore. You learn who your real friends and family are, who the people are that will actually stand by you, even in tough times. Often, there are not that many.
The other thing that you learn a lot about is how much people waste.
How much food, clothes, furniture, space, money, how so much of everything is being wasted.
When you live on other people’s scraps, you develop an eye for waste.
It is amazing how much stuff people throw away, most of it perfectly good.
It is also super interesting to see how incredibly protective people are of their garbage! They were throwing it out a second ago to be destroyed, but if you take it, that would be the end of the world. I think it might be because when you take it, it induces cognitive dissonance as people see that the stuff they are throwing out is actually useful.
You notice a lot of other things too. For example that poor people are a lot more tolerant, and willing to help than rich people. To poor people, you are human, but as socioeconomic level rises, things change. One time one of my friends received some change from someone wearing a suit. We celebrated the event, it was too rare an occasion not to.
Also, you notice how little a roof actually matters, compared to other things.
Is sleeping in a shelter worth the loss of half your day, the loss of your safety, being treated like an animal, suffering withdrawal symptoms, and abandoning your dog? Yeah, no, I’ll find some cardboard somewhere instead, thank you very much.
Edit: and one more that I forgot to mention: Homeless invisibility!
As I sat on the streets, I often pondered what an incredible spy I would make.
Being homeless was sometimes kind of like looking at life from an alternate dimension, where I could see and hear others, but they could not see me, hear me, or notice me.
I could be waving, and speaking to them, but I might as well not have existed, no reaction at all. Sometimes, I was almost able to get through to some people. They didn’t quite seem to actually notice me, or ever look at me, but they would speed up a little, or make a detour around me. Perhaps some kind of 6th sense allowed them to feel my presence, even though they could not see or hear me? Maybe this is where the reports of ghosts and other such paranormal experiences come from?
This happened years ago, before I had kids. I was on a flight, sitting in the window seat, minding my own business as people boarded. A young woman with a child sat in the middle seat next to me. I figured the child had the aisle seat, but no, someone else had that seat.
Now the rules then were that a child could be a free lap-rider up until the age of 2 years, then were required to purchase a seat.
This was the biggest 2 year old I have ever seen or the mother was pulling one over on the airline. Now they require a birth certificate if there is any doubt the age of the child.
Everything was fine until the plane took off. At that point the child decided they needed to see out the window and walked onto my lap to see the view.
Mother didn’t even flinch.
Just kept encouraging the child to see the view. She then slipped on headphones and buried her nose in a magazine.
Over the next two hours the child stomped all over me, demanded my attention, and prevented me from eating or drinking anything.
The flight attendants repeatedly asked the mother to keep her child on her lap, and she would for as long as it took for the FA to walk away. The flight attendants kept mouthing ‘sorry’ to me the whole flight.
I decided to suck it up for the child and since it was a short flight to just deal with it. As I stood to disembark the plane, after the mother and child had already left, all of the flight attendants hugged me, shoved extra snacks into my hands and thanked me over and over.
I ended up leaving with a big smile on my face. People like that mother are the reason the rest of us have to deal with so many rules and regulations.
Creole Cabbage Rolls
Add a Creole twist to stuffed cabbage roll recipes. These Creole Cabbage Rolls are stuffed with ground beef, Italian sausage, onions and Zatarain’s Spanish Rice, covered in rich tomato sauce. A delicious dinner recipe, or enjoy as a cold weather meal any time of day.
creole cabbage rolls
Prep: 30 min | Bake: 45 min | Yield: 15 servings
Ingredients
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 pound Italian sausage
1 1/2 cups water
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 package Zatarain’s® Spanish Rice
1 head cabbage, core removed
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
Instructions
Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ground beef and sausage; cook and stir until no longer pink.
Stir in water, diced tomatoes and Rice Mix; bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer for 25 minutes or until rice is tender.
Remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts lightly salted water to boil in large sauce pot. Drop cabbage, stem-side down, into water. Reduce heat to low; simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove cabbage and carefully remove outer leaves. Return cabbage to simmering water; simmer until outer leaves have softened.
Repeat simmering and removal of cabbage leaves as necessary.
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place about 1/3 cup of rice stuffing near core end of each cabbage leaf. Fold in sides of leaf over stuffing, then roll up. Place rolls, seam-side down, in 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Pour tomato sauce over top.
Bake for 45 minutes or until cabbage rolls are tender.
Notes
Variation: Top cabbage rolls with 1/2 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined, during the last 10 minutes of cooking.
Hitchbot was created by two Canadian professors. According to his creators, he came to fruition in order to see if robots could trust human beings. Hitchbot could not walk, he was only able to speak. Still, he could relate facts and carry on basic conversations. Using just these abilities, the professors wanted to see if he could travel across countries only by hitchhiking.
For a while their plan worked!
Through the kindness of people, Hitchbot had traveled across Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands. Along the way, Hitchbot had cruised the canals of Amsterdam, spent a week with a heavy metal band, and been a part of a wave at a Red Sox game.
Unfortunately, his good fortune would not continue.
Starting on July 17, 2015, Hitchbot would start on his fourth and final journey: attempting to travel from Boston to San Francisco.
After about two weeks, Hitchbot met his sad demise in Philadelphia. The robot was found stripped and decapitated, broken beyond repair. Photos were tweeted of his body, but the head was never found.
Hitchbot could have been a testament to human kindness, and for a while he was. But, ultimately, people had to ruin what could have been an awesome thing.
Still, regardless of his destruction, there was a strong outpouring across the Internet mourning his demise. Despite the poor actions of a few individuals, Hitchbot was able to touch the lives of many.
He remained upbeat all the way up to his passing. His last words are below.
“My trip must come to an end for now, but my love for humans will never fade,” the bot said. “Thank you to all my friends.”
We had a no alcohol in the office rule. But we were having a summer BBQ put on by the company, which featured a keg of beer. The BBQ was on the lawn in front of the office. One of my coworkers had to use the washroom, and didnt want to put down their red solo cup, with the 10 other identical red solo cups, that were sitting on top of the flower box, by the entrance to the office.
I doubt they even thought about it, they just walked into the washroom, and put their cup on the counter by the sink. One of the bosses walked into the washroom, and started giving him heck, saying that he was going to write him up, and that this was a serious offence. It was, the company had fired someone, for picking up a bottle of wine at lunch, and putting it in his desk, to take home for dinner.
Another coworker was leaving the washroom at the time, and came and got us, and asked us all to bring our beer cups with us to the washroom. We couldn’t even fit in the washroom, we were backed up down the hall.
The boss seeing how big a fuss this was going to be, backed down and said people would only get a verbal warning this time.
Its pretty ridiculous, that a company has a no alcohol in the office policy, but supplies alcohol on the property, where the only washroom is in the office.
By exercising daily, your risk of catching a cold, flu, or some serious form of infection is dramatically reduced;
Don’t punish people in your present for the actions of people in your past;
About 80% of human conversations are complaints;
People with low self-esteem are more likely to put others down;
If you want to do more than meet the expectations of society’s life plan, create your own definition of success;
Growth comes from doing what we don’t want or are afraid to do;
Your physical pain, as well as fear and stress, can be alleviated by holding the hand of someone you love;
Even the illusion of progress can be motivating;
The beginning and the end are always easier to remember;
All advice is guided by the experience of the person;
Mental health is just as important as physical health. Emotions are real. Get comfortable with them. Understand that what you feel is normal. You are not less because of how you feel. Find a good therapist before you need one;
Getting a good night’s sleep, eating healthy foods, and being physically active are essential to staying healthy throughout your life!
Democracy isn’t a failure. When implemented correctly, democracy works very well.
The problem is the US isn’t a democracy.
Yes, yes, I hear you. Technically speaking, the US is a republic, and we use “representative democracy.” Yes, I took Political Science 101 in college, just like you. So shut up for once.
The US isn’t even a “representative democracy.”
The US system is a plutocracy or rule of wealth.
Thank Citizen United, our system is entirely dominated by money. People with great wealth have great influence over our policy. Our representatives in the House and Senate are bought and sold by interest groups. You want single-payer universal health care? LOL, the insurance interests group will kill whatever bill you bring to the floor with super PACs. Do you want to be reelected? Better not hurt the status quo. Oh, and while we’re at it, let’s start another war in the Middle East because weapon manufacturers and military-industrial complexes are paying for my next election.
We might not be able to do much as individual voters, but we can put in the effort to be informed voters. Vote in local elections. Read about policies. Do your research on the candidate you vote for and pay special attention to who’s paying for their campaigns. Donate to candidates who rely on individual donors instead of Super PACs.
And, more than anything, overturn Citizen United Vs. FEC. Money isn’t speech. Political donations should not be protected. Remove money from the election so we can actually have a democracy.
Pre Birth Plan: Woman Volunteers for INSANE HARDSHIPS to Help Earth SHIFT!
Today is Christmas. We don’t really celebrate it very much here in Southern China, but it still is a reminder of great and grand times that I grew up with as a boy. This included such things as month-long cookie baking, Christmas breads, Christmas meals, Christmas carols, and Pitiza.
Vintage and throwback Mothers Day ideas 300×200 1
Yeah. It goes much further than a Christmas tree and piles of presents and shopping.
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It includes work luncheons. It includes drunk work parties, and long breaks, and card games.
2023 11 21 20 09
The USA has come a long, long way from what it used to be. That saddens me.
My best friend told me once that if I ever moved away from home, she’d stop visiting home and fly to wherever I was.
When I mentioned that I want to move to the UK, her response was “Ooh, that’s not too far from northern Europe! We could take a trip to Norway from there!”
She’s studying abroad right now with a month to go and she told me “I don’t want to leave here, but I can’t wait to hang out with you.”
No matter how far apart we are, she keeps planning herself into my life.
At the same time, though, we can go for days without talking.
She was gone for a month with no internet or phone service and when she finally got back to civilization, she texted me like nothing had ever changed.
We can tell each other anything.
I can say things like “I almost wet the bed last night” and “I think guys with mustaches can be incredibly attractive” and “Want to hear the world’s only placenta joke?”
And I know she won’t judge me… not too harshly, anyway.
We can talk about gossip and neuroscience and our dreams and geology and Hamilton all without pause. There’s nothing we can’t share.
We laugh. We cry. We eat large amounts of Taco Bell.
We stay friends no matter how many time zones apart we are or how many days we go without speaking.
We can be completely honest with one another and there’s no doubt it comes from love.
We keep planning ourselves into each other’s lives.
That, to me, is a true friend. One who isn’t a friend out of convenience but out of devotion.
One who stays your friend even when it’s difficult or when the geography doesn’t line up.
One who wants to be around you, and is willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen.
I’d say I got lucky. I’ve had the same best friend for almost twelve years.
For those who do not keep up with what’s going on in Taiwan, the pro US pro independence DPP is now lower in the polls after a coalition by the opposing blue and white camps
This means that it is now more likely that the status quo will be upheld, which is better for the region and future developments. As i have pointed out before in another comment
Nope there is a third scenario, one i think the Chinese government is aiming for
That is to advance China itself, economically and technologically beyond the level that the US has any chance of holding at the island chains, thus forcing the abandonment of the chains and resulting isolation of Taiwan. This is happening even now but requires time to complete hence tactics are aimed at dragging it out
The US economic power is collapsing which is why one should never be provoked when against a increasingly desperate opponent. Simply let them die off
Economic power (specifically industrial power as financial paper pushing does little) is the lynchpin of military power, so when it goes down, the military goes down with it and that is not even taking into account the corruption such as the $1300 cup.
Taiwan’s DPP talks up a big game but that is predicated on US support. The US has pulled back to the 2nd island chain because trying to hold the first chain is untenable, thus the attempt to pull the Philippines, South Korea and Japan to be the sacrificial pawns while the US tries holding at Hawaii (and standing on the soapbox made by the corpses of their “allies”)
Once US support dies off due to a lack of funds, obvious tech disparity and a numerical disadvantage, the Taiwanese will have 2 possible choices
i) Give up (this is the most likely given the current Taiwanese do not support their children going to war)
ii) Try a “heroic” last stand (which gives the mainland under One China, the legitimacy to launch a full scale attack)
Also do keep in mind that there are the possibility of burner accounts. What are burner accounts? They are accounts that are made with the specific idea of portraying themselves as part of whichever side/camp/group and will then suddenly turn around to support the other side at moments they find critical. The most famous recent one is bellingcat
Catfish Muffuletta is a very tasty sandwich made from one round loaf. Depending upon appetites, it can serve from one to four!
catfish muffeletta
Yield: 1 to 4 servings
Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish fillets
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup giardeniara marinated garden salad, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons pitted olives, sliced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (8 to 9 inch) round loaf Italian bread
1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
1 bunch arugula
1 pound sliced provolone cheese (optional)
Instructions
Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Season catfish fillets with salt and pepper. Fry fillets in the hot oil, in batches if necessary, for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Place fillets on a plate to cool and drizzle with lemon juice.
Drain giardeniara and place in a small bowl. Add olives, parsley, garlic and the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and mix until combined.
Slice the bread in half horizontally and pull out most of the soft white part in the middle. Spread half of the giardeniara mixture in the hollow of the bottom piece of bread. Arrange the fillets in a single layer over the vegetables. Top with layers of tomato slices, arugula leaves and provolone slices, if using, and remaining giardeniara mixture. Place the other half of the bread on top, pressing firmly into place.
Using a serrated knife, cut the sandwich into wedges and serve.
Notes
The wedges can be individually wrapped and served at a picnic.
What about apple? They have 95000 patents around the world.
If the US disregards patents so will the rest of the world, so not a single patent is worth the paper it’s written on, that includes ALL US patents around the world.
It looks like the US politicians once again showed us how bright they are, no wonder the country is going down hill fast.
I watched my father care for my mother for six years as she slowly succumbed to the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease.
He gradually took over all the housework and cooking while dealing daily with her hurt, her rage, her confusion and her fear. He protected her from herself. He made sure that she kept the weekly hair and nail appointments that she so loved. He went shopping with her for the pretty clothes she adored.
When he finally acquiesced to his children’s insistence that our mother be placed in a nursing facility (because we were worried that his health was suffering from the strain of her care), he visited her twice every day. He paid aides to apply her makeup and arrange her hair every day. When the facility requested that he take her jewelry from her, including her pins and diamond engagement ring, he had a jeweler make up copies using cubic zirconia so that she never knew that she wasn’t still wearing her own lovely things.
And at her memorial service, the room fragrant with dozens of heavy bouquets of gardenias which were her favorite flower, my stoic father fought to keep his composure as he spoke of his love for the lively, witty, beautiful woman who had spent almost sixty years at his side. He called their time together a privilege, and recounted as though it had happened yesterday the first time he ever spoke with her, on a staircase at their university.
The manifestation of my father’s commitment and devotion to my mother in those unimaginably difficult years is the bravest thing I have ever witnessed.
The best sarcastic response I have ever witnessed was by a colleague. But first, a little background to set it up.
When I worked at a law firm, one of my many functions was to head up the student practicum program. Basically, people studying IT at a local college needed three months of work experience as part of their graduation requirements. So I would interview them and select a few and they’d get an orientation. Once done, I would then take them around and introduce them to the team that they would be working with.
I kept it light and fun, because these students are nervous and I want them to feel comfortable. There was one student I was taking around, and when I got to the network manager’s desk, I said “This is Aaron, the network manager. You have to watch him, because he can be sarcastic.”
The student turned to Aaron and said, “Oh yeah? Say something sarcastic.”
Without missing a beat, Aaron extended his hand and said “Pleased to meet you.”
When I worked for an engineering consulting company as a project engineer, my boss came up to me when I had been there a few months.
He told me that the office rule was that nobody could wear jeans.
As an engineer, I had never been told that jeans were not allowed. Now, if I were management, or met with clients, or worked for a law firm or a finance person, I could see that, but engineering is notorious for being casual to the point of being borderline slovenly because engineers DO go to the field and nobody wears a suit on a construction site. In my position, I didn’t have to meet with clients all that often.
And I wasn’t slovenly—I was wearing a blouse and sweater with the jeans, which weren’t torn and were conservative in appearance (not ripped, not overly tight or had loud design details). The only difference between those jeans and any other pair of pants that would have been acceptable was the fabric.
That same company had a policy of not providing a coffee pot for the employees. Just about every company I’ve worked for at least provided the pot, and sometimes the employees would pitch in for the coffee stuff. The only reason our office got coffee at all was because we shared our office with the construction arm of the company, which DID provide coffee for their people (I dare you not to provide coffee for a field guy). One of our managers, when visiting our office asked why we had a coffee machine, and that’s the answer he got—it wasn’t ours.
The cheapest ass company I ever worked for. The company I work for now, I could probably literally show up in sweats if I wanted to and nobody would say anything. But I’m not going to push that.
Oh, and they provide coffee. And tea and apple cider and hot chocolate, and when we have our monthly office meetings, they kick in for lunch as well.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was when she asked if I was autistic.
“I just wonder if that’s why I’m having a hard time communicating with you.”
She continued that she wasn’t qualified to diagnose me, but I should look into it. No referral to someone who could diagnose me. No recommendations on resources. Just the assertion that I could be autistic because I apparently don’t communicate well.
When I reminded her that I probably have ADHD, which could explain those symptoms, she cut me off.
“They’re totally different.”
But they really aren’t. They have some key differences, but a ton of the symptoms overlap. Trust me. I’ve done my research.
She’s done this a lot—made alarmist statements with basically no course of action. In that same session she also told me I put up a lot of barriers in the therapeutic process.
“Can you give me an example?” I asked.
“I can’t think of any, but I sense it.”
I mentally rolled my eyes.
It’s been several months of frustrations. I told her I wanted to discuss relationships and she said she doesn’t read about relationships so she couldn’t help me. I told her I was struggling to find a place to start with doing inner work and she said “Just pick somewhere.” I told her I didn’t think quitting my job was a good suggestion and she said I was “resistant to getting out of my comfort zone.” (Note that in the last case, I told her I really like my job and didn’t want to do anything else.)
We haven’t clicked since day 1, but I kept going because I was sorely optimistic that maybe it just needed time.
But it didn’t need time. It’s been like six months and I feel as stuck as ever. I dread going to therapy because I feel like I’m going to listen to 50 minutes of her talking about her own life mixed in with advice that doesn’t do anything for me.
I’m stressed about actually pulling the trigger though. I don’t like change. I don’t like potentially hurting others. And I don’t like setting boundaries.
Hence why I’ve let this drag on for 6 months.
Tomorrow’s the day. I’m sending an email to let her know I’m done. I already booked an appointment with a new therapist to motivate me into doing it.
So, y’know. Best of luck to me. Hopefully I can find a therapist who actually helps.
Update: sent the email to end the relationship and booked my appointment with a new therapist!
That is your dream. Not at all a reality. What is really true is that as long as the U.S., Japan and South Korea do this their economy will tanked and they will disintegrate into a bankrupt. China will let you have a long strong rope to hang yourselves.
Also Japan, South Korea and India are polite Asian people who have been living with China 5000 years. And they are still a nation in its own right! The U.S. neighbours Mexico lost half its land to the U.S. in a mere 100 years!
These 3 nations knows that! The saw it with their own eyes. China will do what they always do. Protect Asia for Asians.
Cat learns some Mike Tyson boxing moves…
This is BY FAR the funniest video that I have ever watched!
LOL, when I was 25, I was an experienced herdsman for a pretty large dairy farm in my area.
The boss was too cheap to buy a computer, so I used my own, and often worked at home going through records of the cattle, creating the new lists as needed. Long story short, we had a falling out, and I offered to update the files before I left, which he rejected. A week later, he was at my door demanding I update the files.
I offered for a price, to be paid in advance. he became angry and stormed off.
I’m a very adventurous hiker & sport participant. I flew hang gliders for years, but I also have scuba dived, sky dived, skied double black Diamond runs, winter camped in snow caves, white water canoed, gone on looonng-g-g hiking trips into the back country & spelunked (explored caves). It’s hard to say which sport is the most dangerous BUT for sure no one should do any sport without multiple safeguards & precautions. Dangerous sports are not for risk takers.
I’ve rarely had a close call. I can say when I did, twice, it was because I ignored safety precautions personally because I was with “experts” I put my trust in!
Despite spending a lot of time in the back country, I nearly killed myself when I ignored obvious important basic precautions the first time I went with world class expert spelunkers deep inside (one mile!) a very dangerous cave with steep drops into an unseen abyss or flowing rivers that disappear further into the ground, & cliffs requiring technical climbing expertise. Precaution #1. Don’t split up. We drove up in two cars, my ride wanted to leave early. He led me down a wrong path to the exit & we were lost in a very wrong part of the maze of the cave. We were supposed to lay a string trail from the cave entrance to follow out. My guide was over confident…. He’d been in the cave so often! He left me (!) to try to retrace to where we left the correct route as I lay in a fetal position trying to get warm… Luckily he found the route, luckily he found me, luckily I’m here to write this!!
This incident happened when I was studying in my 10th grade. A male teacher hit my back with a throw ball deliberately. I was quite annoyed with the behavior. I chose to remain quiet. He came near me. I could sense that he was going to do it again. After a certain argument, I gathered my courage to shout at him – “Behave yourself” in front of 50 odd students. Humiliated teacher, stormed out of the place. The next day I was punished in front of my classmates for back-answering my teacher. Note that, none of my teachers knew what had happened behind the scenes and not one student was ready to narrate the incident. I was portrayed as a bad girl.
I did a little secret investigation(Well, I was 16 then, it was a big thing for me) on that teacher. Asked my junior friends, the students who attended his tuition classes. Turns out that, the teacher was lustful and many girls had similar experiences as mine, but no one had dared to speak up. I handed over all the information to the head mistress. The teacher was interrogated and after the certainty of the issue was proved, he was suspended. I felt really proud that I had the guts to stand up for myself.
Franz Kafka wrote, “Most men are not wicked. Men become bad and guilty because they speak and act without foreseeing the results of their words and their deeds. They are sleepwalkers, not evildoers.”
This speaks to an immutable sign of a child masquerading as an adult. Just as a toddler innocently comments about how fat someone is, the immature man litters his remarks with no thought of a world containing feelings besides his own. There callous impulsiveness matches that of a kid snatching candy from a Halloween bowl.
There is profound virtue in choosing restraint in the face of an easy chance to hurt someone’s feelings.
A good and kind person speaks difficult truths with care and love. And they know what should remain unspoken.
They see a world containing many people, all with differing needs and vulnerabilities. This is beauty. This is someone cementing themself as a person who belongs in your life.
Woman EXPOSES The INEVITABLE Problem With Dating Modern Women | TRAINED/GROOMED To Be Masculine
Kara used to earn as much as $20k in a month, but has pulled back on work since becoming a mother—leading to painful identity issues. Her husband Drake has picked up the slack, but gender roles loom large in their at-home dynamic. Modern Dating is confusing for men and women.
Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah reiterated on Sunday Kuwait’s refusal to normalize relations with Israel “unless a future Palestinian state is established in line with international resolutions.”
He made the remarks at a press conference held at the headquarters of the foreign ministry.
The minister added that it is his responsibility to maintain Kuwait’s security and interests abroad by maintaining relations with friendly, brotherly and allied countries.
“The Palestinian issue is our first issue, without any ambiguity … Kuwait has never deviated from the path,” he said, adding that the war Israel waged against Gaza is retaliatory, not defensive.
The Kuwaiti top diplomat called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Gaza, providing assistance to the besieged enclave and ultimately resolving the Palestinian issue through the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders.
I needed a car in a hurry and spotted a 5 year old Saab 9-5 turbo for sale online at a great price.
Called the owner, lady answered, husbands old car he was working and had a work vehicle so it was up for sale. It all sounded great so a buddy drove me there and i bought the car after a test drive.
Drove the 50 miles home without an issue until i reached the turnoff for my hometown when the car went into limp mode and the Check Engine light came on….. crap….luckily i was near a small industrial park so i pulled in at the front of a newly opened mechanics shop.
I’d met him once before at a friends unit in the same park but didnt know him. Told him what happened and he said leave it with me.
I started googling this model Saab and read many horror stories about failed turbos and blocked oil traps resulting in engine rebuilds… i was worried…..i had no car, it was going to cost me a fortune….
1 hour later i got a call, car is fixed. Shocked i went back out and sure enough it was running perfectly. I asked what was wrong and he said a pin hole in a breather pipe on the turbo caused a sensor malfunction. He replaced it with a new piece of hose and redirected it so it didnt rub on the exposed metal.
I asked what i owed him, he said 20 cents for the part…. He said don’t worry about it its a lovely car and it only took me 5 mins to fix.
Proof that there are gentlemen in the autotrade.
Beauty in China
GF Abandoned Me At An Absolute Lowpoint, Only For Me To Have The Last Laugh When She Was “PUT AWAY”!
“I’ve heard so many stories like this, and it is unbelievable to me. Women who leave their boyfriends after losing their job or suffering some sort of injury; wives who abandon their husbands when they are diagnosed with terminal cancer. It’s absolutely despicable! I thought they were supposed to be the compassionate ones. Why does it seem like they are, actually, the more diabolical ones?”
“My ex called me about a year after our divorce went through. Of course I let it go to voicemail. She was arrested and in a mental hospital. For the next month, I got 2 calls a day. Each one maxing out the voicemail limit, saying the same strange things over and over. And of course, she “didn’t do anything wrong” and the cops framed her. Then the calls tapered off for a few weeks and one day finally, they stopped. Never answered her. Never heard from her again…”
How brutal was Genghis Khan? The guy was a one-man wrecking crew on a continental scale. He and his Mongol horde were responsible for the annihilation of entire empires, like the Khwarazmian Empire, which was wiped off the map in about two years. We’re talking about cities falling one after another, populations being massacred, and cultural legacies destroyed.
The Mongols employed psychological warfare, making sure their atrocities were well-known to instill fear in their enemies. They had a simple policy: “Surrender or face decimation.” And by decimation, we mean the wholesale slaughter, rape, and enslavement of entire populations.
Who says so! The western media? Did you count the body? The U.S. wanted to break up China into 100 bite size nations and chew on it like candy in 1945. The lost miserably. And had to do shit it Taiwan up till now. 74 years later!
Can you trust anything from western media? 15 million? Why not say 150 million. After all it is just another zero in their typing machine! Stop being a fool. Grow some grey matter, it is good for you. You really want gore details?
How many African slaves were tortured, lynched to death? Raped and killed? How many slaves baby were thrown to feed crocodiles? How many American natives were culled like sheep by white Caucasian cowboys? How many Japanese had to die to avenged Pearl Harbour? How many Vietnamese women and children were Agent Orange or Nepalm burnt alive? How many Muslims died from your cowardly Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya carpet bombings? How many Latin and African lives are lost die to US actions by CIA?
10 million? 100 million? The trouble U.S. Chinese are hell of a lot more intelligent than ignorant and naive Yanks. To Chinese and indeed 5–7 billion others Mao did what is right to save China from U.S. becoming USSR, or Yugoslavia or Middle East. Broken into tiny nations with U.S. puppet!
Stray Cat Paws At The Window Every Day Until Lady Adopts Him | The Dodo
Russia has a lot of natural resources such as oil and gas, coal, gold, manganese, uranium, copper, nickel, iron, chromium, graphite and so on.
The European countries to the West need those resources and are constantly expanding NATO eastwards, threatening Russia’s security.
This is why Russia needs a strong military to defend itself.
But Russia is not a poor country as you are trying to imply. In fact, Russia has the fifth largest GDP PPP in the world behind China, US, India and Japan.
Many years ago, my husband was in a terrible car accident and ended up with a broken neck. At the time our two daughters were 13 and 10 years old. My husband had to be transferred to a larger hospital about an hour away. I and my husband both have great families who live nearby. I depended on them to make sure our daughters were taken care of while I was at the hospital with him, along with many of his family members. I came home, after finally getting word that he was going to survive and had a very life threatening surgery to stabilize his neck, which did save his life. When I got home, I found my lawn mowed, brand new pillows and a new phone line installed where my husband would be spending the first part of his recovery downstairs in our home. All was done courtesy of my brother’s best friend who I had always considered to be a second brother to me. I also found out that he had picked up my girls and bought them dinner and just made sure they were well cared for and feeling secure during such a hard time and while our families were busy supporting us at the hospital. Friends like him are too precious to ever take for granted.
When I was almost 50,i reached what for me, was the top goal professionally – becoming the VP of IT in my division. “I made it”! Woo-hoo! After 20y of hard work and risk, I made it to the top.
Just one thing – I categorically, absolutely HATED the job. Plus I worked for a four star Ahole of a boss.
After 7 months I stepped down and took a 70k a year pay cut to go back to being a senior software engineer, a job where I loved the work and was gifted at it. I never even looked at the ladder again let alone climb it. I retired in 2020 as a senior software engineer with no regrets at all.
Do you know why everyone says the 20s are the best years?
Because most people stop living after they turn 30. And many stop living even while they’re in their mid-20s.
Many people graduate college with degrees they didn’t really want. They just got the degree their parents wanted them to get, or the degree they thought they should get in order to find a stable job, or the degree that was easiest to tolerate for four years.
Many people leave college and settle into a job they don’t really enjoy. They pick up the first “good job” that presents itself, get comfortable, and decide to start working their way up the ladder there.
Many people begin living life beyond their means as soon as the opportunity presents itself. They don’t save money, they spend money. They pick up an expensive car payment. They blow it on bar tabs and once a year trips somewhere so they can forget about the other 51 weeks they spend doing something they don’t really enjoy.
Many people get married because they think they have to. Or they get married because nothing else exciting is going on in their lives and they think, “This is what being in your 20s is all about!” They get married because they would rather be with someone else than be alone. Etc. etc. (And if you’re getting married for the right reasons, by the way, congrats.)
Many people start having kids. They want to buy a home. They want to provide for this family-in-progress—and so now there is absolutely no possible way for them to leave their job or career path because they have too much overhead. It becomes a financial no-no.
The reason everyone says your 20s are the best years is because most people create a safe and comfortable lifestyle before they even turn 30.
And then as soon as they turn 30, they’re done. They don’t have any more “goals.” They don’t work on acquiring new skills. They don’t find ways to go outside their comfort zone. They stop reading. They stop learning. They stop, essentially, looking at life as an opportunity for growth, and instead repeat the phrase, “I am so old.”
That is the opposite of how I ever want to live my life.
I realize the above are sweeping generalizations, but the sad part is they are true. In a lot of cases, the majority of people stop. They just stop. They find what’s comfortable and then they’re done. Life becomes a countdown to dusk, instead of a journey toward the sun.
And the worst part?
They look back and say, “Your 20s are the best years of your life!”
Every year has the ability to be the best year of your life.
It’s up to you what you choose to do with it.
Driving in a sports car
Cajun Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
2023 11 11 20 14
Ingredients
4 tablespoons butter, softened
8 slices crusty Italian bread
6 tablespoons pepper jelly
8 slices pepper jack cheese
8 slices Muenster cheese
2 links andouille sausage, grilled, each link cut into quarters and split lengthwise*
Instructions
Spread 2 tablespoons butter on one side of four slices of bread.
Spread pepper jelly on one side of the remaining slices of bread.
On the slices of bread with pepper jelly, place two slices of pepper jack cheese and two pieces of grilled andouille sausage.
Cover the andouille sausage with two slices of Muenster cheese and top with the remaining slices of bread, butter-side out.
Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat.
Place sandwiches, butter-side down, in the skillet and spread the remaining 2 tablespoons butter over the tops of the sandwiches.
Cook sandwiches, in batches if necessary, for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until golden and the cheeses are melted.
Serve immediately.
Notes
* May substitute any other smoked sausage for the andouille
I have been to two mortgage parties. At each, the couple spent about as much as one mortgage payment, to supply food and booze, to maybe 50 friends and family. Everyone was ecstatic for them.
I personally have never held one, but I think they are a great idea. Sometimes it feels like the only time old friends get together is at funerals. This brings everyone together, for happy times.
A United States Air Force E-4B aircraft, which is a designated National Airborne Operations Center (NAOC) took off from Offutt Air Force Base this afternoon, headed out over the Gulf of Mexico, and Transmitted an Emergency Action Message (EAM) to US Nuclear Missile Submarines, using Very Low Frequency (VLF) Comms.
There’s something unnerving seeing a E-4B NAOC (GORDO16) and a E-6B TACAMO (FULL02) launch from Offutt AFB around the same time. As you can see from the FlightRadar24 map image below, that’s what happened.
The E-4B
The E-4B serves as the National Airborne Operations Center and is a key component of the National Military Command System for the President, the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In case of national emergency or destruction of ground command and control centers, the aircraft provides a highly survivable command, control and communications center to direct U.S. forces, execute emergency war orders and coordinate actions by civil authorities.
The conduct of E-4B operations encompasses all phases of the threat spectrum. Additionally, the E-4B provides outside the continental United States travel support for the Secretary of Defense and his staff to ensure Title 10 command and control connectivity.
The E-6B
The E-6B Mercury is a communications relay and strategic airborne command post aircraft. It provides survivable, reliable, and endurable airborne Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3) for the president, secretary of defense and U.S. Strategic Command.
Only One Job:
The E-4B and E-6B at the end of the day only have one job: getting the message out (Nuclear launch codes) from the NCA (National Command Authority) to the United States Nuclear Triad by any means necessary.
Those means include a variety of waveforms including VLF, HF, UHF, SHF and beyond.
A B-52, B-2, ICBM Silo, or Submarine, will decode these encrypted messages and either launch their nuclear weapons at an intended target – – or not – – based on the decisions of our elected public officials.
So imagine my dismay when surveillance picked up the E-4B transmitting an EMERGENCY ACTION MESSAGE(EAM) while out over the Gulf of Mexico this afternoon! More specifically, the aircraft was messaging our nuclear missile SUBMARINES because it was using VLF, Very Low Frequency, to send the encoded message. VLF is the band that penetrates the ocean to sufficient depth, to reach our submerged nuclear missile subs.
USA civil war?
The state of Colorado ruled Trump ineligible for the 2024 election. An account of something something insurrection democracy something.
As it stands, Trump will compete in only 49 states in the election.
It is likely, others will follow. If a few swing states do it, then result of the election is successfully altered.
If supreme court does not strike these down, the United States is officially no longer a democracy.
If supreme court strikes it down, the damage is still done. People will lose trust that their vote matters.
The country is headed into civil war.
Posted by: FieryButMostPeaceful | Dec 21 2023 16:26 utc | 3
Began the telemarketer. We’d been getting a lot of those calls in the past few weeks and I was about 19 or so, so my evil little comedic mind was at work.
Here’s the thing: no one asks those bastards (you know I wanted to say something else) to call us personally! We want them to stop. It was back in the early days of this crap and many of the accents over the phone were still American.
“I have amazing news!!”
“You found a kidney??!”
“Uh, what?”
“You found a kidney!!!! You’re from the hospital, right? We’ve been waiting by the phone and- and I just can’t believe this is really happening; bless you; thank God!”
“Um…no… I’m… calling about (something he suddenly had dramatically less confidence in).”
“You- you’re not from the hospital?”
“No, sorry, I-“
(I turned my head from the phone and didn’t really muffle it properly.) “Oh, don’t cry, Sarah, sweetie! They’ll find one! It’s okay sweetheart, don’t worry.”
(I turned back to the phone.) “I’ll just call back later.”
“Thanks; I’m sorry: could you please keep the line clear? We’re waiting to hear from the hospital.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll do that.”
It got played about 2 more times and then those bastards stopped harassing us by phone to buy or sign on to their whatever.
Meanwhile, about China…
US are completely paranoid about China overtaking them, their tactics to block them has simply backfired spectacularly, so the US resort to scaring every neighbour of China into thinking they are going to invade them, including us.
Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand 19h This is a good read on “why the American technological war against China could backfire” and “supercharge China’s creation of an independent computer chip industry”. theconversation.com/why-the-…
It’s exactly what is happening and at the end of the day, as the article makes clear, it’s all about hubris.
It was always beyond delusional for the US to believe that it could stop the technological progress of a country that IS AHEAD OF THEM on all metrics that matter for it, as detailed in the article: – “Chinese high schoolers score the highest in the world in reading, science and mathematics” – “Chinese universities are outperforming institutions in the rest of the world in the vast majority of disciplines”. For instance, critically, China has 6 of the top 10 universities in the world in engineering whilst the US only has 2… – China produces more than double the number of STEM PhDs every year than the U.S. – “In 2022, China overtook the U.S. for the first time as the country or territory publishing the most research articles in prestigious natural science journals” – “China published the highest number of scientific research papers annually between 2018 and 2020, and had 27.2 per cent of the world’s top one per cent of the most frequently cited papers, compared to 24.9 per cent for the U.S.” – According to research done by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute “China is leading [the world] in 37 of 44 cutting-edge technologies, including nanoscale materials and synthetic biology” – Etc.
Conclusion from the article: “When it comes to the use and production of knowledge-based industries, China has more advantages than any other country in the world. American actions will create a new generation of Chinese high-tech firms that will compete directly with the U.S. and western businesses from whom they used to buy their products. These firms will produce more affordable products than their western counterparts, and could dominate technological infrastructure in the Global South.”
In a nutshell the very notion that China is a country whose technological progress could be stopped is almost criminally deluded, and derives from both a deep misunderstanding of China by the US and a deep overestimation of American capabilities… Adopting this strategy is backfiring big time and will without a doubt yield a considerably worse result for the US than if they’d favored a “coexistence” collaborative approach 🤷♂️
When I worked security, I knew people whose job consisted entirely of occupying a space for a long period of time.
Technically, they were securing the area and they had a walkie-talkie to call the rest of us if anyone tried to go into the area who shouldn’t have been there. But no one ever tried to get into those areas.
I worked at an outdoor concert place that had upscale restaurants around the perimeter of the grounds. Those restaurants closed when the show started, and security guards were put in the restaurants to make sure no drunk concert goers tried breaking into them.
I volunteered for that position once, and never again. I literally sat in a dark, empty restaurant for four hours. I could hear the music outside, and I could see people walking by the windows, but no one tried to come into the restaurant. No one ever tried. It was so boring… I requested to be in front of the stage for shows after that.
I was skidding through my freshman year, sleepwalking to classes and nursing hangovers. I’d just stepped into an elevator on our first day and noticed Professor Kaplan standing next to me. I’d heard about him. He was allegedly one of the best professors, a former Harvard lecturer.
image 346
I turned and said, “Greetings professor! I believe I’m attending your lecture today.” Holding his notebooks, he turned, smiled, and said, “My condolences.” And then he proceeded to give one of the best lectures I’ve ever seen. His display of humility in that elevator made him that much more endearing.
Self-deprecating humor, done lightly, and framed in a positive way, is powerfully charismatic. It makes people feel comfortable and appeals to their insecurities. But if you make a joke about your third wife leaving you, you might be overkilling it.
A lot of people think I’m paid to write the things I write, I merely have a fair bit of free time. Today was the last day for my day job until next year, tomorrow is a massive party though…
Anyway me and a couple of other shit posters irritate enormous amounts of westerners merely by our free time shit posting.
People don’t like to argue against me because I like to use western media to debunk western media. Last night for instance a person said the BBC is honest. I then showed them two BBC clips together and one was very different.
Imagine 500million extra internet users even MORE aggressive and shit postery than me? I say 500 million because while 900 million people can write English to an OK level only about 500 million are proficient.
Imagine ME x 500 or x 5000. And here’s the thing, I’m overseas born, so I’m a hell of a lot easier going than a lot of Chinese people.
Back in 2006 me and a friend had been Christmas shopping, and it was a big outing for me, I had been battling Leukemia for a number of years, and after having a bone marrow transplant I was finally able to be out of a sterile environment,.
We went into a Restaurant and were seated right next to a table where 3 quite over weight women were seated.
I was very thin, I am 5 foot 7 and at the time weighed about 105 lbs. I didn’t have much of an appetite, so when finished my meal was barely touched, the waitress asked me if I wanted a box to take food with me, and I said no.
Well that prompted one of the “ ladies” to loudly say say “ Skinny Bitch, you can tell SHE is on drugs”!
I just looked at her and said “ well, not since the bone marrow transplant, thankfully I am done with Chemo.”
Back in 1981, I was kitchen manager at a new pizza place in town. We were about 4 months in and turning a good profit. The guy who managed the place was a great guy and everyone who worked there loved him. The actual owner of the place had a daughter with a boyfriend. He fired our boss for no reason and said his brat’s boyfriend was the new boss, a guy who had never worked in food service before (it’s just a pizza joint, how hard could it be?). Then we were told we would need to be attend a meeting to talk about these changes at 4:00pm. We did the following: 1) added shit-tons of salt and cayenne pepper to existing pizza sauces, 2) changed the printed recipe for dough to make it unlikely to rise correctly, and if it did rise to certainly taste bad, 3) change the sauce recipe to make it inedible, and 4) swap all the lines around for the soda machine, so that when you dispensed from Coke, Dr. Pepper came out, etc. We only had beer in bottles, and our bottles were longneck deposit bottles, and they hadn’t picked them up yet, so we loaded all the beer into the back of a pickup truck, filled the beer cooler with empties, and took the beer to an undisclosed location. Four o’clock came around and everyone was there. New boss, his girlfriend, and the owner were there and as soon as the new manager was introduced, we got up, walked out the door, and soon found ourselves at said undisclosed location, partaking in recently purloined beer and repeatedly calling in take-out orders that would never be picked up. Did I mention, there was a reservation for a party of 30 that night at 6:00?
Besides making a bad life decision that cost him his life, he also got the opportunity to take a step back but decided to dive back in immediately:
There is an island called “North Sentinel” which is home to 150 natives who vehemently refuse all contact with the outside world.
This rule makes sense, as these human beings are not accustomed to the diseases of the modern world, and any contact could lead to contamination that would be fatal to their small tribe.
But this didn’t stop John Allex Chau, a 27-year-old preacher, from travelling to the island to preach about Jesus Christ.
image 349
He was showered with arrows which, fortunately for him, all missed their target.
Logically, he decided to return the following day for a second attempt.
A completely dumb decision, as the poor man would never leave the island alive.
Didn’t he think God was maybe sending him a divine message the first time the arrows missed his head?
A few years ago, I was charged with ordering breakfast sandwiches for everyone in the office for our morning meeting.
As I went around and got everyone’s orders, ‘Dave’ specifically asked for no mayo on his sandwich. I made a note on the order next to his name that said “NO MAYO” and sent in the order.
Half an hour later, I was distributing the sandwiches and heard Dave say, “Oh, har har har. You’re so funny, Kate.”
I came over to see what he was talking about and started laughing.
Dave’s ‘sandwich’ was comprised of two buns that were swimming in mayo.
No egg.
No bacon.
No cheese.
No ham.
Just an ungodly amount of mayo everywhere.
Someone had to have emptied half a container of mayo in between the buns, and thought, “Hmmm… not quite enough”. And then slathered the outside of the buns, and then thought, “Nope, doesn’t cut it!”. And then wiped more mayo on the inside of the packaging.
After I finished laughing, I took it back and showed the cashier who was absolutely appalled at the mayo monstrosity in my hands.
She went in the back and asked the other guys what the hell had happened and why on earth they made a mayo sandwich.
Apparently they thought it said “Only mayo.”
In which case, they fucking nailed it.
Modern Women Are FREAKING OUT As 63% Of Men Have WILLINGLY Left The Dating Scene
Keep it simple. 50% of women in the 20s and 30s today will NEVER get married, and will NEVER have children. Up your game girls
I was 18 and at home with dad, while mom and my brother had gone out of town.
He asked me if I wanted to watch any movie and I replied a big enthusiastic yes.
I suggested a Bollywood movie Gangster. He agreed. I hadn’t seen the movie’s trailer. What a mistake.
We went to the mall, got the tickets.
When the awkward scenes started, he turned to me and said,
“You should watch such movies with your friends. Why did you tag me along?”
“I am sorry I didn’t know they had such scenes.”
“No worries. Let’s see the movie now. Next time see the trailer before suggesting it to me.”
When it got over we went over to the food court for dinner.
I noticed a guy and wondered where have I seen him when my dad said,
“He is not your type.”
“What?”
“He is not your type.”
“Who? I was not looking at him in that sense.”
He smiled.
“What makes you think he is not my type.”
“He has a moustache. You hate moustaches.”
“How do you know that?”
“Well you know right, I had a moustache till you were a toddler? You would constantly pull them and say you hate it. Why do you think I have been moustache free all these years?”
I smiled at the memory when he pointed to another fellow and said,
Not me, but I was there. My mom was driving and my brother & I, about 9&6 years old, were fighting in the back seat. She’s yelling at us to stop fighting, and didn’t realize that she got into the town speed limit zone (35 instead of 45).
The cop came up and asked why she was going so fast, and she told him. Next thing you know, he’s got the back door open and is lecturing us about how mom needs to pay attention while driving and if we are fighting in the back seat she can’t. And if he catches us fighting in the back seat again, he might have to arrest us. Then he told my mom to drive safe, and to let him know if we caused any more trouble.
Years later, I asked her if she remembered. She laughed, and let me know that of course she did. He had been one of her classmates, she had known him since they were little kids.
I read a book about a magician who performed a stunt where he was locked into a glass box above the city. He did not eat for 53 days, he could only drink water. His stunt had to quit as doctors were monitoring his vitals and after 53 days they started to get too bad.
I couldn’t believe someone could fast that long without food and live, so I wanted to try it myself. I like challenging myself in weird ways I guess. But, I had to make sure I wouldn’t die first, a lot of people told me I probably would.
It turns out, fasting has been used for centuries as a form of healing. Catholic churches had fasting centers where people could come when they got sick back in the day. Jesus, Gandhi, and pretty much every religious figure did it. It was well known that fasting healed the mind and the body.
I read a lot of literature on how fasting has reduced cancerous tumors and even autoimmune diseases. I read about all of it’s supposed health benefits: teeth whitening, skin clearing, tumor shrinkage, plaque eating, and fat reduction. They all sounded good to me. It said you got a heightened clarity of mind after 21 days so that was the time frame I decided to do.
I began my fast. The first day wasn’t bad. The second day I got really hungry and then it went away. The third and fourth day were bad. I was so hungry I didn’t even leave my couch. I just sucked down water all day and slept. Apparently, after 72 hours your body goes into ketosis and starts living off of fat reserves. I think it took closer to 96 hours for me.
After that, I completely lost my hunger. I actually had a lot of energy. The hard part wasn’t eating, I no longer wanted food. The hard part was boredom!!! I suddenly went from eating 3 meals a day to eating nothing. The time I spent cooking, eating, and washing dishes was given back to me, probably at least 4 hours. I couldn’t work out (bad on a fast) so that was out. I couldn’t do any social things because those all involved eating a meal, drinking coffee, or alcohol, none of which I could do at the moment. So, I became ultra productive. I got all my homework done weeks in advance, I started crocheting and painting, and I slept a lot. My mom and friends received calls from me every day. I had so much TIME.
Some days I felt weak, but other days I had a ton of energy. I felt great and really happy. My skin cleared up a lot after the 10th day and I did notice my teeth getting whiter. My tongue got white stuff on it; according to the internet that’s a way your body gets rid of toxins. I lost around a pound of weight a day.
After the 21st day, I was ready to eat again out of boredom. I started by drinking a decaf coffee. That was a mistake, my stomach had lost its lining so the acidity of coffee made me throw up. Everything I ate was really intense. Fruit tasted sweeter and everything had so much flavor.
Overall, I’d lost 24 pounds and I looked really good. But, I had never regained hunger. That meant I still had fat stores on me. If you fast long enough, you’ll regain hunger one day which they call your “true hunger”. That means your fat reserves are up and your body will start eating your muscles to survive, so you really need to start eating after that! I’d also lost some muscle, I was weaker at the gym now, but I regained my muscle quickly.
Most people, if you’re a normal weight, can fast 20-40 days before regaining hunger, before their total fat stores are up. After regaining hunger, your body starts to eat muscle tissue for energy, which includes your heart, and it’s only a matter of time before it will give out. Perhaps 7–20 days until death as preducted by some studies.
But, if you’re overweight or obese, you’ll have a ton of fat stores ready to use. One guy fasted for 384 days under medical supervision on nothing but water and tea with no adverse affects. I’m sure he could have made it quite a while longer until his fat stores were completely up but he ended the fast when he hit 180 lbs.
So the answer is, it varies. But, if you’re of a normal weight, your maximum is probably somewhere from 20-40 days until your muscle tissue begins to get compromised.
Yep! I was 17 working at a mom ’n pop kinda thing, local hardware store. The type where entry-level workers just write in what they can work on a calendar posted in the back room.
Well, one day, the owner came to me and told me that there was about $50 missing from my register. I was usually one of the closers, and I always went to the bank with the nighttime lead to drop off the deposit. I thought maybe I just counted wrong or something. The owner said that if he saw that kind of discrepancy again, I would be fired. I said ok, yes, I understand. I worked for about another week, but I could tell that I was being watched by hawks.
So when I went the next week to write myself in on the schedule, I saw my name crossed out with White-Out on the calendar. Confused and a bit suspicious, I wrote myself back on. When I came in for work, the owner pulled me aside and told me that there was another $70 found missing from my drawer and that I was no longer employed there. Well, ok, fine. Maybe I can’t count, or I’m just an idiot, but whatever. I kind of knew I was going to be fired soon when I saw my name whited-out on the calendar.
For the record, I was at a party with a bunch of random neighborhood friends a few years later, and I overheard a guy I used to work with talking trash about the hardware store and how he robbed the place blind and didn’t even get fired for it—someone else did.
Almond Chicken
almond chicken
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts
1 teaspoon ginger
2 teaspoons honey
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons soy sauce
12 ounces Chinese pea pods
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup natural whole almonds
3 to 4 tablespoons water
1/3 cup sherry
Instructions
Skin, bone and cut up chicken breasts into 1/2-inch cubes.
In a bowl, mix ginger, honey and cornstarch and blend in water, soy sauce and sherry.
Thaw pea pods if frozen. In a wok, heat oil over medium heat.
Add almonds, stirring and cooking for about 3 minutes.
Add chicken and cook just until meat turns white.
Pour in sherry mixture and cook until sauce thickens.
I was working in a supermarket in October 2001. I bent down to pick a can of beans off the bottom shelf on an aisle.
As I stood up, my vision shattered.
Image: My vision shattered much like looking into a light diffuser on a fluorescent light.
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I also began with a severe headache on the right side of my head.
Over the next few days the headache went away but my vision remained poor inmy right eye.
I was sent to a local eye hospital by my doctor and there I was told after several days of testing that I had Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome, an auto-immune disorder in the same family as Lupus.
The eye problem was a blood clot that had formed and destroyed the blood supply to the retina of my right eye. Treatment was to be life long and I would need to take blood thinners, then Warfarin though today I take other blood thinner drugs.
I also had to have extensive laser surgery on my right eye to prevent further damage from the clot and resulting new blood vessel growth.
Five and a half years later, when I was going through a non theraputic dosage of Warfarin. I had a similar event, a blood clot formed in my left eye. Destroying that retina and leaving me legally blind.
Let me help to makes western admirers amongst orientals such as Japan-and South Korea, people from greater China such as Hong Kong and Taiwan and neighbours such as Phillipines and Vietnam see light.
I am qualified to advise and share my experience. I was born in Malaysia and now a Singaporean who were a starry eye west admirer for say the first 20 years of my life.
Today I am a practical and pragmatic person who sees things differently. If your nation is a direct neighbour or in Chinese neighbourhood, try to comprehend the following.
China has been around for 5000 years as your neighbour and during 4800 out of the 5000 years China were really really strong. In fact so strong it could if it wants to, to walk right into your nation and claimed it for good. But they didn’t. Japan, Korea, Philippines, India, Vietnam and others remain a fully sovereign nation. Appreciate that.
Just look at the nation that lies and spread fear about China, the U.S. it is barely 247 years old yet it started as a 13 states union and in less than a hundred years it stole another 37 states from its neighbours. And what did the U.S. do in Asia! It murdered 3 million Vietnamese, a million each in Philippines in Mindanao, Laos and Cambodia, and at least 2 million suspected communists in Indonesia and colonised the Philippines for close to 50 years.
And they do that as a nation 10 thousand miles away from Asia! China is stone’s throw away from your shores yet you are still independent! So be logical and honest about who is the aggressor and who respects your sovereignty? If you are fair China is a 5000 years gentleman. The U.S. is a 247 years hoodlum you never ever want to get close with, unless you are inviting trouble.
Next let me help you know your future. China is the world’s most humongous market. Your nation is blessed to have such a huge market at your door step. They can buy your products and resources and yet supply you with value for money product for a song.
They are not the despicable west who wants to change your way. They even say their socialism with Chinese characteristics is not exportable and urge you to seek your best political and social system going forward. US says it is their way or the highway! In fact they murdered 5 million Indo Chinese to make them democratic unsuccessfully in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
Go to the U.S. to have fun and travel around, do business with them as they are a big spender. But whatever you do remember who really is with you and where is your future with. Most of all remember where is your nation is geographically and China will always be there! It cannot be floated away and so are you, you are stuck there.
Don’t ever let your nation be another Ukraine, the U.S. want your people to die and your nation to be destroyed just to poke China in the eye, just like how they used Ukraine to poke Russia in the eye, unfortunately one time too many. Don’t let them have even one CIA or NED officials in your nation. And don’t ever be used as a cannon fodder.
Grow up and know right from wrong. Korea for example, whether you stay rich and get richer depends on China not the U.S. The only thing the U.S. can help you is simply to get your nation destroyed! China will always be there, it will grow to be 4–5 times the size of the U.S. economy before then of this century. And as a market for Korea, it will be bigger than your next 20 biggest market! So get real, grow up like me, be a realist and be smart.
Vote in a pro Chinese candidate. Vote in a leader that has no inclination to do shit for the U.S. And tell the US. that you are a friend and a partner of China, and that you want American’s as tourist and investor. But under no circumstances will you allow them to interfere in your nation and in Asia. Asia is for Asians. If you have issues involving the US is a sure way to implicate the issues and create discord.
A bunch of young dumb grunts are meandering about the country looking for bad guys, WMDs and whatever else General Mattis (pbuh) felt was appropriate at the time. In this case it was myself and the United States Marine Corps.
Being young, dumb and American, we naturally did not speak much Arabic besides the usual peacekeeping terminology like get your hands up, stop, get down and f#ck off. As is common in these conflicts, we tend to recruit native speakers to act as interpreters.
For reasons unknown, I happened to remember one of these dudes in particular. Let’s call him Joe Hammad for the sake of security. Now these guys usually don’t work anywhere near their hometowns in country because let’s be honest, in the eyes of the bad guys, hell even in the eyes of many locals, these guys are narcs. Snitches get stitches and all that but ramped up to 3rd world standards.
In exchange for helping us communicate with an often unfriendly populace, these dudes are offered visas to go stateside should they fulfill their obligations. For many reasons, this often doesn’t happen. Remember the snitches thing?
Fast forward to 2014. Suburb of a large Arizona city. My broke ass is out of the military and between employment so I decide to put an ad on Craigslist to let a room of my house for rent. Thank goodness I was financially smart enough to have owned my own home at the time.
Within a few days of placing the ad, I have a nibble or two but this one guy comes with cash in hand. I meet him on the porch when he arrives. He’s an Arab man of medium height, about 45 years old and well spoken with a sharp sense of humor. Within minutes we both had a clear spark of recognition.
And that’s how Joe Hammad from Iraq became my roommate after the war in Iraq ended.
I can’t say for sure whether or not you’re missing any secret ingredients, since I don’t know your recipe. I am certain you’re missing one key component though, and that’s heat.
Chinese restaurants cook over commercial wok burners, which put out 125,000 BTUs of heat. Your home stove might generate 15,000 BTUs out of its largest burner. That’s a pretty significant difference.
The heat of a wok burner imparts a distinctive flavor onto foods. When foods hit the polymerized surface of a hot steel wok, they instantly release moisture, which leaves the food in the form of steam. The foods are tossed through the rising steam, where they capture the droplets of water, and fall back into the wok. This action, repeated over and over, is the essence of wok cooking. The intense heat also causes rapid browning and caramelization and gives the food a distinctive smokey flavor. The flavor, known as Wok Hei in Cantonese, is what makes Chinese take out so crave able, and can’t be duplicated on a home stove. None of what I described can be duplicated, to the same degree, on a home stove. It just doesn’t generate enough heat.
My daughter’s car was hit by a speeding unmarked police car. I have written about this and she is recovering well. When I got to the scene, she was still trapped but the fire brigade were on the scene and had everything in control. While they were waiting to cut my daughter out, the lead fireman came over to me and told me to take as many pictures and as much video as I could and to make sure I got pictures of the officers involved. As soon as I started taking pictures a uniformed policeman came over and said that I had to stop as it was an active crime scene. I said that was nonsense and carried on taking pictures. He carried on saying I should stop. I told my wife who had just turned up to take pictures as well. The policeman just walked away. We took loads of pictures and videos, the witnesses telling us what happened. It took two months for the police to give my solicitor any indication that an officer was involved in the crash and this was only because he sent them some of our photographs. They now say there will be no criminal charges to either driver and that his speeding was legal as he was on a covert operation. He was unhurt and walking around, he never once came over or asked how my daughter was. I am glad that I did not listen to the policeman and I am sure that the video and pictures will help in the civil case.
Back when I was (a lot) younger, after a softball game both teams (mine and the other side, who were all good friends on and off the field) came back to our cars to find someone had parked lengthwise behind three of our cars. None of the three could get out because this unthinking individual parked lengthwise and not in a valid parking spot behind them.
We waited about 20 minutes or so chatting, hoping the person would come out and move. They never did. It was a smallish car, a Corolla, so several of us carried the car to the space in the hedge where people had access to the softball fields beyond. It fit perfectly, the front bumper against one side of the gate and the rear bumper within two inches of the other side. Note this wasn’t a metal gate, it was a hedge with an arbor vitae forming the “sides” of the entrance.
Then, out of sheer schadenfreude, we waited. Some left, of course, but most of us were there about 45 minutes later when the person came back to discover their car was basically unmoveable without cutting down a tree owned by a private entity, or have it dragged out by tow truck.
Going Anonymous as my parents follow me and I don’t want them to know this.
I was young ,probably in 7th or 8th standard when I used to do this.There is a bakery near my home of which I still am a regular customer .I buy things from the place at least 5 times in a day.
As we were regular customers we had credit system of paying the owner .We used to pay our credit on a monthly basis. So basically anyone from my family could go and get anything from the bakery and the owner would just write it in his accounts book and we used to pay the whole amount at the end of the month.
Me being really smart found a loop hole and would buy a lot of snacks,basically all kinds of items available for me to eat . I would just buy snacks worth Rs 2000 or so when the owner was not at the counter. He had an assistant who did not know how t read or write so he used to tell me to write it in the accounts book and I would just pretend to write everything and hand him over the book and he never used to check or bother about it.
I did this 3–4 times when I started to feel guilty about this because clearly it was shoplifting or stealing.
I later made a promise to myself that I will never do this again and would pay the whole amount I had stolen to the shopkeeper once I start to earn .
I completed my graduation this year and started working at an MNC and after I got my first salary the first thing I did was to take the money and confess to the shop owner about this.
He got angry at first but looking at my honesty he accepted the whole amount that was due which was about Rs 10000 and thanked me for this.
I told him not to tell my parents about this as they will be really disappointed .
This was the happiest day of my life as a big burden that I carried for almost 6–7 years was finally gone.
I’m not a mechanic, but wanted to share this story.
I needed a new battery for my Jeep Cherokee. I went to the local place that handles my maintenance. I was in a hurry and also needed an oil change. I brought the vehicle into the Maintennance bay. The guy went to get a new battery. He said something about the battery being backwards, or similar statement. It had something to do with not having the exact battery needed. The engineer in me thought that we should wait to get the right battery, but I didn’t push the issue. I had to be somewhere and was in a hurry. The guy puts the battery in and asked me to try to start it. Smoke billowed out of several places inside the vehicle. Wtf was going on?!? This guy had reversed the poles on the battery and had effectively electrocuted my jeep. To say that the electrical engineer in me was upset was an understatement. I had to be somewhere. I got them to fix my Jeep so that it would run. I was irate. It was a Friday. I had to be somewhere all weekend. I was back on Monday morning. Thankfully, they did pretty much everything right. The mechanic had quit, thankfully. There were some additional repairs that had to be completed. Everything was covered.
A few years later, I needed some warranty or recall thing done. The dealership wouldn’t handle the recall work because of non Jeep parts. I went back to the local shop, and they replaced everything with Jeep parts. The dealership handled the recall work.
while I was mad about the incompetence of the mechanic, the local shop did the right thing.
It’s a wild assumption, but one very likely case is Yemen
image 30
For those who quite don’t know, the situation in Yemen is like this
image 29
The green region is under Houthi control (backed by Iranians), the light red is controlled by Hadi government (backed by Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain and even USA), the yellow is the Southern Transitional Council (a movement that wants South Yemen to come back as it existed prior to 1991), and the white is al-Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula, also called AQAP
Now one would expect either of the sides to fall, however seeing the way each one is sticking to their captured lands, it looks that another division of Yemen may actually happen. If the AQAP could be vanquished , then the country would end up with three separate authorities, leaving the whole field very much open for a possible trifurcation . It’s quite possible that the Southern Council could get vanquished too, if that happens then a bifurcation would happen, leading to once again a North and South Yemen to emerge.
The difference would be that unlike the previous versions where North Yemen was an independent Arab Republic and South Yemen was a communist state, this time North Yemen would be an Iran-backed client state whereas South Yemen would be a Saudi-UAE backed client state.
Too white
Chicken Cubes with Cherries, Pineapple and Lichees (Bo Lo Lichees Gai Kew)
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Ingredients
1 chicken breast
1 teaspoon sherry
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon anise pepper
1 tablespoon chopped scallion
1 egg white
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups vegetable oil
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons ketchup
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup lichee juice
1 cup lichee meat
1/2 cup maraschino cherries
1/2 cup pineapple chunks
Instructions
Bone chicken and cut into cubes; mix sherry, light soy sauce, anise pepper and chopped scallion together, pour over chicken and marinate for 30 minutes.
Beat egg white and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch together. Pour over chicken breast mixture.
Heat oil to 325 degrees F. Deep fry chicken. Drain on paper towels.
Mix sugar, ketchup, vinegar, 1 tablespoon cornstarch and lichee juice in saucepan; stir until thickened. Add lichee meat, cherries and pineapple. Stir until hot, then serve over chicken.
This was Central Florida, the lawns were St Augustine grass that with lot of water, mulching and fertilizer, they grew a couple inches a week, and the leaves are wide and tough unlike the soft lawns up north.
My neighbor disliked me because I built a 2 story house and that blocked the view of the lake. We worked for the same company and he was upset that I was hired in at a management level although he didn’t work for me.
Our lawns were about a 1/3 acre, so a Saturday cut and trim would easily take 3 hours with a normal lawn mower.
He bought a basic riding lawnmower, and he would drive his mower on my property, up to 5′ before making a U Turn. That was OK, except he would make the hard turn on top of my sprinklers. Almost every week, I had to replace the broken PVC pipe, digging up my lawn. I tried several things to dissuade him, but in the end on a Friday night, I brought home about 20′ of a high strength braided steel cabling. It was the smallest diameter I could find. I uncoiled it surrounding the sprinkler heads pushing down into the tall grass so you would never see it. But you would hear it, and I was in my garage when I knew he ran over it. The racket it made was frightening.
Even a 25″ blade on a 10 HP motor couldn’t cut it. But it did wrap it around the shaft and stalled the motor. All 20 feet of the cable was gone from my yard.
He had to push his mower to the garage, and spent the rest of the day disassembling his mower to untangle the mess.
The Only Billionaires who are restricted from leaving are those who are Directors of Public Companies or Director’s/Top Executives of Companies that owe minimum 10 Million RMB in Loans to Banks or vide Public Bonds
They need an exit visa
Others can leave when they want
Many Billionaires from the Mainland have their families in Singapore, Australia and USA while they live in the Mainland for 6–9 out of 12 months a year
The only rule for them is they cannot repatriate in excess of $ 300,000 a year out of China , that too for very specific reasons
So what they earn in China, must be kept in China at all costs
They try sending more money out, they face upto 18 years jail
So keep your family wherever you want, have Villas in Sydney or Florida, Send your mainland sons to UK for school but THE MONEY YOU EARN IN CHINA CANNOT LEAVE CHINA OR YOU NEVER SEE DAYLIGHT AGAIN FOR AT LEAST 10–18 YEARS
How about instead of notorious we focus on an evil genius that should be more notorious? Nazi scientists always get all the focus but what if I told you Japan had their own version of an evil scientist and he was an absolute monster.
Meet Shirō Ishii – a serious piece of sh%t
image 348
This guy was a Doctor and microbiologist- and a rather smart one at that. He was regarded as a brilliant person for nearly his entire life. He was well educated and joined the army as a doctor. While there he caught the eyes of his superiors and was sent for further education at Kyoto Imperial University.
During WW2 he was placed in charge of Unit 731 and this is what he was known for.
What was unit 731? Well, they were a scientific unit that conducted experiments and thought up new ways to win the war. Some examples of things they did include
Imprisoning women, raping them until they got pregnant, and then running horrid painful experiments on them just so they could see how certain poisons affected pregnant women.
They would infect people with syphilis and then cut them open (while alive and awake) so they could see what their bodies did as the infection progressed. Women, men, and even children were forcibly infected
This is called vivisection- its the practice of cutting someone open while alive to see what their body is doing and its typically done when experimenting on animals. In unit 731 they did it to people without anesthesia- always resulting in a slow agonizing death for the person.
Injected people with animal blood to see what happens (bad way to die)
Placed people in centrifuges and spun it until they died
Deprived prisoners of food and water to see how long it was until they died
Placed people in low-pressure chambers until their eyes popped out
Burned people alive to see how long they would live
Injected people with saltwater to see what would happen
Poisoned people to see the effects
gave people radiation poisoning to see the effects
Leave 3-day old babies in the cold just to see how long it took them to freeze to death
Tested flamethrowers on live people
Tested grenades on live people
Removed organs for fun. For instance, they would remove someone’s stomach and attach their esophagus to their intestines directly.
Tested hundreds of diseases and biological weapons on people
In all, around 10,000 prisoners were killed by Unit 731 and as many as 20,000 were tested on. The biological weapons produced by this unit were used to kill as many as 500,000 civilians
On a side note not even the Nazis used chemical weapons in WW2 (they only did in concentration camps). The ONLY nation to employ chemical weapons against civilian and military targets in WW2 was Japan.
You may wonder what happened to Shirō. I mean we caught him and put him on trial for war crimes right?
Nope
He was given full immunity in exchange for full disclosure of his tests. American microbiologists stated that Shirō’s findings were extremely valuable and impossible to replicate unless the experiments were done again.
Shirō lived out the remainder of his life a free man and died in 1959.
A businessman went to a shoe store to purchase a new pair of shoes. He was a prominent person in that town. After selecting a pair of shoes with size 8 he asked the salesperson to pack it. The salesperson had just started his career and joined the shoe store a few days back.
The businessman soon discovered that he had left his wallet at home. He told the salesperson that he would take the shoes with him and make the payment the next day. The salesperson being new to business excused himself in order to discuss this matter with the store manager. The manager knew that the customer is an eminent businessman; however, was reluctant to deliver the shoes without payment. At the same time, he was not ready to lose a sale too. He advised the salesperson to handle the situation in the best manner possible and left the place.
The salesperson stood there frozen for a few minutes unable to decide. He then returned to the customer, started packing the shoes and handed the package to the customer.
The next day the customer arrived at the store with the shoes he had purchased, made the payment for his purchase and told the salesperson that “After opening the package I found one shoe with size 8 and the other with size 7. Maybe you packed them by mistake. Can I have the shoes with size 8 please?” The salesperson apologized for the inconvenience caused and replaced the wrong size shoe with the correct one. The customer collected his shoes and left the store with satisfaction.
The manager happened to overhear their conversation and realized that the salesperson had used his presence of mind and handled the situation very well. They didn’t lose their business as well as the customer.
Moral
It is by the presence of mind in untried emergencies that the native metal of a man is tested. If an individual has a calm state of mind, his attitude and views will be calm and tranquil even in the presence of great agitation.
In the fourth grade, Mr. Mowry, our high school biology teacher, visited and gave a lecture. Afterward, he asked the class to name the smartest animal.
One kid said “chimpanzee.” Another said “dolphin.” I kept waving my hand, but he ignored me. (He later told my mother he knew I knew the answer.)
Finally, after the rest of the class ran out of ideas, he asked me. The class looked incredulous when I said “human beings.” After all, people aren’t animals.
His response was “Life has only two choices. Plant or an animal. Which is it?”
(When I had him as a teacher in the tenth grade, I pointed out there were other life forms, such as fungus and bacteria. He acknowledged that, but figured it was a bit much for a fourth grade class.)
In any case, it felt like my fifteen minutes of fame.
I was at a wedding once where the Groom ended up in hospital with achohol poisoning, but it wasnt what you think.
There is a tradition where I live, where right after the ceremony, the bridesmaids “steal” the Groom and take him for a drink. While the groomsmen do the same thing with the Bride.
An hour later, right on time, the groomsmen had the Bride at the next venue where the dinner and dance was to be held, but there was no sign of the bridesmaids and the Groom.
We guests sat around for a bit, wondering what was going on, and eventually food was served despite the fact there was no Groom, and the Bride was looking more and more upset.
It wasn’t until the start of the wedding dance that news filtered through about what happened.
The Groom had never, up to this, had a drink in his life. And the over enthusiastic bridesmaids had made the guy down several hard drinks in that hour.
And, he reacted really badly to them.
So badly they had to take him to the emergency room to be treated for poisoning, and that is where he spent their wedding night.
The rest of the wedding evening for us as guests, kinda fizzled out as you can imagine. But that poor Bride was in tears and left shortly after the dinner to be with her new husband.
Once you VISUALIZE CORRECTLY, the SHIFT happens IMMEDIATELY. (This Is How)
A lot of things, but I’ll focus on just one for this answer. Maybe other parents can relate:
Cooking for the family is a one-person job.
My children always want to help me cook. I remember, as a child, I always wanted to help my mom cook, but she only let me help on the weekends. Now, I usually only let my kids help me cook on the weekends, too.
In fact, during the week, I kick them out of the kitchen, just like my mother did with me 30 years ago.
Why?
Because, after a long day at work, cooking is actually very relaxing… if you’re doing it alone. Cooking with children is mostly just teaching and supervising. I do that all day. I don’t want to come home and do more of it most days.
Plus, when children “help” you cook, it just slows you down, and I’m usually in a hurry to make dinner before my wife gets home.
My children also tend to stand right behind me when I’m cooking, and I’ve tripped over them before. So now, for speed and safety reasons, I have a “the only person who should be in the kitchen while I’m cooking is me” policy on weekdays.
My mom took me to see this doctor when I was 8 years old and she wouldn’t tell me how come. When we got there the nurses took me in and got me ready for the doctor. They had me laying down with things on my arms and legs so I couldn’t move. I thought this was really funny but I was really embarrassed because I didn’t have clothes on and they could see my boy part. When the doctor came in she started looking at my boy part and she asked me if I know why my mom has brought me here this morning and I didn’t know why. I was like yikes when she told me that in a moment they are going to be circumcising my boy part. I have friends that are circumcised and I know what that means and I was like yikes. They give you stuff so it wouldn’t hurt but I still feel her doing stuff to it and I was like yikes thinking about what she is doing. After it was done and mom come in and got me I was really embarrassed because everyone seen it and know what happened to me. We went for breakfast after and mom told the waitress why I had pajama bottoms on. That was the most embarrassing day ever.
Because the biggest killer and tormentors of Muslims (IN THEIR HOME COUNTRIES) this century has been the UNITED STATES!
Back home, Muslims have been discriminated, and watched like a hawk by the authorities, especially those of Middle-east descent.
The last time America “rallied” the Muslim world was the first gulf war, where a UN coalition liberated Kuwait from Iraqi occupation. Cooperation has been downhill ever since. Even MBS, the Crown Prince of Saudia Arabia, has cooled relationships with America and delivered repeat diplomatic snubs. America’s strongest and most important Muslim ally in the Middle East is working hard to diversify risk, such as settling in non-dollar currencies.
Besides, the evidence is weak, and nothing like the blatant genocide/war crime broadcasting live from the Gaza strip today.
I was camping at a campground in Northern California, and had gone to the bathroom in the morning. A guy was washing his hands with his ten year old son. This guy was decked out with a full on safari outfit, right down to the hat and it was clearly brand new.
When they had finished washing hands, the Dad took a few of those super cheap, thin, brown paper towels and dried his hands. When his son reached for his own paper towels, the Dad said “uh uh. Waste not, want not!” And handed him his soggy, used, brown paper towel and the kid had to try to dry his hands with this gross, soggy wad of used paper towel. The dejected look on the kids face said it all.
I was so disgusted with this guy and felt so bad for the kid. If he was so desperate to save such a minute amount of natural resources, he should have let the kid wash and dry first, and used the kids leftovers.
it really felt like psychological abuse, but he said it with such vigor that I think he was just an ignorant narcissist.
It was a Friday night and the last day of school. My son would be a Senior in the fall.
When I pulled down our street on my way home from work, I noticed both sides of the street were lined with parked cars. You probably guessed it. My son had turned our house into Animal House! We had just had a pool built and it was full of kids every afternoon. I didn’t mind. I could relax knowing where my son was.
But this wasn’t one of those afternoon get-togethers. This was a full blown wild party. Girls were naked in the pool, and there were whiskey and beer bottles everywhere. It looked like half the high school was packed into my house.
My fear was someone leaving drunk. I couldn’t let that happen. I found my son. I told him and the group with him that I was going to my room and would let them have their party, but I needed everyone to leave me their car keys. I didn’t want anyone leaving drunk.
In my state, 17 yr-olds are not old enough to drink. I am responsible for each one as long as they’re in my house. I’d also be responsible for them drinking at my house, I could be arrested. But my worry was getting those keys and keeping them from leaving. I’d figure something else later.
I had what looked like 10 sets of keys that kids had gave me. I told them to write their name on their keys. I thought that once I got their keys, I wouldn’t be so worried and I’d contact parents and let them know what was going on.
I’d been home about 15 min, and went in my room to change out of my work clothes. In under 10 min, I was out of my room and was going to get more of the kids’ keys. Problem was, no one was there. The house was empty, and the cars on the street were gone, except for a few that were probably passengers now. Not one kid was in sight, only a few articles of clothing had been left floating in the pool.
I was furious. My son had left too. He wasn’t answering his phone either. I called a few parents and explained. A few didn’t enjoy being bothered with it. None of them seemed concerned. I was so upset I puked. I didn’t know what to do, or where to look. I just prayed they were all safe at someone’s house. I cleaned the house, and every 30 minutes called and texted my son. He never replied. I tried to sleep, but I kept thinking about all the terrible things that could happen to them, how one night of partying can ruin the rest of their life. I couldn’t stop thinking. I probably buried my son a dozen times in my mind that night. Around 3am, I dozed off
At 4:14am, I got a call. The connection was poor, and I couldn’t hear every word, plus there was a lot of noise. I heard “this is blablabla with —-sheriffs —-EMT paramedic—-permission to treat———!l? Ma’am? Hello? We need permission —-accident involving 4 minors—-please ma’am!
I was yelling, “ Yes, yes, you have my permission to treat them.” I kept saying it over and over, because our connection was so bad. I wanted them to hear me.
The call was dropped. I hit redial on the phone, but it wouldn’t reconnect with who just called. I didn’t know where the kids were, who was with my son, or the details of the accident and the injuries. It was like being trapped in a horrible nightmare. I didn’t even know where to begin. I called all the hospitals and police stations in the area. Nothing.
I have never felt that much pain and heartache at the same time. I wanted to be with my son. I was no longer angry, I just wanted to to be where my son was. I kept envisioning the worst. I paced the floor while holding my bible, and praying those next few hours. I hit my knees and begged God to take me and leave the kids here in good health. For hours I was frantic. I was shaking and felt so helpless. The not knowing was tearing me up. I felt crazy.
At 6:20am I get a call from the hospital. She can’t discuss the accident or injuries. She just gave me the address and names of the passengers. These 4 boys were in a hospital a 4 hour drive away. I had to drive 4 hrs, having no idea of what condition my son would be in. This had become the worst night of my life.
This drive was a long 4 hours, plus a bad storm had rolled in and made driving difficult. I kept thinking, “ Why doesn’t my son call? It has to be bad if he’s not calling me.” The hospital was in a small town on the way to a popular city on the bay. I couldn’t believe it! They had left the house and driven to the beach. I kept thinking about all the empty beer bottles and whiskey bottles I’d picked up at the house. My mind was thinking the worst.
It had gotten pitch black, and the wind was gusting. I was driving into a bad storm, lightning struck all around me. The rain was so heavy, I could barely see the lights of the gas station ahead of me. The cars on the road had all pulled in to wait out the storm. I figured I should too. thought I’d fill up with gas, but there wasn’t a pump not in use. I pulled over by the air pump and just then lightning stuck a transformer, it was on fire. My nerves were shot. The explosion scared me so badly that I almost pee”ed my pants. I couldn’t take it. I decided to get out of that parking lot before a gas pump exploded. Just as I was about to pull out, I heard the sirens. Tornado sirens! Wtf! I was done, I couldn’t handle this. I just wanted to be with my son. I didn’t know what to do. The rain was now falling almost perpendicular to the ground. My windows were rolled up, and still the rain was coming in. My car was shaking. I put it in park, turned off the key, and just sat there crying and praying. I couldn’t see anything out of the windows. I heard another loud explosion, but couldn’t see what it was. I shut my eyes and cried. I listened to the wind and thunder and sirens. My car was shaking so badly I thought the doors were going to open. Then everything stopped. The wind had pushed me to the end of the parking lot next to the railroad tracks. There were railroad tracks (the big wooden beams) all around my car. I guess the wind pulled them up and tossed them around. I put the car in drive and drove. I was hyperventilating, and pulled over at a rest area. I began thinking I would never make it to my son.
I made it to the hospital, and found the corridor they were on. When I got off the elevator I was looking at a waiting area. My son and his one friend were sitting there talking and laughing. A cop was sitting with them. I ran to my son, and he stood up. At that moment I didn’t know if I wanted to hug him or punish him. (Of course I hugged him.) I was looking at his face and arms and I wanted to count his fingers and toes just like I did the first time I held him. He was holding me as I was crying tears of relief. Not a scratch on my son’s body. All four boys were fine!
The cop told me that he had seen a car in a corn field and stopped to check it out. Apparently the crash had just happened when he arrived because the tires were still spinning. My son had fallen asleep behind the wheel. When the car went off the road onto the shoulder he woke and his reflex was to turn the wheel. This caused the car to spin and he lost control. It hit a cable line and the car flipped 5 times. One boy in the back seat flew through the windshield and landed 30’ from the car. He drove a hatchback, and the other boy in the back seat was thrown out of the back. No one was wearing seat belts, but not one boy needed a stitch. Thank God! The cop said he didn’t think he’d find anyone alive. It was the worst accident that little town had ever seen. I was so relieved that everyone was fine. The cop told me that when he was walking up to the car he followed a trail of beer cans all the way to the car. They were unopened and no one had been drinking. They were tested and they were all found to be sober. The car had flipped through the corn field, and the cop said the corn probably softened the blows.
We had to go to the wrecker yard to pay for towing The cop told me to prepare myself. There was no way to prepare myself for what I was about to see. His brand new car didn’t have one place on it that wasn’t damaged. You couldn’t tell what you were looking at. The front and back looked the same. The door handles were the only thing that made you know which end was where. Ears of corn were sticking out everywhere. It was a sight. I stood there crying and holding my son and his friend. They cried too.
I don’t remember if my son got a ticket. I do remember that I had to drive him to alcohol awareness classes twice a week for a month. And once a week I had to drive that 4 hrs to see the judge for a month. The car was sold for scrap for $325. I joke now, and say that we would have gotten more for the corn. The other two boys were arrested for having marijuana on them. They had to wait for their parents to get them.
This happened 19 yrs ago. Last year I was visiting friends near that little town. We went to play bingo one evening. I was talking with a couple sitting across from me. I had mentioned that the last time I’d been down this way was for a bad accident that my son was in. The man looked at me and said “OMG! You’re —’s mom!” He knew my sons name, and said he was the cop on the screen. He told me how he has never been able to forget that morning and the accident. He still has nightmares about walking up and finding 4 dead boys. His wife said it really got to him. She had told her husband that he needed to maybe find the boys and once he knew they were okay, maybe the nightmares would stop. But he didn’t have contact info. I showed him pics of my son and grandson. This man cried right there in the bingo hall. I think it did us both good. I hope he’s sleeping better.
I truly believe we a learned something that day. It definitely changed all involved.
Also there’s another more shrewd reason: Any beer that is NOT opened isn’t one that they have sold and it can allow them to 86 a patron who is sneaking in beers to drink.
While this is, of course, uncommon in higher class establishments, in lower-end bars, patrons have been known to BYOB as the prices of the bar’s offerings are unacceptably high in their opinions, necessitating the “need” for them to sneak in their own and defray some of their drinking expenses. The bartender and servers can tell if they see a beer that’s unopened or witness a patron opening their own beverage that the bar didn’t sell it, and they can eject the patron(s) involved.
This actually was quite common at some of the establishments that I used to frequent in North Carolina decades ago. One of the worst fights that I have ever witnessed was when a bartender tried to eject a patron who brought their own and the patron struck the bartender with a bottle. Unfortunately for the patron, things weren’t like a movie and the bartender proceeded to beat the shit out of him which including some kicks to the head when the man was down. Had some other patrons not stopped things, we probably would have witnessed a murder. I left shortly afterward and I never returned to that establishment.
Anyway…an unopened beverage is one that wasn’t sold by the bar and that’s another reason for the bar to open theirs.
Suddenly (for me). He had been planning it for a while as he had met someone else. I found out and confronted him. He admitted it and left. I cried alot mainly because I had two very small children and another on the way. To be honest I was scared. However within a few weeks I began to notice things. The atmosphere in the house was calm and happy and it was MUCH tidier and better organised. . I was far less stressed and not shouting at the children. Mornings were a breeze because I was in charge and there was now a routine. Bedtimes were easy for the same reason (this had been a nightmare before). I enrolled the children in after school activities which they loved and hadn’t been able to do before because ‘we couldn’t afford it’. Also their friends could come over for tea (not allowed before). I had loads of spare money because no one was buying cigarettes or alcohol. Then the icing on the cake… a gorgeous new baby came along. Life was good and 21 years later its better than I ever imagined possible. The woman he left me for is much better for him. She treats him the way he treated me. I am happily married and the children are all grown up. The end of that marriage was the beginning of my life.
Chicken Slices with Sichuan Peppercorn Sauce (Jiao Ma Ji Pian)
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Ingredients
1/2-1 teaspoon whole Sichuan peppercorns
5 green onions, green part only, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons chicken broth
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 pound cooked sliced chicken
Instructions
Soak the Sichuan peppercorns in a small bowl of very hot water for 5 minutes; drain.
Puree the peppercorns, green onions and salt in a food processor; transfer to a small bowl.
Add the broth and soy sauce, stirring until well combined; stir in the sesame oil. Drizzle over the chicken slices.
I’ve written this before and it seems right for this answer.
When young, this is the strangest thing we found in our yard.
Dad had a house built in a new subdivision just out of town. It was one of the first houses. It used to be prairie land.Here’s the story.
Yes. We had a very large, beautiful back yard with fruit trees, lilacs, birch and spruce. It was like a park. Anyway, mom had my older twin sisters and I doing yard work, or helping in yard work because she wanted us to learn about planting, growing and nurturing. Lori and Tracy hated yard work. It was like being on a chain gang to them. “When I have my own place, I’m not having one, bloody plant,” Tracy said. Only she didn’t say bloody. The twins were sixteen here, I was fourteen. I was digging a hole to plant a small tree mom had bought and my spade kept clunking on something.
Lori was raking and Tracy weeding in the garden with a hoe but no plant was safe with Tracy around. Good and bad plants were sliced to death. She figured the worse she did, mom might not ask her to help anymore. “They’re all green anyway!” The girls had better things to do. They would have much rather been with their friends, boys, or shopping for clothes.
I dug around this thing, pulled it out and cleaned some of the mud off of it. It was a small, very old statue like object about a foot and a half long and a eleven inches high.
“Hey guys, come here,” I called my sisters. I always called them guys. They came running over glad to get away from work. We cleaned off the mud as best we could. “Holy shit! Do you know what this is?” Lori exclaimed. “RJ, bring it by the house.”
It looked like it was made of cement. I lugged the heavy thing to the house. Lori turned the hose on it and washed off the rest of the mud. When finished, we stood there looking at a small, very old, well worn statue of a baby kind of laying down in its side. That’s what it clearly was.
Lori looked at Tracy, then me. “I think it could be a grave marker, for a baby. Maybe some pioneer’s child died and they lived around here and buried the child and the father made this statue to honor the baby.” My sisters were real life Nancy Drews plus they had vivid imaginations. Lori had it figured out in minutes. Tracy and I agreed. We couldn’t come up with anything better than that.
“Unless,” I said, “This is a prehistoric baby that was buried and fossilized.”
“Don’t think so,” said Lori quickly.
“Ok,” I said agreeing with my big sister maybe a little too quickly.
“There were no humans in the dinosaur era,” she added, “it’s a babies grave marker.” We lived a way out in the suburbs. Dad bought the land and built a rather large house on it. Pioneers could have lived here and buried their child.
We got mom and dad to come out and have a look and they thought it quite interesting. “Dad, maybe if I dug up around there I might find some more neat things,” I said holding my spade. The twins agreed. “No,” mom said, “knowing you, you’ll have this backyard looking like a prairie dog village.”
We wondered what to do with the baby statue. “Why don’t you put it by your pet cemetery?” Mom said. In the far corner of the yard we had a little pet cemetery with some birds, turtles, fish, my gerbil Gerry, and a squirrel we found dead in the yard. All our pets who died except the bird that flew through the open living room window and my rabbit I took out in the back yard the first day I got him. He hopped away, under the fence and was gone. I was not allowed any pets after that except a fish named Cleo, after Pinocchio’s fish. Cleo was kept in Lori’s room because I overfed the last two fish and they died. “You’re supposed to sprinkle food in lightly,” said Lori, “not give it a big buffet!” I was not trusted with fish.
Anyway, I’m getting way, way off the subject here. We liked the idea of the baby stone guarding our pet cemetery and that is where our unexpected find ended up, watching over our deceased pets. “We have a lot of pets buried out here,” I said after setting the statue near the cemetery.,
“Yeah, and you killed most of them,” Lori said messing my hair. Tracy laughed.
“I did not,” I said, “just two fish that I gave too much to eat and the turtle who escaped and was found under my bed.”
“Cause you left the lid off his pan,” Tracy said. “I think he was trying to crawl into bed with you.”
We stood there looking at the stone baby, as we called it.
“Back to work guys,” mom called, “Tracy, you’ve chopped weeds and good plants, I told you the difference.”
“They’re all green mother, all look the same,” Tracy said under her breath as she walked back to the house.
It was a pretty neat find that we all remember. To this day, we are still not sure of its story but it was a small statue of a baby laying on its side in rest.
It is a child laying on its side in a fetal position facing you, head on a pillow.
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Legend of the Phantom Fortress | The Ghost Plane that Flew and Landed Itself
A girl I knew, we’ll call her Jen, had a pretty lousy dad.
He was on disability from the government and hadn’t worked in years because of a ““““back injury”””” that didn’t hinder him from partying, playing basketball and romping around with girls.
Consequently, he was perpetually broke and living paycheck to paycheck.
Jen’s mother divorced her father when Jen was 2, largely because of his inability and lack of desire to work.
She remarried another man. They had kids, which was fine, but Jen always felt like an outsider in that household.
Her biological dad was in her life but never came through in the most important moments.
Her birthday came around and when I asked if her dad got her anything, she said, “He couldn’t afford to get me a present.”
Without thinking I said, “But wait? Didn’t he just take a surfing vacation to Mexico?”
She sulked and said, “Yeah…”
I felt terrible. Wished I hadn’t said anything.
A birthday present might seem like a small thing, but it is a big deal to a kid.
Airlines have a rule that everyone must be in their assigned seat on take off.
It is because if there is an accident it makes their processes easier after the fact.
Once the plane is in the air, the attendant may move people around.
You have the choice of moving or not – often if you do, the seat offered to you will be better than the one you have. But check first.
I was in the situation where I had an aisle seat in a bank of 3, and the other two seats were taken up by a couple who were extremely fat. They didn’t speak the language I spoke, but by gesture the man was pretty clear what he wanted, and was getting really angry with me. However, I had sat down and stayed there. There literally was no room for me between them, as it was I could barely keep my seat. He called the flight attendent and was insisted I swap. She explained to him, and then to me, in English, that she had to insist we keep our assigned seats until we were at cruising altitude, and she assured me I wouldn’t have to sit in the middle. When she came back, she asked me if a window seat in bank that had no other people in it was acceptable – of course I jumped at the chance. (I tend to be a bit claustrophobic and find being able to look out the window a true joy.)
But I did go, on the mistaken belief that the pedicurist could relieve the discomfort from my ingrown toenails. So a friend told me.
I had no appointment; had to wait. Reading women’s magazines and crayoning in the coloring books for children. I never was very good at that.
The air was thick, redolent, I should say, with estrogen fumes; choking. They were sucking the oxygen out of the room.
There they were, all those females reclined in chairs, sort of like dentist chairs, their feet in little bath tubs. I had never seen that, before. Good Lord, deliver me.
So I deployed my best defense: I turned invisible.
It must have worked; none of the women seemed to recognize my presence, or even my existence. No problem, there; I get a lot of that, anyway.
But, alas, as my power of invisibility slackened, a technician noticed me, and motioned me toward a chair. We could not speak; her language was Vietnamese and mine was Klingon. Hand signals, gestures.
But then, as I reclined, and the warm water engulfed my feet, I started to relax. Then came the gentle massaging of my feet and toes, soon followed by the most gentle clip-clipping I have ever known.
The finale was a massage of my lower legs whereto were applied various emollients and ointments, emitting scents of citrus and of juniper, frankincense and myrrh. I wondered if I was being prepared for burial.
Its called tip creep, I was in a hardware/automotive store a few months ago, when I went to pay, it asked if I wanted to leave a tip. The top suggestion was 35 percent. I glared at the poor cashier, and she said, dont blame me, the new credit card/debit machines all came preprogrammed like that. She had no idea if management had asked for it, or if essentially all new machines were like this. She told me to complain to management, not her, and so I did.
I think its an American problem. I was shocked that many states had frozen minimum wage increases for 25 years.
In some states you only get a couple of bucks an hour, if you make your minimum in tips. This is sick, boost minimum wage to 15 or $16 an hour. Get rid of the bribes, err , tips. When I was in Egypt, if you wanted your government paperwork processed faster you paid a facilitation fee, if you wanted the plumber to move you up the priority list, again it was backshees ( I m not sure of spelling) or a facilitation fee.
Thats what we are moving towards. First it was restaurants and bars, then hair stylists and masseuses, then fast food restaurants, then pick up at pizza joints, then hardware stores. At a hardware store, where I self served, who gets the tip? Would the cashier get 35 percent of all sales, I want that job.
Here in Canada where minimum wage is $15 or $16 , we pay the same tip as the US where its $2.33
So my guess, is that the credit card machines have tips as a default, and fast food restaurants have no incentives to remove it, because who would they give that tip to?
Years ago, I was traveling with a gentleman who owned multiple companies, all successful, and was worth multiple hundreds of millions. He had rented a car several days before my arrival (I flew in later), and he offered to drive to the airport for the flight home. As he drove, he explained to me that the car was not full on gas when he picked it up, but the rental car checkout person had given him his business card and assured him if there was an issue with the amount of gas on return, he would handle it. As you might expect, on return they wanted to charge him something trivial like $15 to top up the tank. He was livid. He paid, just to get to the flight, but then spent the next hour on the phone and at the gate, and onto the plane, stopping only going through security, arguing on the phone to have it removed. Couldn’t let it go. This man was probably made more money in interest in 1 minute just sitting than he would have saved in a hour+ of arguing. It could not have been worth his time, or rather, his time could have been so much more effectively used.
In my experience with folks at this level, and I’ve met a few, it’s a compulsion. They simply cannot let it go. They will spend a million dollars to make $1.2 million in an instant, but will not spend $5 if they feel taken advantage of.
Col Douglas Mcgregor: “It’s OFFICIALLY OVER! We have WASTED TRILLIONS OF TAX DOLLARS ON THIS..”
Rest assured the CEO is not doing it out of the goodness of his heart.
Most likely what happened is the CEO or company realized they need your expertise in something or to train your replacement. Or perhaps as some others pointed out, the company forgot to dot their I’s and cross their T’s when terminating you. Perhaps they had to fire you for cause but didn’t follow progressive discipline procedures. In order to protect themselves and avoid a lawsuit they are bringing you back to perform these tasks.
If you do go back, insist on signing a contract for a certain duration like 12 months. I’d also insist on a certain raise like 25-100%. Whatever you think is reasonable. Insist on no derogatory information in your file. I’d also add language that the contract could only be voided for cause and company bears the cost of the arbitration.
If the company brings you back keep in mind they will try to part ways with you when they no longer need whatever short term assistance so start looking for another job immediately.
Do not under any circumstances come back under their ‘reinstatement’ conditions. You are better off collecting unemployment and looking for other opportunities.
In China, the subway is a social infrastructure, not a profitable business.
Although the subways are operated by “subway companies” in various cities, they are usually state-owned enterprises.
In other words, the equity of the subway system is controlled by the government.
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Therefore, in an accident like the Beijing Subway, there will be two different responsibilities.
1. Legal liability
The subway company must make up for the losses, which includes repairing damaged vehicles and facilities, rescuing injured passengers, and paying their medical expenses and emotional distress. They also face criminal prosecution if anyone dies.
In short, they must bear all the responsibilities that a Western subway company should bear.
Of course, insurance companies also play a very important role. They will activate insurance clauses to provide necessary compensation.
2. Political responsibility
Since subway companies are state-owned enterprises, they must bear more political responsibilities than private companies. In other words, an official must be held responsible for the accident.
First, the subway director of the Beijing Municipal Transportation Management Bureau must bear direct responsibility. He may be subject to isolation and review to determine whether he has committed malfeasance. If suspected of committing a crime, he would be thrown in jail. If not, you are usually fired.
Secondly, the director of the Beijing Municipal Transportation Bureau must assume management responsibilities. He usually needs to make a public apology and be demoted or transferred to a minor position.
Also, the director of the Beijing Emergency Management Bureau must assume management responsibilities and accept investigation. Are they doing their job and completing routine inspections and supervision? If not, it’s usually demoted or fired.
In China, for any important social incident, government officials will be investigated and held responsible. If you think that after the accident, some official stood up and said: “We are very sorry.” Then it could be over, and then you’d be totally wrong.
I don’t know if it’s witty or not, but it stunned the other person and was extremely satisfying.
When I was in my early twenties I worked at one of those cookie stores in the mall. I was working With my friend L who hired one day when a man in his 60s or so came up. I started helping him and L went behind me and kind of playfully kicked me, I laughed and told her not to kick me. I’ll agree it was childish, but that isn’t what upset that man. I’m guessing that just dropped me that last little bit lower in his eyes and he figured he needed to tell me off.
“I think you should be kicked for having that shit in your face.” I had a small nose stud at the time.
For just the tiniest hair of time I was stunned and had no idea what to say… then he opened his mouth again.
“What does your dad think of that?!” Big old smirk, oh he thought he had me on that one.
But I knew I won.
“I don’t care, he was an abusive alcoholic that almost beat my mom to death and molested me at eight, and he’s dead now. My mom however thinks I’m amazing in every way and is happy we all turned out well.” Big smile. All true by the way, I just don’t normally tell strangers all the details like that in go.
His face fell and he stared. Then he grabbed his cookie and stomped away.
We had to announce to the rest of the family any time we were going to use the bathroom, and how long we thought we’d be in there.
This was because we only had one bathroom and my father got really mad at us if we interrupted him while he was in there, or if my sister was in there for a long time, as she tended to do when she was a teen.
Some of my fondest memories from childhood are of my sister knocking on the door to get into the bathroom, like it was an emergency, shortly after my father went in there. It was never really an emergency. She just needed to fix her hair or something.
My dad: [Goes into bathroom, newspaper in hand.]
Thirty seconds later, my sister comes out of her room and starts knocking like crazy on the bathroom door.
My dad: [Godammit I just got in here! Leave me alone!]
So, every time any of us needed to use the bathroom for any reason, we’d stand in front of it and say, loud enough for everyone in the house to hear, something like:
“I’m going to the bathroom now! I’ll be in there for about ten minutes!”
Then we’d pause, in case someone wanted to use it quickly before we went in there.
I didn’t realize until I was an adult that announcing to your family that you were going to the bathroom wasn’t a normal thing to do.
YES… when I was in South Africa, I hired a maid through an agency. She arrived on the appointed day. She gave me the agent’s papers and introduction letter, and she asked me where she should start. I said she could start with cleaning the oven. “Oh no,” she said, “I don’t clean ovens”. “That is OK,” I said, “make yourself a cup of tea and make some breakfast for yourself and then I will give you your money and you can leave”. She looked very crestfallen and told me she needed the job. I said “OK; then clean the oven and you can stay”. She cleaned the oven.
She stayed for 30 years, and every month we had the same conversation. She left the agency after a month and she became my best friend, my companione.n, my housekeeper, my babysitter, and my nurse when I was ill. When she retired, I paid her a pension for the next 12 years till she died of COVID-19. I miss her very much. She was a wonderful woman.
In my youth I was hard up for a summer job so I took a position delivering newspapers. I was a substitute driver for the regular person doing the route. My paper had a shed where I and the other drivers would come to load up our papers at about 4 am, and across the alleyway there was another shed where the rival newspaper distributed papers to it’s drivers.
One morning I park in front of my paper’s shed to load up. As was my usual practice I used the tying machine in the shed to secure a couple dozen papers to throw at the beginning of my route and loaded them in my car. I then loaded stacks of papers that I put rubber bands on while driving to use for the rest of the route.
I found that while I was doing all this, the delivery truck for the rival paper had unloaded several large stacks of their papers just behind my car. I was ready to leave for my route but could not start because the papers were in my way. I went over to the other paper’s shed and asked the guys there to please move the papers so I could leave my parking spot. They laughed at me and said I could move them myself.
So, I did. I got in my car, started it up, put it in reverse, and backed out of the space. The stacks of papers went flying, my rear wheels driving over many of them. I then accelerated forward over the papers and they shot out in a satisfying rooster tail all over the parking lot and I was off for my route.
I was working in a record store that had booths to listen to records before you bought them. I was in a booth setting it up for someone to listen when the boss/owner was outside the booth, not knowing I was there. He started to complain that he did not like my hippie looks and did not trust me. The next day, the manager quit (I do not know the reason), and the boss came to me the next day and wanted me to take over as the store manager. I told him I would think about it. After work, I called the ex-manager and asked why he quit. He said he was sick of the two-faced liar that was the boss and he had got a job with a new company called the Wherehouse (an up and coming big chain record company, He asked me if I wanted to be the assistant manager which paid a lot more than I was making.
The next day, I called the boss/owner and told him that I did not want the manager job, and, by the way, I quit. He tried to talk me into staying when I said, “Then why did you say…” and repeated everything he had said about me.
“One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans”
In 1914 the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Serbia (in the Balkans) would be the event that led to WW1
image 345
Then in his final days, he said
Jena came twenty years after the death of Frederick the Great; the crash will come twenty years after my departure if things go on like this.
Exactly 20 years after Bismark’s death Germany would lose WW1 and nearly collapse.
In his final meeting with Wilhelm, he stated
“Your Majesty, so long as you have this present officer corps, you can do as you please. But when this is no longer the case, it will be very different for you”
Indeed when the present officer corps moved on and were replaced by the next generation Wilhelm was forced from power and exiled in shame.
Let’s tell some more Bismark facts because the guy was just such a hoot.
During his younger years, he famously got in an average of one duel per month and never lost. Duels as in fights to the death with swords.
While working his first job for the government, he disappeared and left his post randomly only to appear weeks later with the daughter of some English gentry.
There was an assassination attempt during his rise to power. A man shot at him six times and then was disarmed by guards. Bismark said he was fine and walked home. Hours later the royal court doctor finally got in to see Bismark despite the protest of Bismark. Turns out all six bullets hit him but none of them did much damage. Bismark was just unconcerned about the whole thing.
Bismark was a local lord in his younger years. He had an estate with some peasants who worked for him. He would announce his entrance into their homes by shooting a gun in the air or releasing a fox.
He would drink two bottles of champagne and smoke two cigars for breakfast
There was a period where rebels took the Prussian King (his king) hostage. At the time Bismark was still a countryside lord minding his land. He decided to raise his farmers into a peasant militia and free the king. As he went to leave with his militia, a local man told him to stop whipping up the peasants and go home. Bismark responded, “You know me to be a kind man, but if you try to stop me I will shoot you”.
For all of his antics and wild personality, he ended up marrying a very calm, devout, conservative Christian lady.
The rest of his story is a little less flashy but just as interesting. The man was a freak of nature. He played Europe like a chessboard for decades. He created Germany and accidentally the French Republic, and he was one of the most brilliant political minds ever.
Let’s end with some fun quotes because why not.
“If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made.”
“There is a Providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children and the United States of America.”
Next a few Andrew Jackson facts.
image 344
After being elected president of the United States, Andrew Jackson faced an assassination attempt. Richard Lawrence bought a gun and approached Jackson to shoot him. The first shot misfired, and the second shot misfired as well. Jackson noticed this and proceeded to attack the man and beat him with his cane. Jackson’s guards had to pull Jackson off his assassin — what a mad lad.
After winning his election, Jackson threw a rager in the White House inviting a ton of random people in to drink heavily. The party went on for hours and was out of control. Jackson was forced to flee the out-of-control party through an upper-floor window.
Andrew Jackson loved to duel, like step back and shoot each other type duel. In a duel with Charles Dickenson, Jackson did something bonkers. As the men turned, Jackson just stood there. You see the rules were that both men had to stand still until both shots were fired. Charles turned and shot hitting Jackson around his ribs. Jackson then took his time to aim so that his shot would be fatal. He calmly took a bullet so he could kill his opponent guaranteed.
When Jackson’s friend approached him about this, Jackson said
“If he had shot me through the brain, sir, I should still have killed him.”
I have been living in the US for about 7 months now. I am strictly comparing my life in India and here:
India has PayTM: You don’t need to carry cash, cards. Most businesses, even small stores, auto rickshaws have paytm facility. Here I cannot, cannot, leave my credit card at home!
Public Transport: Is almost non-existent, at least where I live. There is the Caltrain, at a 1 hour frequency, and some buses and VTA, but they usually do not cover the routes I need. And I cannot just take an auto rickshaw to the grocery or Target/Walmart. If I don’t have a car, I need to depend on Uber/Lyft which are expensive.
Online shopping experience: Myntra, Jabong, Flipkart, Amazon, most e-commerce biz in India have home pickup for returns, which you don’t have here.
Laundry is a headache: Most apartments do not have in house laundry, dryers, and making several trips to the laundry room is not something I enjoy. Not to mention, it is expensive too ($1.5 laundry + $1.25 dryer per load)
Medical Services are way too expensive and not easily accessible: Medicines and vaccines are expensive. Something like a tetanus shot which costs Rs. 50 (less than $1) in India, costs $80 here. I can get spectacles made for Rs. 2000 (~ $30) in India, but it would cost me upwards of $300 here. In India, I do not need an appointment in most cases, and I can walk in to a clinic. For my son’s eye checkup, I got an appointment for after 2 months. For the spectacles, the optometrist said they do not have the technician available and can only accommodate us after 3 weeks(!!).
Paper wastage: I get so many paper adverts in my mail every two days, which go straight in to the bin. Sheer waste of paper! And the DMV refused to accept a soft copy of one of my documents. They said they need a hard paper copy! I thought the US was at the forefront of the Digital revolution.
Tipping: Expect to pay about 15%-30% more than your actual restaurant bill, for the tip. There is no service whatsoever, servers just come and put your food on the table.
Shopping experience: Shopping here is not something I enjoy. There is usually no one around to help you with sizes, suggestions or finding something. They simply tell you to go help yourself by saying that whatever they have is out there, so you are left to find stuff yourself.
Lifeless atmosphere: Every city, village in India is vibrant, full of life (and noise 🙂 ). I miss that very much here.
Of course, my answer is restricted to my observations and my small sphere of life. There are definitely greater differences, social, political, economical, which some people have put up here. I just listed some that common folks like me might experience.
Thank you for the upvotes!
Just a couple of months short of completing a year in the US, and I keep finding things that I wish were different ( I know I sound very cynical, but I am not, and I do appreciate the good things in the US too)
Going to add a few more to this list:
10. Road trips aren’t as much fun as they are back in India. Half the fun of those long road trips lies in watching the scenic beauty on the way and halting at roadside dhabas or tapris for chai and bhajiyas or food. Be it any highway, you are bound to find one or two such small roadside hotels or dhabas where you can stop and savour hot food and talk and laugh with your companions. I do not find that here. Road trips are just driving on long freeways or interstates where sometimes people tend to fall asleep due to the monotonous driving.
11. International shipping : There are very few choices in that regard, namely FedEx, UPS and probably DHL. And they are quite expensive. FedEx gave me an estimate of between $100–200 plus $30 for the box ( which is not charged separately in India) for a 4lb (less than 2kgs) shipment. Whereas, our parents sent us 8 kgs of Diwali faraal 🙂 from Pune for less than $70.
12. I miss the air of celebration or festivity here. During Diwali, Indians might put up their festive lights and diyas on their patios, but they do that and go back into their houses and shut the doors or pull the blinds. That’s that! That was Diwali here. Sad. But, the same Indians celebrated Halloween with such gusto, I was left wondering is this what happens when we move to the US? That we forget to celebrate our own festivals the way they ought to be while embracing the festivities of the West? While I see nothing wrong with the latter, I would have definitely loved to see more enthusiasm towards the former.
13. Gun violence: The gun violence happening in the US is being covered in almost newspaper and sites. It has created a general unsafe atmosphere. Especially the shootings in schools and colleges, innocent young lives being snuffed out by some senseless act of violence are tremendously sad.
14. New Year celebrations: India – restaurants, malls, roadside dhabas, almost everywhere that you get food, open till 5 am. US- most restaurants closed post lunch or early evening on 31st Dec and closed whole day on 1st January. So, we had very limited choices of restaurants to go to for New Year’s Eve dinner.
15. Limited places for kids to play: Most apartments here do not allow kids to play inside the apartment premises. Kid scooters, bicycles are not allowed. Playing in corridors is also discouraged so as not to disturb residents during quiet hours. Going to a park everyday is not possible. So, all in all, kids have only the school grounds to play mostly. It would be very helpful if apartments designate a play area for kids.
When my son was an infant, after my wife’s maternity leave was over, she went back to work about 30 minutes from our house. My job was about 90 minutes from our house. I had to leave home by 6am every morning to take my son to my in-laws for the day, so I could make it to work on time. Then, I had to be the first one out the door at work to make it back to my in-laws so I could pick up my son and bring him home. On a good day, I would be home with him by 6pm. On a bad day, particularly if it was snowing, we might not make it home until 8pm.
One day, my son slept through the morning ride to my in-law’s place, and was asleep when I went to get him at the end of the day. I realized, when I went to sleep that night, that I had not seen my son awake that entire day. Worse… he hadn’t seen me that day.
So I started looking for a job closer to home. Over the years, I’ve taught at four different schools, always getting as close as possible to my own house, to maximize the time I get to spend with my children. I’ve got my commute down to fewer than ten minutes now. It’s great! I even come home on my lunch break so I can walk the dog some days.
When I was very young, I’m guessing about 5 ,my uncle gave me a letter holder that was shaped like a dachshund, it became my favorite toy.
My grandfather was visiting, and he saw me playing with the letter holder. Which was dogs front and rear separated by coils, which would have held letters.
He said, “you’re playing with office equipment, that’s not for little boys, you don’t want that do do you “ I assured I did, that it was my favorite toy. He took it anyway. My mother wouldn’t stand up to him, and he was gone.
When he died about 10 years later. I went to his office to get my toy back, just on principle. It wasn’t on his desk, my grandmother said that she had never seen anything that looked like what I described.
When I was about 8, we had a standalone bathroom sink that just stuck out of the wall. My grandfather very nicely made us a stand that went around the sink, with two doors on the front. It allowed us to store stuff in the bathroom. It looked professionally done. He said it was practice for the one he would build himself.
A month later, he came down with one that was miscut badly. He took it into the bathroom and replaced the good one with the garbage one.
He said that he needed the good one in his nice house, and the crappy one wouldn’t look out of place in our house, and he didn’t want to spend the money on new supplies.
Honestly! Who would take back, what was supposedly a gift of love, that he had made for his daughter.
Writing anonymously so it don’t come to bite me back…
To win some times you ‘really’ have to lose
I was working for a US based MNC in India’s self proclaimed Silicon valley.
I was leading a team, the work was too strenuous. I was clocking in around 12–17 hours of office time everyday for almost 8 months. My health started to deteriorate (constant back problems) due to long hours of sitting. I was not able to spend time with my newborn baby. Had to practically live in office for almost couple of months. And to top it all , Management was the least bit supportive , they take employees for granted and make their life hell. As in most services based companies , work life balance is a distant dream. They thought Vacations are an aberration, And thought that the more miserable an employee became the more productive he becomes.
To cut the long story short , I decided enough is enough and that I would pull the plug on the job. I work for my life sustenance and not the other way around. The problem is we have to serve 3 months of Notice period, which is a big NO for most recruiters. During the week when I was mentally preparing for this ordeal, my Manager approaches me saying , your performance is OK, but we are initiating a Performance Improvement Program (PIP) for your own benefit. Which they thought would make me more productive. They thought this would make me teach a lesson, and I would work ‘HARDER’, and this was a process were they monitor me for a month and would let go if employee is not performing better. This is an absolute horrendous experience for any employee to go through. Let alone somebody who literally ‘broke their back working’.
But this was a boon in my scenario if I fail not only they would let me go in a month but also they would give me four months Salary ( They don’t want the undesirables to hang around). I kind of simply stopped working , and made sure I fail in ALL the review meetings , we don’t want to leave anything for chance do we? , with a puppy face of course. So at the end of the Month , I was relieved of my duties and I received 4 months of my salary in due time. And I landed the next job in 2 months which gave me 30% hike as well.
There was a time, quite a few years ago, when I worked as a cashier at Burger King. I mostly worked at the front counter, taking orders and keeping things neat and tidy up front.
One night, I noticed that our drive-thru times were seriously lagging, even though we weren’t that busy. The kitchen was sending food out quickly, and I was bagging it up just as fast, so why did we have four orders waiting to go out the window?
I went to investigate and found my drive-thru employee in the middle of a meltdown. We had a dinosaur for a system back then, and the drive-thru was tricky because the register didn’t tell you how much change to give back, just how much the order cost. To help those who needed it, we kept a calculator by the register, but apparently, nobody had thought to let the new girl know it was there.
Honestly, though, she wasn’t the only one who struggled with making change, and it always shocked me how many people were incapable of doing basic math without technological assistance.
Long story short, I ended up teaching many of them how to make change without the calculator, but it was shocking how many high school and college kids could not make small change.
After my husband was killed in an accident, friends and family sent their condolences and were ready to help me with whatever they could. Many brought us meals and others took care of the yard work and some gave money and gift cards. I was very grateful for all their kindness. It was overwhelming how kind people were, it brought tears.
In time things began to settle down. I was cooking out meals and mowing the yard. But what continued on was the sympathy. I’d be in Walmart and I’d see a friend or neighbor, and the conversation would be about how I was doing and how sorry they were, and even when I’d say I’m doing fine and just want to get past the pain, it was as if they didn’t hear me.
Everytime the phone rang it was someone who was reaching out, praying for me, and asking if I was ok.
It’s hard to be grateful and appreciate all the support, but at the same time wanting to move on without hurting anyone.
Grieving my loss was going well. It was front constantly reminded of the tragedy that set me back. I had to stop answering my phone so I could heal. One day someone was knocking relentlessly at my door. I opened it to find a friend that I hadn’t talked to since before my husbands death. She was telling me to get my purse and come with her. I asked where we going? She said to have some fun, so grab your purse and let’s go.
Not once did she bring up his death. We talked about the stuff we had always talked about. We got our nails done, ate lunch at our fav fajita restaurant and stopped at a few antique stores. When we got to my house I asked her why I hadn’t heard from her and why she didn’t even ask how I was doing. Her answer was, she didn’t need to ask how I was doing, she knew how I was doing, she said you were grieving. I let you grieve. Nothing I could say or do would benefit you. I figured that after a few months of grieving you’d be ready to get away from everything and everyone that’s keeping you from moving on. She hugged me and said softly, Lori, it’s time to move on and live your life.
G’day folks, this is your captain speaking. Sitting next to me is my old cellmate Dave ‘Eye Patch’ Gordon who failed his driving test but passed the FAA exam, so as long as there’s no roads up there, we’ll be pretty safe. ‘Dave turn that oil leak light off please.’ We’ll be flying up over New York, then over Canada, where, on the way in, we were shaken like a shitting dog, so we’ll try and avoid that really rough air – no promises, but we’ll try. Then we’ll turn and begin our passage over the Atlantic. That British Airways jet parked next to us gave us the bird last night, so we’re likely to give that asshole a close pass on climb-out. Our cabin crew, led by the gorgeous and ample Lisa will serve you dinner later. Enjoy a few drinks on us and when we turn off the no-smoking sign, light-up those Malboros and be kind enough to throw one in my direction. In the meantime, while we’re waiting for our slot from these union controllers, spare a thought for us pilots, whose lives depend on these assholes when they walk off the job. We’re flying an old 747 original today, so if you hear it moaning and groaning or even see an engine fall off, we have three others, built in 69 and patched up with some really good glue. Dave, turn that fucking oil leak light off.
Maybe they do but unlike the U.S. China has culture, US don’t. Unlike the U.S. China knows right from wrong., the U.S. don’t! Unlike the U.S. they are mature, he U.S. is not! probably will never be! China don’t want anybody to attack anybody!
China don’t want another death. China want a safer and better and more peaceful world. These Arab and Muslim world want China to help make a better world. Not one that the white Caucasian can wake up on the wrong side of the bed and decide that they feel like carpet bombing them to kill their grand parents and their babies and children and they can pluck from the sky any excuses such as WMD or made up genocide such as Uyghurs forcing Japan into a 30 years stagflation!
Arabs an Muslims are not wrong, they want a life that the U.S. cannot fxxked the up! Or steal every penny that they work hard to save. But U.S. insist that they must have the monopoly rot do genocide and slaughter! Why?
Because of their skin colour! Because of their religion and their Anglos Saxon culture! They can kill and not be killed! Because like whites Caucasian humans they deserved to raped any coloured women and lynched any coloured human because they are 4/5 of an actual human!
Yes their message is that there are are behind the Chinese. If the U.S. misbehave they will all fight a war that totally destroy America. China is frankly calming them down! The world ought to rid the U.S. rules based International order 50 years ago!
DNA Clinic Reports: Half Of Men Who Take Paternity Tests Are NOT The Real Father
1. Try to maintain a positive attitude as much as possible, it will make you more productive and better equipped to handle challenges.
2. Challenge yourself by setting realistic goals that stretch your capabilities and inspire you to work harder.
3. Take regular breaks throughout the day to give yourself time to relax and recharge.
4. Surround yourself with positive people who support you and help you achieve your goals.
5. Visualize success in your mind’s eye – see yourself completing the task or achieving the goal in a clear, focused way and visualize this outcome happening with ease and enthusiasm.
6. Break down tasks into small manageable steps to help avoid feeling overwhelmed or discouraged by large projects or goals.
7. Create positive self-talk statements that motivate and remind you of your goals, abilities, and purpose throughout the day.
8. Minimize multitasking and focus on completing one task at a time for greater clarity and productivity in your work or personal life endeavors.
9. Reassess strategies that have not worked for you in the past, rather than feeling like a failure try again with a different approach if necessary for success in any situation .
10 Finally remember, patience is key! Allow yourself adequate time to grow and accomplish objectives in life without putting too much pressure on yourself to succeed quickly .
Well this is not exactly of being fired or let go from a job but the revenge factor is there. Pretty immature now but at the time a very sweet one.
Back in the 80s I was on my senior year to become a CTA by Christmas. The well done summer job in the research lab of the local paper mill was rewarded by a job offering after I graduate. We set the contract signing to end of November. Surely I was happy about this.
Cometh the day of signing and the head of the HR explained they’ve received an order from high up that I cannot be hired. No names or reasons were given. After pulling some strings I got to know the picture.
In the lab school we had two classes and the teacher of the other one was an mean old frustrated witch for whom anybodys happiness and joy was a thorn in the eye. Nobody got along with her but since she was about to retire people just put it up with her. She of course heard about my job offer. As we of course all knew her husband was the chief of all labs at that papermill. The order not to recruit me came from him and was based on some bullshit about me. I personally never met him so it was easy to guess where the order came from. When I confronted the Witch about this she just smiled vily and said something nasty which prooved my suspicions. I was so furious I didnt know how to sit or think straight. Eventually left town to work at the university lab instead and academia actually became my career.
She was a dedicated gardener and had a collection of massive palm trees and other plants in our coffee room. Comes the graduation day all her plants suddenly turned brown and died. She was utterly upset about this and with watery eyes was thinking of some parasite attacking them. She was right – that parasite was me equipped with 2 kg of sodium hydroxide pellets dissolved in 10 l bucket of water. Poured on the plants the evening before graduation…
This is now over 33 years ago and I regret killing her plants…sorry for that….but at the time the revenge factor was pretty sweet.
I was sitting in a student bar many years ago with some friends. There was a young lady there who me and my friends knew from the Aikido class we went to. She was much better than us and we didn’t know her well but we had said hi as we went to her table.
A couple of large guys came in being rather loud and obnoxious. We ignored them but one of them decided to start hassling the young lady who was sitting alone at the bar reading her course book. We would have got involved but she didn’t need us to! She told him no, he tried to grab her and then, like a flash, she just put him in a wrist lock. She didn’t move from the bar, just put the lock on one of his hands and he collapsed in agony, a few seconds later she took it off again and repeated her request for him to go away. This time he did, rather sheepishly!
Chicken Bokeumtang (Spicy Korean Chicken)
IMG 0552
Ingredients
1 (4 pound) whole chicken, cut into 11 pieces with bone in and skin on
1 pound potatoes, peel, halved or quartered
3 to 4 carrots, peeled, cut into large chunks
2 onions, cut into large chunks
8 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tablespoons Gochujang, Korean red pepper paste
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Gochugaru, Korean red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tablespoon honey or granulated sugar
2 tablespoons rice wine
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sesame seeds, plus more for garnish
4 green onions, sliced into 2 inch pieces
Instructions
Bring enough water to boil to blanch chicken in a large Dutch oven; add chicken into boiling water, bring back to boil, about 5 to 10 minutes.
Drain chicken into a strainer and rinse pot quickly. Rinse chicken under cold water and place back to pot.
Add potato, carrot, onion and garlic to Dutch oven.
In a small mixing bowl, combine gochujang and next 6 ingredients. Add combined sauce into pot and toss everything together until chicken and vegetables are evenly coated with sauce. Cover, bring it to boil over medium high heat. Stirring frequently.
When it starts boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 40 minutes, stirring frequently for first 20 minutes of simmering to prevent burn bottom of pot.
Stir in green onion and remove from heat.
Transfer to a serving plate, garnish with some more sesame seeds.
Serve with warm cooked rice, kimchi and other your favorite side dishes!
БОЙЦЫ ДОЛЖНЫ ОТСТОЯТЬ МАЛЕНЬКУЮ ДЕРЕВНЮ. МОЩНЫЙ ВОЕННЫЙ ФИЛЬМ БОЕВИК! ЛУЧШИЙ ФИЛЬМ ПРО ВОЙНУ! Ржев
After my mother died, I spent a few months living in her (our) house and taking care of it, and arranging probate issues. It was a difficult time, as my second wife (the wife from Hell, and BTW…the person who worked for MAJ to “retire” me), demanded that she gets the entire estate “or else”.
So, I’m dealing with all these stressers.
Those in the “know” also know about this point in time. My fate forecast; I am entering my “triple black” inauspicious time, and I lost my job, my wife, my mother… and soon (though I didn’t know it yet) everything else.
But at this moment in time, I was in the house, and my brother came over with a close friend of his (ours).
We were all in the kitchen drinking. My mother had collected all sorts of wine that sat in racks in the kitchen / dining area, and they decided to open them up and start drinking.
And I stepped out to go onto the “sun room”.
After the first bottle, my brother said “corked”.
If a wine is “corked”, it means that it has been tainted by the cork, or rather a chemical compound which can be found in natural corks. This contamination gives off a very distinct smell and taste, which can be described as musty, earthy, wet cardboard, wet newspaper, or even wet dog. The term ‘corked wine’ refers to a wine contaminated with cork taint, which can happen if the wine is bottled with a TCA-infected cork.
Which means that the wine had been sitting too long, and somehow the wine went bad. Now, this might be a term used by aficionados, but for us “regular folk” (and I know, I drink one FUCK of a lot of wine) it was just fine.
I tasted the wine.
It was fine.
I was in the other room, and when I went into the kitchen, imagine my horror when I watched my brother and his friend draining out about 35 bottles of (very expensive) wine down the sink. Claiming that it was “corked”.
wine down the drain
They weren’t “corked”. Not in the least.
Sheech!
…
As a wine lover, and as a wine aficionado, I still remember that moment with aghast horror. Such a pity! Such a waste. And what is really horrific, is that he has no idea… none… not one iota what he did.
Everyone… what ever you do, don’t though out wine unnecessarily. Even if corked, it can still be used for cooking! Sheech!
Don’t know about my “best” friend but I remained close with an ex. She didn’t like my partner for (mostly) racist reasons. But they were civil together when we met up.
I didn’t tell her we were expecting. But at 20 weeks my partner experienced severe pain and was hospitalised for 4 days. This came up in conversation. She deduced that we were expecting.
She pushed me to ask for an abortion.
She then posted it on Facebook to around 2000 followers, asking for advice about persuading someone to get an abortion. To a group I was a member of.
I blocked her on all meeja and we haven’t spoken since.
She did send a message apologising. Not for the sentiment, but for taking it public. That really doesn’t address the core issue, which is that she wanted my beautiful daughter – the love of my life – executed because of her hatred of my partner. It’s going to be difficult to remain friends after that.
Copeland’s of New Orleans Crawfish Etouffee
2023 11 13 06 55
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
6 cups water
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon lobster base
1 pound fresh crawfish tail meat
Pinch black pepper
Pinch white pepper
Pinch cayenne
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon peanut oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
Salt to taste
1 cup chopped green onions
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
6 cups cooked white rice
Instructions
Prepare a stock by bringing the water to a boil. Add bay leaves and lobster base. Allow to boil for about 20 minutes or until the water has reduced to 5 cups of stock. Hold aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine the crawfish tails with black, white, and cayenne pepper.
Add the paprika and stir together well.
In a medium-size pot, heat the peanut oil at a near high setting. Oil should be hot but not smoking.
Add the chopped yellow onion and stir until translucent.
Add the crawfish tails and stir until they are heated and cooked through and have attained a good bond with their fat.
Add flour and mix well.
Pour in stock gradually, stirring constantly, until sauce achieves a substantial thickness and consistency.
Season with salt to taste.
Add the green onions, garlic, and parsley. Reduce the heat to a medium setting and simmer for about 10 minutes more.
Serve over a bed of cooked white rice.
Notes
If desired, you may stir in 2 to 3 tablespoons of butter to completed etouffee for added richness.
Attribution
Posted by GayleL at Recipe Goldmine 9:17:49pm 4/19/03.
The New Thai Tax Law that EVERYONE is Talking About
Big news in Thailand. This new tax law has everyone talking, and a bit scared. I will detail the rules and how it might affect you. So if you’re ever considering relocating to Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Samui or anywhere else in Thailand, there’s lots of information in this video.
Years ago I bought a USB “dongle” for Internet access, through a company called Orange.
It was a pay monthly arrangement.
The bloody thing never worked, their customer services eventually admitted that the area I was in had very poor access and it wasn’t going to improve soon.
I said let’s just cancel.
They said no, you signed up for a year.
I said fine, and cancelled the regular payment, after sending them a letter explaining why, with my contemporaneous notes from a series of calls.
They kept sending demands. I said jyst take me to small claims court, we’ll see what the judge says. My view was, if the thing doesn’t work I ain’t paying for it. Contractual obligations go both ways.
Eventually they gave up, but clearly sold the debt (iirc around £250) to some agency.
The agency got in touch, but their phone number was a premium rate one. I sent a letter explaining my side, inviting them to small claims.
At around 6 month intervals for 2 years, different debt agencies tried- presumably these guys sell debts on?
Eventually, a reslly aggressive debt agency agreed to try it in small claims. They were based in London, I live 180 miles north.
I turned up, they didn’t. Well, not on time- some flustered legal junior arrived as I was leaving, and got a proper bollocking off the judge.
Judge awarded me, and my expenses/lost day’s pay, were to be covered by DebtTwat ltd.
I wasn’t expecting them to ever pay up, but i certainly wasn’t expecting them to send me a demand for flustered legal bloke’s train fare, taxi, and fee.
Obviously i tore this up and sent it back without a stamp.
We once took my son and his family out for a meal. The bill was £150, and I paid it with a card. I asked the waiter if I could add a tip and he proffered the card machine to let me do so. I added £20 and paid and we left.
As we got to the car park I glanced at the receipt and realised I’d actually given him a tip of 20p, clearly defining me as tight-arse, so I proceeded back into the restaurant, spotted our waiter, in a group of two or three of them at the bar, apologised for my mistake and gave him a £20 note. Smiles all round. I’d clearly done the right thing.
However as I left for the second time, I couldn’t resist adding “By the way, I’ll take my 20p back next time I’m here”
This caused a roar of laughter, and on subsequent visits has made us memorable and very well looked after. As I pay – more carefully with the tip – I am asked “Will you take your 20p now, Sir?”
The Standard Female Delusion Chart – a tool to reduce dating drama
Technology has enabled countless millions of desperate and morally bankrupt men to constantly shower mediocre women (there’s nothing wrong with being mediocre — most of us are) with attention. Naturally, women assume that this attention is higher-quality than it actually is, because “why wouldn’t people like me?” It’s an understandable mistake. We all want to believe we are “worth it.”
Simply put, a huge wave of sleazy, short-term, hookup-level interest from men is being mistaken – by the women who receive it — as akin to marriage proposals, and they are subsequently developing deeply emotionally and ego-rooted beliefs that they are all 9s, which is mathematically impossible. They then proceed to reject men who are far more likely to treat them well and pursue men who see them as nothing but cheap conquests, resulting in avoidable emotional damage, which they then take out on men in an intensifying cycle of resentment.
I must stand against this, and all I have is a voice. The only power that a man has to stop this cycle is to stop playing the game of letting women think he wants to be with them for real, when he knows he doesn’t. Shame on you. Stop that.
The only power that a woman has to stop this cycle is by being realistic about her actual value and finding men who are most likely to give her the maximum return for what she offers. Stop letting yourself believe that users love you.
That’s a delusion.
These diagrams are only roughly based on non-scientific data, but they are heavily rooted in real-life experience that proves itself true again and again.
I am confident that if women use them to identify the correct men and get to know them, they will have better luck starting relationships that last, and that will cause much less drama, heartbreak, confusion, and wasted time.
Also, my content does and always will contain humor to clarify and intensify the points that I’m making. Try to not take my content as being in competition with formal science, but rather as evidence-and-experience-based advice to avoid common dating problems. I tripped over a lot of rocks so you don’t have to. Best luck out there.
I had scheduled a young woman for a very long (easily 12+ hour) surgery on a deep-seated brain tumor right next to her brainstem. Having explained the risks and benefits of the surgery at length like I usually do (including significant risks of death, coma and stroke), she was more concerned about how much of her hair I would remove to do the surgery.
The night before surgery, I got a terrible flu – fever to over 103, malaise, joint and muscle pains, the works. In the end, I had no choice but to cancel her surgery and schedule for another day …
… expecting she would understand … I mean, who would want to undergo such a massive and dangerous surgery if the surgeon were that ill?
Well I was wrong. The patient became furious, hostile, angry, blamed me for inflicting emotional distress … demanded that I immediately find another surgeon to do the surgery that morning (not possible) … later lodged complaints up and down the hospital system … filed complaints with the medical staff … threatened to sue me … it took weeks to calm her – and our hospital – down.
It was the first time I had ever canceled a surgery in >20 years.
It’s what you get in a society that demands more than it understands. A society in which people live their lives in imaginary worlds conjured up by media (including doctor stereotypes) far removed from any sense of real humanity.
ADDENDUM:
A few Comments made me realize that not everyone understood my Answer, and I should perhaps clarify a few things:
the tumor was not near any part of the brain that would affect intellect or emotions
this patient was not “dying of a brain tumor;” while the surgery was going to be long and dangerous, it was far from urgent
I gently passed her care on to another neurosurgeon (it’s never a good idea to operate on someone who lacks faith in you), who operated on her a few weeks later; I heard she did well (though her attitude remained problematic)
there are no “back-up surgeons” waiting in the bullpen in case a surgeon gets sick: nowhere in the U.S., nowhere in Europe and nowhere in the world. Not like TV.
this is especially true of small sub-specialties like Neurosurgery
the all too common 60+ hour neurosurgical work week is packed full of patient responsibilities, and it is unrealistic to expect a colleague to abandon their own patients just to fill a gap like that at the last minute
no patient would want to undergo a huge brain surgery by someone they just met that morning – nor would most surgeons want to do a “surprise surgery” at the last minute. Neurosurgeons must do a lot of preparation before embarking on big, complicated cases. It’s not at all like you see on TV.
of course the hospital and its committees understood my situation completely (any reasonable person would understand that doctors can get sick), but they are obliged to investigate every complaint – hence a whole lot of unnecessary time and effort
To be honest, what I found most disconcerting about some of the negative Comments was how easily some people could make major assumptions about this story instead of simply asking me questions to clarify the situation.
Such Comments are just another example of: “demand more than understand.”
Why I’ll Never Move Back To America…
The American Dream… Is it dead or alive? In this video, I share THREE reasons why I don’t foresee myself ever moving back to America and why moving to the Philippines was potentially the best decision my family has ever made. Enjoy!
At the age of fifteen, thirteen days after my fifteenth birthday to be exact, I went out on my first real date. He came to my door and picked me up and we walked to a party. We had so much fun. He walked me home and he kissed me goodnight and he asked me to be his girlfriend. This felt like the greatest night in the whole world. Nothing could bring me down from my giddy and excited teenage crush!
….except for what happened the next morning.
I was awoken by my mother shaking me gently but urgently saying, “Honey? Erin. You need to get up now sweetie. Daddy’s going to die today…”
Those words ripped me out of any dreams I was having and back into the waking nightmare that had become my life for the last two years. I lived in constant fear that I was going to lose the bravest, strongest, most honourable, incredible man this world had to offer, but never really truly believed in my heart that it could happen. For me, to believe that he was really dying would be a betrayal to my hero. I would be giving up on him, and you never give up on your hero, not ever.
I learned that day that no amount of wishful thinking or prayer can change your circumstances.
The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do is to tell my dad that it was okay for him to die. He was hanging on with everything he had but it was time for him to go. I told him out loud that it was okay to let go, that we would be okay. We all told him that he had permission to die and to stop struggling so hard. And as soon as we said those things to him he passed away.
I held his hand as he took his last breath.
I watched my hero lose a terrible battle with cancer and I didn’t really know if I would be okay. I may have just lied to the person I loved most in this world. But I still believe I did the right thing. Setting my dad’s mind at ease was the most important thing to me that day, not wondering whether I’d be okay.
And to tell the truth I’m not sure I ever have been okay since that day. Something inside of me changed forever and I haven’t been able to get the old me back.
But I let my dad believe we would be okay because that was what he needed to move on. And I’d do it for him again in a heartbeat.
I had an uncle who was mildly retarded. It wasn’t Down Syndrome, it was probably lack of oxygen at birth, but people could tell just by looking at him that he was different.
That may be why 3 18 or 19 year old teens thought that they would jump my uncle and my grandmother while they were walking through their neighborhood in Bridgeport, Connecticut. What could an old lady and a 30 year old “retard” do to them?
I haven’t mentioned it yet, but my uncle was the youngest of 11 children. 9 of those kids were boys. So even though his brothers had taken it a little easier on him because of his mental disability, he was still used to playing rough and fighting. A lot. So when these teens threatened him and his mother he snapped. He hospitalized all 3 kids. He wrapped one of the kid’s arms around a tree backwards, the opposite direction of the kid’s elbow.
When the first officers showed up they put my uncle in cuffs, thinking he had initiated the carnage. My grandmother set things straight. My uncle had just defended his mother and himself.
The American Child vs The Chinese Child || 美国孩子 vs 中国孩子.
A student got sassy with a teacher about a grade and the teacher kicked him out of the room. The student grabbed a pencil and stabbed the assistant teacher in the room. Just in the hand, but still.
So the teacher goes rage mode and physically marches the student down to the deans office. Everyone is initially furious at the student, he’ll be expelled for sure. Assistant teacher is shaken but fine.
Daddy was a big donor to the school and the kid was on the state championship bound Football team. Daddy argued with the school, who reverses the expulsion and instead fires the teacher for “laying hands on a student.”
There were walk outs, several other teachers quit, the local news picked it up, the whole nine yards. Nothing changed. The school kept the little asshole to keep Daddy happy and fired a very, very good teacher.
When I was a cocky, long-haired punk and could get girls just by walking up and talking to them, I saw what I thought was two women getting in a car. I went up to the driver’s side and said something to the girl behind the wheel involving the word “ladies”. The long-haired dude in the passenger seat leaned over and said “Ladies?” he was annoyed I had tried to hit on his GF, but we laughed it off.
Entitled Women Make First Date List, And It BACKFIRES
I’m 61. My husband is 69. We can’t figure out how to use the kiosk. This morning, we added what we wanted to our order, but couldn’t figure out how to check out. The only icon that looked like it was a possibility was “Review Order” and it was greyed out. So, we were stuck. We backed out of it and left the restaurant. Also, when we saw the “login” prompt, we thought we might have to create an account which we don’t want to do. It’s just one more login and password we would have to remember. Nobody was at the counter to provide assistance. I’ll be diplomatic here. McDonald’s doesn’t sell weed. They sell shitty fake food. There’s nothing in their stores that I can’t live without…for the rest of my life. So, if they’re not willing to assist an old couple by taking their order, we won’t go into their restaurant(s) anymore. We went home and made a veggie omelet, hash browns, and cantaloupe. It was superior to anything on the McDonald’s menu and cooking it was less stressful than trying to figure out that fucking kiosk. Fast service that’s easy is basically all McDonald’s has going for it these days. And, they won’t even do that anymore. Plus, they’re using these non user friendly machines to phase out workers. Fuck ‘em.
I was going to download my banks, banking app, I always read the fine print. They want control of my camera, and they want permission to edit my contacts list.
I said “No” they said that the app wont work without access. I access my bank over the Internet, through their website directly, without going through the app. It works fine. Yet they don’t have access to my camera or contacts, funny about that.
I was on a subway train in DC. I had my five year old son with me, plus a few bags. I’m sitting on one end of the car, paying attention to the stops because I really don’t want to miss ours. A young black man grabs a seat on the other end of the car. I’m thinking gang member. Bandana. Gold jewelry. Baggy pants. Mind you, there were enough people on the train I certainly wasn’t concerned… that was just the impression I had. Anyway, we’re approaching our stop. My son has fallen asleep. The car isn’t jam-packed but it is kind of full. I’m wondering how I’m going to pick up my son and our stuff and make it to the door before the doors close.
As I struggle to get to my feet and head for the door, I see a foot casually hooked around the door, so it can’t close.
Yep. The black kid with the bandana and jewelry. As I look over, he flashes a smile.
We got off the train with no problem. A few people moved out of our way, but I didn’t see anyone else attempting to actually help.
Was he a gang member? Who knows. Who cares. At that moment, he was kind and helpful to a stranger. That’s all that mattered.
I went to apply for a job one time, and when I got there, the lead hand introduced himself to me while shaking my hand.
I had never been to this place before.
As he was shaking my hand this other guy jumped out from behind a machine, and in a gleeful, boisterous tone yells out to the lead hand, as he’s pointing to me, “There’s the guy! There’s the guy right there, that’s going to show you how to work that machine!”
It was a guy that I worked with at a previous job. He was a helper that was assigned to me whenever necessary.
I couldn’t believe it.
The lead hand looks at me, and that second I knew I was in.
I was in an elevator on a cruise ship. Some wiseacre saw my polka-dot suspenders.
He smirked, “Nice suspenders. You from Wisconsin?”
I replied, “No. Ever since my cancer surgery, I can’t wear a belt.”
His smirk instantly evaporated. The elevator doors opened on my floor, and I got out.
Soft tissue sarcoma caused by Agent Orange in Vietnam, They took out 1–3/4 pounds of me from my groin to my beltline. It left a notch where a belt would sit, so I can’t wear a belt comfortably.
The Legendary Mao in 1954 felt that any party member whose kids studied in Missionary Schools run by Western ideology , could not be trusted
In 1964, he felt such party members were Collaborators and Enemies
Thus every CPC member wisely decided to ensure his kids studied in Local Chinese schools and so the Party built more and more and more and more Schools all across China
Since their own members kids would study in these schools, the quality of these schools were higher and the subjects better
In 1996, Jiang Zemin after 42 years decided to repeal this old rule from Maos time and allow CPC members to send their kids to private schools
Then they discovered something
They discovered that Private School Quality was LOWER than Government School
Nobody wanted to send their kids to Private School.
Math, Science, Physics was of a tougher standard and teachers were the best
Thus even if it was due to fear of being branded a Collaborator, the fact is due to Mao – Chinas Education System became one of the best and it’s Government run schools became top notch
Indias misfortune was India never had a visionary like Mao or Deng
We did have Kamaraj but he was too localized
In India, Children of Politicians studied in the finest schools and later typically in UK Or US or Canada and foreign Universities
As a result there was NO REASON for Politicians to focus on quality education
India is a cesspit democracy
Long term vision was replaced by Short term election strategies
As a result, India focused on the BARE MINIMUM for State Or Centre sponsored Education
China and India were both equally pauper nations in the 1970s , in fact India was a tad bit richer
Yet China spent more on Education due to it’s long term vision , spent more on training teachers, spent more on sending teachers to foreign countries for enhancing their knowledge
India?
Politicians lined up their pockets
They duped the public
They openly stole public money and lined their coffers
Still even in 1992, there was some hope
Reservations destroyed it
The principle that a Moron Dullard was entitled become a Neurosurgeon or Doctor merely because Great Grand Daddy was oppressed a few decades ago
Plus the fact that this system was exploited even further when the genuinely oppressed weren’t at all given the chance
Instead a handful of wealthy persons took advantage of loopholes and drove quality into the Ground
China meanwhile had Crisp, Lovely, Meritocracy
A Son of a Sweeper could become an Engineer if he had merit, or a sweeper if he didn’t. Only Ability mattered.
By 2014, China was at a place India couldn’t reach with a hundred ladders
Then under Modiji, we all hoped things would improve
That at last we would have an AFFORDABLE EDUCATION ACT
That at last Modi would set a National Education Program and do what Mao did in 1954
Didn’t happen
Private Education raping the average Indian family with absurd tuition fees
Modiji focusing on Language policies, Sanskrit, Vedas and changing India to Bharat and removing Chapters on Mughals
The Average Chinese focusing on Python and Technology. The Average Indian on Ram, Laxman and some made up lies about how Modi is a superhero
It’s why, the Top 5% or 10% Chinese and Indians are similar
Yet the Average Chinese can swallow the Average Indian for breakfast, lunch and dinner
The Below Average Chinese os more than a match for the Average Indian
The Below Average ‘Educated’ Indian is on the lowest rung
Plus Indias biggest problem is the AVERAGE INDIAN
He doesn’t realize there is a problem at all
Realizing there is a problem means needing to work on a Solution and needing to recognize failure
Sorry. We are India. We are the best. We have no weaknesses.
Our Education system is flawed
Most refuse to agree. Some who agree make excuses including blaming Manmohan Singh. Some talk ‘Practically’ and say India needs to do nothing but everything will magically happen
Like I said, India is heading to a point where it would end up as a hotch potch, mish mash of uneven growth, a kind of Tumor rather than a crisp engine of growth with a Vision like China or even Vietnam
The $ 10 Trillion India would be a Huge Tumor rather than a nice neat rocket
Unless India buckles up and begins basic structural reform of Education, Healthcare and Liberal Laws
1. Everyone is insecure about something. It’s not just you.
2. You will never be 100% sure about decisions you made. But always make a decision because it’s better to go back and fix it than to never make it at all.
3. There is always someone better than you. So there’s no point to compare.
4. There’s nothing in life you can really control except your own thoughts and actions. So always hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
5. Nothing lasts forever. Things change, people change. And YOU can change anytime too.
6. Life is not a fairy tale. That’s why it’s always exciting and you’ll never be bored.
7. Hard work doesn’t guarantee success. But that’s what makes it challenging.
Going anonymous on this one, sorry about it, I just don’t think I can face being associated with the story I am about to tell. It will be a bit long-winded but one of the weirdest encouters ever happened in my life. And as it happened in a date, so…
Here it goes:
I signed up for a free dating site and started chatting to several guys. One of them, seemed like a nice and decent person.
When we started talking, it was about usual topics, interests. The conversation was flowing, as they say. I gave him my mobile number and he sent me texts every day, just some niceties. One of them was “I think we are on the same wavelength” “I hope so” I responded. I haven’t the slightest known yet, how wrong I was on assuming so…
After a week of talks, we set up a real life date.
He lived around an hour train ride from me and came to the station to pick me up. When I entered his car, he looked up to the sky and said: “do you find those clouds a bit weird?” There were no clouds, only condensation trails from airplanes. I said: “these are not clouds”
To which, he responded: “exactly” and had an expression on his face as if he just had said something really meaningful. Bit of an odd exchange, but I shrugged a shoulder and we did not mention the “not-clouds” again.
To my surprise, the date he set up was not the usual movie or restaurant combo with drinking, instead he took me to the riverside on a boat ride. I was enjoying it a lot, we both did a bit of rowing, it was sunny, we chatted nonchalantly.
We were talking about building styles in the UK (I am a foreigner) and I told him my impressions about buildings and differences to my home country. I also added that my dad is a bricklayer, so I have seen many houses being built.
To this, he said: “I have built something too” I asked: “What did you build?” “It is very unique. You will see it once, I hope.” – he said mysteriously. “What is it, a bunker?” – I joked and we laughed out loud.
The first date was over. I thanked him for the pleasant time and laughs. There was not much chemistry between us but I thought, what the hell, I will give another chance. So, when the next day he asked me for a second date, a dinner in his house, I said yes.
We drove to his house, where he lived alone. A nice and big family home. He had a wine chilled and invited me to look around. Everything was tidy, clean and stylish. I was impressed. We settled and he poured me some wine.
Out of the blue, at one point, he told me to go outside and check his car.
The following conversation happened:
“Do you see the scratches on the side?” – he pointed on the side, where large, faint scratches were running. “Of course I can see them” “What do you think caused them?” – he asked again. “I suppose branches or grass, or other cars, maybe some metal objects, a key maybe?” – I said hesitantly unsure where this conversation is going. “Let me tell you: Satan did these scratches…” – sounded his response. “Pardon?” “Satan scratched my car.” – again that sort of meaningful expression. “You mean figuratively I think, mean people maybe with evil motivation?” – I tried to deter the distrubing turn. “No, literally, the Satan itself.”- he said dead serious.
Uh.ooo….
Do you know the feeling, when suddenly the world seem like upside down and the fear hits you momentarily to make you nausetic and words froze inside you? I had that, combined with one of the biggest WTF moment.
“Is this guy crazy or what?”
We went back inside, my alarm bells were set off after this, I tell you. I was like a hawk, watching for little signs of anything unexpected. Little did I know that the real fun starts later….
He suggested we go to the kitchen and eat dinner. At least something normal, right? Right. You would think that someone inviting you over would prepare something. This was not the case. He suggested we eat soft boiled eggs. I happen to like boiled eggs very much, so ate 4 of them with bread. No problem, I am not fussy. So far so good.
After dinner, we went back to the living room and I relaxed a bit as Satan and scratches, the weird clouds and non of this crap was mentioned again. However, around a half hour later, again without any transition he says:
“Let me blindfold you, so I can show you what I built”
My mind went screaming: NO.F**.WAY! Adrenaline rushed through my blood I could sense it. Right then, I became concerned that this guy wants to kill me. In the same time I decided he won’t have an easy task to do so as I will fight like hell. I am not timid and rather strong and quick, so I was sizing up my options to run to the kitchen, grab a knife and defend myself if it comes to that. At this point, I’m wondering who was crazier, me or him?
Amazingly this is what I responded to him without even thinking:
“You know what? You are not going to blindfold me. Reason is, I think you are plotting to kill me. I know. And I also want you to know that you are not going to succeed. I will fight until my last breath.” – I sounded very calm, which amazed me even further.
His eyes opened wide and seemed genuinely surprised.
“Ok, ok, I can see you are nervous. Calm down, I am not planning anything. Just wanted to surprise you. I can see it backfired, so let’s just go as we are. No blindfold, I promise!” – he said.
Even though I was scared, I was also curious, so I responded:
“Right. I will take a look, under two conditions. First: You go in front of me and Second: I will take a knife from the kitchen and walk behind you. One bad move and you are dead. Did I mention I do martial arts?”
He agreed to my conditions. So, here we are, walking out the backdoor into the dark garden. The wind is blowing, trees and bushes rustle ominously as we walk the path. Him in the front with a light, me behind him, armed with the biggest kitchen knife I have ever seen. Just a perfect picture of two batshit crazy lunatics. As a matter of fact I have never fought in my life, I’m absolutely terrified, I lied about the martial art thing as well, I don’t know what I’m doing here, who is this insane person with me, not a single soul knows I am even here – I think about my life, my family far away, my stupidity.
We reach the shed in the back, well away from the house. There is only me and him, the bushes, and complete silence. Around us and as in front of us, as much as I can tell, just some woody areas and meadows and… a garden shed.
“This is it” – he says standing in front of the shed. Just a normal wooden shed, with 6 locks on the door. “This is what you built? Well, good one, now we can go back” – I am almost relieved. “No, the one I built is inside. Do you allow me to open it?” – I realise he must be scared of me a bit too. I nod.
He removes the locks and opens the door. The first thing I saw is a big ass axe on the floor! I jump away and pull the knife in front of me defensively.
“I knew it! Is this your murder weapon?!” – I shout. I can feel my heart beating so fast.
“Sorry, sorry! This is not meant to be here, I will put it away, ok? There.”-he says quickly.
“Give me that axe. Handle first.” – I order. He did.
“Now, look inside” – he asks and steps aside.
Very slowly, keeping an eye on him, I look inside the shed. Nothing. No rotting corpses, no torture chamber, just a few gym equipment, gardening tools, completely normal. I sigh… maybe I imagine too much into this…until.. from the corner of my eyes I notice something on the floor.
This!!!!!!!!!!!!:
A submarine hatch door. Holy crap, like a bloody rollercoaster! My gut is churning again.
“You really built a bunker…” – this is all I can say. What? How? Why? Words would fail to describe my thinking processes. “Yes” – he says bluntly and asks me to allow him to open the hatch door.
Next thing I know is we are looking down into a hole with concrete stairs, thick concrete walls, going down few meters. A nuclear bunker.
I am thinking, “if he kills me now and closes the door, nobody will ever find me”
Let me tell you the end quickly.
I did went down and looked around in the nuclear bunker of his design. He wanted to know what I think of it. I pointed out that no air filtration, pollution measurement equipment and surveillance system was installed so I was not sure if it is of any use (apart from hiding dead bodies). He agreed it needs improvement.
After the tour, we went back to the house. As you can guess, I was exhausted and weary from the whole evening but a bit calmer as I was still alive.
I thanked him for everything and requested to leave. He cried and told me he never met such a cool person as I am…
I was happy I only met a lunatic and not a serial killer.
TL:DR
A guy took me for a second date and showed me the nuclear bunker he built driven by his ideas on an upcoming doomsday fight between evil and good.
Is refusing to be submissive and subservient to the U.S. threatening the U.S.? To you it may be, but to the rest of the world it is call standing up to their right!
Lets defined threat. If Iran say it will bomb Washington, LA, New York, Miami or Hawaii, that will be considered a threat. Did Iran do that? So far it is the U.S. that funded and supported Saddam Hussein to fight a war with Iran in the 1980’s and murder General Solameini an Iranian scientist by a drone in Iraq! That is threatening. But it is the U.S. threatening Iran!
Seriously unless you are blind, deaf or dumb could you asked such a ludicrous question! Come on man be real. The U.S. ought to know that, Americans must surely know that. And you by asking this question is seen by 7.5 billion out of 8 billion or world inhabitants as a fool to even ask this question.
The U.S. threaten Iran and half the world to be bomb into smitten daily. And anyone that refused to be submissive and subservient to them is their enemy. Such behaviour belongs to Ghengis Khan or Atilla the Hun, or the Vikings not a 21st century nation! Call a spade a spade! Make the world a better place.
In my opinion yes, but not now. I looked at the numbers about this. As I suspected, the main reason why China extracts and processes this much rare earth metals is its industry demands it. It is not because of low labor costs or lax environmental regulations.
Few relevant numbers:
Chinese mine production was 210,000 tonnes in 2022, limited by Chinese law for environmental reasons.
Global mine production was ~300,000 tonnes. Which means the Chinese share of global production was 70%.
China’s share in the processing of rare earth ores was 85%. This means around half of the non-Chinese production was imported to China for processing. We can conclude from here that China processed around 255,000 tonnes of rare earths in 2022.
China’s export volume was 48,000 tonnes in 2022. For the value of this trade, the last data is from 2021. And it is 653 million USD. Completely insignificant for China, especially when you consider that it is coming at an environmental cost. When you look at the volume, you see that China’s exports are barely higher than its imports (in terms of weight after the processing of the imported ores). China’s own industry uses almost as much as China extracts from its own soil. Really, it looks like this monopoly only emerged because the scale caused by domestic demand resulted in much lower prices compared to the rest of the planet.
If this monetarily insignificant trade is this important for countries who are trying to kill entire sectors of the Chinese industry, then China should stop this trade. Let them deal with years of shortages. But it is not a good time to do this now. Export controls should be timed so that non-Chinese shortages should coincide with the emergence of Chinese products that compete with the products of Western companies (primarily US, SK and Japan) suffering from the shortages. This is important because commodities are rarely irreplaceable.
When I moved into my first apartment, it was one of those fancy newer buildings that offered incentives on move-in. In my case, it was a low deposit and a free month of rent! Because I was signing for a mid-month move-in, they pro-rated their amounts. At this stage was when I started eating the big bucks working crypto-forensic analysis and scam tracking jobs for Coinbase.
I wrote my check, moved in, and all was well for about 2 years.
A few weeks after I got tossed a notice about the building’s management being changed, I received a new notice taped to my front door. It told me I owed the front office <insert blank> amount within 3 days or they would begin eviction proceedings.
I’ve paid rent on time my entire life so I couldn’t imagine what on earth I would owe. Then I read the amount typed into the <insert blank>.
$0.01.
Yes. One cent. One one-hundredth of one dollar. One penny, and they wanted it NOW or they were going to evict me. What the hell?!
I went down and talked to the nice people in front of the computers in the leasing office. They looked through the files and told me that the new management was going through the books and making the final debt collections in order to start the new term on solid bookkeeping. They were rounding up all the outstanding fees and demanding payment. My fee, it appears, had been hanging around for two years. Yep: a rounding decision on that pro-rated rent amount.
asked them why they didn’t waive it. They said they couldn’t. I wasn’t about to lose my home over a rounding error, no matter the principle. I dug into my pocket to get the damn coin and hand it over. They held up their hands.
“I’m sorry, we don’t take cash.” I am sure the look on my face was comical but inside I was boiling with baffled rage.
They made me write a check. In order to keep my apartment, I used a $0.10 sheet of specially coded paper to hand over to salaried employees to collect in a deposit bag to go into a bank to cover a rounded calculation that had been irrelevant for 2 years but was now suddenly the difference between shelter and the streets.
Once upon a time, I was a stay at home mother. My home was spotless, my daughter taken care of, dinner was ready when her father walked in the door. I was happy and felt fulfilled. I truly loved giving of myself to my family.
Until I found myself alone and I had to find work. I did what I had to. I work long hours. Some say I work too many hours. But they aren’t responsible for me or my daughter, so their opinion is irrelevant. That responsibility falls on me, and even if I ever did remarry, I would never expect anyone else to be responsible for her, other than myself.
I prefer to do all of the “domestic arts” myself. I enjoy them. But the hours I work and the responsibilities I carry outside of work necessitate that I delegate some things to others. I don’t mind paying someone to clean if it means it’s one less thing for me to worry about.
Well, for this, we have to go back to the closing years of World War II. Although Germany and Japan were still fighting, it was clear they were going to lose, but that meant cleaning up the economic mess that had been created by the war.
Now, historically, the British Pound Sterling had been the most common reserve currency due to its stability and the ability to convert paper money into gold. However, the British government had to go heavily into debt for the war and suspended conversion of paper money into precious metal. However, it hardly mattered as British gold reserves were under pressure as it borrowed more and more money.
Now, the United States was in debt too, but back in 1933 they had already suspended the ability to convert paper currency into gold (you could convert it to silver until 1964) and had made the ownership of gold illegal. They then consolidated all the gold held by the various regional Federal Reserve banks and all the private gold they confiscated (and gave paper money for) into a single depository next to Fort Knox in Kentucky. Moreover, most countries had finance their debt int he United States as their own markets collapsed. In other words, the United States was swimming in gold.
So in July 1944 all 44 allied nations met at a hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire and worked out the new world monetary order. At the top of the agenda was avoiding expensive and potentially destabilizing transfers of large amounts of gold which would allow nations devastated by war to have capital to rebuild.
The scheme essentially took gold entirely out of the market and fixed it to the U.S. dollar, with $35 U.S. being the equivalent of 1 ounce of gold. Nations in the compact, called “Bretton Woods”, would agree to buy all the gold they had at that rate. Each nation would be able to fix the value of their currency against the U.S. dollar (for example, 5 francs to the dollar) but would have to guaranteed that exchange rate for intercountry transfers (i.e. the U.S. could buy all the francs it wanted for dollars at that rate). Countries could change that rate (Canada did in the 1960s when it dropped the rate from $1.00 U.S. for $1.00 Cdn. to $0.975 U.S. to $1.00 Cdn.) but had to stand by it. In other words, gold would not routinely change hands, U.S. dollars would.
There was a catch. Even though people couldn’t exchange dollars for gold, countries could. Most countries held U.S. dollar reserves, which were largely from surplus exports to the U.S. If they wanted to, they could “take delivery” of gold, assuming they wanted to securely transport it from Fort Knox themselves.
As such, the U.S. dollar standard replaced the gold standard, as the U.S. dollar became the common currency for all the countries in the compact.
Of course, this only lasted until 1973 when Richard Nixon pulled the United States out of the agreement. From that point forward, there was no fixed rate between currencies and they traded on the open market. The U.S. also ended the prohibition against owning gold and started selling some or theirs on the open market.
A Golden Eagle, a roughly 1 ounce gold coin that the U.S. government sells at the current market price of gold, plus a small premium.
Most countries still use the U.S. dollar as their “reserve” or “exchange” currency, but that’s changing. For example, Argentina just moved from the dollar to the Chinese yuan, which is also quite stable because the Chinese government manipulates its value
I am 21 years old. When I was in 10th grade there was a girl A in school. Just like typical teenagers she had many rumours surrounding her. I ignored those and went ahead and made friends with her.
In some months we started dating. We were head over heels for each other. We had everything going great so shown in movies. One day when we were on a date, after coming out from washroom she gave me her phone. There she had written something which changed all my views on her. She wrote that she was raped at the age of 14 by a guy who forced her to be his girlfriend so that other people won’t suspect a thing.
Fearing society and her parents, she didn’t tell it to anyone. But had to undergo therapy. Her parents were totally unaware to real reason behind her behaviour. She lost a ton of weight and was living on medicines. This was really shocking for me. Then I had flashback of all the times when she had certain insecurities and why she required so much time to trust a person. She also had intimacy issues because of this. And that person had told her to shut her mouth or he’ll leak the tape which he had recorded. This rumour was spread in our school by her friends isolating her.
But now she’s a healthy person pursuing her career in engineering and I am a proud boyfriend.
America Warns China To Obey As US Debt Auction GOES BAD
I didn’t think I was a poor student until I arrived at USC for my MBA program. I had worked hard and saved up $150K, which was to last me exactly through the $100K in tuition for two years and $50K for basic living expenses. I had a 9 year old Lincoln and thought I was set. My naïveté lasted for about 10 minutes.
As soon as I pulled into the student parking lot, I could see all the late model cars, many of them luxury marks. This was the undergrad parking area. One blond undergrad roared her shiny white Cadillac Escalade down the ramp as I looked for a spot.
During our casual meeting time with fellow students, productively labeled as networking, I heard about the kind of massive homes in exclusive neighborhoods that were the norm. Many of my classmates had gotten new luxury cars just for school and had fancy upscale condos for partying during school. But, that was just stuff. What really blew my mind was their attitude about money on a daily basis.
Many would invariably go to night time parties two or even three times a week, all during some very intense course work. While I looked for ways to stick to my $25 daily food budget, they had no problem splurging a few hundred dollars a night each time they were out. At the same time, I knew they were taking out massive student loans to fund their gratuitous consumption, along with tuition and basic living expenses.
Their lack of concern about repaying an extra $50K just surprised the heck out of me. I wasn’t dead broke and could tag along, but I just didn’t see the benefit of such free spending. Eventually, I settled into a more middle-class normative life-style and was comfortable.
Then I saw how naive I truly was.
One of my classmates had gotten to attend the MBA program on a merit and needs-based scholarship. He didn’t have any money. While his tuition was waived, he still needed to pay for daily expenses.
Instead of a fancy high floor condo or even a modest downtown condo, he lived in one of the roughest neighborhoods just off campus. I lived nearby and can hear the police patrols and random gun fire where he lived. My place wasn’t much but at least it was secure. He lived on a couch in a shared room right in the middle of regular gang and drug activity. Running water wasn’t always available, but it was cheap, just a few hundred bucks a month.
Obviously, he didn’t have a car and relied on brisk walks to get anywhere. He didn’t have many friends as he couldn’t afford to go hang out with anyone. When we hung out, I made sure we didn’t need to spend any money.
He couldn’t even afford food, so he worked part time at university food service to make a few dollars and grab leftovers for meals. While others dined in fancy Beverly Hills and Hollywood hot spots, he was scraping pots for a bite. But, he never complained about the squandered money of our fellow students. He knew his values and was content on focusing on his goals.
He certainly kept me grounded as I felt like a spoiled brat using money so freely and buying myself a burrito whenever I felt hungry.
So, here I was moping ridiculously about my relative paucity; he showed what real determination and pride in the midst of deprivation looked like.
And, even at the MBA level, there’s a bias to spend money. My freespending classmates all got six-figure jobs right out of school from their “networking” efforts and were able to quickly pay off their huge student loans. Meanwhile, my poor friend is still struggling financially.
Cheating Wife Stories, Husband’s Cruel Revenge For Cheating
“It doesn’t matter if she ” started to fall back in love with you “…SHE’S HAD ANOTHER MAN’S BABY !!! …that’s it…its over , no if and or buts it’s over…any man who’d accept that is NOT a man , he’d be a lil bitch , I don’t think I could have been with her the 9 months and not starting IMMEDIATE divorce proceedings could cost him child support…remember some sick states automatically declare a husband the ” father ” …even if you have medical proof and D.N.A proof…you must also have written statements by the mother and possible father…if mother can’t find other guy or he refuses to get involved you owe that affair baby 18 yrs of child support.. ( disgusting they’d punish a innocent man just to save a few percentages of tax rates for business and the rich…yet they have the harshest anti- abortion laws…total scum…but then again any man stupid enough to still marry in those states is criminally ignorant and brings it on himself…so no sympathy for those or this idiot..no one or no law forced him to marry…he put himself into his predicament….so keep lining up to sign up for marriage…I get a kick out of your pain and suffering”
According to CIIE organizers, this year’s expo has attracted a record 289 Global Fortune 500 companies and industry leaders, with over 3,400 exhibitors and 394,000 professional visitors registered for the event.
Now read carefully the name for the expo – it’s an IMPORT EXPO meaning the exhibitors are EXPORTERS from all over the world traveling to China to meet Chinese IMPORTERS to buy from them.
This is not about these people investing in China. This is about exhibitors interested to sell to the world’s largest consumer market.
I received a text addressed to him and asking him to call back the very next day after I activated it.
“Who’s this?”
“Mom.”
“I think you have the wrong number,” I answered. “My mom’s half way across the planet.”
“Sorry.”
“Hope everything is okay with your son/daughter!”
“Thanks! All the best!”
The messages didn’t stop there.
Reminders to pick up his car from the mechanic’s, friends wanting to get beers over the weekend, or talking sports and venting about frustrating relationships.
A woman he used to see asking if they can reconnect.
And I diligently replied saying that it’s no longer his number.
Except the more I replied, the more I felt some inexplicable connection with Michael. As if every message I received made me understand him a bit better. Identify with him. Even root for him as he navigates through the challenges of life.
Then things went quiet and I thought he must have let everyone know about changing his number and I almost forgot about the whole thing.
Until I started getting a different kind of messages.
And then it was spelled out in one message: “I heard your mom got diagnosed with cancer.”
The same mom who sent me my very first message on that phone.
I wrote back to one person saying that even though it’s not his number, I’m deeply sorry about the news and that I’m sending healing prayers.
He/she was so touched they said the kindness of a stranger brightened their day and restored a little bit of faith.
And I felt even closer to Michael.
Like we have something greater in common than just having shared a number. I’ve *been* through shit with him. I’ve thought about his problems and commitments.
And now his mom has cancer.
Michael, I don’t know you and we’ve never spoken, but I want you to know that I *am* there for you. That you *are* in my thoughts. That I *do* care.
That I love you and your mother and I hope you all get through this.
China can do manufacturing and the U.S. cannot. China is the global supply chain hub. China is the one with the perrenial trade surplus with the U.S. Militarily, China has the world’s largest naval fleet while we can’t construct any new naval assets while those “active” assets spent more time in repair than out on duty.
Yesterday in the Charlotte, NC airport I decided to spend my last few dollars on a beer before my flight to Munich.
Before me in line stood a man well into his seventies. He ordered two red wines.
The server asked him for his ID and that of his equally aged wife who was sitting at a table with a cane propped between her knees.
He thought it was a joke. So did I.
It wasn’t. He had to walk back to the table and fetch his wife’s ID.
This was not only strange, it was the stupidest rule I’ve ever seen.
Sixty-year old me was next. And yes, I needed to prove I was twenty one.
Edit: I keep getting comments about how this is normal and the server is just doing their job. I understand and don’t hold it against the server, their management or even the legal system that makes them so careful.
All that said, the rest of the world finds it very strange (and a bit sad perhaps) when 80-year old people must be carded to prove they are 21.
If you are 100% sure you know who did it, and the peaches were all inside the boundaries of your yard, you have several options – none passive.
Coming from compassion – Offer to share some – not all – if they “need” some.
Let “all” neighbors know you have plans for the fruit this year. Request everyone stay out of your yard unless invited.
Put up a Beware of dog sign – even if you don’t have one.
Put up No Tresspassing signs. Warn that anyone caught tresspassing is subject to being arrested.
Get security cameras on your place – yard and front and side areas.
And if they get caught trying to do it again have an estimate for value of the crop and press charges for theft. If it’s over $500 it’s a felony in many or most states. Tresspassing and theft could mean jail time. Those peaches better be worth it to them.
Growing up we had grapes along our back fence. Three different neighbors over 25 years all asked first before taking the grapes poking through to their side. Every year my family told them to take any on their side of the fence.
Point is good neighbors “ask.”
Something is weird with your neighbors.
China’s Growing NAVAL POWER Can Destroy the USA in 30 Seconds
Technological advancement is a cornerstone of China’s naval dominance. From the development of cutting-edge submarines, such as the Type 095 and Type 096, to the deployment of advanced naval aviation capabilities, China has demonstrated an unyielding dedication to innovation. Its naval prowess is complemented by a formidable array of anti-ship missiles, naval defense systems, and electronic warfare capabilities, placing it at the forefront of maritime technology.
I was enjoying a meal of spaghetti with marinara sauce in a pleasant Italian restaurant. I noticed two women, around 40, eating at the other side of the small restaurant, conversing and eating heartily. When they had finished, the waitress came to take their plates, and asked if they wanted anything else. They said no, and she asked “If you are ready, I will bring your bill.” The ladies said, no, they would not pay because the food was very bad. They claimed the spaghetti was undercooked, the sauce was thin and salty, and the rolls were not fit to eat. Their coffee was much too strong, too. They were not rude or really loud, but were adamant they did not think they should pay for such bad food. The waitress said, “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have taken the food and gotten you a better meal. And besides, why did you eat it all and then tell me it was so bad?” The ladies realized the sense of the waitress’ words, accepted the bill, and paid.
Early during my intern year in San Francisco in 1973, I took over care of a comatose alcoholic patient. I discovered her electrolytes and metabolic tests were all out of wack.
I corrected them and she woke up.
The first thing she asked upon awakening was “Who’s taking care of my cats?”.
She was in a panic.
I called her contacts and got a neighbor to get her cats and care for them.
I then told my patient that if she kept drinking, the next time she ended up in the hospital she would surely die and there would be no one to look after her cats. They would die a terrible death of thirst and starvation.
I remember her looking at me with grave concern.
About a week later she was discharged and I didn’t see her again until very near the end of my internship. I saw her walking in the corridor of the hospital going for a clinic visit. She looked like a different person, well dressed and made up.
She told me that she hadn’t had another drink in almost a year because her cats depended on her.
It was one of the most rewarding moments in my long career and one of the rare times I succeeded in getting a hard core alcoholic to get and stay on the wagon.
Cheesecake Factory Cajun Jambalaya Pasta
pasta jambalaya 4 1 of 1 1463×2048 1
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
4 ounces butter
2 teaspoons Cajun spice mix
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces
1 pound fresh linguini pasta
1/2 cup clam juice
2 ounces green bell peppers, cut into thin strips
2 ounces red bell peppers, cut into thin strips
2 ounces yellow bell peppers, cut into thin strips
4 ounces red onions, cut into thin strips
1/2 pound fresh medium shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed
1/2 cup diced tomatoes
Instructions
Place the butter into a sauté pan. Allow the butter to melt slightly. Add the seasoning into the pan and stir together with the melted butter. Add the chicken into the pan and continue to cook until the chicken is about half done.
While the chicken is cooking, carefully place the pasta into boiling water and cook until al dente.
Pour the clam juice into the pan. Add the peppers and onions. Cook for another minute, making sure the vegetables are heated through and the chicken is almost done.
Add the shrimp into the pan. Toss the ingredients together and continue to cook until the shrimp are almost done.
Add the tomatoes into then pan. Continue to cook mixture until both the shrimp and chicken are thoroughly cook through.
Place some pasta into each bowl. Spoon equal portions of the jambalaya mixture into each bowl over the pasta.
My dad was 22 years older than my mom and in his mid-fifties when I was born. He retired while I was in elementary school which meant I essentially had two stay at home parents as my mom didn’t work. My dad never showed his age and was as active and involved as any of my friends dads but more so because he didn’t have work. When I was younger my dad would come to elementary school and eat lunch with me. He helped with boy scouts and came camping with me. He attended all sporting events and school activities. In the summer we would spend full days at museums or going on trips; he was a regular chaperone on school field trips. When my bus stop was far away he’d come pick me up every day.
I was always sadly hyper aware that he was older and losing him was a regular fear; I lucked out and had him with me until he almost hit 97 and I was 42; my mom passed 15 months before him. I just had my first child at 43 and have no idea how my dad managed 4 kids, with my brother and I just two years apart, and not complain or show any signs of age at all. I wouldn’t say I ever wished for younger parents as it is all I ever knew.
My dad was 57 when I was born and my mom 43. My mom passed away 2 days after I was born. My dad was my world. He learned to cook to make me my favorite meals. I was a picky eater as a kid.
He woke me up each morning with fresh squeezed orange juice which I love until this day. As I got older, he would play tennis with me and taught me to play softball. He had played baseball in Cuba and he was a great hitter even in his sixties. I did everything with him.
When I was 5, he was on his way to pick me up at day care when he got into a terrible car accident where an ambulance was called to treat him. He was less than a a tenth of a mile from the day care, he told the ambulance workers he had to pick up his daughter before he could be taken to the hospital. He walked and picked me up with a head injury and took me to a neighbors house before being transported to the hospital. I will always remember this day.
When I was 10 he retired from work and started picking me up from the bus stop every day after school. He always had a snack ready for me and we sat and talked about our day.
At 15 he taught me to drive. He was patient and made sure I knew the rules of the road. For my 16th birthday, he took me to get my drivers license. A few days later he bought me a car. We were poor and I had no expectation of a car. He had put aside money to buy me a 3 year old Toyota Camry. He drove a 13 year old car.
A few months after my 16th birthday he was not feeling well and I thought it was a cold. He passed away 20 days later of a double pneumonia and acute leukemia. My world was shattered. I didn’t know how to pick up the pieces and keep going. To this day, I think about him every day.
Did I wish he was younger? No, I wouldn’t change him but I do wish I had more time with him.
He’s never run any commercials promoting his podcast. Never bought any billboards, any print ads. He never went on any late-night shows to promote his podcast.
I’ve always known about him from watching UFC’s, so I knew he had a podcast.
But eventually – he began popping up more and more on my YouTube suggestions. I figured – can this podcast really be any good? I know he’s a decent comedian and a great fight commentator.
Steadily – over years, he continued plugging away at his podcast, getting more and more guests.
Finally, I gave in – and I’m hooked – along with millions of other people.
The podcast is a blend of funny/smart and is just people having conversations. No acting, no-nonsense.
Just humble, intelligent conversations with a wide variety of people from all walks of life.
Joe now has one of the most popular podcasts in the world and he just did it by being his authentic self and enjoying conversations with people.
He was a Navy SEAL serving in Afghanistan. During a mission in 2007, he went into a room first, leading his team. Unfortunately, it had insurgents in it, waiting with automatic weapons.
He was shot 27 times. While 11 rounds were blocked by his body armor, 16 rounds managed to hit him in the torso, arms and legs. He was also hit by a grenade which exploded and sent shrapnel through his body.
And then, he managed to kill three enemy fighters near him with a pistol and without killing any of the women and children in the room.
His recovery took two long years.
And he later became an advocate for wounded warriors and those living with PTSD—because he had it bad.
Sadly, he was haunted by the things he went through in war. This past March, he couldn’t bear it anymore and was found hanging in his room.
He cheated death narrowly for 16 years, but the demons were the ones Mike couldn’t escape. Rest in Peace warrior.
The Admiral Kuznetsov was and actually still is the flagship of the Russian Navy.
Yes, she’s not seaworthy, but it doesn’t matter. This is really a matter of national pride. If the Russian Navy can’t keep their flagship in service, that does not look great.
As a side-note, the Kuznetsov was built at the Black Sea Shipyard in what is now Ukraine. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, you’ll know why docking it in Ukraine is not exactly an option. Russia lacks any shipyards large and capable enough to properly service or build something this big, which is why they’re having so much trouble refitting the ship.
It may happen now and then but I have never heard of of a big box company buying out the little guy. They usually just open up a store and drive the little guy out of business – maybe. Read on. Sometimes a smaller chain will be bought out but seldom a single store.
Mom and pop hardware stores tended to do better than, say, grocery stores because of the expertise offered.
In 1976 I got a position in Rochester NH as a bank trust officer and we bought a beautiful cape cod with a center chimney built in 1853.
A neighbor chatted to me and asked me if I had experience with working on houses. Our previous home we had bought brand new so I had to confess that I had not. He told me I should expect this home to require endless work. He suggested to me that I should patronize Warburton’s Hardware just down the road from me. He said I would go in for a dollars worth of nails and come out with ten dollars worth of advice.
He was right on both counts and I took his advice.
Brownie Warburton retired and it was bought by the Boucher family and they are still there. It was a happy day for me when he invited me to call him Brownie. The locals were not usually that accepting of blow ins.
So the mom and pop hardware stores can compete.
Now just about anyone will be familiar with this logo
ACE Hardware
You might think that Ace is a chain but you would be wrong. Ace stores are individually owned or parts of small chains – a bit liked McDonald’s. The big difference is that Ace Corporation is owned by the store owners – it is a cooperative. Ace started up in 1924, long before big box hardware stores and they seem to be thriving. They do so in the same way that Brownie Warburton did: by providing service and expertise. Edit. I did not intend this to be an ad for Ace but it sure resonated with readers. Read the comments.
This is not to say that big box stores have no place; they clearly do but so do smaller, locally owned stores.
I’m a Christian and would change it to God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform “ as an old hymn says.
When I was younger, I was asked at the last minute to delay my holiday as someone else wanted to go to the Henley Regatta and we couldn’t both be away from work at the same time. I was furious!
When I arrived finally on holiday, this vision in a blue dress appeared. She also not only shouldn’t have been there that week, but shouldn’t have been there at all. She had been going to Switzerland earlier but developed appendicitis and couldn’t go and some weeks later was invited to join her sister and some friends and so we met.
We married a year later and remained together for 63 years until her death.
I used to work for a large rehab company. I was a licensed occupational therapist. One year, we had a new girl start there, who was from Europe. She was also also a licensed therapist, but had two years of additional training. She was also on a work visa. At first she was friendly and agreeable, but soon began to show her true colors. She started making snide comments about people behind their backs, and then proceeded to say them to their faces. She told me that where she came from, I wouldn’t be considered a real therapist, because I had only studied for two years.
We had a few Rehab assistants that she proceeded to lord over, because she had a college degree and they did not. But they worked hard and did their jobs. One day she sat with us at lunch; myself, and two rehab assistants. She proceeded to make rude comments about certain ethnic groups in the company, claiming that they had chips on their shoulders. I told her that her remarks could be construed as racism, and that she had better knock it off. She scoffed, and went on making rude comments. When she left the room with a big smirk on her face, one of the aides told me that she had been making unflattering comments behind my back, too. I decided that she needed to be taught a lesson. I contacted our clinical director and reported her behavior, especially the racist comments.
An hour later, she came walking down the hall, smirk replaced by copious tears. She had been warned that if she continued with her behavior, she would be shipped right back to Europe.
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.
I had another interview. This was on a website that discusses soul, and astral travel, and all manner of similar items. If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the video. Enjoy!
I hope that you enjoy it.
I don’t think that I was at my best. But I did try anyways.
Oh, I’ve got a good one. After joining a new company, I rose quickly from trainee to project manager. However, my pay didn’t rise with my title or responsibility. I was also being forced to work overtime off the clock (illegally). I had a sit down meeting with my boss, and told him that I expected to be paid more given that I had far more responsibility. I was told that I’d need to gain experience in the new department and that they didn’t have money in the budget for raises. I knew this to be nonsense, because there was no way that the guy I replaced was making the pittance that I was. I also asked for a filing cabinet for my office. I was told that one had recently been vacated and to take anything I needed out of that office. I found the file cabinet, which was a rusty piece of shit. But, it’s what I had to work with. I didn’t know how valuable that filing cabinet would be.
I started cleaning out the crap that the last person had left in the filing cabinet. It was mostly a bunch of accounting stuff; invoices from receivables, things like that. At the very bottom of the filing cabinet was a stapled set of papers. On it were the names of the company’s employees with a number beside each one. I tried to figure out what the numbers meant. Office number? No, some of them were the same. That ruled out employee number too. In fact there were decimals. Wait, could it really be? No. Yes! This was a list of the hourly rate of every single employee in the building, from CEO to Janitor. Jackpot.
Now that I new how much everybody was making, I knew exactly what I was worth to them and what they could “afford”. But they had just turned me down for a raise. How was I going to leverage it? Well, by securing another position, which I did. I interviewed at another company, got another offer that was at least above what I was making in case things didn’t work out and put in my notice. About a week went by. Didn’t hear from them. Maybe they were broke and couldn’t afford to pay me any more. But sure enough, one afternoon I got called into the Vice President’s office. “Why are you leaving us?”. I told him that I thought my additional hours and responsibilities were worth more money and I was right, another company offered more money. “Can we at least make you an offer? We can move things around.”
They came back with a substantial raise, in fact more than the other company was offering by a fair amount. But I knew what every employee was making, from the newest project manager to the people I replaced. I was going all in. I told him I had to turn his offer down. Another day went by. I get called into the Vice President’s office again. “We like what you’re doing. We have increased our offer.” I said I would look at it. I waited two days before getting back to him, just a few days before starting my next job. I told him if he added another dollar an hour it was a deal. He said he’d see if the other board members would agree, and it was officially offered on paper that afternoon. It was a dollar more per hour than the people I had replaced, and a 50 percent increase in salary. Information is everything, and somebody left the wrong information at the bottom of a rusty filing cabinet.
“Oh, just one more thing. My filing cabinet is a piece of shit, I want a new one.”
“Done.”
I made sure it was empty when it got hauled out.
“War with Iran would be SUICIDE and the U.S. will lose” – Scott Ritter
Former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter lays out how a U.S. backed war against Iran would bring devastation to both the United States and Israel. Ritter says Israel would be destroyed if it tries to face off against Hezbollah and Hamas simultaneously.
Enough to flatten any nation or a few nations which dare to nuke China completely and comprehensively. Ensure that it can send its reciprocal strike with minutes of the enemy’s strike. China won’t be the first to you. But it must retaliate in kind with equal proportion.
Just so you know? How many Nuclear Arsenals? It for China to know and for their enemies to find out the hard way. 300–30’000 that is what China has. Don’t doubt China. A nation that last 5000 years will still be around after you care gone.
Texas Tavern Burgers
2023 10 28 12 33
Yield: 10 servings.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups chopped onion, divided
3 tablespoons butter
1 can tomato soup
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 pounds ground beef
Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
Combine and cook 1 cup onion and butter until onions are clear and tender.
Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients except beef, salt and pepper.
Simmer for 10 minutes.
Cook ground beef and remaining onion until brown. Add to mixture.
The US needs deflation causing supplies to keep inflation down. If it cuts China supplies your inflation can balloon to between 25–50%.
The U.S. needs a market to sell most of its products. China a lone is bigger than the next 10 markets put together. It’s consumer market alone is roughly 30% of the world. But what is worst is 70% of world produce is made in China. If you add these China commands 50–60% of world market. Any U.S. companies deprived of this market literally goes bankrupt.
You should not even think of cutting out China let alone do it. Anything you do will hurt the U.S. 10 times what it will ever hurts or harm China. That explains why the U.S. trade war on China starting in 2018 is such a duff decision. From 2018–2021 the U.S. economy grew 5.5% in total while China’s economy over the same period grew 5 times faster at 26.5%! No question who won!
Now this Chip war has shown clear signs of bankrupting the entire host of US chip companies from designing to producing and developing. The U.S. expected China to collapse and it is supposed to take a generation or 25 years for China to catch up. It took 3 years! Now China will produce chips at a third of the U.S. cost! The whole nonsense of Chip ban may cost 10 trillion when it tally up the losses.
But a nation that lost in Korea, failed again in Vietnam and disastrous in Iraq and replaced Taliban with Taliban after wasting 5 trillion dollars in Afghanistan will never learn their lesson to be humble.
In technology it has failed miserably in trying to deprived China of GPS. China developed a higher resolution, accurate to a meter version that now is in use by 187 out of 195 nations. Next to ban China from entering the U.S. space station. The result is China now has the only functional state of the art technology Chinese Space Station.
Moscow will sell to Beijing, 70 Million Tons of Grain over the next 12 years for an approximate value of 65% of thr market price of grain pegged to a maximum value of 2.5 Trillion Rubles
PAYABLE IN RMB!!!
This means 36% of the World’s Grain will now be quoted and paid for in RMB
It was 4.7% in 2021
That’s a 720% rise in a mere 2 years
China gains huge food security plus currency domininon
Meanwhile
Russia extended a 10 year deal to sell Oil at a 30% discount pegged to a maximum equivalent of 750 RMB a barrel
And the best news
The Malacca Blockade is worthless now
China can get 100% Energy from Russia & the Middle East plus Food Security and delivered through Safe routes
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The Duran: Germany is FINISHED
This is very interesting. Europe is going down with the United States.
Texas Breakfast Burritos
2023 10 19 08 45
Ingredients
12 flour tortillas, warmed
1/2 pound bacon
2 tomatoes, cubed
1 onion, sliced
3 1/2 tablespoons salsa
6 eggs
Instructions
Cook bacon until crisp.
Using same pan with a little grease, cook onion.
Crumble bacon coarsely and return to pan.
Beat eggs; stir into pan. Cook until eggs are set.
Fold in cubed tomatoes and salsa.
Fill warm tortillas with egg mixture.
Grandma gives high-five to passport bros
China Aims to Use Particle Accelerators to Build Chips and Evade EUV Sanctions
China’s semiconductor ambitions call to use particle accelerator.
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), China plans to use an innovative approach to manufacturing processors by harnessing particle accelerators, potentially positioning itself as a global leader in advanced chip manufacturing. SCMP says the method seeks to evade traditional lithography machine limitations and US sanctions on EUV technology, potentially reshaping the semiconductor industry landscape.
The Chinese research team, led by Tsinghua University, is developing a unique laser source using particle accelerators. Their goal is to sidestep the constraints of conventional lithography machines, which are pivotal in microchip production. The proposed particle accelerator will be roughly the size of two basketball courts, between 100-150 meters in circumference, and will serve as a high-quality light source for chip fabrication.
Professor Zhao Wu from Stanford University introduced the underlying technology, termed steady-state microbunching (SSMB). SSMB captures the energy emitted by charged particles during acceleration, transforming it into a continuous, pure EUV light source. Compared to the prevalent ASML EUV method, SSMB boasts superior power and efficiency, potentially reducing chip production costs.
“An SSMB-EUV light source has been designed at THU, with designed EUV power higher than 1kW, and some key technologies are nearly ready,” said team member Professor Pan Zhilong at a presentation at an academic workshop in January 2022.
This ambitious project contrasts with the strategies of companies like ASML, which focus on miniaturizing chip-making machines. Instead, China’s vision involves creating a giant factory that houses several lithography machines, all centered around a single accelerator. This design aims to enable competitive manufacturing processes (such as 2nm and beyond) that will be used to make high-performance chips without using traditional extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography scanners.
“As a completely new light source, the experimental verification of the technology has been implemented. But it is necessary to build a solid SSMB light source research device operating in the EUV band,” said project leader Professor Tang Chuanxiang from Tsinghua University.
“Then we can [use the device to] cultivate scientific and industrial users, and polish the SSMB technology.”
According to the report, Tsinghua University’s team has made significant strides in this domain; they have successfully trialed the technology and are now scouting locations for the project’s construction, the report claims. Their achievements could pave the way for China to bypass potential future sanctions and emerge as a semiconductor powerhouse.
However, the journey to realizing SSMB-based EUV lithography machines remains long and challenging. Professor Tang Chuanxiang heads the project and emphasizes the need for continuous innovation and collaboration across industries to develop a functional lithography system.
“There is still a long way to go before our independent development of EUV lithography machines, but SSMB-based EUV light sources give us an alternative to the sanctioned technology,” said Tang. “It requires continuous technological innovation based on SSMB EUV light sources and cooperation with upstream and downstream industries to build a usable lithography system.”
China Will Take Revenge Against US Discriminatory Practices On Huawei This Way!
The question is, what kind of inquisitive mind thought it would be possible to stop the technological advancement of a country of 1.5 billion people that work diligently hand-in-hand to build and better their country that has over 1 billion people as citizens, and over half of that as Middle Class? US economic experts advising their government should re-educate themselves.
https://youtu.be/RdMwv9z0VwE
Does US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo seriously think that the US Congress can use legislative tools to stop Huawei from doing research innovation and launching new products?
It’s not just her. The entire US government is having delusions of grandeur. They think that all the US needs to do is pass a law and it will magically happen anywhere in the world. This is massively deluded behavior. Much like the insane Emperors of Rome.
Huawei’s mobile devices consumer division was kneecapped and decapitated through sanction, suffering a 90% drop in shipped volume in the last 4 years.
That’s a 100–200b dollar swing in revenue, just for handsets. To put that in perspective, that’s equal to 1–2 Boeings at its 2018 peak.
The US was trying to kill Huawei, and bury the telecoms business by bleeding revenue off its high margin consumer division.
That’s way grander than “stop Huawei from doing research innovation”.
Huawei is still under sanction, and Bloomberg’s recent name and shame of Taiwanese companies helping Huawei/SMIC with foundry infrastructure is a thinly veiled attempt at threatening companies not to deal with Huawei, even though the contracts they have entered into do not fall under current sanction.
Gina is free to suggest sanction escalation and fix Huawei like America did to Russia and Russian oligarchs, but Beijing will retaliate this time. And there is ~1 trillion in annual S&P 500 revenue generated from the mainland to aim for. The Chinese don’t have a significant presence stateside.
Personally, I think the ship on Huawei has already sailed. I won’t be surprised if Huawei breaks 100m phones shipped annually in the next 18–24 months. I also won’t be surprised if Huawei introduces new WIFI and telecoms standards in the next 5 years that end up being adopted in Apple phones. Neither Apple nor Google are capable of driving hardware standards revolution.
I can’t think of any easy-to-implement/low cost cards that the Department of Commerce can still deal when it comes to Huawei.
When I was a child of 8, my mom died suddenly. Our next door neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Cardin, sat outside on their front porch every night and I went over and sat with them for endless hours. They were so kind. I thought they were old. They were in their sixties, I guess. I always felt welcomed. They served me iced tea. They played cards with me. When I turned 18 and my dad died, I moved in with an older sister. I don’t remember ever saying goodbye to them. Years passed, I married, divorced and remarried and moved to another town nearby. I always remembered their kindness. One day I was walking through a local cemetary and reading the tombstone inscriptions (which I love to do). There they were: Geraldine and Louis Cardin. I knelt down in gratitude. The next weekend was Mothers Day. I laid a bouquet of flowers at the grave of Mrs. Cardin and thanked her for her kindness and comfort. They never touched me, never hugged me. They just let me sit beside them while I talked to them and they talked to me. I cannot remember one conversation, only that I felt at peace in their company.
Carl Zha on Huawei, ‘Chinese Spies’ and Chinese economy on Redacted
Years ago I bought a golf diesel car. It belonged to my girlfriends father. He had fallen asleep and clipped a pole. Damaged the passenger side.
I asked what he wanted for it and he insisted it was only worth $600 because that’s what the dealer said it was worth. I bought it and replaced the door and rear axle and had a little body work and paint and pin stripping done. Cost me $800. Now the car had 50K miles on it so just barely broken in for a diesel.
The first time I drove it at night the climate control section of the dash was black. I thought you know that should be illuminated.
So I got into the dash and found the plug to the climate control unplugged. Plugged it in and it worked fine. Actually it looked like the neon lights at a fair. Red, green, blue colors. So I’m over at my girlfriends and sitting in the car when her father came over and we’re talking and he looks into the car and is stunned to see the lights.
Owned the car for a couple of years and said he just carried a flashlight to see the controls. He had no idea it was supposed to be illuminated.
Egypt just dropped a BOMBSHELL in the Israel Hamas War
Much respect to Egyptian Gov. for not bowing to the US.
I love American cars – I have owned Chevy El Camino, two Dodge Ram Vans and one Ford Econoline.
The thing is that American cars are designed for different ecosystem than European and Japanese. American cars have ridiculously over-powered and under-efficient engines, which are extremely reliable, but they are terrible gasoline guzzlers. I mean, the American cars drink petrol like an alcoholic cheap plonk.
Moreover, the American cars are large and they have been designed for straight roads and long distances. They are excellent in Scandinavia, but next to useless in Central Europe.
In Europe, petrol is an import ever since the USA destroyed all the surviving Fischer-Tropsch plants in Germany after the WWII so that Europe could never be self-sufficient on liquid fuels. It means petrol is expensive, and it is heavily taxed. Petrol prices are approximately the same per one litre than they are in the US per one Yank gallon. So this is an incentive to a) maximize the thermal efficiency of an Otto or Diesel engine and b) to get as frugal and economic car as possible.
Moreover, the distances are short (which means a lot of acceleration and deceleration) and the roads are old (some date all the way to the Roman era) and follow the contours of nature. Which means they can be awfully winding, especially at the Pyrenees, Alps and Scandian mountains. Thus the agility is favoured over speed or comfort.
European cities are old, the streets are narrow and they certainly aren’t going to be re-planned with automobiles on mind. Finding a parking lot can be a pain and many city streets may have centuries-old cobblestone instead of asphalt. American car aren’t exactly the optimal vehicles there.
BLOCKADE FAILED! Germany Halts Dismantling of Chinese 5G Equipment！
Recently, the launch of the Huawei Mate 60 and the resurgence of 5G technology in China, powered by the domestically produced Kirin 9000S, have demonstrated that Huawei has successfully overcome the long-standing blockade imposed by the United States.
Although some US lawmakers have made strong statements about increasing sanctions on Huawei, US Secretary of Commerce Raymond has already affirmed that chip supplies to China will continue. Additionally, ASML, a key supplier of lithography machines, has announced their commitment to providing equipment to China until the end of the year.
Furthermore, Germany has also changed its position. Despite the “red-green-light” coalition government’s emphasis on the “security risks” associated with Huawei’s 5G equipment and their efforts to suppress Huawei through legislation and orders to remove Huawei’s equipment, the German government has covertly allowed German telecommunications operators to use Huawei’s 5G components.
According to reports from Chinese media and Germany’s Die Welt newspaper, a German government official privately acknowledged that the new 5G network in Germany incorporates technologies from China and German operators still rely on security-critical components provided by Chinese suppliers, implying that the German government has effectively permitted the use of Huawei’s 5G technology.
Huawei operates globally in 170 countries, with 30 commercial 5G contracts and over 25,000 5G base stations deployed without any major security incidents. Moreover, Germany’s ban on Huawei’s 5G components lacks substantial evidence to prove security risks, indicating that Germany is attempting to find faults where none exist.
However, this ban has faced opposition, with individuals stating that Germany’s 5G network has developed a deep reliance on Chinese suppliers, making it challenging to remove this dependence in a short period of time.
A friend was flying in to LAX, and I was going to meet her there for lunch. Another friend insisted I borrow his Prius (this is important to the theft), saying that he didn’t want to have to rescue me if my car broke down. (Fair worry—my then car was really on its last legs!)
I stopped at a McD’s on my way out of town to get some coffee, and when I walked back out of the restaurant, I unlocked the car using the fob, hopped in, and left. I drove to the airport, but when I parked and went to get my book out of the back seat, my book had disappeared!
It turned out that I had gotten in the wrong Prius!
When I finally figured this out, I went immediately to the airport’s little “police station” (a trailer at the far end of the airport’s circuit) and confessed to my crime. Yes, the car I was in had been reported stolen, but they contacted the owner who kindly agreed to just let me bring it back, which I did after having lunch with my friend.
Both these Priuses had a keyless entry and ignition system, and the way the owner handled hers was the only reason this could have happened.
Her car was the same color as the one I was driving, and she was parked two stalls away from me in the crowded parking lot. When I came out, I headed to the wrong one, not even noticing that there was another Prius nearby. I unlocked my car remotely, opened the door and sat down.
Here’s the thing: she had locked her car with a physical key when she parked it, but had left the fob in the console, forgetting that the Prius won’t lock if it detects the fob inside the car. So her car was unlocked.
I started the car with the pushbutton instead of with the key, and it started since it knew the fob was inside the car, and voila—grand theft auto!
Victoria Nuland, Asst. Sec. of State for Europe, phone call to US Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, in which they discuss how they’re going to set up the new Ukrainian government in 2014.
The video link is provided below. Here’s your smoking gun right here.🔫
And isn’t it interesting that the only administration in which Nuland could NOT find a position was the Trump administration. I’m no fan of DT, but it’s an interesting fact nevertheless.
She was in on Clinton, Bush, Obama, and now Biden administrations — a 33 year “diplomatic” career —including a very high level and indeed dangerous position today (Oct 2023) as Asst. Sec of State. She was Dick Cheney’s Deputy National Security Adviser from 2003 to 2005.
Interestingly, Wikipedia makes no mention whatsoever that Vitali Klitschko was a Ukrainian presidential candidate in 2014, instead providing page after page of information about his boxing career.
On this one, we got real, real lucky.
High level covert operations are NEVER this easy to get evidence on.
Foreign media tend to portray Chinese plans and projects as stemming from a small, tightly centralized regime in Beijing. Foreign press back in the 2000s (when they were still enamored with the ‘Chinese model’ of economic growth) were often quick to praise how the strong, centralized decision making of China and it’s technocratic bureaucracy were key to driving economic growth where the ‘decentralized and slow democratic’ decision making of the decadent rest was going to be their death knell.
One could say that this is more of a linguistic issue where press reports simply referring to Beijing or the CPC created the impression that it was literally just Beijing and the Central Committee of the CPC calling the shots. Thereby creating the assumption that in order to address any issue in China, one must fly to Beijing and meet with the top man there. Or perhaps its a throwback on how the press reported on the USSR by making references to the “Kremlin” every time policy decisions were taken, forgetting that the Soviet States of Hungary, Poland, Romania etc had their own governments with their own powers who also called some of the shots.
This is flawed to say the least.
The Chinese governmental structure endows its provincial governments with surprisingly vast powers to the extent that Provincial governments alone can pursue their own foreign investments and trade deals with only minimal oversight from the center as long as such deals adhere to the loose guidelines issued by the center.
The same goes for the gigantic State Owned Enterprises in China which are permitted to initiate and pursue their own economic activities under the loose framework of the central committee’s guidelines.
As other Chinese Quorans have pointed out, One would do well to remember that China can better be thought of as a continental level entity with it’s own mini nation states inside its borders.
When the BRI was initiated, the central committee simply set out the guidelines for the project, which you can read here:
President Xi Jinping’s keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the forum pointed out that our promotion of the “Belt and Road” construction will not repeat the old routine of geo-game, but will create a new model of cooperation and win-win; it will not form a destabilizing small group, but will build harmony. A coexisting family.
This fully demonstrates that the construction of the “Belt and Road” is an important exploration and practice for countries along the line to jointly build a community of human destiny.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has coordinated the two major domestic and international affairs, coordinated development and security, and carried out a great-state diplomacy with Chinese characteristics in a proactive manner, and put forward a series of new ideas and concepts. We advocate the establishment of a new type of international relations with cooperation and win-win as the core, and strive to build a community of human destiny.
President Xi Jinping said in a keynote speech at the 2017 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos in January this year that as long as we firmly establish the common sense of human destiny, work together and work together to help each other and overcome difficulties, we will certainly make the world a better place. Be beautiful and make people happier.
The concept of the community of human destiny highlights the inclusiveness of the new international order
The community of human destiny is based on the thinking of various new elements in the development of the world in the 21st century. In response to the philosophical and historical propositions of “where does man go?”, from the perspective of reforming and improving the international order, A vision for the evolution of global governance.
After the Second World War, the world as a whole maintained peace and development. Its main guarantee factors were the construction of the international order and the in-depth development of economic globalization.
However, with the increasing challenges in the process of economic globalization and the increasing diversification of international actors, the current international order cannot effectively cope with various problems, and the risks of security disorder and development imbalance are increasing. Global governance calls for reform and innovation.
The paper goes on to talk in general guidelines about Eurasian infrastructure and trade development in loose terms:
In 2013, Comrade Xi Jinping formally proposed the “Belt and Road Initiative”. China is focusing on the periphery as the primary direction, promoting the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment, and providing important new public goods to the international community, especially the developing countries in Asia and Europe.
In August 2016, Comrade Xi Jinping pointed out at the symposium on promoting the construction of the “Belt and Road”: taking the “Belt and Road” construction as an opportunity to carry out cross-border interconnection, improve the level of trade and investment cooperation, and promote international cooperation in capacity and equipment manufacturing. It is to revitalize the world economy by increasing effective supply to generate new demand.
His keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the “Belt and Road” International Cooperation Summit further emphasized that China will thoroughly implement the development concept of innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing, constantly adapt, grasp and lead the new normal of economic development and actively promote The supply-side structural reforms will achieve sustainable development, inject a strong impetus into the “Belt and Road” and bring new opportunities for world development.
In the context of the continued downturn in the world economy, China’s support for countries along the line to promote industrialization and modernization through the “Belt and Road” initiative to meet the urgent needs of countries to improve infrastructure levels will inevitably activate the growth potential of countries along the route, which will undoubtedly help stabilize the world economy. The situation and the promotion of global economic growth.
McKinsey, the US consulting firm, estimates that by 2050, the contribution rate of countries along the Belt and Road Initiative will be more than 80%.
To say that there are a thousand and ten thousand, China is going to build a development concept of practicing the community of human destiny through the “Belt and Road”, so that all parties can work together to fill the development of Asia, Europe, and the mainland, and create a common development and prosperity of all countries. New Era.
That is pretty much all the center does: establish the guidelines and groves for the project but leave it to other actors to decide how they carry them out.
Chinese provincial governments and their regional local elite have their own significant powers which they can use to resist parts of the agenda from the center which they don’t like (at least temporarily). I remember reading how one of the provincial governments stubbornly resisted Beijing’s calls to reduce pollution levels stemming from the province by pointing out how that would slow down economic activity in the province.
Similarly, when the CPEC project started, a Chinese SOE began development of Gwadar port and it’s special economic zone as part of the BRI initiative.
But right across from Gwadar, a Chinese provincial government began their own special economic zone in Oman, directly in competition with Gwadar!
Our Prime Minister Imran Khan would learn this lesson well when his incompetent team failed to brief him on how the Chinese political structure worked.
So when Imran Khan recently went to China on a state visit to Beijing to renegotiate some of the CPEC projects, he was met by bewildered officials in Beijing who pointed out that the central committee doesn’t exactly negotiate the deals for the BRI. SOEs and Provincial governments do. What exactly did Imran Khan want Beijing to do on an issue where Beijing wasn’t directly involved?
Most BRI contracts are not between governments but instead between Chinese companies and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to facilitate projects for the larger BRI initiative.
In that context, when the new government claims it will renegotiate contracts, as well as terms and conditions, it is forgetting to mention that it will have to do them with Chinese companies and SOEs, not with the Chinese government.
Secondly, because CPEC is an overland project, any arbitration that happens i.e. if the government were to try to renegotiate any contract in place, they will have to refer to the BRI court in Xi’an, which falls under Chinese law.
That means either the government must engage a law firm to represent it on each contract it wants to renegotiate or try to contest cases itself.
Worse still is the fact that the government has practically no idea what it wants to renegotiate in the first place.
That is the crux of the problem Pakistan faces: the state simply does not understand the conceptual basis of BRI or CPEC and, hence, cannot even define what it means.
Chinese companies raise that money in their own country from institutions like the Silk Road Fund, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Export Import Bank based on guarantees provided with regards to project completion through contracts signed by the Pakistani government.
Pakistan owes that money to Chinese financial institutions and not the government — let’s be crystal clear about that. The Chinese government will also not waive that borrowing away because it is project-based debt financing.
The crux of the problem as far as Pakistan is concerned is that we have become so accustomed to reading about China through English print media or viewing the Chinese through a prism set by others, that we have no idea where policy decisions in China are stemming from. Or who exactly to talk to in the PRC.
So we default to our own logics: If we’re a strong man, authoritarian country we expect to take our problems to Xi to have them addressed. Or if we’re a country who sheds limelight constantly on the ongoings of their president, we tend to equate the other country’s president with the same power structure.
It would be useful for other nation states and companies besides Pakistan as well to perhaps narrow down on who exactly they are dealing with when they deal with China.
And perhaps do some linguistic adjustments so we move away from stuff like “China is building ports in the Arabian sea” – wait! Who is China? Xi himself ordered the ports built? Like specifically? Or do you mean a variety of different actors ranging from provincial governments to SOEs are pursuing their own economic activity under loose guidelines from the center rather than as part of some ominous grand design.
To be fair, maybe I’m being too harsh on Pakistani leadership. Certainly the military seems to know who to deal with in China, having negotiated independent contracts with the Xinjiang government, Chinese SOEs and so on.
There is also a tendency to get lost in the weeds when reading foreign press on China sense the idea of “large, centralized, authoritarian behemoth moving steadily in an organized manner towards American interests” sounds way more ominous and fearful than “oh hey, one of the Provincial governments in China is building a port in Burma to expand their provincial trade”.
The idea of an ominous, all power, omnipotent central leadership in Beijing calling all the shots sounds very enticing. Particularly for media centers operating out of nations that wish to portray China as the next big threat to their interests.
Its just not true. And we should probably learn that lesson well in our future dealings. Others would be well advised to do the same.
The point isn’t that the central government is powerless vis a vis localized power centers. Or that the central government is all powerful. But that the truth lies in a nuanced middle ground between both polar opposites. And there needs to be more specificity about who we are referring to in China when discussing policy decisions stemming from the PRC.
“Just a small note – neither of this countries was ever part of the USSR – all of then was separate countries albeit dependent of the Soviets.
USSR republics was the “stans” countries (Turkmenistan, Tajikistan etc), Ukraine, Belorusia, The Baltics, Georgia and Armenia, but not Poland, Hungary or Romania.”
Meet Brian Mwenda, a Kenyan man who has been playing a high-stakes game of make-believe in Kenya’s legal system.
Stunningly, Mwenda is said to have argued and won not one or two, but 26 cases, pitting his wits against bona fide legal eagles and leaving courtrooms in awe. And he did all this without a law degree or any professional certification. He’s a fraud.
Now, authorities have finally caught up to him, and he’s facing a slew of charges for impersonating an Advocate of the Kenya High Court. But the man’s record is flawless, a clean sweep of victories.
It begs the question, should he be behind bars or standing at a podium accepting an award for extraordinary legal acumen?
Mr. Mwenda might just be a legal prodigy, an undiscovered gem in the world of law. Or Kenya seriously needs to reevaluate its legal education and certification processes.
After all, if a fake lawyer can outwit the pros, what does that say about the system?
If he was given the right to defend himself and he eventually won, it’d be his 27th triumph, an untainted record in a courtroom career founded on a lie.
If that happens, Brian Mwenda wouldn’t just be defying the laws of his land; he’d be defying reality itself, turning what should have been his downfall into yet another improbable victory.
There are a lot of things I do understand about Trump supporters.
Trump supporters are angry, tired, and frightened. They live in a world that’s passing them by. They keep hearing about how the economy is booming, but they’re struggling to make ends meet.
They see foreign students coming in on H1B visas to work at tech companies for what seems like ludicrous, unfathomable amounts of money, money they don’t see in a decade, and they’re wondering where their share of the pie is.
They hear people sneeringly talk about “flyover states” without seeming to know or care those are their states, their homes. The people they care about are mired in drug and alcohol addiction and struggling to pay the mortgage while Instagram 20somethings jet off to Maui and get sponsorship deals with companies that make bottled water.
They see liberals bending over backward to support gay men and lesbians and Black criminals and trans people and illegals, talking about treating everyone with compassion, and they’re like, what about me? Where’s the fucking compassion for me?
They bought into reassurances that if they were willing to work hard, they’d make it. They’d get ahead. Hard work and grit would be rewarded. Now the lumber mill’s closed and the mine’s closed and city folks keep going on about how coal mining is actually bad and wrong, and they’re like fuck you, we had a deal, I busted my ass and you took it all away.
They were told there was an order to things, a way things worked, and yeah they were never top dog on the heap, but at least they weren’t the bottom either, and now everything’s changed and men in makeup with long nails who’ve never done a days’ work in their lives are being put ahead of them? Are you kidding me?
I get it. I understand that. They were sold a bill of goods, and now the world has shattered around them and they’re stuck in podunk nowhere with no way to keep a roof over their head and the neighborhood they used to be proud of is trashed by meth dealers and everyone else is going on about how wonderful life is and what losers they are, and they’re pissed about that.
That’s not hard to understand at all.
What’s hard to understand is why they think a grifting self-described billionaire who lives in a penthouse, shits in a gold toilet, and wouldn’t ever in a million years allow any of them into any of his resorts is “one of them” and totally, like, gets them.
That’s the part that I don’t get.
Why the West FEAR China (China is UNLIKE Japan in the 90’s)
America loves China’s consumer goods. As long as China was “the world’s production factory” the United States left China alone for the most part. There was the occasional “free Tibet” protest or Tiananmen Square protests, but nothing like what I see today.
What changed? China. China began to rapidly develop its infrastructure as well as its education sectors such as Science and Mathematics. They were obsessed with STEM learning before it was cool. Their military and space program excelled. They tackled poverty and literacy, created jobs and basically pulled themselves up by their bootstraps.
They no longer had to be the world’s factory. They still produce a massive amount of consumer goods, but as China develops toward first world status some of those factories relocated to Southeast Asia. Vietnam will likely earn persecuted country status by the time my grandchildren come of age. That’s if the U.S. is still influential in world affairs.
They hate China because China is no longer the sick man of Asia. China is strong and influential. The U.S. is terrified of losing their hegemony to China. They are an emerging world power that can offer developing countries a different path from what the United States traditionally offers. It’s all a part of a circle really. Nations rise and fall and have done so for millennia past. They will continue to do so for as long as Earth continues to exist. The U.S. will fall and China will rise. A hundred years from now and it will likely be another country’s turn.
If you are in Southeast Asia like me, you should have realized how happy and proud Indonesians are recently.
The media in Southeast Asia is full of reports about Indonesia’s high-speed rail.
In Indonesia, everyone from the president to civilians is happy for the opening of the high-speed rail. Even those against the media can only say irrelevant nonsense.
Indonesia’s high-speed rail has achieved initial success. This is the first high-speed rail in Southeast Asia. They are worthy of pride.
Our Malaysian neighbors have some nasty things to say in the media. But I know that they are actually very envious of Indonesians, and they also want a high-speed rail from Kuala Lumpur to Penang.
Currently, there are several high-speed rail projects in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Japan’s high-speed rail project in Vietnam is in a quagmire, and its high-speed rail in India has made no progress. Only China’s high-speed railways in Indonesia and Laos have been successful.
If Indonesia wants to maintain this success in subsequent projects, it only needs to maintain its original approach and trust the Chinese as always, and they will help Indonesia create miracles.
If there is, 99% of any incidents are man made. To be precise US lies, innuendos, concoctions, fabrications, made up haft truths or total garbage.
Take the weather balloons. Intentionally blown out of proportion. Pardon my punt. Imaging some hundred million Americans fixated over lies by the media and opportunistic politicians making hay on sunshine demonising and accusing the Chinese of spying a most ridiculous and frivolous claims but it sells media! Finally shooting it down with a hundred million jet at a million a pop on a float away balloon worth a thousand bucks!
So think about how ridiculous it is? In todays world where if China wants to it can zoom in from space at high resolutions on very square meter balloon China need to spy the US using a brightly coloured 2 school bus sized with a huge Chinese flag pasted moving at 5 miles an hour, visible by naked eyes m? It is laughable and shameful if you ask most of the world. But guess what some Americans think it is real! What a spun!
But Chinese people laugh their eyes wet thinking how silly you guys can get. Blinken your Secretary of State even postpone a state visit of utmost importance pretending to be affected by the balloon!
The tensions if any are all US made. A nation allowing fictions to exist and lies to demonised other nations cannot amount to much. But the US has no shame or pride. When General Mike Milley your joint forces chief announced officially that after days of disruption and chaos, up to a billion dollars, that it is what it is. A weather balloon! No more no less. Guess what! No apology, no one took responsibility, no one U.S. made to pay, no acknowledgement!
This is a nation that has carpet bombed nations, use agent Orange on villagers destroy thriving economies by mistakes and false flag operations. 3 million Vietnamese died and half a million U.S. agents dead or injured due a war started by lies in the Gulf of Tonkin!
So, sure one cannot expect much! But guess what they dare to call US exceptionalism and even worst Americans believed it!
In every revolution, there’s one man with a vision
“If change is inevitable, predictable, beneficial…doesn’t logic demand that you be a part of it?”
It won’t it will never and it will hurt and harm the U.S. several folds more that it can hurt and harm China.
It is no different from the U.S. picking a big rock and threaten China that if China do better than the U.S. you will throw the rock on your own foot!
China is a humongous market now. It is several times bigger than the U.S. and worst it produce 75% of everything needed by the world. If you stop selling to China which is say 40–60% of your market. You will go bankrupt. And if you think China cannot make it you better be super careful that the can’t and they will never be able to do! If you are wrong you will not only lose their need but you will also lose entire worlds need too.
Frankly the U.S. is a party not the only party to make most of the products. It simply cost the US too much to stop China. It is cheaper and more sustainable to work with China as an equal and finding a win win solution. The U.S. cannot forced China’s hand and will. China is too strong, too influential, too rich and too capable to fight you if you fight them.
If something is an Offence, then you need someone to determine what constitutes an Offence and thats called DESIGNATED AUTHORITY
So unless US is the Ruler of the World, how can it be an offence to get around Sanctions Imposed by Russia for economic reasons?
Lets say India needs 96 Million Tonnes of Crude this year – 71 Million Tonnes of Sulphur & 25 Million Tonnes of Sweet ]
We normally buy Spot from the Market and have no long term contracts like other Nations have.
Suppose tommorow we are offered Crude at 30% Cheaper Rate, Why cant we buy Crude from Russia if it means a savings of several billion dollars?????
Punishment would simply mean US Sanctioning the Country that dares Trade with Russia
It might work or It might fail
For instance say India which produces its own Food is Sanctioned , tomorrow if it comes to Energy Crisis and Massive Recession vs Freezing of our USD Assets – A Sane man would rather choose Asset Freezing and fight legally in the UN , rather than force an Energy Crisis and Massive Recession
Say China is Sanctioned. It would rather be sanctioned than compromise its National Integrity and Face by conceding to the US demands.
However a Country totally dependent on US would have to Kowtow or totally Dependent on Imports from Europe would Kowtow
In 1997 – 82.9% Nations depended on US and European Imports primarily (159 out of 188)
In 2007- 59.7% Nations depended on US and European Imports Primarily (119 out of 199)
In 2017 – 32% Nations depended on US and European Imports Primarily (66 out of 205)
In 2022 – 28% Nations depend on US and European Imports Primarily (58 out of 207)
So the Sanctions are becoming weaker and weaker because More Countries can survive primarily even despite US Sanctions. (US/EU also includes Canada , UK and EU and NATO nations)
Almost 101 Countries have changed their primary trading Partner from US / EU/ UK/ Australia/NZL/Canada in the last 25 Years alone. Most of them have moved to CHINA including the EU themselves.
Stupid Sanctions like those against Russia tend to cause more negative impacts to the US than positive Impacts
Russian teenage genius joins Huawei .sparking concerns in the United States.
China and Russia, march forward hand in hand to make our world more stable, prosperous and peaceful.
How many cities can make a simple claim like that?
In Singapore, there are few exclusive districts, and those are the remnants of colonial history. In a modern new town, the expensive private apartments are within a stone’s throw of 1,2,3 room public flats. The children go to the same schools, and the parents shop at the same supermarket.
This raising of baselines across the board prevents organized crime from festering, because the fertile ground of poverty and the disadvantaged is uprooted.
Singapore is low crime, and most people have a healthy respect for the law, and especially officers in uniform. My grandma won’t indoctrinate her grandchildren in 21st century Singapore to “beware of cops”, because it isn’t 60s Hong Kong anymore. The SPF is one of the cleanest and most efficient police outfits in the world.
As a reminder, beat cops are armed with guns, but officer-involved shootings are very rare. We can go years between shots being fired. How does the SPF reduce violent arrests, and the risk of injury to both suspect and officer?
Through displays of overwhelming force.
Not all guns blazing, but the deployment of teams of officers to handle on-the-ground situations. Like these:
This round-island ability to concentrate policing power allows the senior officer to control and manage the situation, particularly the safety of the innocent public, the suspect/s, and of course the officers themselves.
In other words, gentler policing SOP.
This is a luxury that not all police forces can boast. Singapore manages by keeping crime waves at bay with effective policing and stiff laws.
At the end of the day, it is the economic and social fabric that keep crime from festering. And Singapore’s remain healthy.
Note: This is what passes for policing elsewhere.
Nurse Dies Of Illness; Experiences Infinite Reality And Told Why We’re Here (NDE)
There is an island in the Aleutions just east of Attu called Shemya. The AirForce has a landing strip there. The Army used to run a listening post there as well. It was considered a hardship tour, so the duration was one year. However, being under CONUS jurisdiction meant that overseas and hazard pay were not offered, base only. As for social life, the joke ran “there’s a woman behind every tree on Shemya; but there are no trees.” A good wind could carry a person off the island if one is not careful. Guide ropes were installed over the winter months to ensure safe passage between the barracks, the workspace, or the messhall. Being in the high latitudes subjected one to auroras, and other geomagnetic storm effects. Stereo gear just didn’t last long up there. Its isolation put Shemya on the bottom of any iteneraries for the top brass, so their presence was rare, thankfully.
Due to its proximity to the international date line, you could see tomorrow on a clear day!
I let a friend stay at our summer house all winter. All they had to do was pay the utilities. A flag went off in my head when she said “why do I have to pay for the utilizes?
we get back in May-the first thing we are greeted to (in order):
oven is a disaster
phone call they will turn off our electric for non payment
her son (who wasn’t supposed to be in there) carved his name in our cocktail table
deep gouge in the oak flooring
my new water pik is gone
ALL MY WINE THAT WAS HIDDEN WAS GONE
Instead of cleaning out the fireplace she used the trap door which took us all day to clean out
she left the place filthy.
I was so angry I wouldn’t answer her emails or phone calls.
She then dialed on someone else’s phone and I picked up-she asked why I wasn’t taking her calls. I told her everything especially our wine being gone.
Her reply was ““so you are going to RUIN our friendship over a few bottles of cheap wine?”
I said THEY WERE CHEAP TO YOU SINCE YOU DIDN’T PAY FOR THEM.
Don’t call me again and hung up. I hope she sees this post.
A scammer sees a high-ticket item with resale value online.
The scammer offers to buy it, sight unseen, with a cashier’s check, money order, or credit card.
You deposit the check or money order, or run the card.
The scammer has a mule, who may or may not know it’s a scam, pick up the item.
The bank notifies you that the check/money order was a forgery or the card was stolen. They take the money out of your account.
You try to go after the scammer to realize they used a fake address, a disposable cell phone or VoIP line, and a fake name—you have absolutely no way to find them. And the mule who picked up the item? If you can find that poor sucker, he tells you the scammer paid him money to pick up a bunch of items, but then the check the scammer paid him with turned out to be a fake.
Optional bonus round:
The scammer sends you a cashier’s check or money order, but the amount is wrong. You agreed on a price of $2,500, the check is for $2,800.
The scammer says “Oh, I’m so sorry, I made a mistake. Can you wire me the $300 I overpaid? Tell you what, it was my fault, just wire me $250, keep the extra $50 since I screwed up.”
The bank tells you the check was a fake and takes the money out of your account. (This can sometimes take 6 or 8 weeks to happen, by the way.) Now you’re out the car, you’re out the money, and you’re out $250 that you wired to the scammer…
…which, when you try to get the wire transfer back, you discover actually went to a recipient outside the US, and you are completely utterly 100% screwed. There is no way in hell you will ever see that money again.
Super playoff round:
You get a message from an “insurance fraud investigator,” “funds recovery specialist,” “online fraud recovery agent,” or something along those lines. He tells you that your name came up as part of a fraud investigation and he can get your money back in return for a percentage.
You negotiate some percentage, say 10% or 15%.
He tells you to send him $150 to pay up-front expenses, fees, duties, “recovery tax,” or some other bullshit fee. He explains that the fee will come out of his percentage, so it’s all good.
You send him the $150.
You never hear back from him. It was the same scammer all along. Now he has your car, your money, the extra $250 you sent him, and he’s just taken you for another $150 on top of that.
Double Jeopardy round:
You get an email or phone call from Interpol, or the FBI online crime task force, or US Boder and Customs, or whatever.
They tell you that a car registered in your name was used to commit a crime and since you’re still the registered owner, you’re legally liable.
They say that an arrest warrant has been issued in your name, and you will be arrested…
…unless you agree to waive your right to a trial and just pay the fine.
They tell you the fine will be $1,000, payable by money wire.
You wire the money. It was the same scammer all along. Now he has your car, your money, the extra $250 you sent him, the $150 you sent him on top of that, and another $1,000.
Double Jeopardy round variant:
You get an email or phone call from Interpol, or the FBI online crime task force, or US Boder and Customs, or whatever.
They tell you that a car registered in your name was used to commit a crime or found abandoned, but either way it’s been impounded, and they’re calling you because you’re still the registered owner.
They say that you will get your car back if you pay the impound fee. Maybe they even send you a photo of the car.
They tell you the fee will be $150, payable by money wire.
You wire the money. It was the same scammer all along. Now he has your car, your money, the extra $250 you sent him, the $150 you sent him on top of that, and another $150.
Yes, I’m dead serious, this actually happens, and people actually fall for it at every step along the way.
In terms of absolute strength, the Qing Empire was more powerful than the Ming Empire
The Qing Empire had a much stronger army. The Qing Empire had twice the territory and four times the population of the Ming Empire.
During its most powerful period, the Ming Empire still faced threats from northern nomads. They built a whole new Great Wall to deal with this.
The Qing Empire completely dealt with the surrounding threats, and their military controlled almost the limit of geographical control.
From the perspective of global relative strength, the Ming Empire was stronger.
In the 15th century, the Ming Empire was the most powerful empire in the world. At that time, the Byzantine Empire fell, England and France were in the Hundred Years War, and the Spanish Empire had just begun to expand. Technically, economically, and in terms of strength, there was no power in the world that could rival the Ming Empire.
In the 18th century, the Qing Empire was not the most powerful empire in the world. Although it has vast land and population, it has lagged behind in terms of social structure and technology. After Europe completed the Renaissance and circumnavigated the world, it began global colonization and the industrial revolution. In particular, the British Empire developed rapidly, and the strength of European countries surpassed the Qing Empire.
Apollo 20: The Secret Mission to the Moon to Salvage an Ancient Alien Spacecraft
This is fun. Not sure if true or not. Check this out.
Egypt warned Israel of a pending Hamas attack ten days before terrorists breached the border and took control of military bases, and communities, killing more than 700 and taking 150 captive including women and children.
“We have warned them an explosion of the situation is coming, and very soon, and it would be big. But they underestimated such warnings,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the content of sensitive intelligence discussions with the media, told The Associated Press.
The Egyptian official said the Israelis were concentrated on the tension on the West Bank and did not consider the Gaza ruling terror group to be a threat despite repeated warningד
that the Egyptians though were not being taken seriously.
One would hope so. But the story will certainly be denied. And due to the war Bibi may still keep his seat.
Since Ukraine fell into crisis, Tesla has recovered from a low of 700 dollars to close to 1,100, a rally of more than 50 percent.
Similarly, the first world’s stock markets have mostly chugged through like nothing has happened.
The turmoil in the commodity space though, tells a different story.
This is because the sanctions are designed not to hurt the first world financial markets too much. The first world control the world’s money flow.
Unfortunately, China is a totally different problem. Any meaningful sanction on the same wide-ranging scale as those being thrown at Russia will roil financial markets around the world.
For a start, Apple will lose 90+ percent of its production and 25 percent of sales if it withdraws from China just like it did in Russia.
When Apple goes, so does the rest of the market. The mother of all asset bubbles will burst, from stocks to real estate to crypto to bonds.
The yuan will devalue sharply, and the forex game of cards will go up in flames, especially the ntd, krw and jpy, which will have to devalue even more or risk oblivion.
A weird new world will be in flux, with assets in the first world devaluing sharply, but consumer goods skyrocketing along with unemployment.
All these point to massive social unrest within weeks or months of taking such a decision, which is difficult to walk back because market sentiment is not easily reversed once the trust evaporates.
No amount of money printing can save the day because China controls the real economy of goods and component production.
REPORT: Qatar to Cut Oil/Gas Supply if Israel Invades Gaza
Qatar is now threatening to cut their oil supply to the world if Israel invades Gaza.
Emir Sheikh Tamim ibn Hamad Al Thani of Qatar threatened to stop gas supplies to the world if the bombing of Gaza did not stop.
You can bet Saudi Arabia among others will be right behind.
Hal Turner Editorial Opinion
Thankfully, illegitimate President Joe Biden and his incompetent Regime, sold-off about two-thirds of the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an attempt to stabilize gasoline prices, which skyrocketed when they imposed Sanctions on Russia over Ukraine.
So if the Arabs DO cut-off oil supplies, the United States no longer has a massive 714 Million Barrel reserve from which to draw to keep the country going.
Some 80 million of you voted for this! All you folks who thought Trump was mean (Orange Man BAD!) . . . and voted for Biden . . . . YOU did this.
You’re correct, ground beef is fairly cheap and the cost of the ingredients that make up a burger is relatively low. The cost of all of the ingredients used to produce a restaurant’s hamburger might be a couple of bucks.
So why is my hamburger $15.00, you ask?
Restaurants have other costs, as well as the cost of food. The young lady who greeted you at the door, escorted you to your table and handed you a menu has to be paid. So does the young fellow who took your order, brought you a drink and delivered your burger. Someone had cook the burger, shred the lettuce, slice the onions and tomatoes and prepare the secret sauce that’s slathered on your bun and they get a paycheck. The plate, fork, knife and glass you used need to be washed, which means there’s someone doing that job as well and they need to be paid too. Finally, there’s the owner and his investors. They all demand a profit from the sale of your burger. If there’s no profit, there’s no point in being in business. So they tack a profit onto the price of your burger because they want to be paid too.
There’s also the rent that has to be paid on the building, the electricity and gas that were used to cook your food, light the dining room and power the AC that’s keeping you cool and comfy. A portion of those things are paid for via the sale of your burger. Sell enough burgers and the restaurant stays in business. Don’t sell enough, or sell them too cheaply and you close the doors.
Understand?
Satellites Show Location of USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group Heading toward Israel
European Space Agency (ESA) imagery shows the USS Gerald R. Ford Aircraft Carrier and its Strike Group, moving south past the Island of Sardinia, enroute to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, closer to Israel.
Iges released by the ESA show the ship and its group:
Alongside the Ford—USA is sending the cruiser USS Normandy, destroyers USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney, USS Roosevelt.
The Ford and its Strike Group are being sent to “Make certain Iran does not escalate the ongoing hostilities in the region.”
When HAMAS, which is fighting Israel, got word the Carrier was on its way, they issued a statement saying the ship does not make them afraid. One government official – I won’t say from which government — told me “It isn’t coming to scare them; it’s coming to kill them.”
That aside, there is real danger for that ship and its Strike Group, if a confrontation develops. You see, Hezbollah, in Lebanon, has, in its possession, a known quantity of twelve (possibly many more) P-800 “Oniks” anti-ship missiles, built by Russia.
The Oniks missile is either land-launched or air-launched. It has a range of 120 to 300 km (75 to 186 mi; 65 to 162 nmi) depending on altitude (Yakhont export version). But Russia has also made a version for itself with a Range of 500 lm.
It flies very close to the surface of the water, with an operating altitude of 10 meters (32 ft) or higher.
But its real danger is its speed. The missile travels at Mach 2.6, which means 3180 km/h which translates to 1998 mph (884 Meters per second) The human eye — in general — cannot even see this thing moving . . . it moves so fast.
The missile has already been used against Ukraine and Ukraine had a lot to say about these missiles:
The Oniks has proved to be a difficult threat for Ukrainian Air Defenses. Air Force Spokesperson Yurii Ihnat mentioned (to Wikipedia) that the flight profile of the missile is of particular concern; “Onyx missiles are designed to destroy watercraft, and ships, it flies at a speed of 3000 km per hour, that is, very fast,…On the march [cruising], it can rise high, and when entering the target, it can actually fly 10-15 meters above the water to destroy the ship.” He concluded that it was “impossible” to shoot them down with available anti-air means.
Which brings us back to the USS Gerald R. Ford and its Strike Group.
They will be in “the eastern Mediterranean.”
One hopes they will remain far enough off shore to be out of range of these missiles. But the farther offshore they must stay, the less flight time for their fighter jets without refueling. So the Ship has to try to strike a balance between getting as close as possible so fighters can have good range, or putting themselves farther away for their own safety, which lowers fighter jet range.
OTHER SHIPS, EVEN CLOSER!
Other US Navy Ships are even closer to the threat of these missiles. The ships and 3,000 US Marines onboard, are in the Persian Gulf!
Unless, of course, the USS Gerald R. Ford and several (or ALL) of the ships in its Strike Group, are being set-up to be sunk, to provide an excuse for the US to go to war.
No, such a thought isn’t far fetched, the US knew the Japanese were going to attack Pearl harbor, and they let it happen on purpose.
Who knows if the same, sick, mentality, is at play in the federal government today? Another “Gulf of Tonkin” type situation, perhaps?
I guess we’ll see.
The Gerald R. Ford and its Strike Group should be in the eastern Mediterranean Sea later this week. The other vessels are already in the Persian Gulf off Iran’s coastline.
I worked for a 150-person manufacturing and assembly plant. We made small engines and parts for aircraft.
I was the HR person.
While doing a payroll audit after we switched to a new system, I found this guy on payroll. He was supposed to mow the grounds and provide janitorial service.
Except we had a service do it all for over 8 years. So this guy was paid a not-so-bad hourly rate and just never showed up. For 8 years. We never could find him to tell him he was terminated.
A few months later, we found a small room in the upper mezzanine of the warehouse. We found a small color tv, a cot, a refrigerator and microwave, a desk and chair, a radio, and easy chair, clothes, etc.
From the things we found on the small desks in the room, we figured he had been living in the room rent-free and he went unnoticed for years.
We finally caught him sneaking in late one evening and escorted him off. He was actually pretty clever.
Brian Berletic: China is Ready for War as South Korea and Japan Join Alliance with US
Brian Berletic of The New Atlas discusses Biden’s latest escalation with China, this time in the form a new military alliance with South Korea and Japan.
China develops new record-breaking ‘Jiuzhang’ quantum computer prototype
Chinese scientists have developed a new quantum computer prototype known as “Jiuzhang 3.0” with 255 detected photons, pushing the boundaries of photonics quantum computing technology on a global scale.
Led by the renowned Chinese quantum physicist Pan Jianwei, the research team has successfully accomplished this quantum computing feat, achieving a speed that is 10 quadrillion times faster in solving Gaussian boson sampling (GBS) problems compared to the world’s existing fastest supercomputers.
Gaussian boson sampling, a quantum computation intractable for conventional computers, was employed in this study to provide a highly efficient way of demonstrating quantum computational speedup in solving some well-defined tasks.
The study was published online in the journal Physical Review Letters on Wednesday.
Lu Chaoyang, a member of the research team and professor at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), said that a series of innovations, including a newly developed superconducting nanowire single-photon detection scheme with fiber loop-based configuration, increased the number of detected photons for “Jiuzhang 3.0” to 255, greatly improving the complexity of photonics quantum computing.
“By demultiplexing photons into time bins through delays, we’ve achieved capabilities of pseudo photon number resolving,” Lu added.
According to the state-of-the-art exact classical simulation algorithm, “Jiuzhang 3.0” is a million times faster at solving GBS problems than its predecessor, “Jiuzhang 2.0.” Moreover, the most complex samples of GBS that “Jiuzhang 3.0” can calculate in just one microsecond would take the world’s fastest supercomputer, “Frontier,” more than 20 billion years to complete.
Quantum computing, a new computing paradigm, features extremely fast parallel computing capability.
It has the potential to achieve exponential speedup through specific quantum algorithms compared with classical computers in solving problems of great social and economic value.
Therefore, the development of quantum computers is one of the biggest challenges in the current scientific and technological frontier of the world.
with up to 76 photons detected, marking the first milestone China reached on the path to full-scale quantum computing – a quantum computational advantage, also known as “quantum supremacy,” which indicates an overwhelming quantum computational speedup.
In 2021, the team further developed the “Jiuzhang 2.0” with 113 detected photons and a 66-qubit programmable superconducting quantum computing system named “Zuchongzhi 2.1,” making China the only country to achieve a quantum computational advantage in two mainstream technical routes – one via photonics quantum computing technology and the other via superconducting quantum computing technology.
Girl Dies of Hypothermia; Shown Past Lives & Gets To Choose Her Future (NDE)
This young girl’s story is so authentic and original. Thank you!
I worked with an older geophysicist with a PhD from MIT. He did a lot of research for us. We needed to compare the force generated on a hill side, using 200 grams of dynamite, to the force felt on that hillside by an earthquake, that was rated at 5 on the Richter scale, a certain distance and depth away.
We hired a PhD physicist as a consultant, to write us an unbiased report.
After 3 days, he admitted to us, that he could not find a way to compare the two, unless we could give him a method that did the work for him. Very embarrassing.
We approached our MIT PhD, and asked him if he could work out an equivalency. He looked at us, stunned that we didn’t see how obvious it was. He tried to explain, but he was talking so fast, he lost us.
He then went to his white board, and broke the Richter scale down to its basics, then broke the dynamite down to its basics, in Joules, which is kg m squared per second squared.
Then derived a formula that tied them together.
He did this in less than two minutes, and only took that long, because that was as fast as he could write.
I was impressed, that he even remembered how to calculate the force used to measure the richter scale, without looking it up. But for him to solve in two minutes, what our high priced consultant, couldn’t solve in 3 days, says a lot about the difference in quality of PhDs.
He was the smartest functional man that I ever met. I knew smarter people ,but they couldn’t fit into society.
I know that once I was out of school for 10 years, I couldn’t work things out from basic principles, without researching it. Yet he could after 45 years.
America CAN sanction China, but the cost of doing so won’t be low like doing the same to Russia.
America must pony up the cost, like Apple losing 90 percent of its manufacturing capacity, or Americans losing access to Tiktok or half of Walmart. Jp Morgan and Goldman Sachs will lose access to greater China. Many companies will lose their biggest market, including Volkswagen which sells half its production to the Chinese today.
Yes, 50 percent.
Apple sells more iphones in Greater China than it does back home.
Let that sink in.
Sanctioning China won’t land exclusively on chinese laps. It will hurt the first world too and directly affect the quality of life.
When it comes to China, even America must count the cost. China on the economic battlefield is what Russia on the military front means to the Americans.
Plenty of respect, that is.
Plenty.
U.S China Technology War Panics US as it Sanctions Middle East on AI!
“I love China, from East Africa Kenya, and the whole of Africa stands with China”.
I was once part of a government delegation to Italy to partake in a conference being held by energy industries world wide. It was a pretty diverse event. There were speeches by energy experts on a variety of energy related topics. Panels that debated the future of the energy industry (the Nuclear Energy proponents vs Anti Nuclear energy lobby had some fiery debates!). We had some activities in which we would come up with our own amateurish proposals to resolve energy issues in the developing and developed world.
Perhaps the most time was dedicated to the exhibitions where different industries set up their booths which would offer company products and services to prospective clients.
The exhibitions weren’t really of much interest to us. The company employees knew Pakistan was “small fry” (back in 2007 we didn’t have much purchasing power or budget dedicated to energy related issues). So we Pakistanis were largely ignored by the American and European execs who were more interested in the big fish like Saudis, India, China, Brazil etc. We just mostly meandered about.
During one of our strolls, we passed the Chinese delegation. All serious, taking notes, being engaged by this stunning Italian woman from Shell i think who was explaining some kind of product to the head of the Chinese delegation.
We stood a bit to the side and listened in politely, when the head of the Chinese delegation caught our eye, offered a friendly smile and handshake and asked if we were waiting for them to finish up.
“Oh no no, please continue.”, we replied. “Just wanted to say hi, we’re from Pakistan”
The Chinese gentleman’s face lit up instantly. “Pakistan!” He shook my hand warmly “Our brother!” he exclaimed.
It was quite a moment. I remember every tiny detail from it even till today. The Italian lady’s surprise at how warmly we were being greeted. The other booth employees turning around to see what all the fuss was about. Their own looks of surprise at how the small fry, largely ignored Pakistani delegation was being treated so warmly by the most watched delegation of all, the Chinese.
It’s these small moments, these isolated incidents of human magic that people tend to miss out when they get confused over why China is so well liked by many of the developing world nations. Over the course of the conference, i interacted with other delegations from Africa, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and so on and they all had the same respect and positive impression for the Chinese delegation. Whether it was a delegate from Africa or Asia, no matter what their country’s size and importance, they were treated warmly and with mutual respect by the Chinese as if their country was the same as China in size, importance and power.
Several analysts and commentators want to see something empirical, some hard data that quantifies this respect, that explains scientifically why China is held in a high opinion by developing world countries. They look at investments and trade, look at China’s growing foreign worker and student populations, analyze the spread of Chinese media.
And of course, they do hold true on their own. You can see from this entire thread the vast variety of reasons why people like China (economic might, non-interference in other country’s affairs, an affinity for Chinese culture etc).
So take my answer as one part of the entire canvas of reasons being presented here when i say that a lot of developing nation people, be it government employees or just common folk everywhere, like China because the Chinese still consider themselves as one of us. Not imperial overlords or racial superiors or strict masters and so on. But comrades to the developing world, partners in our struggles and a developing country just like us who share in our troubles, concerns and visions for a mutually beneficial future.
I’m no China expert so i can’t explain where this comes from. Perhaps its still the old Communist ideology at play? Back during the cold war years, the USSR and Chinese communists partnered with a lot of the developing world back then as we struggled to overthrow the colonial and imperialist powers (as well as their local feudal, tribal and monarch proxies). I’ve met old Leftists in their senior years today who tell me about how they would go to the USSR and China back when Pakistan was a dirt poor country to get training, education and what not. Revolutionaries and Leftists from Pakistan, other Asian countries, Africa, Latin America etc would go to the USSR and China in cheap, patched up suits with tattered shoes and not a dime to their name and be greeted warmly by their comrades in Beijing and Moscow and given the top notch treatment. Nations that managed to overthrow their tyrants in a successful coup would send delegations to China and the USSR who would come back full of praises for the hospitality and camaraderie of the Chinese and USSR brother Leftists. Whereas the “Free World” would only choose to associate with our feudal lords, our Shahs, our Kings and our dictators and not step foot in a single street populated by the common man.
I don’t even have to wax poetic about the old days of the Cold war. In my own experience working side by side with my Chinese coworkers, this same feeling of partnership and camaraderie is on display as well. The Chinese who come to work with us, work side by side with us, in the same heat, the same muck, the same mosquito, freezing temperatures, rain and what not. The same hectic schedules and daily annoyances are shared by us equally. We also eat at the same table, play football in the evening with each other and exchange movies and TV shows in USBs with each other.
When i told all of this to my friend who works in the Gulf at an MNC he wouldn’t believe me. His experience with Gulf Arabs and the Western Expats there has been nothing like this. Even students and workers that i know who went to South Korea are a bit amazed when they hear this.
Outside of the work place it’s the same story. Western Expats in Pakistan tend to live in huge, well guarded, walled off compounds with these giant electric generators and might as well be living on another planet given how cut off they are from the rest of the populace. Meanwhile, just 2 days ago, i reversed my car past a Chinese couple getting on their motorcycle in a busy, crowded bazaar typical of any major Pakistani city.
The Chinese live, walk, breath, eat and work among us, on our streets, our cities, our home soil. They face the same problems we do whether its load shedding, low gas supply or slow internet. And when we see them share the realities of our lives, it creates this mutual bond and sense of respect between us. They could have chosen to live in their own huge compounds and indeed, the Pak government is trying to force the Chinese expats in Pakistan to live in compounds away from ordinary Pakistani citizens due to security concerns. But the Chinese refuse. They CHOOSE to live with us. Despite the dangers they face. And that makes all the difference in the world for us.
I had similar positive experiences with the Chinese in Egypt and the African delegations and Middle Eastern delegations were absolutely delighted with the Chinese, how willing to explore the local culture they were, how respectful they were of us and how they would engage with us in social activities and general chit chat everywhere, whether at work or leisure. In the meantime, we didn’t even see the European delegations to Egypt even once (separated for security again i guess).
And my own visit to China a long time ago was no less positive for me. Senior government, military and diplomatic officials would engage with us, discuss with us, seek our view point, offer their own. They would even share stories from their personal lives and listen attentively when we told our own. We were given a royal treatment, housed in comfortable hotels, provided medical assistance immediately if someone got sick, accompanying us to the hospital to make sure we were ok, guiding us in the city. Whether it was common citizens or senior officials, they treated us like equals with a lot of protocol.
Maybe I’ve lost a few folk at this point who have no idea what i’m talking about because they can’t relate. But as a Pakistani, our country is associated only with poverty, violence, terror and instability abroad. No one is impressed when we say we are from Pakistan. No one cares either. So much so that we have become accustomed to it, built our lives around it.
So when i was at that exhibition and the Chinese delegate warmly shook my hand, proclaimed my country a brother in front of the entire exhibition to the surprise of onlookers, when the citizen of a country touted as the next super power of the world gives respect to the citizen of a country that’s touted as a failed state in western publications, it creates an impact on our lives.
I know there are thousands of more like me. In 10, 20, 30 years we will be senior officers, politicians or executives in our own countries. And when we see a Chinese official ask us for a favor, a Chinese company bid us for a project maybe some of us will think back to when the Chinese gave us so much respect on so and so occasion. And we will favor the Chinese because of it. Don’t believe me? Just look at the bonhomie between the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif who was so dazzled to hear that the Chinese were referring to rapidly implemented Pakistani Projects as “running at Punjab speed” as a compliment to his administrative skills, that he granted several projects to Chinese companies without bidding or on very favorable terms.
Based on how i saw the delegates from Africa, Middle East, Asia also be impressed at the humble, respectful and partner like attitude of the Chinese during their interactions with them, i have no doubt the same kind of positive image of China will be created in the minds of those delegates as well. And when they rise to senior positions, they will also hold the same positive image of China and favor her. All that influence and positive image built across the globe for no cost and without needing 12 Aircraft carriers.
There was once a time i thought that maybe our positive experience of China was because of us mostly experiencing China’s “Golden Generation”. By Golden Generation i mean a generation of people who are born when their country is poor and life is hard, enter young adult life when their country is rising rapidly and go into their senior years when their country is a global power. Kind of like the US’s golden generation. This Golden generation has all the power available to a citizen of a super power but at the same time the same humbleness and respectful nature of a modest power. A person from this generation could become king of the world and still rise to meet a person of more modest means.
I would resign myself to the fact that as younger Chinese came of age who had never seen the struggles of China when she was a poorer country with less power, and he grew up only knowing China as a great, powerful nation then perhaps the Chinese too would become more arrogant and assured of their greatness like the US has become. But my interaction with the Chinese youth of Quora has put to bed such fears as i find them as respectful to us, the people of the developing world, as i found their parents and older siblings etc.
I hope this answer didn’t sound too much like rambling or disappointing due to lack of quantifiable data and science. And i hope this answer isn’t interpreted as a diss of people from the West with whom i also have great experiences. But as someone who as worked in Data analysis so long, i can tell you, some things aren’t there in the data. Some things are in the mysterious, murky sphere we call the human aspect. And in that aspect, you’ll find that this mysterious pull and attraction China has on so many people in the developing world from Africa, Asia, Middle East is based on the smallest, but oldest of all things: Respect. Equality. Partnership. Camaraderie.
This happened to a friend of mine. He’s a PhD in Mathematics and was working for Silicon Valley firm writing mostly encryption algorithms, but some firmware stuff as well. Very very well paid — but not the most social person in the world. Being around people causes him anxiety. This isn’t a minor thing for him — it’s a real pathology.
Anyway, He’s a Los Angeles guy — and hated living so far north. His employer worked with him and let him work remotely 4 out of 5 days a week — he would just need to show up for “face” time once a week. Basically show up Sunday, sleep in the company flat, drive home Monday.
That was grinding him down after a year. His employer dropped that down to once a month. After six months, this was still too much and he decided to turn in his resignation on the next “face” day.
He drove up there, spent the night in the company flat, got up to go to the office with his “notice” papers and his boss calls him in.
They’re laying him off. This means, he keeps the stock options he’s earned (would have lost them if he quit), he gets 3 years of paid medical insurance and a 3 year severance package per his contract.
He sent me a pic of himself after he got the news. The biggest sh*t eating grin I’ve ever seen on him —ever — in front of his “beater” pick up truck. .
A very long time ago, when I was new to working in Corporate America, an employee was reprimanded for refusing to do an assigned task given by a new supervisor and then fired for insubordination.
Sheila had worked in the unit for most of her 7 years with the company. She was hardworking, never missing a day, and knew every aspect of the department’s purpose and work. She was ‘right there’ when any of us needed info or help, something that our supervisors were not always able to do.
She SHOULD have been the supervisor, but she had 3 strikes against her: she was still in school (no paper), she was female (most management positions were filled by males), and she was black (the company had a 7% minority hire, mostly in lower positions).
The new supervisor had worked with us for 6 months when he told Sheila that he wanted her to change a major procedure. When she asked why, he became belligerent and refused to discuss it.
Sheila knew (to summarize) that the new procedure would create a multi-level bottleneck in our area and would ultimately lessen efficiency within a third of the company.
When she attempted to explain this, the supervisor accused her of insubordination and threatened her with termination.
He then began a whisper campaign against her. In hindsight, it was based on racism and misogyny that others (especially in management) seemed happy to join.
Sheila did as she was told, and we all watched as our department’s efficiency rapidly fell and began to adversely affect other units.
When the problems couldn’t ‘work themselves out,’ the supervisor accused Sheila of sabotage.
Some of us went to Personnel (HR) in support of Sheila to no avail. Sheila produced the supervisor’s written instructions, but he continued to call her an incompetent, vindictive, ignorant saboteur and in private, added racist/misogynistic terms.
Sheila was fired based on that man’s accusations and in spite of her denials and proof.
Sheila landed a great position with a competitor within days. (She ultimately lured 4 of the department’s best to join her several months later.)
The supervisor crowed that she had been a spy all along, but as the effeciency still fell, management FINALLY saw that department disruption came from the ‘incompetent, vindictive, ignorant’ supervisor.
He was moved to a different position within the company with no reprimand.
This was my first exposure to how unfair and hateful some ‘management’ can be.
Erwin Rommel is probably one of the most over rated so called geniuses. Rommel had a good sense of tactical employment of certain equipment particularly tanks, but he was greatly aided by the fact he mostly fought an outpost of Britain, rather than the full might of any of the allied armies, and his tactics were never tested by the Soviet armored branch, unlike most German generals.
Furthermore, he was operationally inept and strategically an imbecile. Rommel was the ultimate “i know better than you”, and circumvented the command chain to get his way. For example, he appealed directly to Hitler in order to launch the attack on Egypt, that totally failed and cost the Axis their foothold in Africa, and undermining the Wehrmacht plan made to occupy Malta and cut off the British navy.
At the strategic level Rommel never understood Germany’s actual position, and certainly did not contribute to it. He left this entire theater of command on June 5th despite the Germans knowing that an invasion of France was imminent. He had also previously spent massive resources on creating additional anti air borne defenses, none of which had an impact on the outcome of D-day.
Rommel was defeated in Africa, defeated in Italy and defeated in France, before he was a high level leader he was an insubordinate divisional commander who got lucky mostly. His ghost division was called such because no one knew where it was or what it was doing. That is not a good thing.
Despite all this, Rommel is often mentioned as one of the greatest generals in World War 2, but I really see no reason for this, when von Rundtstedt and even the self aggrandising Mannstein, clearly had far more success and skill than Rommel did.
Star Trek – Two Captain Kirks
Spock makes his way to the control room with a phaser…only to find two identical Captain Kirks (Whom Gods Destroy)
Huawei and China. It force China to speed up dominating the industry and make all the money. It no longer need to share with the west and U.S. The U.S. has to pay and lose in trillions of dollars to build big white elephants, subsidise a dozen countries and the entire industry for decades to come!
Meanwhile it has to contend with poorer technology, higher inefficiency and humongous cost of connectivity! It loses competitive edge and allow its people to fall behind in technology!
But you know who else benefits. Your media and your politicians. The media sell hate and the profit. Your politicians show hates and the win votes!
So who benefits? China, the Chinese people, the global south, the U.S. media and the U.S. politicians.
Who lose? Americans. The U.S. taxpayers. Your U.S. companies, your U.S. dog nations, you U.S. slave vassals, your cronies nations! Too bad karma. You guys deserved it.
Are Humans the First Civilization? The Silurian Hypothesis
I had applied for a job with a company where my friend worked. She had sent me the posting even though I was extremely under qualified and the job was 400 miles away.
I applied, not thinking I actually had a chance. The posting was for a SysAdmin, and at this point in my career I had only worked in computer repair shops. I had some server experience and did some side work for a few clients, but I wasn’t a full SysAdmin by any stretch of the imagination. But what could it hurt to apply. The worst they could do is throw out my resume. So I was surprised when they called me for a phone interview.
I got through the HR interview no problem. I have a good work ethic and am generally a pleasant person, so it was a breeze. Next came the tech interview. The guy who was leaving called me and was immediately concerned about my complete lack of experience as a SysAdmin. We went through the technical interview and I figured that would be the end of it. He asked some pretty tough questions about things I had never done before. So I didn’t think I did that well.
Surprise! I got another call from HR. They wanted to interview me in person! Wow, was I shocked. I agreed and immediately started packing a bag for a road trip. I left early the next morning and drove the 400 miles in one day. I crashed on my friend’s couch and went in to work with her the next morning for my interview.
Again, I was interviewed by a technical person, this time a consultant. Again, he grilled me on a bunch of technology that I had never used before. I answered to the best of my ability, but more than once I had to admit that I didn’t know the answer. Again, I didn’t think I did very well. I basically got the “We’ll call you if we’re interested” response when I asked what the next steps were.
I chalked it up to just being a road trip. I spent the rest of the day exploring the city and taking in a few museums. I had a good time with some friends in the city and then headed home the next morning. This was a Wednesday.
The very next day, Thursday, my phone rang. “Hello, this is X from company Y. We were really impressed with you and would like to offer you the job.”
I almost dropped my phone I was so shocked. All I could do was stutter out a “Ok. I’d love to take it.”
Then the twist. “We absolutely need you to start on Monday. Is that going to be a problem? If you can’t we’re going to offer the job to a local candidate.”
I looked around at my house full of stuff that wasn’t packed and replied the only way I could. “Sure. Looks like I’m moving to Washington DC tomorrow.”
So I did. It took about a month of crashing on my friend’s couch before I found a place to stay and move all our stuff down there.
It was surreal to say the least. In one week, I went from being unemployed in Cleveland to getting a job in DC that I wasn’t qualified for and moving my entire life 400 miles away.
UN GIVEN 24 HOUR WARNING, IRAN SENDS TANKS TO BORDER, SYRIA AIRPORT BOMBED
Two months ago, I got a call that my home was on fire. I rushed home with my 4 year old, found my house uninhabitable and all of my pets deceased. While the fire marshal was finishing up paperwork, and I was covered in soot and tears, a man came up to me with condolences and placed $200 in my hand and said he’s sure I could use it. We had never met; I found out later that he lived in the neighborhood and just felt the need to help.
This man’s actions impacted me in a big way. Of course $200 wasn’t going to rebuild my house, but it did cover getting us pajamas, a change of clothes, toothbrushes, and other essentials that we needed immediately, as well as a hot meal, with some left to spare. Most importantly, it gave me one less thing to worry about at the moment.
Moving forward, I want to be more like that guy. Offering thoughts and prayers through Facebook when people go through tragedies is nice, but actually being present and offering assistance is what makes a difference. Thanks, stranger!
Operation Abscam was the sting of the decade. In 1978, the FBI set up a fake company to snare New York gangsters selling stolen art. The company was called “Abdul Enterprise” hence the name Ab(dul)Scam, and owned by a fake Arab Sheik looking to invest in art.
They recovered two paintings worth 1 million dollars, and during the operation they were introduced to more criminals dealing in stolen stocks and bonds, which stopped 600 million dollars in fraudulent securities.
It was through this operation they were introduced to politicians willing to take bribes. The sting brought the FBI to Washington DC, where their criminal contacts introduced them to shady politicians willing to take bribes for the Sheiks business which was a fake Casino in Atlantic City.
These politicians wanted to arrange a meeting between the Sheik and a US congressman who could make happen any private legislation the Sheik wanted for the price of 50,000 dollars.
This led to the arrest of one senator, six congressmen, and more than a dozen corrupt officials.
The sting was surrounded in controversy because it raised many question regarding the FBI tactics being considered entrapment.
This infamous sting was the inspiration behind the movie American Hustle.
This Cat Was Left Behind When His Owner Moved Away | The Dodo
Citibank. Went to the bank to deposit a ~$26k check into a checking account with many times that amount, then pay my credit card bill which had all the charges from a 15-day Disney vacation.
They deposited the check, but put a ‘hold’ on it, making only $100 of the balance available. Then they debited my checkbook, to pay the CC balance in full.
About a week later the statement arrived. The CC was paid in full, ~48 hours before it was due, but somehow managed to accrue >$100 in interest charges. — First time for that.
The checking account also generated about a dozen overdraft charges despite the balance never dropping below $100k! — It’s not like there was a six-figure minimum balance on that account.
And to top it off, every one of my $25k 7-day certificates of deposit forfeited their interest for the week that included that fiasco.
I went to the branch on the next business day. I waited patiently in the line for the teller. When I got to the window, I quietly explained that they had messed up. The teller *insisted* that they followed procedure. I asked for the manager to come out and explain their procedure in more detail.
I listened to 5+ minutes or doubletalk in stony silence. The manager finally saying he could reverse the charges & credit the interest “… this one time as a courtesy.” I allowed him to proceed and complete the tasks.
When I had the corrected receipts in my hand, and in my wallet, I said to him: “Now I want you to close all of my accounts.” There was indignity & quite anger in his face.
He asked me to step aside into his office. I politely declined saying that until you hand over my money, I’m still a customer. I waited 45 minutes in your line and I’m not giving up my spot so you can hide me away from the people who are still in line. I think they deserve to know how badly you treated me, and maybe some of them will get the idea to leave the bank too.
He tried to maneuver me away from the window. I refused to budge. He tried empty threats, even up to calling the police. I told him go ahead. I have witnesses. Then I said, he *SHOULD* call the police because I want my funds in *CASH*.
He then tried to explain how that much cash would generate a CTR, and I’d be investigated by the IRS. I said, that’s fine. I’m clean, you’re dirty. I welcome the sunlight.
Within an hour I walked out of the bank with a thick manilla envelope under my arm and was walked to my car by the armed security guard. I had informed the manager that my safety was *HIS* personal responsibility until I drove off the bank property. The reason was that because of his incompetence, several people in the lobby *KNEW* that I would be leaving the branch carrying substantial cash, and that the potential for me being robbed once I walked out the door was non-zero.
I left the parking lot and drove to the First Union branch nearer my house, asked for the branch manager, told him a short version of what had just transpired, and in less than 30 minutes walked out with a brand-new leather-bound checkbook, and started earning 0.25% more interest on my money.
—
I had been increasingly frustrated with Citibank in the months leading up to that fiasco. To be fair, it was their electronic banking that had lured me into doing business with them in the first place. Their systems integrated with Quicken better than any other I had used up to that point. BTW this all happened between September 1997 & August 1999. The Disney vacation was from the last day of school in June 1999 thru the 8th or 9th of July. It was a big deal for the kids when we pulled them from school early that day and they got to say to their classmates “I’m going to Disney!”
So, literally every time I visited the Citibank branch to conduct business, I walked out feeing like something was wrong. They always did things out of order from the way I presented them to the teller. It was mildly frustrating most of the time. Irritating on many occasions; and maddening when I’d make large deposits & purchase one or more of their $25k 7-day CDs. The $25k CDs were nice because although they were illiquid for the first 14 days after the 2-week hold the most I could forfeit was the interest on the last week — in theory. There were a number of occasions when they would deduct 8 or more days of interest, when I cashed more than one at a time. I’d get to the office, plug the amounts into Quicken and there would be a ‘discrepancy’. That necessitated another trip to the bank to get it corrected. Or a phone call and an up to 60 day wait.
The bank offered these products to attract deposits. They worked, but they inevitably tried to cheat me out of hundreds if not thousands of dollars in interest earned. But in all candor it was the $400plus in *OVERDRAFT* charges on a well-funded account that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Several years ago Costco ended their arrangement with American Express and switched to Citi. I wasn’t happy. But they gave me a new Blue card with my Costco photo on the back. I only used the card at Costco. And each February I’d await my ‘love check’ aka “My Costco Rewards Voucher”. It usually came by April.
About a year ago, I hadn’t been to Costco for a while and so the automatic $50 payments I made to avoid any possibility of a missed payment fee had accumulated. I had visited Costco on the 92nd day following my last bill and the charge was less than $150. But true to form, the bank had cut me an unrequested paper check on the 91st day (supposedly) recorded the charge on day 92, then hit me with a $35 late fee for not receiving another check before the close of the 3rd statement! Can you imagine?
That was the last time I used the Citi card for *ANYTHING* — except… Now, when I go to Costco, I show the Citi card to prove my membership, but I pay with my Chase. Then when I finish shopping, I stop at the lunch counter and buy a Costco signature Hotdog & Pepsi for $1.50 which comes to $1.61 with the tax. When I return home, I schedule a ebill-pay check to be sent to the bank 15 business days later.
And lastly, I disabled electronic statements, forcing them to send me a paper invoice for $1.61 each month. I did this when they failed to send me an email statement or notification then had the nerve to again charge me $35 after a minor error on my part that had left me with a $0.50 *CREDIT* balance which I was allowing to roll from month to month. That was until the bank decided that since the credit was less than $1.00 they were entitled to absorb it and not issue me a check. They also absorbed my then insignificant Rewards balance ~$5.00 as a co-consequence of the late fee assessed. That too earned them another phone call and cost them >90 minutes of agent time, and a replenishment of the rewards balance.
In 2022 my accrued rewards were $0.12 I don’t expect a voucher, but I will call them to inquire why it wasn’t sent. Come to think of it It’s May 16th. I think I’ll do it tomorrow morning.
We need to ACKNOWLEDGE China IS SUPERIOR in these areas
That’s Rule No 1
…
You have nutters who claim we have nothing to learn from China and if these people are the majority than India will be the perpetual loser like always
We built so many toilets, We built so many trains, IMF says we are No 1, ABC says we are No 2 etc etc
India is a country where mediocrity dominates
…
The Cream is in US or UK or Canada or Australia or Europe or Singapore or Malaysia
Achievers think differently
They always look at others strengths and decide to incorporate them and grow and develop
Mediocrities think differently
They bury their heads in the sand, and keep quoting random nonsense to feel good
India sadly belongs to the latter groups
Thus Rule No 1 is to say
Alright these are Chinas strengths, these are Chinas weaknesses
Let’s try to achieve Chinas strengths without going into Chinas weaknesses
The Basic Truth
China and India started together in 1982 and today China is six times larger
That is a truth that’s out there
That means China did something right or infinitely better than us
That means China has to be superior to us in many areas
That’s Logic
We have the same populace at the end of the day
We don’t have a single viable achievement where we have beaten China
Not one
So obviously China did something better
How many actually say this?
Say that – Wow!!! China is indeed better than us in so many aspects. Let’s learn from them.
My guess is very few
Most of us can’t accept this very basic thing
So this answer isn’t for an Indian sadly
Indians today aren’t built to assess others strengths and evaluate the same
Nopes
The West: China Is Collapsing!
Great video! Some people choose to be so ignorant of China even when there are so many vlogs of those exploring the country.
This is worth viewing.
The Split In Israel And The War Of Al-Aqsa
What is the reason for the ‘Al-Aqsa Deluge’, as Hamas had named its terror operation against the Zionists?
On October 8 Alastair Crooke, one of most experienced Middle East hands, wrote in AlMahadeen:
“Israel” has shattered into two equally weighted factions holding to two irreconcilable visions of “Israel’s” future; two mutually opposing readings of history and of what it means to be Jewish.
The fissure could not be more complete. Except it is. One faction, which holds a majority in parliament, is broadly Mizrahi — a former underclass in Israeli society; and the other, largely well-to-do liberal Ashkenazi.
Mizrahi are mostly the original Middle Eastern Jews and often on the religious far right, Ashkenazi are mostly liberal European ones. The current Netanyahoo government is the first which includes far-right Mizrahi ministers.
Most Mizrahi follow the Sephardi religious rites. They want an religious state based on Jewish law. They are as radial as ISIS.
The high court of Israel has 14 Ashkenazi judges and one Mizrahi one. It is one of the reasons why the Netanyahoo government wants the parliament to be able to vote down high court judgements. There have been large, U.S. sponsored ‘regime change’ protests in Israel against that move. The leaders of the military and security services, mostly Ashkenazi, have also opposed the government move against the court.
I therefore think that it is quite possible that there was intelligence pointing to the Hamas attack, but that it was not revealed to let Netanyahoo fall into a trap. We have however no evidence that there were reasonably precise intelligence warnings, or that they were held up.
There are already demands for Netanyahoo to go. If only for his long term sponsoring of Hamas as a counterweight to the more secular Fatah Palestinians. Should he no longer be prime minister the courts will take up the three bribe cases against him which are currently pending. He would likely end up in jail.
Another reason for Hamas’ success was the fact that three of the four infantry battalions, with 800 soldiers each, that usually guard the Gaza strip, had been moved to the West Bank to protect right-wing Zionist settlers during a religious holiday. This allowed for Hamas’ easy breach of the fence.
Well, the Right in Netanyahu’s government has two long-standing commitments. One is to rebuild the (Jewish) Temple on ‘Temple Mount’ (Haram al-Shariff).
Just to be clear, that would entail demolishing Al-Aqsa.
The second overriding commitment is to the founding of “Israel”, on the “Land of Israel”. And again, to be clear, this (in their view) would entail clearing Palestinians from the West Bank. Indeed, the settlers have been cleansing Palestinians from swaths of the West Bank over the past year (notably between Ramallah and Jericho).
On Thursday morning (two days preceding Al-Aqsa Flood), more than 800 settlers stormed the Mosque Compound, under the full protection of Israeli forces. The drumbeat of such provocations is rising.
This is nothing new. The First Intifada was triggered by (then) PM Sharon making a provocative visit into the mosque. I was a part of Senator George Mitchell’s Presidential Committee investigating that incident. Even then, it was clear that Sharon intended the visit to fuel the fire of religious nationalism. At that time, the Temple Mount Movement was a minnow; today it has ministers in Cabinet and in key security positions — and has promised its followers to build the ‘Third Temple’.
So, the threat to Al-Aqsa has been building for two decades, and today is reaching an apex. And yet US and Israeli intelligence didn’t see resistance coming, and nor did they see the settler violence building in the West Bank?
What happened on Saturday was widely expected and clearly extensively planned.
There is by the way no archaeologic evidence, none, that a Jewish ‘Temple’ ever existed in Jerusalem. If it did, it was most likely not on the hill of Al-Aqsa but one of the six other ones.
Al-Aqsa is holy to all Muslims, Shia and Sunni alike. Its destruction would inevitably lead to war. The West is clearly underestimating what forces calls like this one can rise:
Friday sermon from the Grand Mosque in Mecca prays for the “liberation of Al-Aqsa Mosque” in Jerusalem.
This is significant for two reasons: • Audience of 2 billion Muslims. • Such sermons have been significantly censored under MBS. Today’s sermon was likely pre-approved. Video
Israel has used White Phosphorus on the people in Gaza, another war crime. Israel has given all people in north Gaza, 1.1 million human beings, 24 hours to move to south Gaza. That is impossible and will not happen. It is an attempt of ethnic cleansing.
If there were two million Jewish people trapped by Christians in a giant open-air prison and placed under total siege, being told that half of them had 24 hours to relocate into the other half or be killed, nobody would have any confusion about what they were witnessing.
If Israel makes, as announced, a ground attack on Gaza, Hizbullah in Lebanon is likely to attack Israel. The U.S. has allegedly let Syria know (via France) that Damascus, and President Assad personally, would be attacked if that were to happen. This is a miscalculation. It is far from certain that Assad, or even Iran, has the means to hold Hizbullah back.
A U.S. attack on the government of Syria would bring Russia into the war. Iran would also respond which is exactly what some of the neocons want.
The war could easily escalate further from there.
Posted by b on October 13, 2023 at 15:46 UTC | Permalink
Wife Self-Deletes After Husband Discovers All 4 Kids Aren’t His
I live in a wealthy suburb on the outskirts of Silicon Valley in California; trees, flowers, birds, mostly nice neighbors of diverse backgrounds. On the surface, it seems a wonderful place to live, and in many respects, it is, however, if I look out my front window, I see this:
image 172
The electricity is distributed via overhead lines, due to an underinvestment in infrastructure: last month, I lost power for over 36 hours because it got a little windy (the world headquarters of Apple, Facebook, and Google are within a ten mile radius of my place). When I ride my bike to the local supermarket this evening, I will have to be careful not to slip on a large and growing patch of gravel on a road that hasn’t been repaired for many years: this, in one of the wealthiest parts of the wealthiest country in the world.
image 80
The above is a map of the SF Bay area, a densely populated part of California with an almost continuous ring of urban development. As you would expect, the traffic can be pretty bad, so you might expect that there would be a single circular light rail system linking the many cities around the bay; there is not: if I want to travel from my place to Fremont by rail alone, the quickest way with the most frequent service is via San Francisco. US infrastructure is truly abysmal.
Why is America in such poor shape, with its crumbling roads, crappy power distribution, and pitiful public transport systems? It is because Americans have been propagandized for decades into believing that “liberty” is the ultimate virtue, and this “liberty” is so valuable that it justifies the cost of living as a selfish asshole under a dysfunctional government. “Raise taxes to pay for public infrastructure?” “Jeez Louise; over my dead body! Taxation is theft, government is bad!” For much of the 20th century, America defined itself against the collectivist USSR, and the fatuous argument was made that since everything was under the control of the state in the USSR, the US government should do as little as possible, apart from outspending the evil Commies in national defense.
The infrastructure is just one symptom of America’s degradation: the streets of major cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles are filling up with homeless drug addicts, leaving the sidewalks littered with tents, needles, and human waste. Next to nothing is done for these people because it is seen as “their problem” that they are mentally ill, and lack access to mental health services and affordable housing. The irony is that there are so many of these people now that they have become everyone’s problem. Retailers in downtown SF are closing down their stores because the conditions in the streets are keeping paying customers away, whilst the cops barely regard shoplifting as a crime.
2023 10 19 08 53
The only way this person lying on the ground can guarantee access to shelter and minimal medical care is to go to jail. Land of the free…
The US is run by an oligarchy of libertarian fantasists, who have spent so long sucking hallucinogenic bile from the withered teats of Ayn Rand that they have lost all contact with reality. The government is not entirely to blame for the current situation; a lot of the social problems are the result of the narcissistic counter culture that started in the 1960s, but now that these problems are getting worse, the question is, can the government continue to pretend that they don’t exist, or that there is somehow a “free market” solution to mass shootings, drug addiction, and homelessness?
Living in my little enclave, with its fragile electricity supply, and crumbling roads, it’s easy for my neighbors and I to think that things aren’t so bad, but in under an hour, I can travel to SF and see scenes exactly like the one in the last photo. Whilst people are constantly harping on about whether the Democrats or the Republicans are better or worse than each other, they are ignoring the fact that both parties have done nothing to seriously address the severe decay that is undeniably afflicting America’s social and physical fabric.
Edit: My apologies to those who may have wished to leave reasonable and informed comments; I got tired of being notified of comments that were rude and stupid, and there are already plenty of comments in the thread that disagree with my point of view.
Edit 2: There appears to be evidence that it was uninsulated overhead powerlines, such as the ones in my photo, which led to the fires in Maui, which killed hundreds of people.
He himself was a salesman at our local Ford dealership back in the 1960’s. He was a good and honest man. Around 1967 he had several customers reject the deals he was making with them and instead buy cars from another dealership about an hour away, in Amarillo, thinking that they were getting a much better deal. However what was really happening was that other dealership was quoting them a lower initial purchase price but “making it up” with their financing interest rates. Several times, when they came back and talked with my uncle to tell him that they’d “beat his price”, he showed them how they were going to end up paying a lot more for their purchase than they would have with him once all the finance costs were considered, and they got angry about how they’d been tricked, but of course then it was too late.
So, one day he made a trip to Amarillo to that other dealership and posed as something of a ‘rube’ customer. He started trying to make a deal on a new 1967 Ford Mustang coupe, 289 V8, 3-speed manual. Ford called the color “Dusk Rose” but to look at it, it was obviously “Pepto Bismol pink”. He played the usual games with the salesman, going back and forth “to check with his manager” and all that. (As an aside here, if you’ve ever wondered if sales offices are bugged so that they can hear the private conversations that happen while they’re out of the room, you can stop wondering now. They are. What they’re actually doing when they go “talk to their manager” is running a credit check on you to find out if you’re “worth their time” and listening in. They like nothing more than to have a couple in their office and hear that one of them “is in love with” the car they’re considering. They know they’ve won at that point.)
Anyway, my uncle took advantage of all that back and forth, took advantage of what he knew was the actual dealer cost of the car, took advantage of the bug, “talked to himself” while the salesman was gone about how much he liked the car and hoped he could get a good price, and kept at it until the salesman offered to sell him the car at a price that my uncle knew was hundreds less than what the car had actually cost the dealer. The salesman wrote down the deal, and my Uncle Bill reached over and snagged the paper.
Salesman, as he reached into a desk drawer to get the finance agreement forms: “Mr. Garrett? How much would you like to pay down on this car today?”
Uncle Bill: “Oh, I’ll just pay the full price in cash. Right now. No trade in.”
Salesman, now flustered and getting angry: “But you kept haggling about price and wanting it lower!”
Uncle Bill: “I never said I couldn’t afford it, I just said I didn’t want to pay that much.”
The salesman, and the dealership, were so mad at him that they practically threw the keys at him and refused even to wash the car for him prior to delivery. Uncle Bill paid for it and drove it home.
Back then, in our small town, everyone knew “the pink Mustang” and thought it was funny/ugly. Turns out, that Dusk Rose color was very rare and only a very few of them were built (gee I wonder why?) – but documented originals are quite valuable now.
I miss him.
Leaked CIA Documents REVEALED China Has Powerful SPACE WEAPONS
The Chinese Space Program has often found itself at the centre of allegations and accusations, primarily originating from the United States. More recently, the international community was stirred by the disclosure of a classified document, which brought to light China’s formidable space capabilities, notably featuring a device that can be referred to as a ‘satellite hijacker’—an asset reportedly within China’s grasp. Today’s episode will cover a leaked CIA documents contents and a potential arms race in space.
Im an African American male, okay? I come from the DEPTHS of the hood. In the hood, we don’t eat this. In my culture, we don’t eat this.
Well when I graduated college, I moved to Austin Texas. I have a Caucasian wife, okay? She always talked about this. Her family talked about it and even random people. I was like ummm how good can this be because it sounds pretty gross.
One night, 8 years ago, we made it for dinner. And just know that 8 years later, im still dipping my grill cheese in tomato soup at least 4 times a month.
My grandmother, who is now 96, marched out of Auschwitz in broad daylight after taking off her striped uniform and changing into normal clothes.
A Polish friend who worked in the camp as a secretary and wasn’t corrupted by the racist propaganda had risked her own life to bring her the outfit.
Out she walked, past guards with rifles, attack dogs, and hatred so intense it would make your skin crawl with fear.
Her parents, and almost all living relatives, weren’t as fortunate.
The rest of the war, she spent in hiding.
“At that time,” she explained to me during a recent visit, “we couldn’t set goals, let alone pursue them. We were deprived of our agency, of freedom.”
That’s why she always encouraged me to go as far as possible in life.
Because the highest form of freedom— the ability to actualize your dreams, to create a life of meaning, purpose, and wellbeing—is not something to be taken lightly.
Whatever you choose to do with yours, never forget that it’s a gift of the greatest magnitude.
Parents Took $120k Loan On My Name To Fund Spoiled Sister Studies & Claimed It’s My Responsibility
His family STOLE HIS money. They needed to pay it back.
Pro-Israel Propaganda Is Stupid
It is somewhat amazing how low the quality of western propaganda has become. Especially when it relates to hobbyhorses like Israel.
Here is NBCnews testing not only the stupidity of its viewers and readers but also demonstrating the fatuity of its ‘journalists’.
Documents exclusively obtained by NBC News show that Hamas created detailed plans to target elementary schools and a youth center in the Israeli kibbutz of Kfar Sa’ad, to “kill as many people as possible,” seize hostages and quickly move them into the Gaza Strip.
The attack plans, which are labeled “top secret” in Arabic, appear to be orders for two highly trained Hamas units to surround and infiltrate villages and target places where civilians, including children, gather. Israeli authorities are still determining the death toll in Kfar Sa’ad.
The documents were found on the bodies of Hamas terrorists by Israeli first responders and shared with NBC News. They include detailed maps and show that Hamas intended to kill or take hostage civilians and school children.
One page labeled “Top Secret” outlines a plan of attack for Kfar Sa’ad, saying “Combat unit 1” is directed to “contain the new Da’at school,” while “Combat unit 2” is to “collect hostages,” “search the Bnei Akiva youth center” and “search the old Da’at school.”
The attack happened in the early hours of October 7, a Saturday.
What do Zionist children do on a Sabbath, before dawn? Are they sitting in school? Do they visit a youth center?
If Hamas terrorists maneuvered around schools to kill children they came at the wrong time and the wrong day.
At least to me that does not seem to be the most plausible explanation for their carefully planned operation.
The Israeli army is going all in. The plan is to push all people in Gaza into the desert of Sinai:
“This is thought out… There is a huge expanse, almost endless space in the Sinai desert, just on the other side of Gaza. … The idea is for them to leave over for the open areas where we, and the international community, will prepare the infrastructure, ten cities, with food and water… just like for the refugees of Syria that fled the butchering of Asad…. There is a way to receive them all on the other side for temporary time on [sic.] Sinai… and Egypt will have to play ball.”
That is from an ex-deputy foreign minister of Israel. If he says “for temporary time” he likely means centuries.
There are clashes in the West Bank where Israel is trying to incite a third intifada. Some 43 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank over the last six days. Nine of them during the last 24 hours. There are also clashes and artillery exchanges along the boarder with Lebanon.
Posted by b on October 14, 2023 at 13:39 UTC | Permalink
Girls Standing In The Middle of Tokyo to Sell Themselves.. Japan Has A Serious Developing Problem.
Why are so many young women in Japan recently “standing” in the middle of Tokyo? We find the answer to this question through the story of Yuka in this video, and the important message of takeaway in which this alarming phenomenon has for all of us, when visiting, or considering any social issues regarding Japan.
https://youtu.be/yo3IUSfTiMY
The Split In Israel And The War Of Al-Aqsa
What is the reason for the ‘Al-Aqsa Deluge’, as Hamas had named its terror operation against the Zionists?
On October 8 Alastair Crooke, one of most experienced Middle East hands, wrote in AlMahadeen:
“Israel” has shattered into two equally weighted factions holding to two irreconcilable visions of “Israel’s” future; two mutually opposing readings of history and of what it means to be Jewish.
The fissure could not be more complete. Except it is. One faction, which holds a majority in parliament, is broadly Mizrahi — a former underclass in Israeli society; and the other, largely well-to-do liberal Ashkenazi.
Mizrahi are mostly the original Middle Eastern Jews and often on the religious far right, Ashkenazi are mostly liberal European ones. The current Netanyahoo government is the first which includes far-right Mizrahi ministers.
Most Mizrahi follow the Sephardi religious rites. They want an religious state based on Jewish law. They are as radial as ISIS.
The high court of Israel has 14 Ashkenazi judges and one Mizrahi one. It is one of the reasons why the Netanyahoo government wants the parliament to be able to vote down high court judgements. There have been large, U.S. sponsored ‘regime change’ protests in Israel against that move. The leaders of the military and security services, mostly Ashkenazi, have also opposed the government move against the court.
I therefore think that it is quite possible that there was intelligence pointing to the Hamas attack, but that it was not revealed to let Netanyahoo fall into a trap. We have however no evidence that there were reasonably precise intelligence warnings, or that they were held up.
There are already demands for Netanyahoo to go. If only for his long term sponsoring of Hamas as a counterweight to the more secular Fatah Palestinians. Should he no longer be prime minister the courts will take up the three bribe cases against him which are currently pending. He would likely end up in jail.
Another reason for Hamas’ success was the fact that three of the four infantry battalions, with 800 soldiers each, that usually guard the Gaza strip, had been moved to the West Bank to protect right-wing Zionist settlers during a religious holiday. This allowed for Hamas’ easy breach of the fence.
Well, the Right in Netanyahu’s government has two long-standing commitments. One is to rebuild the (Jewish) Temple on ‘Temple Mount’ (Haram al-Shariff).
Just to be clear, that would entail demolishing Al-Aqsa.
The second overriding commitment is to the founding of “Israel”, on the “Land of Israel”. And again, to be clear, this (in their view) would entail clearing Palestinians from the West Bank. Indeed, the settlers have been cleansing Palestinians from swaths of the West Bank over the past year (notably between Ramallah and Jericho).
On Thursday morning (two days preceding Al-Aqsa Flood), more than 800 settlers stormed the Mosque Compound, under the full protection of Israeli forces. The drumbeat of such provocations is rising.
This is nothing new. The First Intifada was triggered by (then) PM Sharon making a provocative visit into the mosque. I was a part of Senator George Mitchell’s Presidential Committee investigating that incident. Even then, it was clear that Sharon intended the visit to fuel the fire of religious nationalism. At that time, the Temple Mount Movement was a minnow; today it has ministers in Cabinet and in key security positions — and has promised its followers to build the ‘Third Temple’.
So, the threat to Al-Aqsa has been building for two decades, and today is reaching an apex. And yet US and Israeli intelligence didn’t see resistance coming, and nor did they see the settler violence building in the West Bank?
What happened on Saturday was widely expected and clearly extensively planned.
There is by the way no archaeologic evidence, none, that a Jewish ‘Temple’ ever existed in Jerusalem. If it did, it was most likely not on the hill of Al-Aqsa but one of the six other ones.
Al-Aqsa is holy to all Muslims, Shia and Sunni alike. Its destruction would inevitably lead to war. The West is clearly underestimating what forces calls like this one can rise:
Friday sermon from the Grand Mosque in Mecca prays for the “liberation of Al-Aqsa Mosque” in Jerusalem.
This is significant for two reasons: • Audience of 2 billion Muslims. • Such sermons have been significantly censored under MBS. Today’s sermon was likely pre-approved. Video
Israel has used White Phosphorus on the people in Gaza, another war crime. Israel has given all people in north Gaza, 1.1 million human beings, 24 hours to move to south Gaza. That is impossible and will not happen. It is an attempt of ethnic cleansing.
If there were two million Jewish people trapped by Christians in a giant open-air prison and placed under total siege, being told that half of them had 24 hours to relocate into the other half or be killed, nobody would have any confusion about what they were witnessing.
If Israel makes, as announced, a ground attack on Gaza, Hizbullah in Lebanon is likely to attack Israel. The U.S. has allegedly let Syria know (via France) that Damascus, and President Assad personally, would be attacked if that were to happen. This is a miscalculation. It is far from certain that Assad, or even Iran, has the means to hold Hizbullah back.
A U.S. attack on the government of Syria would bring Russia into the war. Iran would also respond which is exactly what some of the neocons want.
The war could easily escalate further from there.
Posted by b on October 13, 2023 at 15:46 UTC | Permalink
Originally Answered: What would happen if a high ranking Admiral or General visited a Military base without telling anyone first and didn’t like how things were being done there?
Admiral Rickover no-notice visited a nuclear boat in civilian clothing, was admitted, and began touring the boat. As he approached the reactor room a second class (E-5) stopped him from entering.
When the Admiral went to push past the man, he picked up a very large wrench and offered to split the Admiral’s head open.
Later 0, during a post-tour discussion, the Admiral asked the sailor if he recognized him (the Father of the Nuclear Navy) and if so, why the young sailor wouldn’t let the Admiral enter the reactor room.
The sailor said “Because, sir, you didn’t have the boat’s Reactor Room badge. No one comes into my reactor room without the proper pass, not even you.”
The next day the young man was spot promoted to E-6.
I was told this story by a roommate that was an MS1 (cook) on the boat at the time.
The key sentences in the Analects are:子罕： 無意無必無固無我：Have no preconceptions, do not insist on a certain course of action, don’t be obstinate, keep your ego out of things. The other one is: 里仁：君子之於天下也無適也無莫也義之與比：There is nothing in the world you have to be for, there is nothing in the world you have to be against; the only standard is what is appropriate for the situation at hand.
These were balanced by 禮 cultural standards. You should maintain a balance between 智仁勇 thinking, feeling (kindness), and courage. In all matters, 中庸 keep a balance, don’t go off far ends, never become an extremist.
In a nutshell, that’s it. I could go on for days, but that gives you the key points.
A large group of Russian soldiers in the border area in 1939 are moving down a road when they hear a voice call from behind a small hill:
“One Finnish soldier is better than ten Russian”.
The Russian commander quickly orders 10 of his best men over the hill where a gun battle breaks out and continues for a few minutes, then silence.
The voice once again calls out: “One Finn is better than one hundred Russian.”
Furious, the Russian commander sends his next best 100 troops over the hill, and instantly a huge gunfight commences. After 10 minutes of battle, again Silence.
The calm Finnish voice calls out again: “One Finn is better than one thousand Russians!”
The enraged Russian commander musters 1000 fighters and sends them to the other side of the hill.
Rifle fire, machine guns, grenades, rockets, and cannon fire ring out as a terrible battle is fought…
Then silence.
Eventually, one badly wounded Russian fighter crawls back over the hill and with his dying words tells his commander:
“Don’t send any more men… it’s a trap. There’s two of them!
Pay no attention to criticism or to authors of lies. They wouldn’t be doing it if you hadn’t created something to make them jealous.
When people troll you, this means that you’re important. Pretend that you’re depressed, but smile inwardly because deep inside, you know that you’re somebody significant.
Have a good reason to put a smile on your face. Even when you’re hungry or broke, that’s not a good reason to frown, for you never know when your help is arriving.
Happiness can be faked. This is probably a good thing for your health because your subconscious mind can’t tell the difference.
You can probably tell who your best friends are since they’ll not be easy to find. However, you can easily tell who your fake friends are since they’ll bring themselves to you.
It’s important to connect with as many friends as possible, but the most important way to have inner peace is to connect with yourself.
Whatever happens in your life, try to remain as calm as possible, despite all that’s going on around you.
People who can control their emotions are stronger than fortresses. Most of the problems that take away our inner peace come from reacting to situations we shouldn’t react to.
Don’t look for internal peace externally, where everybody is looking. To have peace, you have to look for someone who already has it. Unfortunately, most people don’t have inner peace, so you must change your focus to rely on your internal resources.
Despite all the noise, there’s still a central place where you can find peace. The heart is a central place where you can find almost anything that needs to be found.
You will never have peace watching the daily news, for it is the bad news that sells for TV stations and makes a slave to negative news. A person who watches much TV will always wake up with a headache, hangover, or depression.
Happiness is the secret to inner peace. Avoid people or situations that deprive you of happiness.
Nothing is as infectious as a good laughter, yet most people want to look depressed for no particular reason. Why don’t you lock yourself in a room and laugh even when there’s no particular reason to laugh?
Whatever situation you find yourself in, there’s no good reason to lose hope. Hope is like advance payment on something valuable you’re eagerly awaiting.
In most cases, you have innate peace inside of you, but other people come and take it away through discouragement, bad news, and idle talk because they don’t have peace in the first place and they don’t feel comfortable when you have it.
When people tell you something negative, the best thing to do is to remain calm. Try to assess it, and if it doesn’t make sense ignore it. The worst thing you can do is to react to it, but the best thing you can do is to avoid negative people.
Inner peace is more valuable than all the peace in the world, because when you have it, you can think more clearly and know how to react to situations and problems.
The natural inclination for humans is to dominate and control others. Know that if you’re a person given to this instinct, you’re courting misery, unhappiness, and grief, for the same people you seek to control, will turn upon you and tear you apart, the moment they realize you’re also human.
The number one killer for peace of mind is when you lose sleep as a result of another person “getting there” quicker than you. No two people are the same. No two people have the same abilities, and no two people think the same way. Don’t feel jealous because someone else is succeeding where you failed. Instead, be happy for them and your own success will arrive faster than you think.
The number two killer for peace of mind is anger. Anger is like a tornado, destroying everything in it’s wake including you and your loved ones.
Pay attention to what you eat. Neurochemicals in the brain that control mood, peace of mind, love, happiness, anger, and other factors, depend on the kind of food you eat, your particular environment, and the people you live with. Changing any or all of these factors, can greatly boost your inner peace that you didn’t believe existed.
There’s a reason why people take a break. Although worrying your head off won’t solve any problem, you might find it reasonable to find a solitary place where you can spend time alone. Enjoying solitude, meditation, and prayer, especially where there’s a body of water like the sea, river, or lake, are great ways to get away from people and all the noise, mobile phones, internet, social media, and rejuvenate your life. Find time to connect with your soul, and understand better what’s ailing you.
The phrase that “music heals your soul” can’t be more true. I’d say that making music your close companion is a great way to relax, whether you’re depressed or not. Music relaxes the mind and body, soothes the nerves, recovers your lost energy and focus, and immunizes you from the stresses of life.
DID YOUTUBE SABOTAGE US? WHY IM CLOSING MY 808,000 SUBSCRIBER CHANNEL
A Turkish artilleryman lifts a 215 kilogram shell singlehanded for loading in a cannon. Corporal Seyit (Seyit Onbasi) is famous for having carried three 215 kg shells to an artillery gun during the Allied attempt to force the Dardanelles on 18 March 1915. Born in a village of Havran, he enlisted into the army in April 1909. After serving in the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 he was transferred to the forts defending the Mediterranean entrance to the Dardanelles. Following the heavy naval bombardment of the forts guarding the Narrows on March 18, 1915, the gun he was serving in the Mecidiye fort remained operational but its shell crane had been damaged. Seyit carried three 215 kg artillery shells up to the gun enabling it to continue firing on the attacking Allied fleet. One of the shells reputedly hit the British pre-dreadnought HMS Ocean, most probably contributing greatly to the repulse of the Allied naval assault.
After that Seyid was promoted to corporal and publicised as an iconic Turkish hero. He was discharged in 1918 and became a forester and later coal-miner. He took the surname Çabuk in 1934 with the passing of the Surname Law. He died of a lung disease in 1939. A statue of him carrying a shell was erected in 1992, just south of Kilitbahir Castle on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
Edit: There are some skeptics who think that this story might have been invented for propaganda reasons. First of all, the Ottomans were not as sophisticated as the Allies or the USA regrading propaganda strategies. When it comes to propaganda, misinformation and psychological tactics for manipulating the masses, the Western countries are way ahead of the Turks. Secondly, the only eye witnesses were the few soldiers operating the gun. Nevertheless, according to military records, the crane of the canon was broken and the rounds fired. The battleship Ocean was hit by a cannon shell exactly at a position where it was facing this particular fort. (The picture was shot after the war, to imitate the moment.)
“What’s happening In the Middle East is Shocking…”
You see, when Trump imposed the Huawei Ban, China and Chinese entities were very concerned that they would be next
Thus they began stockpiling massive quantities of Chips & Semiconductor equipment
From 2020–2022 , China kept on buying Chips from the world though it’s demand thanks to the lockdown was down by almost 45%
That’s a huge chunk of chips purchased and equipment purchased between 2020–2022 when the total demand was far lesser both within China and outside China
Hence China has a Supply Glut of Chips & Semiconductor Equipment
This surplus has to be first utilized for China to begin placing orders again
Meanwhile China is also developing it’s own industry in Chips and Semiconductors
Thus the fall in imports is unlikely to be ever reversed
Imagine you’re the unlucky bastard who gets to be positioned behind the machine gun. While most of your brothers in arms have died long ago from climbing out of the trench, you remain shackled in place to provide them supporting fire, watching them each die in the process. What was once your childhood friend Richard presently sits motionless forty paces before you, in the middle of no mans land, tangled in a mess of barbed wire. The flies have largely left him alone by now.
At the same time, you get to fire endlessly at young men your age, of a different uniform, charging blindly towards you. You used to scream at the top of your lungs for them to turn back, to stop running forward. You stopped trying a few hundred kills back.
You’ve witnessed technological marvels unlike anything else you’ve ever seen before. Airplanes. Flamethrowers. Automobiles and tanks. And yet, just a few days ago, you saw your friends beat down an enemy using a primitive spike-covered club, like a caveman might.
Over the permanent ringing in your ears you gained from endless rounds fired and near misses of enemy grenades, you hear a corny, empty song of patriotism for the fourteenth time that day off of a distant gramophone. It’s words cruelly mock you anymore.
You’re covered in fine layers of semi-dried mud, thrown up in your face from a distant artillery hit. It’s the cleanest substance presently adorning your person. Your boots and wraps are wet from the blood, urine, and vomit. Some of it is your own. You can almost remember the last time you took a bath.
The cloth near your ankles has been shredded from the rats, who grow more brazen and hungry every day. The last one you saw was the size of an opossum, and took a nasty bite out of your left leg. Bartholomew, the man who helps feed bullets to your iron beast, stabbed it with his bayonet and tossed it in the pile: the sixteenth one he had killed that day alone.
Your nose has grown numb to the overwhelming odor. The winter season approaches, and everything’s become colder. All your aches and pains hurt more with the cold. Until now, things have been relatively dry, which means you have yet to drown in your own trench from the rainfall.
The sound of a shell impacting the ground crosses the land. The color of the air begins to turn a funny color again. You quietly put on your gas mask and hunch over your weapon. You first heard that this war would be over before Christmas. You then heard that this would be the war to end all wars. You now wonder if this war would ever end, or if it’d merely become the introductory section to the new era: the era of modern warfare.
Well, to start with, nobody in the world actually wants social justice.
There. I said it.
Okay, lots of people sincerely believe they want social justice; the people who say they want it aren’t lying, exactly. It’s way more complicated than that, and a lot happens between “I’d like to live in a just world” and “I am going to work to make a just world happen.”
Buckle up, this answer is gonna get loooooong.
Let’s start here: The real world is complicated. Really, really complicated. You might think getting your scanner/printer to work with Windows is complicated, but that’s peanuts compared to socioeconomic and geopolitical reality.
And people, even smart people, handle complexity poorly.
Topical case in point: What’s happening in Israel and Gaza right now.
If you want to understand what’s happening, you need to know quite a lot of history from the 1940s on. There’s a lot of “there” there: the Israeli offer, turned down by the Arabic population; the reasons Egypt and Jordan closed their borders to the Palestinians; the history of Hamas, which is both a terrorist organization and also a government (and before that, the Muslim Brotherhood); the way Egypt has deliberately played the Gaza refugees as political pawns…it’s complicated and ugly and no side has totally clean hands, but even understanding where the balance lies requires a pretty thorough history lesson…
…and oh God that’s, like, sooooooo complicated, whyyyyyyy can’t someone just tell me who the good guys are and who the bad guys are?
That’s the thing: a lot of people want to treat actual, real-world political situations like football matches or WWF wrestling, with a clearly defined good guy and a clearly defined bad guy, so they know who they’re supposed to root for.
Even people who start out genuinely, sincerely interested in social justice can easily get bogged down.
That’s the heartbreaking thing about, you know, empathy and compassion. When you sincerely want to leave the world in better shape than you found it, you soon find yourself fighting an uphill battle. Injustice doesn’t exist because someone woke up one day and said “Hey! You know what? I think I’ll be a dick to other people today!”
Injustice exists because entrenched economic, social, and political systems with roots thousands of years deep have entrenched ways of doing things because the people atop those systems benefit from doing things that way.
Fighting against that is hard. It grinds you down. However energetic and idealistic you were when you started, it pulverizes you.
Nobody has infinite time. Nobody has infinite energy.
Which is fine, except that most people want to believe themselves to be one of the good guys, on the side of Truth and Righteousness and Justice, even when we don’t want to—or can’t!—do the work of getting there. It’s not enough to say “You know what? I’m not informed enough about this to have a reasonable opinion.” Oh, no, no, we want to take sides but we don’t want to invest the time or labor in making sure we pick the right side.
We just want to know who to blame.
Knowing who the bad guy is helps define us as the good guy. If we’re against the bad guy, that makes us good, right? Right?
So what do we do?
We develop heuristics. Cognitive shortcuts. Quick and dirty rules of thumb to simplify complex situations and help guide them toward the ‘right’ team to root for. These fast and easy heuristics, at least in theory, cut through all the tedious drek of having to learn all that history and become informed of the goals and grievances of all the players and untangle a knotty and nuanced tangle that’s been all balled up for decades.
But here’s the thing:
Heuristics are not subtle. They’re fast intuitive guidelines that substitute for actual understanding. They feel right, but that doesn’t mean they are right.
Those heuristics—“believe women,” “always side with the most historically oppressed,” whatever they are—gradually become rules, then social tribal markers, then symbols of moral purity. Heuristics become adopted by tribes as ways to tell the in-group from the out-group. If you see a hashtag like #believewomen, you can probably make a pretty good guess about the politics of the person who subscribes to it.
Before long, it actually becomes morally wrong not to obey the heuristics.
Enforcing moral purity becomes a way to feel powerful, to feel like you’re accomplishing something, in the face of the overwhelming hopelessness and despair that comes from fighting an entrenched system day after day and ending each day with nothing to show for it.
What it feels like to care about justice
Say your crusade is animal welfare, for example. You’ve fought for years and what do you have to show for it? There are even more factory farms now than when you started. Consumption of animals is up, not down.
But then let’s say Bob, your staunch and stalwart ally, your comrade in arms, reveals that he’s not a vegan…he thinks it’s okay to eat fish. And…and…and eggs. And he wears leather belts.
You can’t end factory farming, you can’t stop the senseless slaughter of animals…but hey, you can rally the troops against Bob, because he betrayed the cause! You can destroyed his reputation and cast him out! Look! Look! You accomplished something!
This is inevitably what happens in social justice circles. We end up here because:
People want a morality simple enough to fit in a hashtag; and
Any morality simple enough to fit in a hashtag cannot capture reality, and therefore is rather limited as a tool to change reality.
People tend to think of “social justice” as a left thing, but this process knows no political bounds. Those on the right do it just as often—they simply don’t call it “social justice.”
But the same things still apply: they have a way they want the world to be; changing the world requires tremendous amounts of effort and work; people don’t have limitless resources; they fall back on simple rules to tell them who the good guys and bad guys are; those eimple rules become tribal markers; before long, it becomes morally unacceptable even to question those simple rules.
We see the world not at it is but as we are. We invent narratives to describe the world, and to tell us who the good guys are, and who we should be in order to think of ourselves as good. Anyone who can co-opt those narratives can control the lines between Us and Them, the boundaries that define our tribes.
So here we are. We’re terrible at nuance, we don’t have tome to get informed, so we let the hashtag mentality do the work for us.
The UK colonized many nations to procure the raw materials to fuel it’s empire worldwide
They enjoyed 80% of the cream and barely gave 20% to the Colonized Nations, of which 15% was taken back vide Taxes and Protection and payment for British Troops
Chinas BRI is a modified version of the same thing UK used to do but a fairer economic sharing platform
China gets Raw materials worldwide through the BRI to fuel it’s mammoth economy and production machine
However instead of the unfair British division, China enjoys maybe 60% of the cream and ensures 40% to the BRI Nations of which maybe 20% is taken back vide Infrastructure projects, Power Projects etc
This while Britain gave only 5% of the Cream to the Colonies, China gives 20%
And while Britain paid most of the Cream to Corpulent Rajahs and Maharajahs, China spends a lot on building Schools and Roads and Bridges
Plus China also uses BRI Countries to outsource it’s low grade manufacturing
Hence BRI is essentially a ‘You help me fuel myself and i help you grow’ mode of economics
Here are some stats from Chinas forum in 2023:-
China sources 66% Rare Earths vide the BRI and controls the Production
China controls between 30–45% of the Tungsten, Nickel, Copper and Mercury vide the BRI
China sources Wheat, Soybeans, Pork, Beef and Eggs vide the BRI
China supplies Chemicals, Machinery, Low Cost Goods, Medium Cost Goods, Textiles and Semi finished goods vide the BRI to various nations. Almost 70% of the supply of these come from China including Paper & Ink
Chinas Energy needs from Enriched Uranium, Uranium Ore, Oil, Gas come vide the BRI at an average discount of 31% from World market prices. Thus outside of interest, China saves at least $ 70 Billion a year on market prices
Thus Chinas BRI is definitely not a Utopian Charity
It is a business arrangement where Chinese win big time with supplies, raw materials, chance to invest their money and prevent accumulation & gain soft power
Yet the BRI nations in return get money from sales of goods plus a lot of modernization at minimum cost (China averages $ 2.19 Million per Mile against $ 17 Million for the US)
Its the best deal for BRI nations today if they want to grow
Best example is Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam which have all seen a CAGR of around 12.2% a year with the BRI over the past 10 year
26 out of 50 African Nations show a CAGR of 6% or more with BRI
Why Is Another Young American Woman Arrested And Jailed In Dubai ? A Critical Review.
Right now, there are at least 4 potential trigger points. Ukraine, Israel/Palestine, North Korea, and China. Any of these could flare up because of an accident or false narrative. WW2 had the Japanese taking a risk by attacking Pearl Harbor, but that was being fought by China much earlier than that. Vietnam was the Gulf of Tonkin false narrative by the US accusing Vietnam of attacking its destroyer. We stayed for 10 years and lost. Iraq was the infamous WMD that proved a false narrative by the US. Afghanistan was the witch hunt for Ben Laden that took 10 years and we stayed for 10 more years only to leave ignominiously. Ukraine is the invasion of Ukraine by Russia because the west continued to move east with NATO. All had reasons for the start of a conflict that potentially could have become much wider, most because of a false narrative by the US, leading one to suspect the US wanted a conflict.
Texas Beef Brisket
2023 10 19 08 47
Ingredients
4 pounds beef brisket
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 bay leaf, crushed
1 (10 ounce) can beef broth
Instructions
Make a dry rub by combining chili powder, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, sugar, dry mustard and crushed bay leaf.
Season the raw brisket on both sides with the rub.
Place in roasting pan and roast, uncovered, for one hour at 350 degrees F.
Add the beef broth and enough water to make 1/2 inch liquid in roasting pan. Lower oven to 300 degrees F, cover pan tightly and continue cooking for 3 hours or until fork tender.
Trim the fat and slice meat thinly across the grain.
They see as a western nation hypocrisy. Screaming human rights but doing human wrongs. The see everything wrong about US and UK unilateral decisions. They decide to plant Jewish people in the middle if Arab land to do U.S. and western shit on Arabs and Muslim nations and the Palestinians must be happy about it.
The wonder why the people who truly own this land has to give it all up and agree to live as slaves and asylum seekers in their own lands. The Palestinians are the living in the world’s biggest open prison in a land they owned. Who the fxxk gives the US and UK to give something that don’t belong to them away!
The cannot understand why the west can be so foolish to think that Palestinian must be happy and contented in such a terrible outcome for them! Surely they ought to expect incidents like what happened if the Palestinians got a chance? Why do the west not expect that?
Blind? Foolish? Do they see Palestinian as sub humans? Like their African slaves? 4/5 of a human? Imagine instead of choosing Palestinian lands it choose Wales or Burgundy or Texas, will the people in these region accept their fate lying down? I doubt so.
I think they will do what Hitler does! Why do they think Palestinians must accept this fate!
Chinese people cannot understand why the west thinks it can get away with it. That is what the Chinese thinks! I think the Chinese is pragmatic and highly intelligent. They see an unworkable solution while the West thinks it can do what they wish!
Russia Signals The Unthinkable, U.S. Warns Iran, Oil Crisis Coming
Wing Dings
Wing Dings are a Texas specialty!
2023 10 28 12 37
Ingredients
1 cup beer
1/4 cup unsulphured dark molasses
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
Juice of 1 medium lime
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon aniseed, toasted and ground
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 dozen chicken wings
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease a large baking pan or dish.
Combine everything except the wings in a large, heavy pan. Simmer them over medium heat 15 to 20 minutes, until they have reduced to a thick sauce.
While the sauce simmers, prepare the chicken wings.
With a butcher knife, remove the wing tips, then cut each wing in half at the joint.
Add the wings to the sauce, and stir to coat them.
Ladle the wings and the sauce into the baking dish.
Bake for 25 minutes, then stir the wings in the sauce.
Turn the heat up to 425 degrees F and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until the sauce glazes the wings.
Serve the wings hot with Ranch dressing, if desired.
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;
US Encircling of China Explained
The US claims that it is not seeking conflict with China – but a look at what the US is doing all along China’s peripheries reveals the US is already in a conflict with China and has been for decades.
The US pursues this conflict – admittedly – not out of national security concerns, but to preserve what it itself calls its “primacy” in the Indo-Pacific region.
China’s New Maglev, High Speed Rail, & What it Means for Belt & Road Partners
China has unveiled a 600kph maglev train that will eventually be used on lines connecting China’s major cities. It is part of the nation’s much larger high speed rail (HSR) network.
I discuss China’s HSR network, the foresight required to implement such an ambitious infrastructure drive, and how the West is trying to foil it both within China’s borders and beyond them as HSR lines begin moving outward as part of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Bully or Builder? China Finishes Vietnam’s First Metro Train
While the Western media attempts to convince the world China is “bullying” its neighbors in Asia, upon closer examination it is clear it is instead building projects with its neighbors.
This includes with Vietnam which does have a complicated relationship with Beijing – but has not let that get in the way of progress – including cooperation in building the country’s first metro train.
China’s Laos High-Speed Railway is Already Delivering
The Western media continues its attack on China depicting the nation as a global threat. However, what the West says about China and what China itself is doing are two entirely different stories.
The high-speed railway being built between Kunming, China and Bangkok, Thailand is a perfect example of how China is helping the rest of Asia rise with it. The only thing being threatened by China and Asia’s rise is the West’s unwarranted influence over the rest of the globe.
Inflection EP20: China Builds Up ASEAN, the US Bullies it…
While the Western media insists China is a threat to global peace and prosperity, an objective look at China’s role in ASEAN development versus US coercion, political sedition, and even proxy conflict reveals the true threat to both Asia and the rest of the world.
Inflection is a weekly show featuring Angelo Giuliano and Brian Berletic, discussing recent headlines and in-depth discussion of topics shaping the shift from West to East and unipolarism to multipolarism.
Inflection EP23: As China Rises, Southeast Asia Rises
The US is obsessed with containing the rise of China. But China is not rising on its own. With its rise, all of Asia is rising with it.
The notion of the globe’s center of power shifting from West to East is at the heart of Washington, Wall Street, London, and Brussel’s growing desperation and aggression toward China – the engine of Asia’s rise.
Inflection is a weekly show featuring Angelo Giuliano and Brian Berletic, discussing recent headlines and in-depth discussion of topics shaping the shift from West to East and unipolarism to multipolarism.
The US Just Did Something CRAZY!
Biblical collapse coming to the West.
REFLECTION
“My parents were married for 55 years. One morning, my mom was going downstairs to make dad breakfast, she had a heart attack and fell. My father picked her up as best he could and almost dragged her into the truck. At full speed , without respecting traffic lights, he drove her to the hospital.
When he arrived, unfortunately she was no longer with us.
During the funeral, my father did not speak; his gaze was lost. He hardly cried.
That night, his children joined him. In an atmosphere of pain and nostalgia, we remembered beautiful anecdotes and he asked my brother, a theologian, to tell him where Mom would be at that moment. My brother began to talk about life after death, and guesses as to how and where she would be.
My father listened carefully. Suddenly he asked us to take him to the cemetery.
Dad!” we replied, “it’s 11 at night, we can’t go to the cemetery right now!”
He raised his voice, and with a glazed look he said:
“Don’t argue with me, please don’t argue with the man who just lost his wife of 55 years.”
There was a moment of respectful silence, we didn’t argue anymore. We went to the cemetery, we asked the night watchman for permission. With a flashlight we reached the tomb. My father caressed her, prayed and told his children, who watched the scene moved:
“It was 55 years… you know? No one can talk about true love if they have no idea what it’s like to share life with a woman.”
He paused and wiped his face. “She and I, we were together in that crisis. I changed jobs …” he continued. “We packed up when we sold the house and moved out of town. We shared the joy of seeing our children finish their careers, we mourned the departure of loved ones side by side, we prayed together in the waiting room of some hospitals, we support each other in pain, we hug each Christmas, and we forgive our mistakes… Children, now it’s gone, and I’m happy, do you know why?
Because she left before me. She didn’t have to go through the agony and pain of burying me, of being left alone after my departure. I will be the one to go through that, and I thank God. I love her so much that I wouldn’t have liked her to suffer…”
When my father finished speaking, my brothers and I had tears streaming down our faces. We hugged him, and he comforted us, “It’s okay, we can go home, it’s been a good day.”
That night I understood what true love is; It is far from romanticism, it does not have much to do with eroticism, or with sex, rather it is linked to work, to complement, to care and, above all, to the true love that two really committed people profess “.
Peace in your hearts.
You Won’t Believe What Ugandan Women Think About Black Americans
My African sisters looking beautiful and sounding intelligent. On another note, most human beings are unique so lumping a group of people into a stereotype isn’t always advantageous.
One day, Saskatchewan farmer Cecil George Harris was out in his field when his tractor got stuck. Unfortunately, while trying to extricate it, he got trapped beneath one of the tractor’s large wheels.
He wasn’t found for nine hours, by which time he was near death even though he was still conscious. He was taken to the hospital, but he died two days later.
The question was, how should his estate be handled. He had never gone to a lawyer to prepare a will.
But while lying there, trapped and knowing he was going to die, he had the foresight to scratch something into the fender of his tractor with his penknife.
In case I die in this mess I leave all to the wife, Cecil Geo. Harris.
The fender was entered into evidence in the probate court as a holograph (handwritten) will. It was approved for probate. The fender was stored for years in the county’s courthouse and instead of going to the archives it was sent to the University of Saskatchewan Law School for safekeeping, where it now appears.
Treat someone who’s never been treated well as a genuine human.
This Spring I had a few moments in New York City, and a bit of spare cash. Nothing too large that’ll make a difference, but an amount that could buy a meal at Halal Guys.
I saw a man having his head in his palms, sunken with the weight of the world around him. What most people never ever have to experience is having a social net you thought existed fall below you, and then continue falling in life without having a single moment to grasp or gain your balance. Things like this can really screw with any mental problems that may never have existed, and also create anxiety that comes with the insecurity of the most basic human support.
main qimg e8afcfee13f42e8d61cb7b51491c2f5c lq
Out of respect, I didn’t take Jake’s photo, but he looked like this
“Hi sir, what’s your name?” I asked him. He replied Jake, and whether I had any spare change.
I told him, “How about this. Let me get you something nice to eat. You must be cold out here by yourself, right? Does that sound good to you?” One thing I remember was how a lot of homeless people never eat food given to them as they don’t know if someone tapered it or poisoned it, which is a real concern.
“Bless you, sir. That’ll be amazing, thank you.” He replied
We went to Halal Guys and I learned that he was in the military, but he fell upon some hard times. He used to work as a mechanic of sorts but lost it all in a divorce and “money mismanagement”. He didn’t have a family to really go back to so tried to find work in New York but couldn’t and ended up on the street. He told me he was planning to leave soon, and I kept on listening to what he was saying.
I think the look on his face as I got him chicken over rice was something that I rarely see in people, which is a form of gratitude you can never express unless someone lends you a hand as you fall through every social net.
I told him I had to catch a train, but he shook my hand and kept saying “God took you to me, sir. Bless you, bless you.”
Now, regardless of whether his story was true, it doesn’t really matter. I knew this man had to fight off his own demons.
There’s a word in Russian called umilinie (умиление) which roughly translates to “tenderness”. My professor once called the tenderness “melting of the heart”, and that’s what the other man felt at the moment.
I had given him one moment of peace as a human being, and that was all I cared about. When you treat someone well who usually doesn’t and give them some of your time, you’ll truly see someone’s heart melt from a moment of humanity.
Last Gasp of Western Hegemony
The US-NATO group are drowning in debt. The ability to wage war is limited by their debt. They have no military industrial capacity, just corruption. Russia and China are free of debt and have extreme advantage in any war.
As long as it is win win for China and for the U.S. China will sign a deal. But the U.S. cannot say you must buy what we like to sell you and you must sell everything we want at a dirt cheap prices and pay us in dollar!
The U.S. says your products cannot be spied on but we have a right to spy on each and every one of your phone!
The U.S. says when the U.S. introduce G1 to G4 you must trust us blindly but when China build G5 we must not only use your initiative but we will forced everyone else to stop using you too!
The U.S. says you must make all simple chip products and sell it to us as dirt cheap prices and we sell you cars and planes at astronomical prices and don’t you dare make these products!
To China this is wrong and unfair so it’s says go sell to one of your cronies. No thanks U.S.! China say over our dead body will we listen to you! China do what is good for China and the Chinese people. And it will always do so. If you don’t like it tough! Go bang your head against the wall!
The state of Virginia has a “Standards of Learning” end of grade testing, called SOL’s (yeah, that’s what I thought too).
Anyway, my nephew was taking the test (or a practice test that uses old questions) that asked what the Native Americans foraged for in the spring. The answer wasn’t there.
My sister happens to specialize in edible native plant of the Blue Ridge Mountains. My nephew not only knew what was growing in the spring in Virginia, but he could name them and find them in the wild.
His answer was counted wrong and the correct answer, according to the State of Virginia, was berries. My sister asked the school system to identify just one berry that ripens in Virginia in the spring. They couldn’t.
Edit: I was a CTE high school teacher for a little while (Career & Technical Education) and I certainly got things wrong. Everyone does. But I would share the correct answer, apologize if I felt it necessary, and if it was something graded, I would change the grade. I also rarely used a textbook with the exception of specific practice sessions.
As a CTE teacher, I had much more autonomy than math, science or English. They were strictly controlled. Our department was lucky but the state was slowly tightening down on our classes too.
The SOL test wasn’t graded by a teacher or even the school. It was strictly controlled by the state. Each question has to go through a review process and be approved and the grading isn’t subject to revision by the local school.
There are four things that can be regarded negative , as part of the feelings by the people of China
#1 Blaming the Lockdowns – Many Mainlanders especially in the Big 4 Cities blame the lockdowns, kind of like Indians blaming Demonetization. The impact of the Lockdowns was maybe 10% of the Impact of demonetization but China is such a rich and prosperous country now that the slightest slowdown annoys the hell out of the people
#2 Cautious to Invest – Gold & Jade Investments in China have piled up almost by 41% in the last 3 years by Individuals. That’s because Chinese Mainlanders are not having many areas of investment and it’s either Gold Or Banks. They don’t seem to trust the share market and the real estate market is in a glut. Thus China has almost $ 16-18 Trillion in Savings against $ 4.82 Trillion that the US has
Chinese Individuals thus need more Venture Capitalists and Technology Investments to invest their funds in
#3 Generation Gap – The Gen Z of China work smart rather than hard. The policies of Chinese companies still mirror those of the 2000s which focus on time rather than value of work. Rather than the TARGET ORIENTED approach, the approach is TIME ORIENTED meaning working 54 hours a week seems more important than meeting performance targets
The Gen Z feel that if they can work 35–40 hours a week and achieve the same targets , they can enjoy the remaining 14 hours a week
Huawei, Tencent, Alibaba, DJI, Baidu etc already changed their workstyles to make them flexible and based on Targets
Yet 60% of Chinese Employers still have the TIME ORIENTED mentality and pay on a PER HOUR basis
#4 Inability to understand Hostility of the West
Many Chinese are unable to understand why the West is hostile to them and why the sanctions.
This is because the CPC is too nice and doesn’t promote hate against the West in their propaganda
Luckily in this area the CPC has worked tirelessly to ensure alternate economic routes
If exports to the US fell for a Chinese company, Russian markets are a virtual monopoly for the Chinese now (Indians failed to capitalize this market in any way) plus newer markets in South America plus Middle East
Likewise if Investments from US have dried up, Germany and Russia have tripled their investments into China, making up potential deficits
Yet the key thing about China is the TRANSPARENCY in the Country
No lies, hidden from the public, the Positive Side l
Costs are very low, Rents, Food are at their lowest. Savings potential is at 43% , highest in the world against 7% in USA
Rapid Development
Excellent Education
Very good employment despite the slowdown without creating Government Jobs like India or SL
Rapid Technology development
Growing Soft Power of China and Tourist related power in Thailand and other places
So Chinese are extremely content though they wouldn’t mind some reforms which the CPC is likely to implement in the coming 6–24 months
As a new PhD , I interviewed for an entry level academic position. The afternoon prior to the interview, I flew in to a large airport, rented a car as instructed, and drove nearly 200 km out to a university in a rural setting. The next morning, a gray, dreary day, I found my own breakfast and then went to the University, let’s call it University A, to find the interviewer. His first question was, “Are you sure you can tolerate living here?” Odd question, but I could imagine the location probably could have been a problem for some candidates like me, who got his degree at an urban university. I grew up in a place that looked and felt nearly identical, so I was on board. The rest of the morning went well.
For lunch four of the professors and I piled into an older car. The senior professor was in the front passenger seat. The younger two professors and I were in the back seat. Before we start moving, the senior professor turned around, looked me in the eye, and asked, “What do you think of Professor X at University B?” I knew Professor X well. He was a mentor of mine when I was a contract teaching hire at University C several years prior. Both Professor X and this senior professor were well known experts in our field. My Mama told me to always say something nice in such situations. So I made a single sentence that Professor X was a wonderful man to have the privilege of learning from. The senior professor said nothing more the rest of my two days of interviews. Though I did not realize it at the time, the interviews were over when I made that statement. I did not get the job.
I found out later that the senior professor considered Professor X to be his mortal enemy. They had started at this same University A as entry level professors many years prior. After gaining their tenure together, Professor X left for University B while the senior professor stayed. Both became prominent in the same field. But somewhere along the line, their relationship failed. I unwittingly stepped into the crossfire. I never asked Professor X about this, considering it to no longer be important. I also found out that the position was available because the senior professor was running off a young professor that he disliked. A year later at a conference, I met the candidate who won that position. He looked like he had a big dark cloud over his head.
Soon after this interview, I interviewed at another university much farther away. The people were bright and kind. The students were excellent and enthusiastic. The location was also a long way into a scenic rural setting with many gray, dreary days. By the time my flight arrived home back East, their job offer was waiting for me. I still work there, more than three decades later.
The man who lives with the 17 tiny kittens he rescued is experiencing an explosion of happiness.
WWIII will not happen, but the United States is essentially on the road to collapse. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, which was a federal system, it was the turn of the United States, which was a federal system.
As far as the current world situation is concerned, the United States will certainly support Israel without a second thought. In fact, Hamas has already achieved its goal. What happens next:
The EU is forced by the United States to support Israel as it supports Ukraine, but they forget that there are 50 million Muslims living in Europe.
The national image that Israel had previously created for itself collapsed straight away.
The Arab countries will further turn against the US and the West and de-dollarisation will further accelerate.
Further shaking up the US petrodollar system
Ukraine is being collectively ignored by the Western bloc, and the longer the Palestinian-Israeli conflict continues, the better for Russia.
The U.S. doesn’t have the time or the strength to compete with China
In short, the United States has lost so badly this time that there is no room for redemption.
The US is broke, its strategic oil reserves are running on fumes, and it is out of ammo. Ditto for the EU, except the EU is already an economic basket case. The US seems to have this fixation that conflict creates a win for the US so it continues to fund its MIC with only window dressing for its infrastructure and economy.
What Ukraine has shown the US is that it is not invincible and that Russia is not only stronger than the US thought, but more adaptable to the changes in tactics and technology. Ukraine has been a black hole for US and EU wealth and it is no longer in a position to strongly support its domestic needs. The US keeps printing money and raising interest rates, a sure formula for the failure of the US economy.
But, your point is well taken, the US should have been doing that for the last 20 years or so and it would be in a better condition domestically, economically, geopolitically, and relations with other countries. At this point in time, the US is almost beyond repair.
The Idiots couldn’t negotiate with the PLO and later created the Hamas and ended up making the Hamas their enemies as well
Like I said THEY SUCK AT THIS
Just like their masters the US
They keep killing Civilians and always the Terrorists never die
They change from one form to another
So it’s time Israel starts NEGOTIATIONS and uses the Arab Nations to use their leverage with the Hamas
I firmly believe if Israel agrees to the Two State Solution, the whole world including Russia, China, India and even Iran would cooperate in fighting against the Hamas
Even the Hezbollah believe in a Two State Solution now.
The red circle is China, the green circle is Canada
The red arrow is where the “interception” occurs.
2023 10 20 15 3e9
The red circle is China, the blue circle is North Korea
The red arrow is where the “interception” occurs.
The Canadians said they were in “international airspace,” but the Chinese said the plane was near the Diaoyu Islands and that this airspace was China’s airspace.
I don’t want to discuss which one of them is telling the truth.
At least I’m not a fool.
Canadian planes flew from 10,000 kilometers away between mainland China and Taiwan. They said they were to monitor North Korean cargo ships, not to provoke China.
Are Canadians smoking too much marijuana?
The Chinese Navy actually let them fly back intact. This is so merciful.
By the way, the Canadians say that their “Operation Neon” is to uphold the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.
But the Chinese say they have never signed such a mandate in the Security Council.
We know that the authorization of the Security Council requires the signature of the five permanent members.
What Canada means is that they are carrying out an operation authorized by China.
A Chinese hsr train is formed from 8-16 carriages, capable of carrying 500-1,300 passengers. Up to 8 trains per hour serve the busiest routes at peak times, which can average 100 services per direction per day.
That’s 260,000 carrying capacity a day, both ways, or 95 million a year, for a single route.
An airport serving the route will have to handle more than 470 Boeing 777 flights a day.
That’s 1 takeoff or landing every 3 minutes, which is obviously untenable.
China has more than 160 cities with population more than 1 million. This number is expected to grow, with Chinese urbanization at 55-60 percent, quite some distance from the 80-85 percent typical of the developed world. The density of Chinese populations make high speed rail a viable proposition.
Airplanes are not more efficient than trains. However, they make more sense for longer trips, with the average air trip being 1,400 km. Hsr trips rarely extend beyond 800 km, and make the most economic sense below 500 km.
The Chinese hsr network is built to handle huge numbers, particularly over the Chinese new year holidays, the largest human migration known to man. China does not have enough planes to handle that kind of demand.
And yes, hsr trains run on electricity, a much greener option than avgas.
Man Dumps Bride Months Before Wedding After Learning She Participated In Group Activities For YEARS
Jesus H Christ
I would like to say a few things here.
Honesty is the foundation of a long-duration relationship
People, however, are permitted to have secrets. It is a human need.
When confronted with this situation, there are many ways to handle it. This man saw it as no-starter, unfortunately. I believe that the issues could have been worked out.
There is nothing wrong with alternative lifestyles, or what-have-you, but if you are married, you lose part of yourself and join with another. For good or bad.
Apparently everything was perfect with them, except for this one issue. Could the issue be resolved, or mitigated? I do not know.
For men, “respect” is the biggest and most important aspect of a relationship. Not sex. So I see this as a sequence of lies on the gals part because she showed him no respect.
Like I said, I would have done things differently, now as an older man. But when I was younger, maybe not…
All in all, the most disturbing thing about this video is NOT that she was having group orgies for the entire time they were living together and him being clueless. It is that she hid that part of her life from him, and told her rotating partners, that he was just fine with it. These lies are what broke up the relationship.
People! Accept who you are. Good and bad. Say things as they are and let the world howl. This goes for both the guy as well as the girl.
The girl, obviously was ready to settle down; get married, have kids and a stable family life. But that is not going to happen if she wanted to continue a free-wheeling 20’s single lifestyle. She wanted what she was clearly not ready for. Sigh.
I rented a caretaker apartment that was attached to a horse stable. The owners were an elderly couple who lived in a house behind the barn. The owners were fantastic people and I got along with them splendidly.
One day they advised me they were selling the property. A few weeks later after the property sold I met the new owners. I immediately did not get a good feeling about the owners. Within the 1st month I started noticing things in the apartment were not where I had placed on. I confronted the new owners who denied going into the apartment. One day, I left for work and did the old tape on the door trick. When I came home sure enough the tape was broken. I again confronted the owner who stated somebody else must have gone into the apartment. I also had some property in the barn that suddenly turned up missing. I asked the new owners about the property and they denied taking it. I ended up finding the missing property in one of their storage sheds hidden underneath some tarps.
I had been dating my girlfriend for several years and at that point we decided to move in together at her place. The caretaker apartment was rather old and the door locks used old style keys that you could not have duplicated at your local hardware store.
I immediately moved out and took the keys with me. I got a call from the owner demanding that I return the apartment key. I advised him I didn’t have the key and told him I left it on the kitchen counter. The owner started yelling that if I didn’t return the key he would sue me for theft and the cost of putting new locks on the doors. I chuckled and said that “Someone must have gone in and stolen the key off the counter. Maybe it’s the same person who stole my property that I found under the tarp in the storage shed.” There was silence and then the phone hung up. I never heard from him again.
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
When I was a young boy, my father would semi-frequently take us all to local museums. I really appreciated that. It was, and still is, some of my most favorite memories.
On one such visit my father bought me a small bronze mastodon. It was magnificent, but tiny and I loved it a lot.
I loved it because of the great long tusks. It looked so cool, and I loved to hold it in my hand. It was one of my favorite nick-nacks, and I set it proudly on my brick-a-brack shelf in my bedroom.
One day, I came home from school and discovered that my little treasure was tusk-less.
You see, my father was afraid that I might hurt myself with the tusks, so he sawed them off.
I don’t know where he got that “hair up his ass” about me hurting myself. After all, he got me a cub-scout pocket knife two years earlier. What’s this shit about pointy tusks?
Anyways, someone influenced him. Bastard.
…
My little story for today. Take what you will from it. Be careful of the poison that seeps into the ears of others. Who knows what damage it would do…
Today…
Western powers are falling behind in technology, held back by systemic rot
Western powers are falling behind in the development of new technologies, particularly in the military domain. This is partly caused by the perverse system of incentives that suffocates research and development work, but also by a system of education that’s producing less and less technical, scientific and engineering talent. From the strategic point of view, this is a critical problem, as I elaborated in an earlier Substack, “Of Empires and Technology.”
Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Pie
Bacon Tomato Pie with Gluten Free Option
Ingredients
12 slices bacon, fried crisp and crumbled
1 cup shredded cheese
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Chopped onion to taste
4 eggs
1 cup Bisquick
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Butter a 9-inch pie pan.
Layer bacon crumbs on bottom and cheese on top.
Beat remaining ingredients until smooth. Pour over top.
Bake at 400 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes.
Cool for 5 minutes.
Garnish with mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato and bacon.
Cutting of living essentials to Civilians is a violation of Article 33
However there are ways to spin this and claim this is NOT a collective punishment but a strategy for war
Israel may say, we are targeting the HAMAS but they hide among civilians and thus we have no choice
Israel may say “The 1949 Amendment was inserted when the world didn’t know about Terrorism of this type”
Israel may point out to the British inplementing the same violations in Belfast from 1963 to 1984 (Northern Ireland) or Malaya in 1955
They may point out US Violations in Vietnam between 1968–1972
So sadly today, the winners dictate the laws and their interpretation
At the 8th Eastern Economic Forum held earlier this month in Vladivostok, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin spoke about the development of a new generation of weapons: “If one looks into the security sphere, new physical principles weapons will ensure the security of any country in the near historic perspective. We understand this very well and are working on it.”
The kinds of weapons Putin was referring to include particle beams, laser, ultrasonic, radio-frequency and electromagnetic systems. That sounds quite futuristic – was Putin telling tall tales? When he announced that Russia had developed a variety of undetectable hypersonic weapons back in 2018, many in the West thought that he was bluffing and we heard much mocking and crowing: “the West outspends Russia 10 to 1, the Russians can’t possibly bla, bla, bla…” And like the Chinese, the Russians are inferior and incapable of innovating, they can’t think strategically, etc.
Fast forward to today: the Russian forces have successfully deployed hypersonic Kinzhal and Zircon missiles in Ukraine, delivering pinpoint strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and military facilities, the crowing and the gloating about all the ways in which the Russians are inferior to us westerners has died down a bit. Still, we can’t just admit that Russian weapons systems are superior to the western arsenal, so the western press, relying on Ukrainian sources, claimed that Ukraine’s air defenses manage to intercept and shoot down Russian hypersonic missiles.
That would actually quite spectacular since NATO officials themselves have corroborated what Putin had said: that the missiles are undetectable and were not picked up by western radar systems. Either the Ukrainians have managed to develop targeting solutions very fast, using binoculars, or they’re lying. Whatever the case, Putin’s latest announcement did not trigger much mocking and crowing this time around. In fact, some western analysts now concede that Russia’s military technology has eclipsed that of the west.
The significance of hypersonic weapons
But how can this even be possible if for decades now, western “defense” spending outstripped that of Russia by a factor of 10 or even more? In a recent article titled, “Hypersonic Missiles Are Game-Changers, and America Doesn’t Have Them,” the Wall Street Journal explored why the US and the West have fallen behind.
“For more than 60 years,” says WSJ, “the U.S. has invested billions of dollars in dozens of programs to develop its own version of the [hypersonic weapons] technology. Those efforts have either ended in failure or have been cancelled before having a chance to succeed. … This situation is raising alarms.”
Meanwhile, Wall Street Journal didn’t provide any convincing explanation for why western powers are falling behind in development of new technologies. It also didn’t explore the fact that they even fall behind in production and maintenance of legacy systems. As NATO’s Admiral Robert Bauer lamented this week,
“Today the chiefs of defense expressed their concern that across the alliance, production capacity is lagging behind. Delivery times are moving to the right [they’re getting longer] and prices for equipment and ammunition are shooting up. Right now we are paying more and more for exactly the same, and that means that we cannot make sure that the increased defense spending actually leads to more security.”
Bauer’s statement is a clear admission that defense spending does not translate into better defense. He also said that, “Our liberal economies are not apt at creating the prioritization that is so desperately needed right now.”
The problem with incentives
There is a great deal to ponder in all this, but it is perhaps Admiral Bauer’s last statement that provides the most food for thought. Western powers do spend massively on the military, but most of that money is squandered, lubricating the wheels of corruption in the Military Industrial Complex (MIC). Spending the money (i.e. allocating it to defense contractors), is much more important than actually developing new systems and the upkeep of legacy systems.
In the United States, the MIC consists of publicly traded corporations whose market value is determined by how profitable they are. Today, about half of the Defense Department’s (DOD) $850+ billion budget is spent with the DOD’s top five “prime contractors” who, after decades of consolidation have all but eliminated all competition (in the 1990s the DOD had more than 50 such “prime contractors”).
Given that research and development (R&D) is a cost which cuts into profitability of these very powerful contractors, they’re incentivized to reduce it as much as possible to maximize the profiteering. The more profits, the higher the stock price and the higher the executives’ bonuses. On the other hand, cutting the R&D and skimping on the essential work of technology development means that a lot of real talent and promising projects get axed even as massive pork-barrel programs like Lockheed Martin’s F35 Joint Strike Fighter drain trillions of taxpayer funds. The F35 is now more than 15 years behind schedule and for its $1.7 trillion in expenditure, the program has delivered no meaningful military advantage.
Meanwhile, the lobbying arm of the MIC makes sure that such spending remains protected behind the flag and a veil of patriotism. Military generals who go along are rewarded and those who challenge the system get sidelined. That is how our wonderful “democratic system” sources top talent and delivers bestest solutions. The problem is that the top talent it draws are MBAs, lawyers and lobbyists, not scientists, engineers and systems developers. The actual military capabilities of the United States only receive lip service necessary to keep the American public distracted and unable to identify the root of the problem which is corroding the competitiveness of American industries in a very real way.
Losing talent
However, there may be deeper problems blunting the West’s technology edge, including education and cultivation of skills that are required for the challenge. Today, fewer than 20% of Americans choose STEM degrees in universities (STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) as more and more talent gravitates toward law and business degrees or humanities like gender studies.
According to the UNESCO, in countries like Tunisia and Malaysia as many as 37.9% and 43.5% of students (respectively), choose STEM degrees. In Germany, UAE, Belarus and India about 35% of students choose STEM degrees. While it’s true that western nations can overcome the shortage of human potential by attracting foreign talent, more and more nations today offer great career opportunities and compelling work to young professionals, so western nations face tougher competition for talent.
Ignorance is strength?
There’s also the problem of rigor in education, which has gone very loose in the West, and it is even affecting the prevailing cultural environment. Today for example, if you say that there are only two genders, your career could be finished that day. But if you insist that feelings matter more than facts and that 2+2 = 5, you could have a stellar career and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation might even fund your cause with tens of millions of dollars. Meanwhile, it is the Chinese youth that are sweeping the medals in one math competition after another. They may not know how to count genders, but they seem better prepared to solve practical problems.
Wife Self-Deletes After Husband Discovers All 4 Kids Aren’t His
I can feel the love in this gentleman’s heart. I had the same for the son I raised for over 2 years and found out he wasn’t mine. It takes a toll on your sanity. I was down for years afterwards and gave up on women for around 10 years, and still couldn’t ever trust another woman for the rest of my life. Which is a shame because I have a lot of love in my heart to give, but western women are just horrible. No accountability at all for anything. I will definitely be saying prayers for this guy and his kids
When I married my ex, he had an 18 month old boy. I loved him as my own. I raised him for 5 years before my ex and I divorced. It was an awful marriage and my ex was never around. The boy’s mother showed up to visit him maybe once every 2–3 months. I had to stay with my parents while I was getting the divorce. They hated my ex and were very controlling of me. It was a very small community and everyone knew everyone.
In the courtroom (ex didn’t show up), the judge asked where my son was. I responded that he was my step-child and I didn’t have any rights to him. The judge said “He IS your son. He loves you as his own mother. In fact, he loves you more than his own mother.”
I responded that I couldn’t have him. The judge said “Do you want him? I can make it to where you’ll never have to deal with his biological parents. He needs you!” I thought about it and knew that my parents would have a fit. I declined the offer and cried the rest of the day. My mother told me they would never let me stay with them with my boy.
This horrid story does have a happy ending! My mother called me one day out of the blue. She said “Someone knocked on our door and when I opened it, the handsomest young man was standing there. He said “Is my Mama here?”. She invited him in and they had a wonderful visit. She gave him my phone number and he called me! That was 30 years ago. My boy came to live with us at the age of 17. He stayed until he met and married a wonderful young lady. We have the best relationship ever! I have 5 grandchildren from him and 3 great grandchildren! I love my boy so much!
UPDATE: I am very surprised by the responses to this. Please understand. I was very young, had no job and no way to support myself and a child. My parents were very controlling and were afraid my ex would use the child to worm his way back into my life.
I am 61 years old and for much of my life, I have seen the Arab/Israeli hatred for each other manifest in tragedy after tragedy, fight after fight, war after war and frankly I’m sick of it. I say, let them fight it out to the death. Right now.
It’s not like we didn’t try. We did. We spent literally hundreds of billions of dollars trying to educate, placate, pacify, please, or even coerce, both sides into behaving like normal human beings. It has all failed.
You see, the mistake we’ve made for decades, is treating these Barbarians as if they are civilized people. They aren’t. Neither side!
Their never-ending fighting, bickering, and warring has been going on since before Jesus Christ walked the earth two thousand or so years ago. And these Barbarians — and that’s what they are – have hated each other, deceived each other, fought each other, and killed each other for that entire time.
As the world got smaller thanks to modern travel and innovation, both sides recruited others into their age-old hatred. The Jews with money, the Arabs with oil and the wealth it generates.
It’s NEVER going to stop, unless we in the rest of the world, step back, and tell them both: Go at it. Go ahead, slaughter each other. We don’t care anymore. We’re tired of your bullshit. We’re tired of paying you to be nice to each other. We’re tired of hearing how you’re both always being wronged by the other. We’re tired of you. We don’t want YOU or your bullshit in our lives anymore.
So go fight it out. Kill each other. Fight until you’re ALL dead for all we care. But if any of you survive, we will be ready to have good relations and do business with whoever wins.
You see, it’s simple: the world will know absolutely no peace unless and until the two sides are allowed to slaughter each other.
I don’t care if the entire Middle East runs knee-deep in blood. We in the United States, and the rest of the civilized world, should do absolutely nothing.
Both sides are big talkers. Both sides are tough guys. OK, let’s see how that works out when big brother America is no longer there to influence the outcome.
Let’s see how each side does when the checks written by their big mouths, arrogant posturing, and intransigent positions, have to actually be cashed by their bodies as they fight it out to the death.
Your mouths have been writing checks that your bodies can’t cash. It’s time to ante-up and fight it out once and for all.
Go ahead and slaughter each other. The rest of us just don’t give a shit anymore.
Oh, and if any Americans or Europeans are so incensed at the situation that THEY think WE should be involved, then THOSE PEOPLE in the US and in Europe should head on over to whichever side they support, and offer to fight along side them.
Let them get killed to. This way the rest of us can have peace.
Sorry to go anonymous, but I never feel comfortable enough to reveal my name.
I was about 7 years old and my sister was 5, we just came home from Halloween and were sitting on our carpet in our room, dividing our candies in equal parts (but mostly eating all of them).
I remember my sister suddenly stopped talking, looked at me in the eyes without saying a word, with her eyes wide-open, pointing at her throat.
She was suffocating and I started panicking. I was taught in school what to do so I put myself behind her and started pushing above her stomach, but as you can imagine I didn’t have much strength as a 7 years old.
My mum, whom I had been desperately calling from the beginning, rushed in our bedroom and started taking my place in doing the “move” but nothing was working. I was sitting in our carpet, helpless and in full panic mode, watching my sister turn more and more blue as seconds went by. I really thought I would have seen her die in front of me and I couldn’t bear to look. I shouted “sorry, sorry, I will always love you” and closed myself in the toilet, crying and shouting as if the world was going to end.
After maybe 2 minutes, but it could as well have been much less (Time always seems stretched in situations like these) I hear the bedroom go silent. I hear my mom stopping to try. And I hear… breathing. Heavy breathing.
I’m scared that if I go in the bedroom I will see her dead, but I gather my courage and exit the bathroom.
Turns out my mum had grabbed her by the feet in hope to let gravity do its work, as a last hope move… and it worked. She had inhaled a whole hard candy and it was stuck in her throat, slowly suffocating her.
The candy was still on the carpet when I entered the room, and there was my sister, on the ground, slowly going back to a normal color.
I hugged her so tight that she almost lost her breath again, but I was the happiest person in the whole world. That time I really thought I would have lost her.
From that day on, I always check if she bites the candy as soon as she puts them in her mouth. When she lost her back childhood teeth, I would take her candy and break it into little pieces with my knife, and then give it to her. She sometimes got annoyed but she will never know the fear I felt that day.
15 years later and I’m still as attached to my sister as I was that day. I still secretly check if she bites her candies. It truly traumatized me for good. I never want to lose her.
WSJ Joins Neocons To Instigate War On Iran
Updated below.
The neo-conservatives want to blame Iran for the current war in Palestine/Gaza.
They have for years tried to instigate war against it. Now they again see a chance. But its not a big one – yet.
Asked whether Hamas may have acted in partnership with Iran to disrupt the effort to broker a Saudi deal, Blinken said “that could have been part of the motivation. Look, who opposes normalization? Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran.”
But, he said, “we have not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack.”
—
Fear not, say the neocons, we still have the Wall Street Journal to carry water for us:
DUBAI—Iranian security officials helped plan Hamas’s Saturday surprise attack on Israel and gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday, according to senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah, another Iran-backed militant group.
Officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had worked with Hamas since August to devise the air, land and sea incursions—the most significant breach of Israel’s borders since the 1973 Yom Kippur War—those people said.
Details of the operation were refined during several meetings in Beirut attended by IRGC officers and representatives of four Iran-backed militant groups, including Hamas, which holds power in Gaza, and Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group and political faction in Lebanon, they said.
WSJ authors in Dubai(!) have access to “senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah”?
Both groups are notorious for their secrecy and their senior leadership is usually hidden away. Those facts alone are enough to debunk the report as nonsense. But the WSJ authors continue:
“We don’t have any information at this time to corroborate this account,” said a U.S. official of the meetings.
A European official and an adviser to the Syrian government, however, gave the same account of Iran’s involvement in the lead-up to the attack as the senior Hamas and Hezbollah members.
Asked about the meetings, Mahmoud Mirdawi, a senior Hamas official, said the group planned the attacks on its own. “This is a Palestinian and Hamas decision,” he said.
A spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nations said the Islamic Republic stood in support of Gaza’s actions but didn’t direct them.
“The decisions made by the Palestinian resistance are fiercely autonomous and unwaveringly aligned with the legitimate interests of the Palestinian people,” the spokesman said. “We are not involved in Palestine’s response, as it is taken solely by Palestine itself.”
Three direct rejections by official sources of the WSJ claims get countered with an anonymous ‘European official’ and a likewise anonymous ‘adviser to the Syrian government’.
It is like the authors don’t even try to sound believable:
A direct Iranian role would take Tehran’s long-running conflict with Israel out of the shadows, raising the risk of broader conflict in the Middle East. Senior Israeli security officials have pledged to strike at Iran’s leadership if Tehran is found responsible for killing Israelis.
The IRGC’s broader plan is to create a multi-front threat that can strangle Israel from all sides—Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the north and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, according to the senior Hamas and Hezbollah members and an Iranian official. … Israel has blamed Iran, saying it is behind the attacks, if indirectly. “We know that there were meetings in Syria and in Lebanon with other leaders of the terror armies that surround Israel so obviously it’s easy to understand that they tried to coordinate. The proxies of Iran in our region, they tried to be coordinated as much as possible with Iran,” Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said Sunday.
There is however little evidence for the Israeli assertion:
Leading the effort to wrangle Iran’s foreign proxies under a unified command has been Ismail Qaani, the leader of the IRGC’s international military arm, the Quds Force.
Qaani launched coordination among several militias surrounding Israel in April during a meeting in Lebanon, The Wall Street Journal has reported, where Hamas began working more closely with other groups such as Hezbollah for the first time.
Hamas and Hezbollah have cooperated for decades. During the war on Syria some Hamas members took the side of the ‘moderate rebels’. They taught them how to dig large tunnels, a technique they themselves had once learned from Hizbullah:
Abu Musaab, a leader in Ahrar al-Sham, told the pro-uprising satellite television station Orient News that the Syrian militant group received tutorial videos from Gazans showing them how to repair collapsing tunnels.
“The ground here became damp and began to fall on us…and some of our youth were trapped inside. So we spoke to those with expertise, our brothers in Gaza, may God reward their good deeds,” Abu Musaab was quoted as saying.
“We consulted them regarding the problem and they advised us to bring in wood (plates), sending us video segment showing us how they do it and we replicated that,” Abu Musaab added. … And in June 2013, the pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper reported that “sources close to Hezbollah and the Syrian regime claim that Hamas had a role to play in the battles of Qusayr, [where tunnels] … had been dug using small Iranian devices that Hezbollah had transferred to Hamas.”
“Some of the explosives, they added, were found to contain electronic chips that Hamas had acquired from Iran and Hezbollah,” the Lebanese paper said.
After the war in Syria was decided in the governments favor, Hamas slowly found its way back into the resistance camp. Consultations between Hezbullah and Hamas have been constant since. Back to the WSJ:
Representatives of these groups have met with Quds Force leaders at least biweekly in Lebanon since August to discuss this weekend’s attack on Israel and what happens next, they said. Qaani has attended some of those meetings along with Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, Islamic Jihad leader al-Nakhalah, and Saleh al-Arouri, Hamas’s military chief, the militant-group members said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian attended at least two of the meetings, they said.
This, however, is clearly no believable. Amir-Abdollahian is a professional diplomat, not a security official. While he has been deeply involved in political issues regarding Palestine he is unlikely to have been involved in any top-secret operational planning.
Also biweekly meetings between Qaani, Nasrallah and other high ranking resistance leaders are unlikely to have ever happened. Each such meeting would be a security nightmare.
The planning for the recent Hamas operation must have taken years not just the few month since August. While the WSJ lets it seem that there is operational coordination between the various resistance groups their real cooperation is on a way more strategic level.
Each group in the resistance axis has its own plans and goals. That does not exclude strategic cooperation, but not on the detail level of fighting:
Egypt, which is trying to mediate in the conflict, has warned Israeli officials that a ground invasion into Gaza would trigger a military response from Hezbollah, opening up a second battlefront, people familiar with the matter said. Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire briefly on Sunday. … The Iranian official said that if Iran were attacked, it would respond with missile strikes on Israel from Lebanon, Yemen and Iran, and send Iranian fighters into Israel from Syria to attack cities in the north and east of Israel.
While there is no denying that Iran, Hezbullah, Hamas and others consult with each other on a high level, any deeper cooperation, training or assistance is unlikely to still exist. It is each on their own, but with a common big goal in mind.
The main reporter on this story, @summer_said, has a history of dishonesty and inventing stories. I fired her from Reuters in 2008 for this reason. I’m surprised that the @WSJ has hired her and is publishing her stories that are clearly bogus.
Posted by b on October 9, 2023 at 11:20 UTC | Permalink
The problem with going fast…
Paradoxically, even technology itself may have contributed to the slowing of progress in the west through the ubiquity of software tools that make problem solving much easier than it used to be. I recently came across this little chart on social media. I must say, I felt the sting of its message personally.
When I was in high school in Croatia, our training in mathematics and science was very extensive: we had 9 hours of math per week and 6 hours of physics in addition to chemistry, biology, information technologies, software programming and more. It was a lot of work – so much so that when I came to the United States and enrolled in AP (advanced placement) math as a high school senior, I found the program very easy and aced it without even trying very hard.
By today however, I’m definitely at the “spreadsheet” stage of life: without Excel I think I’d be lost and I fear that my own conceptual thinking abilities and math problem solving skills have atrophied disconcertingly.
In the west, where fast and efficient problem solving is prized over conceptual thinking and inventiveness, more and more scientists and engineers work in that last, “spreadsheet” phase, quickly working out solutions to problems, perhaps at the expense of more creative, conceptual “out of the box” thinking.
The importance of pencil-and-paper work
In places like Russia and China, that broad-based thinking and working with pencil and paper is still very much prized and their educational institutions continue to insist on it (or at least have done so in the recent past). Of course, it would be difficult to assess how creative Russian or Chinese engineers or software developers are compared to their western counterparts, but beyond leapfrogging the west in development of hypersonic weapons, I came across an interesting case that speaks to this gap.
Namely, in 2009 Goldman Sachs pressed charges for theft of intellectual property against one of their software developers, a Russian man named Sergey Aleynikov. In 2013, Michael Lewis wrote a fascinating story about that case in Vanity Fair in which he revealed that more than half of Goldman Sachs’ software developers were Russian – an extremely interesting bit of information, especially in view of the notorious rigor which Goldmans is known to apply in recruiting their quants and software engineers.
Now, given that Russian software engineers don’t constitute half the population of the US, either Goldman Sachs liked to have a lot of Russians lurking around, or it could be that they found them better prepared to tackle tough problem solving. The latter possibility might also explain Russia’s ability to develop the Zircons, Kinzhals and Avantgard missiles as well as weapons based on new physical principles. Here’s how Aleynikov himself explained the difference between Russian and American education:
“In Russia, time on the computer was measured in minutes,” he says. “When you write a program, you are given a tiny time slot to make it work. Consequently we learned to write the code in a way that minimized the amount of debugging. And so you had to think about it a lot before you committed it to paper. . . . The ready availability of computer time creates this mode of working where you just have an idea and type it and maybe erase it 10 times. Good Russian programmers, they tend to have had that one experience at some time in the past: the experience of limited access to computer time.”
Indeed, clicking “run,” then deleting and retyping code is no substitute for doing a lot of thinking, which is absolutely indispensable to building high quality, reliable solutions and genuinely useful innovations.
My own experience with ‘pencil-and-paper’ R&D
My own experience in developing the I-System trading model confirmed its importance. In 1999, when my team and I built the model’s prototype, it turned out to be a maintenance nightmare and it was clear that I needed to hire serious software talent to turn the prototype into a reliable tool. For a few months in 1999 I worked with an American software engineer, David B., who had recently graduated from Stanford University. Although David was extremely bright, he was literally working in the debug mode almost nonstop.
He was able to maintain the software and fix bugs as they crept up, but the code itself was growing into a patchwork of fixes and workarounds. I began to worry that sooner or later it would become unmaintainable and in 2000 I decided to hire an older engineer from Croatia, Boris Brec. Boris was old school and he insisted on extensive pencil-and-paper foundation work. He pretty much told me that he wouldn’t lift a finger until I had drafted the full set of specifications explaining exactly how the model worked, including schematic process-flow drawings of all the routines under the model’s hood.
The process of upgrading the I-System from the prototype to its ‘industrial’ version was extraordinarily labor-intensive, costly, and it took four years to complete. That was the cost of quality, which included the tradeoff between diving headlong into trading and continuing with the fastidious development work, going over every algorithm with a fine tooth-comb and testing everything ad nauseum. I was only able to do this because I managed to wrest full control and ownership over the project from my superiors.
Had the costs of project’s development impacted someone’s bonus, the firm’s profitability or market cap, it would have been axed and never lived to see its upgraded version. Fighting to keep the project alive and adequatly funded was a struggle at every turn. For me it is easy to see how frequently great and promising projects must die over money, missed deadlines and organizational politics.
Quality solutions, breakthroughs require abundant time and resources
The difference between I-System’s prototype and the upgrade was the change from nonstop maintenance patchwork with David to the flawlessly functioning, zero-maintenance machine put together by Boris. It was worth the four years and every euro spent on it: quality is the gift that keeps on giving, not only in having the system that functions as intended, glitch free for 20 years, but also in having the peace of mind, never fearing whether all the patchwork maintenance introduced new hidden bugs into the edifice.
The experience has taught me that this kind of work MUST begin with pencil and paper, that it must be methodical, that it must be given adequate time and resources, and that if we want to achieve quality solutions we must be willing to bear the associated costs. Where the system of incentives generates pressures to cut corners, take shortcuts and rush out half-baked solutions, it will ultimately suffocate creative work and kill many quality solutions before they had the chance to prove their merit.
Programs like supersonic weapons are only symptoms of self-inflicted systemic headwinds that are now slowing the advancements of science and technology in the Western world. A reform – nay, an overhaul of the system – will have to look at those perverse incentives as well as our educational and governance systems. This won’t be easy, especially as the western nations have deliberately seeded their political and academic structures with ideologues and zealots who are far too busy policing social justice, hate speech and gender equality to worry about the real future challenges faced by our societies.
Was looking at one of my wife’s old cookbooks, for some reason and found the old lore and wisdom in the book fascinating. It’s hard to imagine people believed these things back then.
Like these:
‘When frogs holler, rain will soon foller.’ That could help my weatherman who has no idea when it’s going to rain.
‘Anyone born when the mulberries are ripe have a good chance of being red-headed.’ That one has got to be true, right?
Here’s an old insult. ‘His family is like potatoes. All that is good of them is underground!’
‘Corn is not ready to grind into meal until it is dry as an old maid’s kiss’ ouch.
‘We huckleberry gatherers don’t like to admit it, but what we call huckleberries are actually mountain blueberries.’ “I’m your huckleberry,” Doc Holliday.
‘To take the last piece of bread on a plate foretells rain.’
If a piece of buttered bread drops on the floor butter side down, it will rain soon.’
“We’re eatin’ the long corn now,” meant one was finally financially well off. No wonder it’s raining so much in my area. Happens to me all the time.
‘Corn must be knee high by the fourth of July.’
‘Onion skin very thin, mild winters coming in. Onion skin thick and tough, coming winter cold and rough.’
I love this one. ‘When you are tired of life and all its busy scenes; just run to the garden and hide behind the beans.’ God I wish I had a garden sometimes!
‘Always bake a cake when the sun is going up or it will fall.’ The cake or the sun?
‘A cow with its tail to the west, weather the best. A cow with it’s tail to the east, makes weather the least. ’THATS what my weatherman needs, a cow. He’s always wrong.’
‘If a bat flies into your head, you’ll soon become bald.’ Now we know what happened to The Rock and John Travolta to name a few.
Okay guys, here it is. A cure for baldness. ‘Consume the gall of a lizard, fresh mouse meat or mole’s blood.’
‘To prevent lockjaw, ‘If a needle is stuck in a foot, put fat meat next to the puncture then a penny over that.’ I’ll try that next time. The hell with a tetanus shot.
To cure a blister, ‘Kiss a red headed fellow.’ I’ll bet a lot of red headed guys were hanging around women sweeping the floor.
A good spring tonic? Anvil dust mixed with cream. Yum.
To cure asthma. ‘Stick the dried skin of a mole to the chest with honey.’ Did people really do that back then?
Mock cherry pie? Use cranberries and raisins.’ No one will tell the difference. Especially if they’ve never had cherry pie before. Then make them a sandwich of mock chicken.
To prevent mumps. ‘take a chip of wood from a log, and rub it on your jaw and throat every day.’ And see how many girls you’ll meet. None maybe? “Watch out for Ned, he’s off his rocker. Keeps rubbing a hunk of wood on his jaw and throat!” “Eeeeuuuw” “Here he comes! RUN!”
In the mid 1700s, women shaved their foreheads and eyebrows so they could press on mouse skin eyebrows. Girls, don’t you wish you lived back then. Save a lot of money on makeup.
Hi, Jain Patel. Thanks for the very interesting question.
No, China doesn’t have any school colleges, science centers, institutes, or science universities.
We get a couple of years of primary school, but after that, we all have to go and get tracker microchips implanted at the base of our skulls and start working in the Factories.
These Factories are run by our alien overlords.
Here are some pictures I took on my way to work.
These are the “Prime Sentinels” that guard the Factories. If you are late for work, you will get stomped on.
image 143image 144image 145
The vast majority of us live in the mountains.
We have to bore holes into the mountains, and we live in those holes.
With a year’s salary, we get to buy a house/bedroom. I say house/bedroom because the house is literally just one room – your bedroom. That room is your house, and it’s also your bedroom.
Here’s a picture I took of my house/bedroom.
The view’s not too bad. Especially in the morning.
image 146
Here’s a pic of my neighbors’ house/bedrooms. These guys live just below me:
image 147
The pay for working in the factories isn’t that great. I get paid USD 0.01 a day. If I work overtime, I get paid USD 0.001 an hour.
Thankfully, the soil in the mountains is pretty good and we can grow a lot of vegetables in our allocated community gardens.
Here is the community garden allocated to the people who live on my side of the mountain. Everyone gets to take home a small piece of broccoli for dinner.
Oh, and because we don’t have electricity in China, the three most common modes of travel are:
(1) Horse:
(2) Boat:
image 148
(3) Sword (powered by qi):
image 150
Some of the richer peeps own aero-cycles. These are tiny little bike/seating platforms powered by qi:
image 149
Since there’s no electricity, we have to find creative ways to spend our weekends.
Going to the local monastery to hone our martial skills is one option:
image 152
As is hiking in the hinterlands:
image 151
In the evenings, some of us enjoy playing mahjong at the local park.
A long time ago, a race of giants used to live in the mountains. For some reason, they enjoyed cutting down the many giant trees that dotted China’s many mountain ranges. The tree stump you see below is just one of many giant tree stumps you’ll find up here in the mountains.
It makes for a great mahjong table.
image 153
Conclusion (a.k.a. TLDR):
No, Jain Patel , China doesn’t have any school colleges, science centers, institutes, or science universities.
As a United States Marine Corps Staff Sergeant, I went to work one fine morning, to discover a young lady laying down on the horn of her car at 0730 in the morning! Dressed like they were going to the beach?
She had some of her Girlfriends with her.
I approached her, and inquired what the problem was, and pointed out to her that she was blaring her car horn in front of an enlisted barracks FULL of people who worked 2nd Shift and the Graveyard Shift that needed their rest and sleep. Military Police, Watch Standards, Cooks, Bakers, Corpsmen (Medics) etc.
She responded with, do you know who my Daddy is? Pointing towards the Blue Base vehicle sticker on thr lefthand , lower windshield. Sticker with THE STAR!
(Meaning her Whoever Whatever was a Commissioned Officer) !
And laid down on the car horn again!!!!
I called the MP’s on her and reported her! And went to work (It was on a Sunday) Forgot, all about it.
Next morning? (A Monday) I had the Commanding General of Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina walk into my office with his daughter apologizing to me!!! A Marine Staff Sergeant?
Disabled cat was about to be euthanized. This woman took her home.
Epic Games laid off over 800 of its employees on Thursday.
The official number is 830, but the actual number could be well into 900 because of various legal considerations outside the US and Canada.
And I’m one of those 16% unlucky bastards who got screwed over.
I already signed my severance package, so I can’t say much about this other than this is such a shitshow. Layoffs are, unfortunately, very common in the video game industry, to the point that it’s almost expected. But the way Epic did it, it’s just so … anyway, Like I said, if I want my severance, I better shut the fuck up about it.
I was in shock on Thursday when I got the news. It was so sudden. I got an email around 8 am in the morning (PST), and within half an hour, all my company access was shut down/removed. I get up early because I work East Coast hours. A lot of my West Coast colleagues don’t start their day until 10 a.m., and they arrive at the company with everything shut down and no longer have a job. I had to reach out to my co-workers via text because Slack is no longer accessible. I imagine, if I were working at the office, this would be the time when the security escort all of us out of the building.
I guess when you have to cut 900 people, you have to be quick and brutal about it.
900 people, that’s the size of a large company. Poof, gone.
Thinking back, this is actually the first time since I started working in video games that I got laid off. For over a decade, I dodged every layoff from every company I was with until my luck finally ran out. You play the game company layoff Russian roulette, there’s always a bullet waiting for you sooner or later.
All things considered, severance is generous. We have 60 days of pay from the WARN Act and then 4 months of severance. So, all together, I’m covered for 6 months until I need to dip into my savings.
After the initial shock, anger, and fear, and frustration, and anxiety, I actually started to feel better about it. I went to bed that evening, realizing I didn’t need to get up at the crack of dawn every day from now on. My brain suddenly has some extra processing power because I don’t need to think about work-related stuff anymore. It’s funny. I found myself habitually thinking about the stuff I was doing before I got laid off, the Tableau project I was working on, the AirTable updates I needed to do… And I realized, wait, none of that matters anymore. When I was working, there is a portion of my brain never stopped thinking about work. It’d be like a program running in the background, taking up memory and CPU. Even if I’m on vacation or holiday, that program is always running. I can’t shut it down.
Now, it’s gone. And I feel lighter with an odd sense of emptiness.
I realized this is my opportunity to take a step back and think about what I want with my life. Do I even want to go back to the video game industry? Or do I want to try something new? I’m already 43. If I want to make a pivotal change in my life, this is perhaps the last time I still have the energy to do it.
Maybe I could start a podcast! LOL.
On the bright side, Epic might screw us over, but the people who are laid off and people who are still working for the company are so supportive. I’ve already joined several slack/discord spaces organized by Ex-Epic folks. We vent about the layoff, and we pull our resources to help with job searching and networking. I have multiple people reaching out to me with tips and potential job leads. Recruiters are already sending me emails hours after I put on the “Open to Work” sticker on LinkedIn. The general consensus on social media is overwhelmingly supportive of employees who recently lost their jobs. So all of these is really nice, makes me feel less isolated and shitty about this whole thing.
And of course, there’s Baldur’s Gate 3. I just finished my first run as a Warlock. My Tav saved the World from the big bad. The game landed on a positive note, with Tav and Astarion going on their next adventure together, even though I couldn’t give every single companion their own happy ending.
I immediately started my second run as Dark Urge oathbreaker Paladin Tav. I’m thinking about doing a “good ending” run again, with Tav trying to resist the Dark Urge.
Maybe on my third run, I’ll do a total evil run with “Ascend” Astarion. Although I still want to try the Bard class. I heard so many good things about playing as Bard, with so many fun dialogue options.
That’s already another 2 runs, meaning an additional 200–300 hours. And there’s Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty and, of course, Starfield. My schedule is full! LOL.
Maybe 5 or 10 years from now, I’ll look at this period of time thinking, “While it sucked at the time, I’m glad I got laid off from Epic. Otherwise, I’ll never <insert awesome stuff here>.”
Lavrov’s answer to Blinken’s Ukraine conflict freeze
When my oldest daughter was about 2 years old, a longtime and very dear friend stopped by for a visit. The friend referred to me as his second mom. Danny was a good good guy who made a lot of mistakes. I always treated him with love; and, I gave him advice when he asked for it. Outside of his asking, I only gave advice when he was doing something that could hurt him or someone else. After his visit, I was sitting in the living room when my daughter picked up a plastic bag. It’s contents were a white powder. It was cocaine. I was livid. I flushed it. Later, Danny called frantically and asked if I had found anything that he may have left. I told him about the bag and he admitted that it was his; he had accidentally dropped it. I told him that he was no longer welcome in my home. He was upset that I flushed it. Oh well, I didn’t care if he was mad. He didn’t understand why I was mad. You brought something into my home and lost it. My child picked it up. If I hadn’t seen it immediately, I’m sure that it would have been in her mouth. That’s what little children do. I have no doubt that this would have killed her had she consumed it. Danny did apologize later. But, I couldn’t allow someone that reckless into my home.
I realize that flushing it might not have been a good solution. But it was the only way I could think of to get it out of my home ASAP.
Waffle Potatoes. Holy shit this is good!
So in case you didn’t know, hubby was a professional chef. He cooks for us M-F and I have started cooking on weekends (I do need to know how to care for myself). He teaches me things as we go. Tonight was a carb bomb that is so damn tasty! He said the only place you will ever see this in a restaurant is a staff meal because it’s used to teach technique (knife cuts). He remembered it last night and decided this was going to be dinner tonight.
Ignore the smudge of mayo on the plate. There were 3 of these and I only thought about posting here when I was down to one.
Basically, you take a potato, square it off and cut it into “steaks”. Then you use skewers to measure your cuts and make fine cuts on both sides to make it almost accordion-like. Boil them in an alkaline solution (water + baking soda), fry them until GBD (golden brown delicious), then top with stuff and put in oven to warm everything.
Ours were topped with caramelized onions with bacon and shredded cheddar cheese. When he took them out of the oven and put them on the plates, he drizzled them with a seasoned mayo.
I’m going into a happy, full food coma right now.
EDIT: Since so many people asked, I’m putting the recipe below. There aren’t too many measurements because he doesn’t really measure, so it may take a bit of tweaking. I’ll describe everything best as I can. I do not write recipes well.
3 large potatoes, like the kind you would use for a baked potato.
Skewers
Make your caramelized onions and any other toppings before even starting. We also used shredded cheddar cheese, so get that all done now. Here is how he did the mayo: 3parts mayo, 1 part sour cream, a dallop of dijon mustard, 2 garlic cloves smashed, salt, pepper, a dash of garlic and onion powder, and a spritz of lemon juice (not enough to squeeze a whole lemon half, just a few drops).
Start some water in a pot and add 2 TBSP of baking soda, NOT BAKING POWDER. Bring to a boil.
Square off your potatoes. Don’t worry about cutting the ends off. Cut the potatoes into “steaks”. I’d say they were about 1/2″ thick?
On your cutting board, place a potato steak and put a skewer on either side against the potato. DON’T SKEWER THE POTATO. The skewers are your cutting guides to make sure you don’t cut all the way through. (That was a super neat trick to me). Cut the potato diagonally along the entire length. Because I’m a visual learner, I did not understand this when he explained it to me, only when I saw it.
Flip the potato over and repeat on the other side cutting the opposite diagonal. Keep the potatoes in cold water while doing this so the ones you aren’t working on don’t dry out. When done, the potato should sort of be like an accordion. Don’t worry if you accidentally cut through a couple. If it’s just the end, take it off. If it’s through the middle, toss it.
Once all the potatoes are cut, put them in the now boiling water for about 8 minutes.
Line a baking sheet with foil and place a rack on top. We use a baking cooling rack.
Heat oven to 350F. Heat oil in a deep pan to 275F. We used a wok for the oil. You don’t need to fill the pan, but put enough in that it will cover the potato slices with a little more so they can move and not sit on the bottom.
When 8ish minutes have passed, pull you potatoes out of the boiling water and place them on the rack. It’s a convenient place to put them while you fry them in batches.
Fry the potatoes in batches in the oil once the oil is up to temp. Don’t over crowd the pan. You want to be able to flip them regularly. Fry until they look GBD (Golden Brown Delicious). Remove them back to the rack. Continue until all of them are fried.
Now put your toppings on, NOT THE MAYO. It doesn’t matter if the toppings are cold, that’s what the oven is for. He spread the caramelized onions pretty thick, like he was making a bruschetta. Sprinkle the cheese on top if you want cheese. (Who doesn’t want cheese?)
Put baking sheet in the oven and bake until the cheese is all melty and the toppings are warmed.
Place them on plates and drizzle with the mayo.
Make sure you have napkins and gobble that shit down.
China’s PC system announced to be permanently free, PC version of HarmonyOS system will come soon!
China is the only Nation on Earth who can manufacture Photonic Chips Cost Effectively
No other Nation on Earth Can
US gave it up nearly 20 years ago
You simply cannot run a sustainable Profit
The Scale for which Profit is required is simply unsustainable
The Demand would need to be So Tremendous to justify a scale which would involve ENTIRE CITIES dedicated to manufacture Photonic Chips.
Its not the Technology. The Technology is available openly and readily.
LIke Hypersonic Missiles
The Technology was available in 2000 itself and was nothing new. The Theory was available. However manufacturing efficiently was not possible and US decided it was not worth it.
China and Russia later managed to use their Manufacturing Dominance (China) and Raw Material Haven (Russia) to ensure they could make efficienct Hypersonics and ensure that they now have or plan to have a cost effective Arsenal.
Likewise Photonic Chips Manufacture can be done by China at Effective Cost and on a Scale large enough to achieve sustainability for its own Internal Domestic Market.
That is the Good News!!!!
So All Good?
2023 is simply impossible
Developing the Basic Infrastructure for Indigenous Implementation of the Technology may take 5 Years and another 3 Years for achieving Commercial Dominance
Thats 8 Years or 2030
In the meanwhile China still has to keep targeting the 3nm or 5 nm Wafer Fabrications Indigenously and keep spending the massive Scale of Production
So you see the Problem
China could abandon the 3nm/5nm Manufacture Aim and move completely to Photonic Chips but that would mean a 8 Year Gap and after that – the Results could be screwed up or the Photonic Chips may not work as China expects to
That means a Waste of 8 Years
The Cost of which would be a Delay in Chinas AI plans, Robotics Plans, Upgrading Technology plans
China could stay with the 5 nm/3 nm Manufacture Aim and achieve Indigenous Manufacture by say 2025–2027 and dominate AI and Robotics and move to the next phase of Technology
That would be easier than developing and taking a risk on Photonic Chips
Its the same as Abandoning the Option of Manufacturing of J-20s to make it as good as a F-22 Raptor , and instead seeking to manufacture the Avengers version of Aircraft
Better to persevere and make aircraft like the F-22 in 4–5 years than totally abandon everything to hope to make Captain Americas Helicarriers
Can China do Both?
That would be the thing
However it would need a Huge Load of Investment
HUAWEI
Huawei is in a perfect position to explore and work on Photonic Chips
Huawei has the Technological Edge and the Exponential Leap into cutting edge Research
SMIC
SMIC Meanwhile can continue to explore and keep targeting the Indigenous Supply Chain dominance of Chips within the Chinese Economy
Presently SMIC has achieved Commercial Production Capability of 14nm
And that was fast
So its a Lot of Hard Work and China shouldnt be like India
This “Ready to supply the World by 2023 and 1000 Times better”- this is Indian Language
Chinas language is always China Hopes to achieve indigenous control over its Chips and leave it there
Its Possible and if China can manage it – It would be incredible
Fingers Crossed!!!!
Time Travel Possible? Evidence Says Yes | 9 Time Travelers caught on film
Is time travel possible? According to physicists, yes. Time travel to the future is not only possible, it’s been scientifically proven.
But what about traveling to the past? Well, that’s a little trickier. BUT, there does seem to be evidence that travelers from the future have visited us in the past; and may be among us right now.
The human race has been fascinated with traveling through time ever since, well, ever since the human race understood what time was.
But has time travel been achieved by future humans?
And if so, did they leave us clues that they were here? We’ve scoured the internet for the best time travel stories we could find. You may know some of them. Some are hoaxes.
A few have been debunked. But there are a couple of stories that defy explanation. Why are we so obsessed with time travel?
Probably because we’re obsessed with time.
Time rules our lives.
Who doesn’t wish they could go back and talk to our younger selves, or meet our ancestors, or witness historical events.
Time creates possibilities; but time also ends possibilities. It’s finite. When a moment is over. It’s over. There are no second chances.
The expression “time is money” isn’t exactly true. Time is much more valuable than money.
Wealth can be made; lost and made again.
But time? Once we lose it, we can never get it back. Time is the most valuable thing you have.
Spend it wisely.
Beef Pies
beef and venison pie large
Ingredients
2 (8 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuits
1 pound lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon oregano
Instructions
Separate biscuits; then pat each on floured surface to 5-inch circles.
Lightly brown ground beef, onion and bell pepper in a skillet. Pour off fat.
Add remaining ingredients to the skillet and stir.
Place heaping portion of meat mixture on each biscuit circle. Fold in half and seal edges with a fork.
Deep fry until golden brown in 2 inches of oil at 375 degrees F.
Drain on paper towels.
Yield: 10 pies
My Wife & F**inist Daughters Turned Against Me & Took EVERYTHING…Now I’m Thriving & They’re Toast!
Amazing story. Many mistakes. Modern America. (Sigh)
The US is the true “empire of lies”, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Saturday, lashing out at a US State Department report that accused China of ploughing billions of dollars annually into information manipulation efforts.
China is manipulating global media through censorship, data harvesting and covert purchases of foreign news outlets, the US State Department said.
Despite the unprecedented resources devoted to the campaign, Beijing had hit “major setbacks” when targeting democratic countries, due to local media and civil society push-back, according to the report, which was produced under a congressional mandate to detail state information manipulation.
The report has disregarded facts, and is itself false information, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.
The agencies of the US State Department that produced the report “were the source of false information and the command post of ‘cognitive warfare’,” the Chinese ministry said.
“Facts have repeatedly proven that the United States is the true ‘empire of lies’,” it added.
The US report comes amid controversy over China’s attempts in recent years to increase the global footprint of its government-controlled media. Beijing is seeking to combat the negative images of China it feels are propagated by global media.
Huawei chip disassembly report,18-core chip far exceeds its peers.TSMC Intel are starting to panic
Huawei chip disassembly report, The 18-core chip far exceeds its peers. TSMC and Intel are starting to panic
Well, in the smartphone arena, there is really only one foreign brand left in China.
Yes, Apple.
LG is gone.
HTC is gone.
Samsung is irrelevant.
Nokia, Motorola, Blackberry, Pixel, Sony and a host of has-beens or bit-players are all irrelevant.
It’s Chinese brands, and Apple, with 3 ecosystems, Hongmeng, iOS and Android.
No prizes for guessing how the balance will evolve, given the clear and present risk of disruptive sanctions forcing Google to pull Android licensing from other Chinese vendors.
In Africa, Transsion outsells Samsung, and Chinese brands as a whole dominate market share. Transsion, based in Shenzhen, has a sizable global share of >10%. It is the hidden champion no one has heard of.
The Chinese EV makers recently made waves in the Munich car show, with several media outlets trumpeting them as the “star of the show”. The Chinese overtook Japan as the No. 1 car exporting nation this year, and next year promises more growth.
Fancy Toyota defending its position in a sunset industry? I thought it impossible but the speed of the Chinese transition and the scale plus depth of the EV supply chain they have built is putting lots of doubt in my mind. Not to mention the dearth in AI/ML/big data/UI and battery advances among Japanese automakers.
It isn’t all doom and gloom.
Let’s take a cursory look at Hyundai’s EV strategy. The Ioniq series is a clear step up from the typical Hyundai ICE offering, with premium materials, interiors, paintwork and fit and finish typically not found in the price segment. It is positioned as a bang for the buck premium series, almost luxury, but affordable.
Why?
Because the Chinese are making the mass market EV impossible to compete on cost alone. Besides, volume production necessary for economies of scale are impossible without Chinese partners. Hyundai wisely decided to cede market space and move up the segment instead. Fewer but better, or like my friend puts it, becoming “German”. Hyundai is quietly positioning itself as the Korean BMW or Audi EV.
The Japanese have been slower in response. I am increasingly pessimistic about their chances. What happened to Honda and Mazda’s mainland operations in the past few years portend seismic shifts ahead. EVs are not like ICE cars, because there are critical materials and technologies upstream that China controls.
This time, the patent walls and enabling tools/tech favor China, too.
What happens when the Koreans, Taiwanese, and Japanese can’t make a killing through export-driven demand for their mass market goods?
They will have to move upmarket, selling less for hopefully, more, much like Sony’s repositioning and reorganization. Those that cannot adjust to the speed of the Chinese transition will be crushed.
There we have it.
The days of Samsung and Toyota hitting home runs from economy to premium is coming to an end. They will have to specialize and move upmarket, or bleed red competing with the Chinese.
We’re in for interesting times.
Very interesting times.
This is the real trade war, with abiding consequences.
Mirror Spock mind-melding McCoy
The part of the 4th episode “Mirror Mirror” of TOS 2nd season.
This oversight is easily fixable. Once NATO falls apart, and Finland faces the angry bear it poked and provoked for cheap thrills, its entire population will be shaken by the violent paroxysm of love to Russia and all things Russian.
Just kidding! Relax. Russia does not need Finland. Russia created this pesky nation from the ass of Sweden, like Eve from Adam’s rib, and let them go long time ago. It had many opportunities to re-annex them. If it did not, it means it just does not want to, because it is much better the way it is. That Finnish state and many Finns in Quora forgot all the good between the two countries and sold out their soul to the overseas Russophobes is too bad.
As an American of Russian background, I feel enraged that rabid Russophobes and neocolonialists possessing our government started the bloody conflict in Europe in 2014. When President Trump called Zelensky, in order to find out what is going on, he was impeached. Elections 2020 were rigged on an unprecedented scale, followed by the January 6th false-flag provocation timed to prevent Objections to be heard in Senate. The corrupt elite illegally holding power that belongs to We the People will not go without struggle.
USA Terminates Project! China Takes Over $25 Billion Saudi Military Projects | USA is Disappointed!
Prior to my “retirement” I had opened a number of bank accounts in China. I did this, at that time unknowing of my future, as a “good thing” to do, “just in case”.
Talk about foresight! Eh?
I had two bank accounts.
I opened up an account at BOC in Shanghai and placed $40,000 in it. I deposited a cashier’s check in it, and used a “passbook savings account”. I was told that it would take three months to clear, and that I had to keep the receipt in the book to “lock” the exchange rate of 9.5 RMB to USD. This brought me (the potential of) 380,000 RMB. Ah. Enough to buy property in China.
The other account was in Shenzhen and much smaller; being only $5000.
Well…
BOOM! I am “retired” and stuck in Arkansas.
My father needed to hire an attorney to get me out of the mess, and tried to extract the money from BOC. Good luck! No one could take it out except myself.
He needed my thumb print.
When he held the BOC passbook, he discarded the receipt. He thought it was a “worthless scrap of paper”.
…
So, even though I couldn’t hire an attorney, and my bank was frozen, no one else could seize the money.
Good going China!
So I still have money in China; a life in China…and hope in China.
Meanwhile, everything else was gone; stolen and discarded.
All of this while my properties, and belongings were systematically looted, stolen and acquired by all the “friends” and “family” surrounding me.
Jackals.
Seriously.
Now, eventually I get out of the USA. I am in China, and I use the $5000 to start a new! Fantastic, and I related this story to youse guys earlier.
But of the $40,000 in Shanghai?
Well, my well meaning father, discarded that little receipt in the passbook as unimportant. And when I opened up my bank account, I discovered that it only had 220,000 RMB in it. Not the 380,000 RMB I was expecting.
Why?
That little “junk” slip of paper was my proof of a 9.5 conversion rate. Not the 5.5 conversion rate at the time of retrieval.
I lost one FUCK of a lot of money in the process.
…
The point in this little story is that …
…”if you are handling other people’s affairs, keep everything. Do not discard even the most trivial item. You probably are understating its importance.”
Have you ever wondered why we don’t have too many commercial operating systems outside of Windows and MacOS?
I don’t include Linux which is by no means a commercial operating system despite its many advantages
Have you wondered why China and India are unable to make a PC Operating system despite so many skilled students and so much of a software base
Its because a commercial OS needs to be compatible with your processor
The Processor is INTEL Or AMD and they need to ensure your OS is compatible with their processor
This was a huge argument in an ANTITRUST case against Microsoft that the plaintiffs lost
Without that compatibility , you can never control an ecosystem or have an OS that controls the entire ecosystem
You can have secondary systems that can never replace MS Windows or MacOS
Tomorrow if India develops an OS on par with Windows, India will be throttled by Intel and AMD
They will cite security concerns, backdoor etc and simply prevent the Indian OS from freely competing
Thus India needs to develop a processor as well
This processor better be on par with the Intel or AMD or people simply won’t buy the processor and thus by association, the Indian made operating system
Say India develops a cutting edge web browser
The same has to be integrated & compatible with your search engine for maximum efficiency
Google and Bing both have maximum integrated compatibility with Chrome and IE, so your browser will not be able to host these search engines efficiently
That’s goodbye to a good technology right there
Thus you need a search engine of similar standard and a web browser of efficiency plus an Operating System plus your Hardware
THE WEST CONTROLS IT ALL
Rather US controls most of it
Let’s say India develops an App that can beat Facebook
Or an app that can beat Twitter
Android and iOS can simply refuse to give a bundling agreement for that App citing security reasons or other reasons
Tik Tok got a bundling deal with IoS and Android in 2014 for 25 years until 2039 along with WeChat and Alipay and other apps
Telegram got a similar deal until 2033 (15 year deal)
It’s why both Android and iOS cannot remove these apps from their playstores
Today both Android and iOS no longer do bundling deals for long term periods, but only for 12 month periods and renew them (Since 1/1/2020)
So Indian Twitter and Indian Facebook could be throttled simply by refusing to bundle them or integrate them into the Android or iOS ecosystem
If indeed these apps became a threat to the US equivalents, India would become a major security threat in 20 minutes
The Whole world accepted this dominance of the West and their complete control over the Information and Communications Ecosystems
Including many Chinese companies
Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo all happily kowtowed to the Western dominance and slogged hard to make 8% and hand over 92% to the west
Thousands of excellent apps and games are unable to leave China because they can’t get bundling deals with Android and iOS outside the mainland
Then ONE MAN CAME ALONG who said THISISRIDICULOUS
He dared to envision his own ecosystem
The Chip – the Kirin designed entirely by Mainland China
The OS – The Harmony
The 5G Modem – To deliver highest speeds
The Networks – To ensure the lowest latents
Once the Huawei ecosystem was in place, a flood of competition would be unleashed
Chinese Apps would roar into the global market where they had been throttled before
Baidu would finally compete with Google on a one on one platform and combat MSM propaganda in neutral nations
Chinese Digital Payment systems would soar across and surge through the Global South
They throttled Huawei
They simply cut off the source of chips
Huawei had the design but they couldn’t get the chips made because the world’s only makers TSMC and Samsung wouldnt due to sanctions
The excuse was Huawei had business with the Govt of China. So did Oppo but Oppo was a meek obedient boy
Then Huawei tried to get the chips made in SMIC
They retaliated by cutting off access to EUV machines
Yet Huawei managed to mass produce 5 nm Chips with the 7 nm process using very innovative stacking using DUVs
Now Huawei has the Chip and the OS
The US and the West couldn’t succeed in throttling Huawei
Now the next step is probably to stop DUVs
It’s why SMIC is stockpiling and also accelarating it’s own lithography progress
So it’s not the phones
It was never the phones
Tomorrow if Huawei dropped their Chip idea, signed a 20 year deal with Qualcomm and dropped their OS idea and modem idea – US would lift the sanctions in 10 seconds
It’s the ECOSYSTEM that Huawei brings with it that will finally break the US (Western) dominance and bring in a new player and country after virtually 30 years of control
If Huawei triumphs, the world as we know it changes
India could take inspiration and proceed on our own path to develop our own Ecosystem
In the industries of yesterday, there will eventually come a time when China isn’t affected by American sanctions. That will happen within the next 10-20 years, as Chinese manufacturing go from the current 30+ percent to over 50 percent of global output, and the Chinese patent portfolio matures.
Now, turn the coin on its head and ask yourself a simple question.
What happens in a world where the Chinese option is the cutting edge?
Tesla entered into partnership with panasonic just a decade or so ago to build its first gigafactory. Panasonic, a Japanese company, had the best and most mature battery tech then. Similarly, yuasa, another Japanese company, was chosen by Boeing for the 787.
Today, the best batteries using novel chemistries and materials are Chinese, promising unbeatable energy densities at great prices. Many ev makers have entered into partnership with a variety of Chinese battery makers, and that includes Tesla. China will become the go-to for batteries in the coming decade, driven by economy of scale.
Shocking change in just 10 years no?
In nuclear fission, China has leadership in gen 3 reactors, with the indigenous hualong in mass production and a steady stream of projects in the works. More importantly, China has the world’s first and only gen 4 gas cooled demonstrator online and plugged into the grid, promising even greater safety and reliability.
Expect commercial availability within the decade.
Same story in photovoltaics. China is already the biggest maker of solar panels and related modules, with leading edge options. My friend in the industry says it’s practically impossible to make a project viable without Chinese panels, not without massive subsidies or tariff walls. That’s how good the Chinese are.
The best hsr system is Chinese, despite China being 50 years late to the game. Better than the Germans and Japanese? Yes, because the installed length is already greater than the rest of the world combined, and serve a broader range of conditions and latitudes. The ride comfort and stability is second to none. Try it yourself if you don’t believe the claim.
Make a guess how many containers Chinese ports handled last year.
300m.
That’s 3, followed by 8 (eight) zeros.
America just about crumbled with a modest 5–10 percent increase above the 50m they usually deal with, as a direct result of covid induced changes in lifestyle.
Rates for China-US TEU went up more than 10x, an order of magnitude, at its peak. Ships were returned SANS empty containers, just to beat the logjam in American ports.
Imagine first world American ports and infrastructure being unable to handle domestic demand, while China happily fulfilled GLOBAL demand with a future-proof, scalable automated port system.
The Chinese are already leaders in digital payment, facial recognition, aspects of ai and big data, quantum computing, and many other technologies of the future. Some of the most exciting breakthroughs of tomorrow will happen in china, and revolutionize the world.
Is the world prepared for that, especially served by a media that’s reluctant to report China in the slightest factual, and positive light?
The first world may very well be caught unawares.
Huawei 6G is coming, 100Gb per second transfer speed
Good news that more and more Chinese researchers are leaving the States for China. It will help China.
Back in 1996, I worked as a Field Technician for Lanier Business Systems in Houston, Texas. Specifically, I handled recording devices and systems, though on occasion I also handled copiers, printers, and fax machines. My territory was into the 610 loop and all overlapping zip codes. This included all the hospitals in the Houston Medical Center. Those that are technical people will figure out what is going on with this before I finish the explanation.
So, for one of the hospitals, they had one of our dictation systems and one day, I get a call from the hospital administrator complaining that they haven’t had backups running on their system for six months. So, I head to the hospital, walk into the admin office, and begin working on the system. I go through the settings, and confirm it is setup to backup changes to the 3.5 in floppy drive. I checked the logs and confirmed the backups ran with no errors, or where there were errors is was able to resolve them and move on.
I checked the disk, and it was blank. Completely blank, In fact, the disk wasn’t even formatted. Assuming that was the problem, I formatted the disk with Lanier’s proprietary encryption protocols, and confirmed I could copy data to the drive. I left the disk in the drive, and explained to the admin what I thought the problem was, and that I had fixed it.
The next morning, she registered the same problem so I head back to the hospital, with a new disk drive. I pull the old drive install a new one, then proceed to run a few tests on the old drive with my testing equipment. Everything checks out, no problems on the drive, but I leave the new drive in just in case. Again, I explain to her what did, and felt fairly certain the problem was resolved.
Next morning, I get another call. Same problem. At this point, I am scratching my head. I know the system is working, I was able to confirm the doctors are making recordings, i confirmed the backup are configured properly, so I talk to the admin and explain that I will come by this evening and confirm that the backups are running tonight.
That evening, I head to the hospital and sit down at the monitor. She pulls the disk off the side of the system hands it so me and I insert it into the drive. ten minutes later the backup runs, I watch it, and after about fifteen minutes it completes with no errors. I sit down go through the logs, check the data on the disk. I confirm the backups are there, verify the data integrity. I even make certain that I can restore the data to the system. Everything looks great, I think the problem is solved. I hand the backup disk back to the administrator, and we talk for a few minutes. As, I am leaving, she puts the disk in a clip and slaps it onto the side of the system.
I stop, and I stare at her for a moment, She looks at me, and asks what I’m waiting for. I look from her to the disk stuck to the side of the computer, back to her.
I had spent three days troubleshooting this problem. I had confirmed that the equipment was completely in working order, and I knew for a fact that backups were running properly. I literally just confirmed that the backup was run, and the data was right there on the disk.
Her actions had just made all those efforts pointless. She just erased everything off the disk and wasted all of my effort. Heck, she has been wasting her own efforts for six months and was getting frustrated because of what she just did.
That clip is a magnetic refrigerator magnet. That magnet wiped the data from the magnetic disc in the floppy disk. She was the cause of all these problems, and has been doing it for six months. I had walked over, removed the disk and put it back in the drive. She looks at me confused. I pull up the floppy disk and it needs to be formatted. She asks me where the data went. I looked at her and handed her the refrigerator magnet.
“Is it on here?”
“No.”
“Then where it is?”
“Gone, you erased the disk.”
She stares at me, dumbstruck, “What…what…what to you mean, I erased it. she mumbles curiously.
I then explain to her that floppy disks are magnetic and are very sensitive to magnetic fields. That refrigerator magnet was strong enough when attached to metal object to erase the disk. She felt horrible.
However, I spent the next several hours, backing up changes for six months of data onto a box of 3.5 inch floppy drives.
I then explained proper disk storage, and told her to keep magnets away from the backups.
After I was done, she was extremely appreciative, and apologetic.
Additionally, I got 3 hours of overtime pay, and because the problem wasn’t caused by our equipment, which meant it wasn’t covered under contract. I made the company a nice profit. The base charges for such failures was $300 per hour, which easily covered my overtime pay.
HE DID IT AGAIN! (OLIVER ANTHONY – I WANT TO GO HOME REACTION)
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.
Puyi has been seen in history as a villain of sorts. He was the last vestige of the Qing dynasty, a living testament to imperialism. He was called effeminate by many and impotent by some. He was selfish, shallow, and childish in his early years. He was also rumored to be cruel to others for his pleasure.
However, we must view him with nuance and remember the time period he was born into. He was groomed from birth to be ineffective by the women in his family who wanted to hold onto their power to rule through him as their proxy. He was born into a family where opulence and excess was considered normal and expected even. But it was also a time where the peasants were deeply unhappy with an ineffectual government and orchestrated a revolution that toppled his world as he knew it.
He united with the Japanese which made him a traitor in the eyes of the Chinese; but Japan had promised him the opportunity to return to a throne and that was the only life he knew. His early wives would tell you he was self centered and downright nasty when he wanted to be.
While he was not a good man in many ways, he was not irredeemable either. Mao allowed him to be the gardener of the Beijing Botanical Gardens. Puyi sought, with his last years, to redeem himself and to become a better man. He once said that the Puyi of his youth was the enemy to the Puyi of his latter years. He often wept when shown examples of his past damage to China. He was overwhelmed when shown the horrors of Unit 731 and cried that those atrocities had been done in his name. His transformation so complete that he became a man of humility. He was reported to have accidentally knocked an elderly woman over with his bicycle and visited her in the hospital every day until she was released.
In the end he found love with his last wife, Li Shuxian, being “all he had in the world,” and she reported in an interview that his love for her was such that when she was sick he would sit by her bedside all night, seeing to her every need.” He had come to be a man who took pleasure in simple things and in his love for his wife. He had indeed become the model citizen and died at the age of 61 of kidney cancer. His widow had his ashes placed with nine other emperors that had come before him. In death he had been returned to his family.
China shocks Europe by canceling ASML’s $580 billion lithography order!
I am the Tujia nationality, and I belong to the eighth largest ethnic minority in China. We have 8 million people.
1. Add points in the most important exam in China-the college entrance examination;（It used to be 20 points, but now it has been reduced to 5 points due to the improvement of educational facilities and standards.）
2. To study for master’s and doctorate with a score lower than Han people, the tuition fee is exempt.
3. Before the “one-child policy” was abolished, ethnic minorities (the ethnic minorities who joined the Communist Party of China are only allowed to have one child) can have 2 or more children, and the Han can only have one;
4. Use and develop the spoken and written languages of ethnic minorities. Most ethnic minorities only have languages without a writing system. The GOV has developed a writing system for us;
Orange-Chipotle Skirt Steaks
orange chipotle skirt steaks
Marinate: 6 hr to overnight | Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
Marinade
Juice of 1 medium orange
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons adobo sauce (from chipotle peppers)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Steaks
1 1/2 pounds beef skirt steak, cut into 4 to 6 inch pieces
Tomatillo Salsa
2 medium oranges, divided
2 cups chopped tomatillos (4 to 5 small to medium)
1/2 cup chopped red onion
2 to 3 teaspoons minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Marinade
Combine ingredients in a small bowl.
Steaks
Place beef steaks in food-safe plastic bag; turn steaks to coat. Close bag securely and marinate in refrigerator 6 hours or as long as overnight, turning occasionally.
Tomatillo Salsa
Grate 1/2 teaspoon peel from 1 orange. Cut this orange and half of remaining orange into segments. Chop segments into 1/2 inch pieces.
Combine orange peel and segments, tomatillos, onion, chipotle peppers, cumin and salt in medium bowl; cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Cut remaining 1/2 orange into wedges; reserve for garnish.
Remove steaks from marinade; discard marinade.
Place steaks on grid over medium, ash-covered coals. Grill, uncovered, 10 to 13 minutes (over medium heat on preheated gas grill, covered, 8 to 12 minutes) for medium rare (145 degrees F) to medium (160 degrees F) doneness, turning occasionally.
Carve steaks diagonally across the grain into thin slices; season with salt, as desired.
Serve with tomatillo salsa. Garnish with reserved orange wedges.
Oliver Anthony ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Intense Listening Sesh/Reaction – POWERFUL!
I will try to make this brief. My husband and I are a “multicultural” pair; he was brought up in Scotland and I was brought up in Cleveland, Ohio. Some of the time during our marriage we have lived in Ohio, some of the time in Glasgow.
Somewhere in the mid ’90s we decided to move again from Ohio back to Glasgow. I had three little children at that time — three girls, 7, 3, and 1. We had practically all our worldly possessions with us in 13 metal trunks and the usual baby paraphernalia. We flew from Florida to Glasgow, after flying from Ohio to Florida. The leg from Florida to Glasgow was a direct flight but lasted 10 hours. Needless to say we were very tired, stiff and sleep deprived.
We saddled the family onto an airport bus to take us “home” after such an exhausting trip. After loading our 13 trunks into the hold of this huge bus our bus driver let everyone else off at the usual stop. Before letting our family deboard, he asked us, “Hey, where do you folks live?” We told him the exact location where our small house was located. He laughed and said, “Stay on the bus, I’ll take you to your door. No taxi I know of will fit all this stuff.”
So that’s what this hero did. He pulled his massive 88-seater bus right into our cul-de-sac, right up to our door, and also helped unload the 13 trunks and our very tired family.
It was an act of kindness I have never forgotten. Oh and I forgot to mention, it was 4am.
I was working as the assistant accountant at a company and had to leave early one day as I was sick. My boss insisted on a doctor certificate to cover that half day so I managed to see my gp the next morning who gave me a certificate for 3 days off plus the half day. I objected but the doc said if you’re feeling better in a few days just go back to work.
So 2 days later I’m feeling better and return to work. My boss was annoyed because instead of a few hours I’m now out 2 days so she says I need to go back to same dr to get a clearance to return to work.
By this time it’s midmorning of the last day of the certificate. I’m fine. It’s the last week of month and we’re super busy and she wants me to drive 40 minutes each way to the dr to get a certificate and the chances of an appointment with the same dr is unlikely. And it’s going to cost me $80 for appointment.
I had lots of sick leave accrued and it’s also November.
I explained that we’d lose 1/2 to 3/4 of the day and I’d be out of pocket but nope she wanted me to go back to the dr.
Previously no one had ever enforced a dr certificate if anyone came back early (unless it was workers comp). She told me that this was my “punishment” for leaving early when I was sick a few days before!
When she said that, I made a decision. I said I wasn’t prepared to spend the money for the dr to reassess me for 1/2 day work. She said in that case you can’t work today.
No problems I said. I’ll go do my Christmas shopping and I grabbed my handbag and sauntered out.
I’m told her face just dropped and she bitched to the GM after I’d left and he laughed and told her she was the one who forced the issue.
”What Do You Have To Offer A Man?”
I think this is THE fundamental question both men AND women should be asking… if you have a long list of demands, you better have a long list of qualities to offer.
Employees will pay for personal calls on the company’s cell phone.
This happened about 2003. The developer team took turns being “on-call” and carrying the company phone. Most of us had cell phones but we did not use them as much as we do now. My plan was expensive even though it was the minimum number of minutes, I think 60, per month. In any case, I rarely went over the number of minutes per month. The company phone, on the other hand, had an unlimited plan so there would be no overage charges. The business use of the phone required a lot of minutes.
When it was my turn to carry the phone, I did not carry my personal cell phone at the same time. If I needed to make a call, I would just use the company phone. Most of us did the same thing. Cell phones were bulky and it did not cost the company anything extra. Also, we only made a few short calls on the work phone.
Well our boss, the CTO, called a meeting and showed a new form for us to record our personal calls when we carried the company phone. He told us that it did not matter that the company’s unlimited plan made the calls free. It was the company’s phone and the company’s money. However, he appreciated that it was inconvenient to carry two phones so he was implementing a new policy that the person using the on-call phone for a personal call would log the call and reimburse the company the going rate. It was something like 20 cents per minute which was the normal per minute cost at the time. We were to use the form to pay the company for personal calls on the work phone.
Most of us thought it was a little petty because the company’s plan was unlimited and a few short calls did not cost the company anything. However, we acknowledged it was a reasonable policy and we would just have to pay a little for convenience or carry two phones. Not really a big deal. Then I thought of something.
I asked the boss, “Can we use the same form for the company to reimburse us for work calls on our personal phones?” He asked if we used our personal cells for work. “Of course, whoever is on-call often calls his colleagues for advice about a problem or how a system was configured. If we are not home, we take the call on our cell. As a matter of fact, twice this year I went over my monthly minutes and had to pay overage charges.” He replied that I would not pay extra if I was more careful to not go over my minutes. “Well, as you explained, it does not matter if I pay extra or not. It’s about keeping personal calls and work calls separate. So, can we use the same form or should we use a different form?” Without answering the question, he ended the meeting shortly thereafter.
He never said anything more about the form, and the policy never went into effect.
I admit that I did not like the guy because he viewed us as commodities instead of employees. The feeling was mutual and he fired me the next year. Oh well, I got a better job after that.
China Tests New Laser Weapon That Destroys Planes In Seconds!
The Debt crisis in China isn’t a shock to the global economy
Evergrande crisis happened in 2021 and it’s 2 years old and yet Evergrande hasn’t fallen
The Debt crisis is two years old, maybe three years old now
So even if the big names begin failing, the systemic shocks to Chinas Economy Or the Global Economy will be much milder than a sudden unexpected shock
The difference between US and China, is that in US, the Institutions which are privately owned and have very little regulations, lie and cheat and bury the information deep and keeps allowing more and more trouble to accumulate
Lehman Brothers crisis in 2008 is an example as is the 1929 depression or the recent Silicon Valley Bank failures
They pretend nothing is wrong, they pretend everything is hunky dory, they even manipulate the system like they did in 2008 with Moodys and S&P
Then THERE IS ALWAYS A SUDDEN COLLAPSE AND A MASSIVE SYSTEMIC SHOCK
Like in 2008 when there was a downward swing in investment indices by a whopping 60% across 2 years
People lost homes, savings everything and plunged into poverty
China is entirely different
China has lots of regulations and State has a huge control which means no pretension, no burying of information
The Chinese in fact start openly publishing info from Day 1 about such problems
Evergrande problems were published 30 days before their first default while the real estate debt crisis problems were openly revealed yuan for yuan almost 3 months before Evergrande (which is how the West knew about it in the first place)
As a result the system gets a DULL SHOCK rather than a SUDDEN SHOCK AND COLLAPSE
This Dull Shock is absorbed slowly into the economy of China and by the investors, then smaller shocks happen and they too get absorbed
Thus Indices will fall maybe 6–8% in China , maybe 10% over 5–6 years and then stabilize and recover
The Impact will probably be 10% of the 2008 Crisis at the most
Lehman collapsed in 14 days, Lehman Bros when it collapses will do so after almost 825 days to 900 days
Lot of time to absorb the shock
Experts gauge China will absorb it’s debt crisis at a cost of around 1.2% a year in it’s economic growth for around 5 years and 0.7% a year for the next five
That’s around 13.5 Trillion Yuan
Worst case, that’s more than double of the estimated value of impact of the debt crisis (6 Trillion Yuan)
Chinas past growth and surging development will keep China protected from the debt crisis and get China off safely and with a nice soft landing
image 5
Another 5 years if Xi had buried this and kept up illusions and kept seeing debt rollovers and price rise rapidly
China would have had 6–6.5% growth for the next 5 years or so but then the impact would have been maybe 30–35 Trillion after a decade or so
An example of the astute leadership of China which cares about long term prospects
Unlike a problem with democracies which bury all the problems hoping the next party will deal with them
Ask you CEOs why they think they are entitled to earn 100 times more that Chinese CEOs? Ask your employees and your unions what the push their salary to 5 times that of China? Ask your employees why they expects 10 times their benefits compared to Chinese counterparts? Ask why they are willing to work 25% less hours compared to the Chinese workers? Ask why are your education system turning out lawyers and bull shit artiste instead of stem engineers?
Ask your government why your infrastructure is dilapidated and why are there no trainings and retraining of workers sufficient to meet today’s manufacturing needs? Those question get you real answers and make the U.S. face realities?
China did not put a gun on the heads on 330 million Americans to buy Chinese products! The 330 million Americans chosed value for money like everyone on earth. The U.S. government and the U.S. people made wrong choices. They choose wars and war mongering rather than helping their manufacturers and factories. The citizens chose those leaders! If the U.S. citizens were to turn around and kicked out any politicians that prioritise wars over work kick them out of office they can make the difference.
There are so many Americans here in QUORA who champion wars and worship power but ask why China makes everything? You need to choose wisely. You go around telling everyone you have a freedom to chose and are so proud of that freedom but you blow it every 4 years for 250 years long.
You chose leaders that don’t care about you and in fact destroy you!
At my wife’s father’s wake, we told her uncle he wasn’t welcome.
We had texted him and asked him not to show up early , as he wasn’t welcome but said that we would be leaving early so he could come later, but he came early anyway with his two sons and his screaming Harpy of a wife.
We had rented the hall and paid for the food and bar.
I stopped them at the door, expecting trouble. I asked him to leave and come back in a few hours when we would be gone.
They tried to push past me and called my wife a c##t
I reacted without thinking.
I shattered his and his two sons noses with three strikes in about two seconds.
They know I am a Wing Chun Gung Fu stylist who is also a 6′ 200 lb pro renovation contractor.
They called the police.
The police called them white trash and suggested they didn’t want to go in front of a judge considering their conduct.
They backed down and left.
One of the cops was Irish , he said he would buy me a whiskey right in front of the jack ass’s if he wasn’t on duty while they were holding their noses.
P. S. I don’t advocate violence, but I have no regrets at this time.
Love some, trust few, and do no great harm.
Baby Wasn’t Able To Tell Parents About Cruel Sitter — But His Dog Could
This is Vesna Vulović.
She holds the Guinness World Record for the highest fall without a parachute and surviving. She is reported to have fallen 6.3 miles (33,330 ft; 10,160 m) from the sky when a briefcase bomb exploded onboard JAT Flight 367 and crashed into what was then Czechoslovakia in 1972.
So, how exactly did she survive the fall? When the bomb exploded during mid-flight, almost all the passengers were sucked out of the airplane into subfreezing temperatures and fell to their deaths. Vulović was trapped inside the fuselage and pinned down by a food cart. She landed in a heavily wooded area with snow, which helped cushion her fall. Interestingly enough, Vulović’s low blood pressure allowed her to pass out quickly when the cabin depressurized and prevented her heart from bursting on impact. When applying to become a flight attendant, Vulović had concealed her low blood pressure from the medical examiners by drinking several cups of coffee.
Vulović was the only survivor, and upon impact, had broken both her legs, parts of her vertebrae, and several ribs. She also fractured her skull and pelvis. After spending several days in a coma, Vulović awoke and asked for a cigarette. She had no recollection of the explosion or the crash. Her recuperation took a total of 16 months.
BREAKING! China and U.S. headed for all out war, and Putin knows it
“Any hotel expense over $XX must be approved by your Supervisor unless previously authorized (Daytona during Bike Week, going into hurricane devastated areas, or other known high cost areas, etc.)”.
Sure, I’m on the road for 3–6 weeks at a time and only after working the planned for 8–10 hours a day (yes 50+work hours a week were the norm) would I be on the road to the next job which was often 100 or more miles away. Needless to say, there were many, Many nights where I arrived at a hotel at around midnight.
Guess who went home at 5 PM back in the office? Yep, our supervisor. So, someone found his home phone number and we all began calling it when we arrived somewhere that wasn’t within the price range they expected.
So they changed the rule to say “Don’t call your Supervisor, but you are responsible for finding a hotel within per diem limits”.
Sure, but since it’s something you told me to do then I’m still at work. Do you Really think its worthwhile to pay me an extra hour’s pay just to save $10 for a night? Do you Really want me to add the two hours travel time to my pay-sheet because the only hotel in the price range was that far away?
I just remembered another prime example backfiring: the company had a policy that if we screwed up a job then it was our responsibility to go back and fix it on our own time. (If we didn’t want to then we’d mysteriously find our services weren’t in such high demand for the next week or three). So, one fine Saturday morning after I’d finished installing the computer system for a well-known coffee chain, I got a phone call that said I had to travel 400 miles to Memphis and fix a problem with a printer that didn’t work. Obviously it not working must have been my fault. It didn’t help much to say that part of my checkout procedure was to get a number from a document the help desk printed to their new POS system’s laser printer.
So, yeah, I’ll go back to Memphis on my own dime, BUT if it’s not my fault then I get paid. Traveled 6.5 hours to Memphis and walked into the coffee shop to hear the manager complain that his printer wasn’t working. I asked him what the help desk had him do. Turns out he didn’t call his help desk but just his contact at the company I worked for. I walked into the office, took a quick look and flipped the “ON” switch to the printer. Then I handed him the work order and told him he was going to be charged for 8 hours of travel to Memphis (400 miles at 50 MPH) 4 hours of overtime (our minimum charge and it was Saturday) and 8 hours of travel back to my house.
“B-But it didn’t work, you installed it wrong!” Nope, here’s the printout and the confirmation number from your help desk printed to that computer saying everything worked. Your help desk would have asked you what lights were on the printer, IF you had called them first.
A terrible day, so I spent the afternoon on Beale St. before heading home to pack up for the next Monday’s job in Charlotte or somewhere, who knows?
Tucker Carlson ‘ You’ve No Idea What is Coming, start Preparing Now
When my daughter was 15 (2000) I asked her what kind of car she wanted. Her answer stunned me: an old VW Beetle. We decided rather than looking for a good one to buy we would buy a beat up old junker and restore it together. I acquired the catalogs from suppliers and was shocked at how cheap the parts were and could not find a single thing that was not available new. We stripped that old junker down, did the body work and painted it. Bought all new chrome and stainless steel trim, all new upholstery, head liner, carpet and replaced every piece of rubber on the car.
When it came time to rebuild the engine I took a list of the parts I thought I would need to a local shop that specialized in VWs. He looked at the list and ask if I was planning on rebuilding the engine. When I said “yes” he responded that I was not going to do it, I was going to pay them to do it. I ask why? He said because this list of part is going to cost you 800 dollars and we will rebuild it for 875 dollars. Thinking it was a scam, I asked what if the crank is bad? His response was we are not going to use anything but the block, everything else is new including the heads . We picked up the engine and, as he said, it was 875 dollars.
When she turned 16 I gave her driving lessons in her VW. She drove it through high school and well after college. she didn’t stop using it until she had her first child.
Rather than let it sit we gave it to a friend who, 20 years after our rebuild, is still using it.
Total cost of the junk car, parts, and materials, including the engine rebuild: $3,300. Never had a part that we couldn’t get within a couple of days (side note; for several years she claimed she could not drive an automatic [or any other car] because she only knew how to drive a VW.)
Digging Dollar’s Grave! ASEAN Nations To Use Yuan As Their New Single Currency!
https://youtu.be/lvsZlBlfvW8
Anti-China Rhetoric Is Off the Charts in Western Media
The mass hysteria reflects the biases inherent in the world’s most powerful media outlets.
By Chandran Nair
February 21, 2023
A key feature of mainstream Western media today is the relentless China-bashing. It is off the charts and tiring, often involving regurgitated trivia or fabricated stories with no evidence to support callous statements about the country, demonstrating a deep lack of understanding. But such stories continue to be churned out with no end in sight.
Countering this in international media by offering more balanced views for a global audience is near impossible as censorship is rife. There almost seems to be a global compact to control the narrative, a propaganda war powered by today’s digital technology.
Just try looking for a positive story on China any day of the week in any of the leading global media outlets. Apart from reports in January about the Lunar New Year, there will hardly be any, and these too are likely to have a negative spin. It would appear there is a confidential memo circulating within Western media groups that guides reporters and editors to ensure there cannot be any positive news arising from a country with 1.3 billion people.
Typically, the negative stories adhere to three core ideas, which inform the unspoken guidelines within these press rooms when it comes to reporting on China.
First is the belief that China is a threat to the world and that this belief must be relentlessly reinforced at every available opportunity. How and why China is a threat is never explored; such is the deep-rooted and almost religious nature of the belief. Sound arguments do not matter. The basic tenets of good journalism are ignored when it comes to a China story. There is no need to explain or give evidence of why China is a global threat.
Left ignored is the plentiful evidence that shows China is not a global threat – even if one can point to mistakes and overreach in certain areas. China has not invaded any country in decades, or imposed sanctions that have devasted the lives of millions in poor countries, unlike the West, led by the United States.
Second is that China must be linked to every possible global event that affects the West. This provides an opportunity for the West to bash China while simultaneously burnishing its own credentials as the supposed arbiters of what is right and wrong in international relations. From the pandemic to the Russia-Ukraine war to carbon emissions; from rising sea levels to the scramble for rare earths; from the building of infrastructure in Africa to the production of vaccines – there must be an angle to demonize the country and instill fear in Western nations (and beyond).
Indeed, media outlets are reverting to the “yellow peril” of the late 1800s. There is no subtle and nuanced approach to instilling fear like this. It is full-on and very often blatantly racist – but it is now acceptable for one to be racist about the Chinese in Western media, despite the fact that Black-White relations are very carefully described.
The third part of this phenomenon, which is surprisingly not challenged by liberal readers of mainstream media, is the sentiment that everything must be done – even illegal and unfair methods – to arrest the rise of China. Never mind the rights of hundreds of millions of Chinese to have a better life after a century of poverty and deprivation.
Headline after headline that capture this sentiment have normalized the view that there is a need to curb the rise of China, and that this is a legitimate geopolitical objective. There is no explanation about why or if it is even morally acceptable. It has become a feature of Western commentary on China to say that its rise is a concern and a threat. With this assumption unassailably in place, the West has the right to galvanize – and even bully – its allies and ask the absurd question, “what should be done about China’s rise?” – as if China does not have the right to carve its own place in the new world.
There is even a school of thought in the United States that it was America that magnanimously allowed China its first baby steps into the globalized economy, and that in hindsight the U.S. was too nice to China. This view betrays everything that is imperial about the West and why it is unable to come to terms with the legitimate rights of other nations to grow and become powers in their own right. The assumption is that the rise of others is a gift from the West, and accordingly they must never challenge its supremacy. The deeply entrenched view in the West from centuries of domination is that it will decide which nations will be permitted to be participants in the global economy according to its self-serving “rules-based order.”
Indeed, Western media seem wholly tied to the hegemonic competition view of geopolitics, constantly referencing the “Thucydides Trap” and being stuck in the Western canon as if there are no other ways of looking at geopolitics and world order. This view assumes conflict is inevitable and helps to demonize China while justifying the hegemonic position of the West – and the United States in particular – as a globally stabilizing force.
Needless to say, this is an extremely belligerent position to take, and not something media should be egging on. Whatever happened to promoting multilateralism? And why are people who speak to multilateralism side-lined as idealists or China apologists? This flies in the face of fair reporting.
So, how to fix this?
First, people in China and the non-Western world must realize that when it comes to the workings of the mainstream media we are in a new era – a propaganda war the likes of which the world has never seen before, powered by today’s digital technology. The media war is real, and tech-driven, and it is not a fight for eyeballs to deliver fair, honest, and educational news. It is almost everything else but that, especially when it comes to China or enemies of the West.
On one side is sheer propaganda aimed at the preservation of Western power. Participants include the most well-known brands in the Western media world, which are household names across the world.
The idea that Western media is run by fair-minded people who are independent, driven only by a desire to talk truth to power, is a mirage. It is a myth, and it is a bitter pill that needs to be swallowed. The idea that the Western journalist is a paragon of virtue also needs to be banished from the minds of consumers of media.
That is the first stage in enabling one to step out of the propaganda mist we are engulfed in on a daily basis, so that one can examine different viewpoints as news is consumed. This is not easy, given the current dominance of Western media outlets and their apparently collective mission.
The next step is to dismantle the dominance of Western media.
This too will be a long, hard fight. Mainstream Western media are the most powerful in the world and for close to a century, Western media have had a stranglehold on the dissemination of international news and viewpoints across the world. Many had their origins in colonialism, the preservation of empire and later the spread of Western ideas about how the world should be run. These outlets are a powerful economic force and dislodging them will require investments.
Across the world there is an opportunity to contribute to this effort, not necessarily by building large media companies but by investing in media companies that are committed to fair and objective analysis, so that local audiences in the first instance have choices and are not inundated by the propaganda of mainstream Western media. This too will not be an easy task and there are many hurdles to overcome, but this is not the space to dive into those details. Ultimately, it is all about readers becoming more aware of global issues by having more non-Western sources to rely on, so they are not victims of the current propaganda war. This is beginning to happen as more alternatives flourish.
It is an urgent need in the West too so that the mass hysteria generated by mainstream media is prevented from creating fear and pitting Western societies against the rest of the world. Today the target is China; tomorrow India and then maybe Africa.
Merkules – ”Rich Men North Of Richmond” Remix (Reaction)
Young Boy Looks Out The Window And Sees Sister Bring Dragged Into The Woods
image 11
At some point or another in most of our lives, we will have an opportunity to be a hero. Some people will take that opportunity and run with it, and that includes Owen Burns.
Owen was coming home from school in the afternoon when he heard screaming. It was his sister, and at first, he didn’t feel that it was anything serious.
image 10
Eventually, he did turn and look out the window and what he saw on the outside was enough to make his blood run cold. It was a frightening issue but one that he decided to put out of his mind and do the right thing.
Owen was getting ready to play Call of Duty on his PlayStation when his sister started screaming from the backyard. As any 13-year-old brother would do, he got irritated because he thought she was overreacting and just being annoying.
When he looked out the bedroom window, however, he saw that his sister was being dragged away by a stranger. His sister was only eight years old and they were headed for the woods behind the house.
Immediately, the teenage boy grabbed a slingshot and anything he could use as ammunition, including a rock and a marble. He took aim and got off a shot, hitting his sister’s abductor right between the eyes.
He got off a second shot, hitting the man in the chest, and at that point, the man was swearing and cursing.
This wasn’t something that was hidden from view, it happened in broad daylight at their home in Michigan. The mother, Maggie Burns, said that it is not common for kidnappings to occur in the neighborhood.
Fortunately, the abductor was scared away and the 8-year-old girl was unharmed. They were able to capture the would-be kidnapper, a 17-year-old. They didn’t release his identity but they did say he would face charges as an adult.
image 9
According to John Grimshaw, a Lieut. with the police force, Owen saved his sister’s life, or from something seriously bad happening to her. They called his actions extraordinary.
He also said that the young man should be commended for what he did. He used a regular slingshot that was purchased for three dollars on sale. He did practice shooting on occasion at old orange juice cans, and that helped him to improve his aim.
Owen said that he only had one thing on his mind when he saw someone trying to kidnap his sister. He was afraid that the kidnapper would either kill her or use her as a sex slave.
He said that the abductor had come behind his sister and grabbed her just like you would see in the movies, putting his hand over her mouth and his arm around her waist. He was trying to get her into the woods.
That is when Owen grabbed his slingshot and started shooting at him. When the kidnapper finally let his grip on the little girl go, she ran into the house crying and said that she had almost been killed.
Owen was angry at that point and ran outside to curse at the kidnapper. He threw a baseball in his direction but it missed.
At that point, he tried to shoot him again with a slingshot but the rubber band broke.
They then called the mother who had been at a relative’s house to help as she was on her way from work. She ran home, called the police, and it all stems from hearing her kids on the phone. The only thing she heard was the word, kidnapper.
They found the 17-year-old kidnapper hiding at a gas station nearby. He was indicted in the County Court on charges of kidnapping and attempted criminal assault. They will also charge him with misdemeanor assault and battery.
The police said that: “He had obvious signs of an injury consistent with those that would have been sustained from the slingshot strikes to his head and chest.”
The mother was skeptical at first that Owen had hit the kidnapper in the face and chest from 200 feet away. When the police confirmed the injuries, they even said that the goose egg on his head continued to get bigger while they were speaking with him.
Heroes come in all shapes and sizes and I would say Owen and is as close to a superhero as you can get.
Office of Naval Intelligence Leak: China Building Naval Ships 232 Times faster than USA – “Lift to Invade North America”
The United States office of Naval Intelligence suffered a leak of an intel briefing slide, showing China now has naval ship building capacity 232 times greater than the USA. This capacity can be used to build enough ships to “lift” an army to invade North America – successfully.
This amazingly oversized capacity to build naval vessels has caused some analysts to raise the alarm that the United States cannot even hope to catch-up . . . for years.
Other analysts have a more dire view: China is building this enormous amount of “lift” to be able to field a 200 million man army to invade and conquer North America, which it needs for food production and for its gigantic and growing population.
The seeds for this dire analysis began under the Trudeau government in Canada, when it signed a Treaty with the China Communist Party (CCP) in Beijing to allow Chinese Troops into Canada – to “protect Chinese investments.” The Treaty made it explicitly clear that local governments in Canada would not be notified and could not do anything about the presence of such troops.
By using Canada as a beachhead, giving China a foothold on north American, China can now pre-position armor and troops along the US northern border until they reach such mass that an invasion of the US would be almost a fait accompli!
US Military in Recruiting Shambles
In the meantime, the armed forces of the United States are in a Recruiting shambles. EVERY branch of US Armed Forces have been missing their recruiting goals for the all-volunteer force, and have been missing those goals for years.
The troubles plaguing recruiting do not come from lack of available people but rather a whole host of issues with those people. For instance, a very large portion of American young people are “morbidly obese” to such a degree, that the physical strength and stamina simply cannot be restored to make them fit for military service.
Other potential recruits suffer from a host of disqualifying psychiatric issues: Men who think they’re actually women trapped in the wrong body . . . . women who think they’re men . . . . candidates with a history of suicidal ideation and/or actual suicide attempts and more.
Also plaguing the pool of potential recruits is the mental inability to think critically; to make judgements, and act on immediate information.
As if all of this wasn’t bad enough, a sizeable portion of the potential recruits are so physically weak and effeminate, they simply cannot be brought to military strength.
Drug use is also a major factor in disqualifying potential recruits. Psychiatric drugs for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), addiction to Adderall, on top of others who are using illicit drugs like Cocaine, Heroin, or a
plethora of other, exotic “designer drugs,” has disqualified very many potential recruits because withdrawal from such drugs can lead to long-term violent outbursts and unstable mental states.
DEFENSE INDUSTRY IN SHAMBLES
Adding fuel to the fire is the Defense Industry itself. At present, the US Defense Industry is UNABLE to re-supply the most basic war-fighting products like Ammunition and artillery shells in sufficient quantities to re-stock what the US has already given away to Ukraine, never mind to fight an active war with a near-peer rival.
Instead of hiring new employees to increase defense production, many defense contractors are having to LAY OFF workers because they simply cannot get the parts necessary to assemble replacement weaponry like Javelin Missiles! American manufacturer’s “out-sourced” many jobs to overseas locations, and, in the case of China, that is now coming back to bit the US in its ass.
For instance, China recently imposed economic Sanctions on Lockheed Martin and other American Defense Contractors, for supplying weapons to Taiwan. This means that Chinese manufacturers can no longer sell certain electronics to those companies; electronics necessary to build and re-supply US military weapon systems!
Not only is this affecting the US ability to continue providing weaponry to Ukraine, it is also affecting our ability to make weapons to defend . . . OURSELVES. With the vast array and quantities of weaponry being “given” to Ukraine, it appears to some Defense Analysts that the US is being INTENTIONALLY DISARMED by its own federal government.
COMMERCIAL ENTITIES UNABLE TO SERVICE or CUTTING-OFF US MILITARY
Reverting back to the subject of ships for a moment, it became known this week that Danish shipping giant, MAERSK, is “backing away” from providing shipping services to the Department of Defense.
With most of US Ship-building gone from environmental regulations and Union Labor contract demands, the few shipbuilders the US still has, simply cannot meet the demand for new vessels or to timely repair existing vessels.
The US has to rely on foreign shipbuilders for Hulls and for shipping services.
MAERSK has not said why they are “backing away” from providing services to the Department of Defense, but they are, in fact, doing so.
Are these companies being pressured by China or other foreign governments to cripple the US? Are these companies being threatened with losing the ability to provide shipping services to foreign countries if they continue helping the US? The answer to those questions is not known, but it __may__ be a possibility.
Which brings up the issue of future US ship building and moving men and materiel.
With China having 232 times the US ship building capacity, and with commercial ventures in the US unable to re-supply or even timely service existing ships, and now commercial entitities “backing away” from providing services to the US, it is starting to look as though we are being set up to be invaded and conquered.
MILITARY-AGE MEN SOUTHERN BORDER INVASION
All of the above brings us to the US Southern Border. There has been an over Nine-hundred percent (900%+) increase in young, fit, military-age, Chinese men crossing illegally into the US via the southern border. This is confirmed by FOX NEWS.
Why the sudden surge of Chinese men? Some analysts think they are a fifth column; wolves in sheep’s clothing, entering our country at the behest of the China Communist Party to lay in wait for an order to attack the US from within.
And the US federal Government is making it EASIER for people to enter the country illegally! The Biden regime has ordered gates in former President Trump’s border wall . . . . to be welded open! YEs, you read that correctly, the gates are being welded open so even US citizens, concerned about illegals entering the country, can’t simply close and lock the gates.
STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE, DRAINED
The United States established the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) after the Arab Oil Embargo of the 1970’s. The SPR can hold a little over seven-hundred-million barrels of oil in giant caverns in Louisiana and Texas. Yet the Biden regime has ordered the SPR to sell-off much of that reserve to artificially reduce gasoline prices in the USA.
As of today, more than two-thirds of that 700 million barrel SPR, have been sold off and are gone. There are presently no plans (and no money) to refill it.
If the US is invaded, and we cannot import foreign oil because we’re a war zone where ships cannot safely come and go, we won’t have more than a month or two of fuel with which to fight and defend our own land.
TREACHERY?
This appears to be deliberate treachery on the part of the federal government, some of whom may simply have been bribed by China, or other countries, to sell-out our nation and prime us for invasion.
This week, Congress beings Impeachment Hearings into President Joe Biden, who allegedly received potentially millions in bribes from China and elsewhere. Congress has already revealed that Bank Wire Transfers to Hunter Biden, showing Joe Biden’s home address in Wilmington, Delaware as the recipient’s address, have been confirmed as having taken place. At least $250,000 of such wire transfers are said to have come from Beijing.
Also this week, Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was Indicted and Arraigned in federal court, after being caught with some $458,000 cash stuffed into envelopes hidden in clothing in a closet, and in a safe, in his Englewood Cliffs home, along with 81.5 ounces of gold bullion in bars, allegedly for making military deals with and for, Egypt.
Menendez is charged with Bribery.
If Menendez took Bribes from Egypt to sell out US weapons, one has to wonder if he also took money from China to sell us out? Or if he also took money from other countries?
One also has to wonder if any OTHER Senators or Congressmen took such Bribes?
It appears the United States of America is suffering a level of treachery from within, that may actually cause our nation to cease to exist.
China Exposes New G20 Summit Hypocrisy and lies
You won’t believe what Biden just said after all the sanctions the US imposed on China. Biden gave a statement thinking that he is trying to create good relations with China after the G20 meeting with China’s Premier League Biden said we don’t want to contain China instead we want to make sure we have a relationship that is on the up and up squared away but don’t be misled by this statement before you know the actual truth According to Forbes, the US has imposed a list of sanctions on China, and its motive is simply to contain China, so when it comes to words, the US has a lot to say to impress you, but when it comes to actions, you won’t find anyone more brutal in the world than the US, so the question is why is there such a big difference between the US’s actions and its words, let’s find out in this video we will discuss the reality behind the US’s claims to not contain China We will also analyze the impact of Biden and Lee’s G20 summit on US-China relations. Watch the video until the conclusion to find out if the US is being honest this time or if this is just another tactic to attain ulterior aims.
https://youtu.be/w0MMrKvJZLQ
COVERT INTEL: CLOSEST PUTIN ADVISOR SAYS “NUKE U.K. OFF THE MAP” TO STOP UKRAINE WAR AND WW3
One of the closest and most trusted Advisors to Russian President Vladimir Putin has formally told his boss that a “massive” use of nuclear weapons is necessary to actually “prevent” World War 3 and save humanity. He urges the complete destruction of the United Kingdom as a warning to others to stop.
Mediterranean Steak and Pasta with Tomato-Olive Sauce
Whole-wheat pasta is served with beef Sirloin Tip Center Steaks and a tomato and olive sauce. This one will please the adults and the kids in your family.
mediterranean steak pasta
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
8 ounces uncooked whole grain fettuccine
4 beef Sirloin Tip Center Steaks, cut 3/4 inch thick (about 4 ounces each)
1 (26 ounce) jar pasta sauce with olives*
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed
1/4 cup finely shredded Italian cheese blend or mozzarella cheese
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
Cook fettuccine according to package directions; drain and keep warm.
Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Place beef steaks in skillet; cook for 11 to 13 minutes for medium rare (145 degrees F) doneness, turning occasionally. (Do not overcook.) Remove from skillet; keep warm.
Combine pasta sauce and oregano in same skillet; heat until hot. Return steaks to skillet; turn to coat with sauce.
Place steaks on fettuccine; spoon sauce over all.
Sprinkle steaks with cheese, allowing cheese to melt. Sprinkle with parsley.
Notes
* You may substitute 1 (26 ounce) jar pasta sauce with olives for 1 (26 ounce) pasta sauce plus 1/4 cup chopped olives.
I used to coach swimming in the early 2000’s. It probably won’t surprise you that my most challenging group was the middle school boys.
But where a few of them were difficult, others were in need of help. They were “different”. Consequently, they were bullied frequently at school. They would come in upset about how their day had gone.
I identified with them on so many levels as I’ve spent my entire life having people tell me, “You are one weird guy.”
I would reassure them that they were simply misunderstood and that they were in good company: some of the greatest people who ever lived were treated as weirdos.
Frederick Nietzsche, another mega genius, was in this camp at one point too. He was, by very definition, different than his peers. People tend to attack things they don’t understand.
image 12
Throughout his life, he proposed many wild and brilliant ideas, faced his own share of critics, and endured his own moments of social isolation.
One line he wrote, that I encourage any who feel misunderstood to remember:
And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.
Humanity is filled with wild and shimmering variety. Those who see “different” and attack are afraid of their own authenticity.
Don’t shy away from living your own truth.
If you haven’t been told “You’re weird.” a few times along the way, you aren’t doing it right.
There was a 1979 movie starring Peter Falk titled “The In-laws”, and for some strange reason I just remembered this movie. I tried to download the torrent, but it is taking forever. It is just a goofy and funny comedy, but for some reason… it came to mind.
The premise of this film is really simple: if two families are about to enjoy the union of their children in a marriage, is it not likely that the in-laws involved can come to depend and help each other out in times of need? Most of us would probably say no, or want to know the extent of the help. However, when Vincent J. Ricardo (Peter Falk) asks Dr. Sheldon Kornpett (Alan Arkin) to assist him in retrieving something from a safe in Ricardo’s office, Kornpett is willing (if somewhat suspiciously) to do it.
The reason that Kornpett is suspicious is he is not quite certain what to make of Ricardo. They only met at Kornpett’s house the night before, for a dinner party introducing the families of the bride (Kornpett’s) and groom (Ricardo’s) to each other. Ricardo acted…well oddly. He told tales of his business travels in Central America, including how in one country babies are being carried off by huge bats that are protected by the Guacamole Act of 1917. Kornpett hears this with a blank face, although his eyes do bug out a little in disbelief. Later, when Ricardo gets testy with his son over a comment about the former not being home enough, Kornpett can’t believe the near rage that Ricardo demonstrates at the table. So his suspicions about his future in-law seem well based.
Shortly, after being chased and nearly killed by two men who are after the items that Kornpett picked up, the suspicions seem confirmed. Ricardo explains to him, over pea soup in a restaurant, that he actually is not a successful salesman but a C.I.A. operative (a photo in Ricardo’s office confirms this: it is of President Kennedy, and the autograph refers to the Bay of Pigs Invasion). He is in the middle of a critically important mission in Latin America dealing with international finance and a conspiracy against the richest nations. Kornpett hears him out, and is upset to hear that there is more material that Ricardo hid in Kornpett’s home the night before. He wants no part of it, and leaves to go home – only to find the police there. He flees, and does evade capture – at the cost of having his car repainted in a way he never would have wanted it to look.
Soon Kornpett is forced to join forces with Ricardo, and enters the deadly serious but (here) quite farcical world of international espionage and intrigue. At the end of the road is the ringleader of the conspiracy, General Garcia (Richard Libertini) who has a special little friend that makes Al Pacino’s little friend in SCARFACE lethal but sensible in comparison.
THE IN-LAWS is funny. Arkin with his tight-ass repressive personality works well against the free-wheeling, anything goes Falk. Libertini appears only in the films last twenty minutes, but he does equally nicely as the ultimate in screw-ball dictators. Well supported by a cast including Nancy Dussault, Arlene Golonka, Penny Peyser, Michael Lembeck, and Ed Begley Jr. the film is just a laugh fest until the happy ending. As mentioned elsewhere in these comments Arkin and Falk should have made several films together. They have only done one other movie together since THE IN-LAWS. Pity.
‘If you lose this baby, you could always have another one’. The comment above was made by the doctor who my husband and I had a consultation with. I was roughly 10 weeks pregnant with our first child. I was in my mid 30’s while hubby was in his early 40’s.
An elderly man in his fifties, he barely looked at us, ignored me, said hello to my husband, looked at my file fleetingly, a file with tests and scans which showed I had fibroids, looked directly at my husband and said to him, ‘She will be fine’. I was furious that this man was clearly sexist, ignoring me as if I was invisible. I responded by asking what that meant, what was the cause of the bleeding as he had not told us at this point about the fibroids. ‘You do not need to bother about it. That is why we are here’. This statement was addressed again to my husband who he was still looking at while still ignoring my presence.
At this point, something in me snapped and I snapped at him, ‘Look at me and tell me what is causing this bleeding. It is my body and I need the details’. He then slowly turned to look at me as if seeing me for the first time and emotionlessly said, ‘you have fibroids. They are not massive and do not pose a danger to your baby’. ‘But I am bleeding. Is that not dangerous? ‘ I worriedly asked.
That was when he looked at the file and without lifting his head, retorted ,Not really. However, if you lose this baby, you could always have another one ’. I almost cussed the insensitive idiot out but my husband who knew I was fuming at this point, got up and ushered me out of the office while the doctor was still talking about ante natal visits at their hospital. We had heard enough. I went on to another hospital where I met the amazing doctor who delivered my daughter without complications and went on to have a son after that.
She is now a healthy, happy 10 year old who is pure joy and always a little mama to her 7 year old brother.
London Broil
London Broil is a favorite recipe from the Iowa Beef Industry Council.
delish london broil horizontal 1546553273
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 (1 1/4 to 1 3/4 pound) beef flank steak
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
Combine vegetable oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper for marinade.
Place steak in plastic bag and pour marinade over it.
Close bag securely and refrigerate 4 to 6 hours or overnight, turning occasionally.
Pour off and reserve marinade.
Place steak on grill and broil at moderate temperature for 5 minutes.
Turn, brush with marinade and broil 5 minutes or to desired doneness (rare or medium).
To carve, slice diagonally across grain in thin strips.
10 STOIC LESSONS TO HANDLE DISRESEPECT (MUST WATCH) | STOICISM
Learn something important.
ASML
Here is the reason why ASML CEO said a few years ago that if ASML gave China the blueprint for the EUV machine China would not be able to make it.
This is because all of the core technologies is NOT owned by ASML. ASML is the system integrator that was allowed by the US government to participate in the US government project to create an EUV light source.
This project pulled together many US national labs including Lawrence Livermore Labs, Sandia Nation Lab, Brookhaven National Lab, Lawrence Berkely National Lab, IBM, Intel, AMD, etc. And it took over 10 years to create this laser light source.
This was considered a national security project so Japanese companies like Nikon and Canon were not allowed to join.
The difficulty of this light source and the engineering problems that had to be overcome was as difficult as the first atomic bomb.
So I have to admit that I was wrong in my speculation about using a Rube Goldberg device to generate EUV. They didn’t have a choice. This was the best possible source at the time. It took literally the US, Germany, and some other nation’s best experts to create this light source.
The other parts are relatively easy in comparison.
The problem is that China has also created this light source and using another method so it isn’t so Rube Goldberg machine. Not that it was simple to make. But it is more reliable and you don’t have to worry about residue removal that will mess up your mirrors and the inside of the your machine which has to remain at clean room levels.
The Answer is yes. Yes indeed the U.S. and the west has been propagating that only western liberal democracy works. Nothing else. Either be a liberal democracy or die says the US. That is of course simply not true at all. And the real truth is simply that the West wanted to install liberal democracy so that the west can easily manipulate it and install a government that surrender its sovereignty to the west in order to manipulate and steal it’s resources to enrich the former colonials.
Now that China proved beyond reasonable doubts and against all odds that it could grow phenomenally and economically dwarfed every other nation, this fear and worry the U.S. mightily. Failure to contain China means failure to perpetuate this lie!
This is indeed worrisome for the west since they the west in general has essentially collapsed in a huge pile of debts. And law and order disintegrates through the western world. With high inflation and a looming recession with countless millions of homeless people living in the streets while their government finance and orchestrate wars. Based on printing money without basis and rampant money creation.
China U.S. out innovating the U.S., it U.S. out thinking the U.S., out growing the U.S. and out influencing the U.S. growing even its military and wealth and out manipulating the U.S. government everywhere on earth. The U.S. wants to stop the truth from being revealed to the world.
It’s Not Just You: American Jobs Didn’t Used To Be This Terrible
My Dad’s Union IBEW is the reason we went from lower middle class to solid middle class in 10 years. Unions are one of the most important checks for capitalism.
Government promise something. Give it a few years and it happens.
Some bigger projects like Mao wanting to borrow some water from the south took a bit longer.
OTOH governments like the UK one I lived under… they promise shit, then they say haha you sucker you actually believed me? Fuck you!
Gordon Brown’s QC literally said that election pledges and promises were not subject to legitimate expectation.
Here? Here in Hong Kong? The government construction projects shaved 20 minutes off my commute.
25 years ago they shaved an hour off the commute for the villagers by widening the dirt track that lead to my village and paving it. Then offering a bus franchise nearby so it was connected with the world.
Most people my age would either be listening to music, watching some TV show/movie in their smartphones/tablets. A very few would be reading a newspaper or book.
I was one of them. I always had music on. I can’t read/watch anything because of motion sickness while traveling on road.
The older generation- they do nothing. They don’t use phones, they don’t talk, don’t read, nothing. They just sit and look around.
I wanted to try this and coincidentally my earphones broke down.
Now it has been over six months. I travel in the metro for 3 hours everyday and do nothing, just look around. This has helped me so much. I observe people, their behaviours. I look around to see what’s actually happening.
It may sound weird but there’s something weirdly enjoyable about it. It feels like living life the old school way. This has helped me reduce the screen time as well.
I have even started recognising the regular commuters. I am sure they don’t recognise me.
Unbreakable (2000) | *First Time Watching* | Movie Reaction | Asia and BJ
Still one of the top 10 best comic films of all time. Its really the first one that showed what the comic genre could do when taken seriously.
This is one of my top, and most favorite movies. It is so meaningful to me. Seriously people. I can relate to this movie. So very much!
When my daughter was about 9 or 10 years old, whenever she got a scolding from my wife, I would annoy her by doing a chicken dance and do so in a way that ONLY she sees it.
“Mommy! Dad is making fun of me!” she would always complain.
When my wife turned around, I would stop and act normal and go on with my stuff. This went on for a while till it became a game of HER trying to catch me in the act and prove it to her mother.
She would learn to very quickly take out her mobile phone and try to snap a picture of me doing it. I would tease her by dancing until the moment the phone was almost pointing towards me, then I would stop and behave normally.
“I will get you someday,” she said.
“No, you won’t! I am too fast for you,” I replied.
On a particular day, I again did the ridiculous chicken dance, she was rolling her eyes and her hands move slowly towards her phone. I continued dancing and mentally calculating how fast she could key in the pass-code and turn on the camera mode.
Something didn’t feel right, her action was slower than usual, by the time she pointed the camera at me, I had stopped. But she started laughing loudly.
“Guess what daddy? THIS isn’t my phone. I switched the phone cover with mum. MY PHONE is behind you, just above the cupboard, ON VIDEO TAKING MODE.”
Ouch! A full two minutes of myself being ridiculous caught on video!
NOT genius smart, NOT intellectual smart, perhaps a little STREET SMART!
The gay and bisexual men are not as common in China as they are in the West. It is difficult for MPOX to become an epidemic in China.
From June 2 to June 30, 2023, 106 new confirmed cases of monkeypox were reported in mainland China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan), including 48 cases reported in Guangdong Province, 45 cases reported in Beijing City, 8 cases reported in Jiangsu Province, 2 cases reported in Hubei Province, 2 cases reported in Shandong Province, and 1 case reported in Zhejiang Province. There were no severe cases or deaths.
The epidemic presents the following characteristics:
One is that the vast majority of cases are mainly transmitted through male homosexual sexual contact.
Secondly, the risk of transmission through other forms of contact is low, and the vast majority of close contacts, except for sexual contact, have not experienced infection.
The third is that most cases were found during medical treatment, while a few cases were found through follow-up screening of close contacts.
The fourth is that the vast majority of cases have typical clinical manifestations, mainly symptoms such as fever, herpes, and lymph node enlargement, with no severe or fatal cases.
An American Reacts to Why America Sucks at Everything – THIS ONE HURT
This is very good. Really.
It is a MUCH watch. This is the real truth about the United States.
“I’m so glad you made this video because my conservative mom watched it and now she’s starting to wake up. I got screwed over by the “in network out of network” bullshit recently. My employer changed our healthcare coverage, and I had to find a new neurologist and start the “prior authorization “ process for a particular drug that I take all over again”
The sheer power of Xi Jingping is the fact that QG has been buried away and cut off in a matter of seconds and China and it’s foreign affairs moves without a single blip
Thats power
Had Xi been weak, a rival faction would have lobbied immediately within the CPC but the fact that China has simply chosen to forget QG and not talk about him shows the power of Xi Jingping
China and CPC knows that today in the hostile atmosphere with the West — Only XJP is the right man to lead China
Hu JINTAO would have kowtowed in seconds
Li Keiqang would have kowtowed in maybe a month
Bo Xilai would have kowtowed in nanoseconds
Xis power is at its peak now
Had QG defected to US and been declared a mole for CIA then yes , Xi would have been finished politically
Yet QG is in China and safe and under the Partys safe hands 😁
My father-in-law did. He was moving some tools around in his garage and suddenly had a strong urge to move one of the cars, a Subaru, out into the driveway. He tried to ignore this feeling, because the car was not in his way and it seemed like a needless waste of time. But he couldn’t shake it, so he went and got his car keys and backed the car out of the garage.
Just as he had done so and was getting out of the car, a speeding Tesla flashed past him a couple of feet away and crashed into the open garage, then burst into flames. If he’d stayed in the garage working, he would most likely have been killed.
The resulting fire destroyed the entire garage and his other car. It was 9 months before he and his wife were able to move back into the house. But he was alive, and they still had their Subaru. There was no good explanation for the “little voice in his head” that told him he needed to get himself and his car out of the garage.
By the way, the Tesla driver, who was pulled out of the burning car by a neighbor, was uninjured but was convicted of DUI and had to pay restitution and perform community service.
He was suffering from pancreatic cancer at the time, but from that moment his desire to oversee the restoration of the house gave him a new determination in life. It was a very busy and stressful time, during which he and his wife lived in rental housing. At last they were able to move back into the house which had been perfectly restored to its original state, including a new garage of course, new roof, new heating & a/c, new paint and flooring, and every item inside the house had been removed, professionally cleaned, and replaced. It was beautiful. However, his condition declined rapidly after that and he passed away in August 2018, not quite a year after the fire.
The US Plan to KILL Second Citizenship
“As a Venezuelan born in the 90s (post oil-golden era for that country), I know first hand what he means when he says it’s important to have options. I saw how my mother and her siblings were unable to get their second citizenship by descent from Trinidad and Tobago, once things got terribly bad in my country. My grandparents had both US residency and Caribbean citizenship, but because things were going so well in Venezuela in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, they didn’t work on securing and passing along those other options; and their children never thought things would get this bad. It only took less than 30 years to see things turn around for the worst.”
For many years now, the USA has been classified as a “flawed democracy”. Events such as the Capitol Hill riots – intended to disrupt the inauguration of your elected President – did not help. A significant proportion of Americans themselves believed that the last election was rigged and “stolen” from them. So how can the USA be said to be the “very embodiment of democracy”? This strikes me as an extremely grandiose and indefensible claim.
As for freedom, the USA comprises 5% of the world population but holds about 20% of the world’s prisoners. With so many Americans literally locked up behind bars, how can the USA claim to be a “free” country? Furthermore your 13th amendment legalises the enslavement of prisoners – and the USA heavily exploits these slaves/prisoners in ways that your own civil liberty lawyers have described as an abuse of fundamental human rights. (Eg US prisoners can be forced into hazardous jobs – such as fighting wildfires – for as little as zero to fifty cents per hour of work). Errrr, seriously, you think that the US is the embodiment of freedom?
What hope does the USA bring to the world? In the past 40 years, the USA has dropped more bombs, fired more missiles and killed more people in other countries, than any other country in the world. In the past 40 years, the USA has killed people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Grenada, Bosnia, Somalia and Uganda. Because of US sanctions, the world was afraid to send even vaccines, masks and ventilators to Iran during the covid–19 pandemic. This is how the US brings death and destruction to the world.
Please stop watching your Hollywood movies where the USA is always the one to save the world from invasions by aliens from outer space. Open your eyes and look at the real world. At least look at your own country. Your people are dying from drug overdose at the highest rate in the world. Your people are getting shot to death at the highest rate among all developed countries. Your policemen are shooting citizens for minor offences. Your cities are littered with homeless people living in tents. Your national literacy rate is collapsing together with your average life expectancy. Medical bills are the biggest cause of personal bankruptcies in the USA; your infrastructure is crumbling and aged water pipes are leaking lead into the drinking water for your public schools. To lead your country, you are choosing between a criminal octagenarian and a senile otagenarian. Your income inequality is vast, with the top 1% controlling more wealth than the middle 60% – let’s not even discuss the sufferrings of your bottom 20%.
The US is the embodiment of … HOPE, you say?! Hopelessness is more like it. The USA is no example for the world – unless we are talking of negative examples.
I used to work for a major mail order company; as tech staff I could be sent out anywhere in the country, for which the company would pre-pay for accommodation and pay 40 pence per mile for fuel costs (which was tight-arsed of them, as other companies paid 65ppm).
They also supposedly insured us for using our private cars this way.
People who regularly went out for long trips had a company card to pay for hotels with.
One day they decide they are cutting the fuel payment to 25ppm, and back-dating it SIX months, and also cancelling the company cards – people would have to pay with their own money and claim it back.
This latter move caught a few out who were already out on trips – one guy was unable to pay his bill at a London conference centre, and the staff there were threatening to call the Police.
We also discovered at the same time, that the company HADN’T been paying for the extra car insurance policy, so we were all using our cars effectively with no insurance.
Next day, everyone parked 1/2 mile away and walked into work. “Sorry, can’t go on that job, no car” was the story from every member of the technical staff.
Every senior manager was made to turn over his company car for us to drive around. Even the CEO’s chauffeured Bentley was pressed into service, but it still wasn’t enough; by the end of the first week the taxi bill was running into the high hundreds, and everyone was refusing overnight jobs on the basis they couldn’t afford to pay for the hotel.
It took a MONTH for the suits to cave, and god only knows how much it cost them, in money, customer relations, and the lost goodwill of the tech staff.
Why the American Dream is a Myth
“It’s expensive to be poor” Just…. damn man!
Mediterranean Steak and Pasta with Tomato-Olive Sauce
Whole-wheat pasta is served with beef Sirloin Tip Center Steaks and a tomato and olive sauce. This one will please the adults and the kids in your family.
2023 09 25 15 07
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
8 ounces uncooked whole grain fettuccine
4 beef Sirloin Tip Center Steaks, cut 3/4 inch thick (about 4 ounces each)
1 (26 ounce) jar pasta sauce with olives*
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed
1/4 cup finely shredded Italian cheese blend or mozzarella cheese
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
Cook fettuccine according to package directions; drain and keep warm.
Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Place beef steaks in skillet; cook for 11 to 13 minutes for medium rare (145 degrees F) doneness, turning occasionally. (Do not overcook.) Remove from skillet; keep warm.
Combine pasta sauce and oregano in same skillet; heat until hot. Return steaks to skillet; turn to coat with sauce.
Place steaks on fettuccine; spoon sauce over all.
Sprinkle steaks with cheese, allowing cheese to melt. Sprinkle with parsley.
Notes
* You may substitute 1 (26 ounce) jar pasta sauce with olives for 1 (26 ounce) pasta sauce plus 1/4 cup chopped olives.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said she was “upset” when China’s Huawei Technologies released a new phone with an advanced chip during her visit to the country last month but noted that the US has no evidence China can make these components “at scale,” Bloomberg reported. She also said the US is trying to use every single tool at its disposal to deny the Chinese the ability to advance their technology in ways that can hurt the US.
Raimondo’s words are nothing new, but saying that China’s technological advancement “can hurt the US” is a stupid and ridiculous line of thinking. Many American elites refuse to accept that the Chinese have broken through the technological blockade. Radical lawmakers are calling for efforts to strangle Huawei and SMIC, which is not only hegemonic but also an evil way of thinking.
Whether it is ASML, the Dutch manufacturer of lithography machines, or the American chip giants, they do not believe that decoupling can stop China’s progress in semiconductor technology. They believe that China can find alternative methods and its own technological path. However, a large number of American elites are non-technical and refuse to face reality, blindly believing that Huawei’s breakthrough is because the US export controls on technology to China are “still too loose.”
It should be said that Huawei’s breakthrough has to a certain extent undermined the credibility of the US’ technological blockade against China and shattered the collective confidence of the West in this regard. Washington’s current investigation into the origin of Huawei’s chips and attempts to tighten the noose on the blockade against China will only isolate itself.
Because Washington clearly lost the first round, it has to bet even bigger and risk losing the Chinese market for many Western semiconductor companies. Imagine the result of continuing technological restrictions if Huawei makes further breakthroughs – can ASML’s lithography machines still enjoy their current glory? Where will the US-controlled chip production factories find their next market? Just look at the panic faced by Japanese and German automotive giants today in the face of the rise of Chinese electric vehicles. If the current semiconductor leaders are cut off from the Chinese market, who can guarantee that their future situation will be better?
Huawei’s Kirin 9000s is a breakthrough that it was forced to make by the US sanctions. If the US exerts even greater pressure, it will turn this breakthrough into a systemic breach, promoting a highly integrated and strong production chain in the Chinese semiconductor industry. Chips produced in China will also be much cheaper than those produced in the US.
If the US semiconductor industry loses the Chinese market, it will not be as lucky as Google and Facebook. The latter have software advantages that some Chinese internet companies do not have, including the application ecosystem they established by being the first movers. However, semiconductors are hardware, and when Chinese companies like Huawei can provide a cheaper alternative, the situation will be completely different.
A crucial crossroads has been reached. If the US forces China to achieve complete independence in the semiconductor industry, it will have no further cards to play in blocking China’s progress. Moreover, the technological landscape of the world will undergo a rewrite. China now possesses the capital, and we will continue to progress no matter what. It is now the US’ turn to make a choice: continue gambling or change course and resume cooperation?
Expat’s THAI WIFE disappears and so did his fortune $$. Then it got WORSE!
When I lived in Indiana USA, we (my wife and I) took a welding class for fun and enjoyment. This was a college course out of the local college, and we attended classes on Saturday morning. We really enjoyed the class, aside from learning how to weld.
I had a blast, and my wife really thought it was fun.
2023 09 28 10 29
Anyways, we were in a class of around 30 students, and we were the oldest students. The rest were kids in their 20’s. Maybe one or two almost our age.
But there was one kid, a teenager, who came every Saturday, signed his name and left.
In and then two minutes later… gone.
He never stuck around.
Never learned anything.
Didn’t chat or talk with any of us and never even attempted to learn.
He never actually learned anything. He didn’t get to enjoy any fun, and he certainly didn’t get anything out of it. I couldn’t figure out why he came, signed in and left.
So I asked the instructor.
He was arrested on possession and sales of illegal drugs. He was 18 years old. The judge cut him a deal instead of sending him off to prison for a few years. He would be free and not go to jail or prison, as long as he attended the welding class to learn a skill. If he did that, his record would be purged, and he would be a better person with a skill to rely upon.
I think that the judge made the right decision, but failed to police the actions of the young kid. Now, that kid will “on paper” appear to have a skill, but in truth all that happened is that he is going to keep on doing what he has been doing, no hope off the treadmill, and he has no idea that he is on one to begin with.
Next problem will be far worse, and then the recovery will be equally worse.
Dumb smuck.
…
Take advantage of every opportunity, never think that you are getting more for less by cutting corners. Life does not work that way.
Today…
RUSSIA LAUNCHES 50 MISSILES INTO UKRAINE; 48 HIT ***NATO*** INFRA-STRUCTURE AND AMMO DUMPS!
Breaking: Russia has bombed NATO Infrastructure across Ukraine as an apparent message is sent . . . loud and clear.
Logistics Hubs, “Mercenary” (NATO, UK, and USA) barracks, quarters and Bases, Weapons and Depleted Uranium Ammunition Depots have all been set ablaze in a gigantic strike with more than 50 missiles.
The __only__ purely Ukraine target was the Rivne thermal power station . . . which was was completely destroyed.
Carpetbagger Steak
800full carpetbag steak
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 cup fresh oysters, drained and chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
3 tablespoons melted butter
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 ounce crumbled bleu cheese
1/4 cup sauterne or other dry white wine
4 thick-sliced rib eye or filet steaks
Instructions
Sauté oysters, mushrooms and parsley in butter until mushrooms are tender; drain.
Stir in bacon, cheese and sauterne; set aside.
Make pocket in side of steak. Stuff pocket with oyster mixture; secure with wooden picks.
Broil steaks about 6 inches from heat for 8 to 10 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness.
Give a kid dinner, and he eats for a day. Teach a kid to make dinner, and THE PARENTS EAT UNTIL HE MOVES OUT.
Before our 11-year old had even finished expressing his interest in cooking, we were handing him whisks and salted butter. Get started, kid!
Kids curing their boredom by cooking? That is SO much better than building model rockets. Can you eat a model rocket? You cannot. And, half the time they wind up stuck in trees.
But can I eat this pasta sauce that he made? Yes. Yes, I can.
image 95
Wait, he wants to start a restaurant in the kitchen, so that mom & dad can sit at the table on a Sunday morning and be waited on? SOLD.
image 96
Sure, he forgot to put coffee on the menu, but the waiter was accommodating when we asked for it.
Mom opted for the egg sandwich:
image 97
I went for the BLT because… bacon:
image 98
I’d give him 5-stars on Yelp, if he were on Yelp.
After he suggested he wanted to try his hand at baking, I was immediately racing to the store to get him a 9″ springform pan. I had no idea what that even was until he mentioned it. It helps him make things like this:
image 99
I’m all for it.
After school yesterday, he decided he wanted to make a dessert. I told him to pick out a recipe. I had to make a special trip that evening to buy almond flour, but the payoff was I got to have his Olive Oil Cake:
image 100
Will he stick with it? We’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, while there are plenty of things for an 11-year old to do when bored, this is one of my favorites.
No. The US has had four years of trying to kill Huawei and it is not working.
While Huawei has dropped to #6 position in global smartphone sales. It has created its own Operating System thereby avoiding android. Their OS is available for other phone manufacturers to use. The company has also designed its own chipset. Production of their own 14nm and 7nm 5G chips is said to begin this year.
Meanwhile Huawei has been working on 6G which expectations for 2030.
Huawei Q2 2023 revenue was up 4.8% y/o/y to $25 billion USD.
I was looking for old mystery novels—the kind of 1950’s cheap pulp crap that never even hits a second printing. I didn’t find any, but I did find a couple of Agatha Christies, so I went to check out.
The shop owner was unpacking a new box from somebody who’d gone “you can have the whole thing for five bucks, I just want it gone.” She’d set aside one book about the same size as an adult woman’s hand, a nasty little grubby thing that looked like it might have a bad case of mold. I was curious, so I asked about it.
Her reply: “I don’t think I even have a place for it on the shelf. It’s going to sit forever.”
I bought it for 50 cents and took it home.
There was no title page, and neither my mom nor I recognized the work in it, so my mom—now also curious—bought a baby toothbrush and spent a lot of hours teasing the dirt off the cover with the barest amounts of water and a lot of paper towels. Just one word for a title: “Essays.” But now we knew what the cover looked like—not grunge black, but a pretty tan and green—so she started doing research.
First edition of Emerson’s Essays, as confirmed by the cloth color on the cover and the lack of a title page.
BUT WAIT.
You think that’s the find of a lifetime. And for someone else in another bookshop, it is.
But here’s the thing. There were TWO first editions of Emerson’s Essays. A binding error led to the release of a few hundred copies with about 20 pages missing, and a couple of others upside-down. These error copies were quickly destroyed, barring those that had already been purchased, and the current going price for such a copy was several hundred dollars, possibly as much as a thousand—as opposed to the $50 or so garnered for a “first” (corrected) edition.
My mom and I read this on an appraiser’s website and stared at each other, barely daring to breathe. I asked if she’d looked. She said no. “You bought it, you look.”
I picked it up and flipped to the page numbers indicated. Missing—but that wasn’t good enough. Pages can be removed. I had to confirm the other error, too.
I flipped the pages—so, so carefully. I was shaking. I looked.
I gasped so loudly you could have heard me three counties over, dropped the book, caught it, and set it down like it was made out of glass.
And that’s the story of how I paid our mortgage AND electricity for a month for just fifty cents.
VIKING tells the COLDEST truth about the female nature
“At 55 years old. I live on my own now for 6 years. Never will I allow myself to be treated poorly again. I relate to this man.”
At every level, America is ready to explode.
He is speaking TRUTH. It stings. And it is real. Agony.
My ex gf had a son around 10 years old at the time who is on the Autism spectrum. He was the sweetest, smartest little boy just didn’t have the best socializing skills. One day I stopped by their home to pick up my watch that I left there that morning. Me stopping by wasn’t part of the daily routine or planned ahead of time, and he was surprised when I got there. Every time I’d get to their house and he was home I would always talk to him first before even giving my gf a hug. So after saying hello and telling him why I was there I sat on the couch with him to chat while he was playing with play doh. While we were talking he was writing something in a flat piece of play doh. Then he handed it to me. It said “why don’t you leave?” I read and it thought I’d mess with him a little. I said out loud, “don’t leave!” I said ok, bud! I’ll stay all day!” He yells “No! It says why don’t you leave!?!” “oh ok, I said I didn’t see that part. Ok, I’ll leave I didn’t mean to bother you.” Mom jumps in while hearing this and tells him that was very rude and blah blah blah. I interrupted her and told him it’s all good!!! I always want you to tell me the truth about how you feel. You never have to hide your feelings because of me. So if you don’t want company when I’m here you just have to say so. You can always talk to me. I asked him if I could give him a hug before I left and he said yes. I gave him a hug and gf walked me out. She apologized over and over. It was all good. I know he has a hard time socializing so I wasn’t too upset.
It all began when the US started playing dirty and Trump sanctioned Huawei
Other players in China began to start stockpiling Chips and placed large orders with TSMC
So TSMC sales boomed but in reality all that was happening was the mainland was buying more and more chips to stockpile
Every smartphone maker feared a similar ban from the demented United States
Today China has between 140% -170% of the 7 nm Chips it needs
Global Demand has weakened which means these Chips can last until 2025 November
Until then TSMC won’t get any more orders from China or will get minimal orders
Who else buys 7 nm Chips?
So TSMC will see a fall in sales for the next few quarters
Meanwhile if the Chinese in these two years cost effectively crack the 7/5 DUV Stacking Chip process of Huawei and make the imported equivalent of 18 Billion ICs a year, then it’s likely Chinas TSMC imports will fall by as much as 70% from 2026 onwards
So obviously they have slashed 40% of their orders from 40 to 24 EUV Lithography Machines
No need for Xi Xinping to say it, the world already know it and the world except for some dozen or so cronies and slave nation do not like it and the world will slowly but surely, step by step dismantle this so called International Rules Based Order.
To the world every nation or group of nations cannot have a right to fxxk up any nation using arbitrary sanctions. And the world have acted. The unfair and unjust U.S. and European actions on Russia in war blamed on Russia although fully goaded and provoked by the U.S. and UK. Is the straw that break the camel’s back.
International norm must be truly international not set by some white Caucasian Anglo nations. Especially when a nation like the U.S. and UK failed every test on a truly international norm. Plundering, looting, stealing, bombings, war mongering, unilateral sanctions, regime change, orchestrating coups, demonstrations, revolutions are not international norm. They are bullying, mafia behaviour. Coercion by force.
The world has moved on from this western bullying.
On June 17, 2022, the FDA authorized emergency use of the mRNA Covid vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech to include use in children down to 6 months of age. Turns out, it KILLED a lot of them.
Just over a year later, the report – which was quietly released by CDC and subsequently suppressed by the mainstream media – revealed that nearly half a million children and young adults have now died since the injections were approved for use on most children.
Over 118,000 of those deaths are suspected to be DIRECTLY linked to the Covid vaccines’ side effects.
Despite the staggering death toll revealed in the report, it has been met with deafening silence from the mainstream media.
The latest data from the CDC has just been published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OEC).
The OEC is an intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries and it hosts a wealth of data on excess deaths, including data from the CDC that isn’t easily available to the American people.
The thing about nm claims is that they turn out to be marketing.
So you have to go with the economics of semiconductors. The first company that invests in top of the line semiconductors has to spend a ton of money on research and development that go nowhere. For example, there are two ways you can produce 7nm, one that works and one that doesn’t. Intel put all their money on a process that just doesn’t work, whereas TSMC put billions of dollars in two different processes, once of which worked, which means that you spent billions on a dead end.
Because the leading companies have to recover the costs of dead ends, they will sell the best chips at a huge premium. Once you’ve figured out how to produce the chips the cost of the chip is low and you are just recovering R&D costs.
This is why China can produce mature chips super chip. Once you know that you can produce chip X using process Y, then you just do it. It turns out that this is really symbotic because it means that Taiwan and South Korea can focus on R&D and then Mainland China focuses on mature chips. The thing about this is that most of the advanced chips end up in Mainland China where you have Santa’s elves put these together into consumer goods.
The thing about Biden’s semiconductor policy is that there seems to be absolutely no strategic thinking behind them, and a lot of this has to do with US politics in which different groups want different things. The basic problem is that you have people that want to “starve”China from semiconductors, whereas most of the people that actually understand how semiconductors work haven’t bought in on decoupling.
My personal opinion is that US policy will end up screwing over Taiwan, and by 2028 this is going to be so obvious that you will have a blue wave in 2028.
Did you feel the earth move?
On April 19, 2010, a Muslim cleric in Iran blamed earthquakes on women who dressed – immodestly.
Jen McCreight was a student at Purdue University when she heard this. She didn’t like the idea of natural disasters being blamed on sinful women so decided to do something about it. She wrote a blog post entitled: “In the name of science, I offer my boobs”.
I was playing Galaga in the basement of the Student Union building at CUNY Queens College about 35 years ago. There was this gorgeous, Asian, punk girl who I was somewhat acquainted with who sat opposite me. We played for about 15 minutes and I said, “crap. I’m all out of quarters”.
She said, “What do you want to do now?”
I said, “Take you up to the roof and bang the hell out of you.”
I had no idea how this just came out. I wasn’t thinking at all. I had removed the filter between my brain and mouth and it just happened.
The discoveries will help shorten mining time by about 70 percent, reduce the impurity content by 70 percent and increases the recovery rate of rare earths by about 30 percent.
The findings were made by He Hongping’s team from the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. They presented the research results at a scientific evaluation meeting in Meizhou City, South China’s Guangdong Province.
This new mining technology is mainly applied to the mining of weathered crust rare earth ores, a characteristic resource in China. It aims to solve the problems of present in-situ leaching technology in ecology, resource efficiency, and to promote efficient and green utilization of rare earth resources in China.
Professor He’s team creatively developed a new way of using electric currents to extract rare earth elements (REEs), compared to traditional methods which uses ammonium chloride as leaching agents to extract REEs. The new technology is more environmental friendly as it avoids soil contamination caused by leaching agents, which responded to Chinese government’s demand for environmental protection and green and efficient mining.
With a 5,000-ton earth-moving scale demonstration area, professor He’s team was able to test his findings on soil and achieved design outcomes on the ground. This key technology and its results have helped He’s team publish 11 high-level papers in journals such as Nature Sustainability, and to obtain 7 patents for inventions. Citing a report from Nature Sustainability, Anouk Borst, a geologist at KU Leuven called the strategy “A game changer, providing that it is feasible on a large scale.”
Through years of efforts, China has formed a complete industrial chain around REEs. In 2022, China accounted for 63 percent of the world’s rare-earth mining, 85 percent of rare-earth processing, and 92 percent of rare-earth magnet production, according to Politico.
The new rare-earth extraction technology could increase China’s advantage in rare-earth sectors by making the extraction process greener and more efficient. The strategy could help China keep its leading position in the global rare-earth industrial chain.
If You Think The Last Few Years Were Difficult…
Mark Twain once said that “If voting made a difference, they wouldn’t let us do it.”
“This sense of unease. People of upset. There is a sense of anger and frustration.”
China’s total national debt to GDP is high, pushing 300%. Government wants to control it. It sees this as a serious impediment to sustainable growth. This is a critical part of the structural change in the country. Another critical part of the structural change is to drive consumer expenditure, such as to improve consumer confidence, such as through better access to healthcare, personal insurances, and pension and retirement plans. These structural changes underway have slowed growth, which could persist in the next 2–3 years.
Overwhelmingly, the debt is owed by corporates, as part of business finance, and by local authorities, in pursuit of their development plan. The debt owed by the central government is very small, at 21% of GDP. The overwhelming amount of the debts are domestic debts in RMB. RMB is issued by PBOC, the legal tender in China. China has very little foreign debts. Its net international financial position is in surplus. Indeed, the single most important factor for the slow take-off to internationalize the RMB is that it has low international liquidity, due to China’s persistent current account surplus.
China has no problem to borrow more money. (1) Central government has low debt at only 21% of GDP, (2) the overwhelming debts are owed by corporates and local authorities in RMB, (3) PBOC has full control over the RMB, and (4) China’s net international financial position is in surplus. Quite the opposite. China does not want the debt to rise in the country. The most visible of this is the 3 red lines regulations on the real estate sector.
US government debt at about $33 trillion is pushing 130% of GDP (compared with 21% for China). It rose dramatically from $31.4 trillion when debt ceiling was raised in June, to $33 trillion at end-August. About 30% of US TBs are held by foreigners, the 3 largest are Japan, China, and UK. China has reduced its holdings from the high of over $1.1 trillion to less than $850 billion.
US government is in chronic deficit, running at an annual rate of over $1 trillion, and rising. US government debt will rise in consonant. Rising issue of TBs will require an elevated interest rates regime to attract investors, which increasingly will be domestic investors as foreigners could shy away. Elevated interest rates have driven the government’s interest bill towards $1 trillion, growing faster and exceeding the defense budget.
Rising US government borrowings and elevated interest rates could distort the financial markets. One consequence of the Fed’s interest hikes has been the loss of the market value of TBs. It has stressed the banking system, including the collapse of a few regional banks. Bloomberg estimated that as of May, the banking system was sitting on unrealized losses of $1.84 trillion on their holdings of TBs. The regional banks are the most stressed. They are the main lenders to commercial real estates. An estimate by Newmark Group, a brokerage, has it that $1.2 trillion of such debts are potentially troubled when refinancing is due, the combination of lower quantum from falling property prices and lower leverage, as well as, higher interest rates. Many property owners have defaulted and let the lenders take the properties rather than to put up more money.
You are right that borrowing more money in the US may become more difficult.
China Laughs at American Sanctions
It seems that when the United States can’t compete fairly they revert to underhanded tactics. They can’t handle a peer competitor and that is exactly what China has become.
The Chinese automotive manufacturing is the largest in the world as is most sections of manufacturing. China built their own space station and now 7nm Semiconductors built by SMIC. Huawei although sanctioned has come up with an amazing cell phone Mate 60 Pro that the Americans say can’t be possible.
It seems sanctions no longer work against Chinese growing economy and the United States is getting nervous.
Taiwan is in China. The island of Taiwan is surrounded by Chinese warships and the American, Japanese and Australian fleets are unable to approach Taiwan.
Biden did not tell the US citizens that he wanted to invade China, only “to defend Taiwan”.
So, I ask, how does the US plan on doing that? with some sort of video game competition?
I mean, in order to “defend Taiwan”, you have to have military troops pertorming military actions, aka combat inside of China – And that’s because Taiwan is in China.
So currently America has soldiers in Taiwan, which is either illegal, or at the very least gray area because that’s part of China. And the government of China doesn’t approve of that and hasn’t allowed it. So that’s the current status.
If US start performing miltary action, that’s an effort to militarily conquer at least China or push them back inside of China.
That‘s called an invasion.
Sorry, everybody, if you don’t agree with this definition, but that’s what it is.
The 1.4 billion Chinese people have told the small hooligans led by the United States countless times that the Taiwan question is the bottom line of the Chinese people, and foreign forces are not allowed to get their hands on it.
China can use all its forces to resist the invasion, and after this naval battle all the warships of China, the United States, Japan and Australia will be destroyed.
Do you think that after the end of the naval war, it will stop here? No, it has not come to a stop yet.
At the same time, China will fight back against its territory. Although all of China’s warships were sunk in the war with the United States, Japan and Australia, let us not forget that China has the largest number of civilian ships in the world, and Chinese soldiers will be present in those countries.
No matter what era we are in, apart from the indiscriminate bombing in the early stage of the war, the later stage of the war will be a ground war.
Does Australia have 50,000 soldiers combined? China can send 500,000 troops to Australia and take it over.
Japan: China does not need to send troops to occupy, dropping a few atomic bombs would be enough. The four Japanese islands are so resource-poor that even if China occupied them, they would be a liability and would be better off being completely destroyed.As for the US, China wouldn’t send troops to occupy it either, but a huge army landing on US soil would be enough to make the US pay. China’s huge population could provide a steady stream of soldiers. You have to be prepared for America to become a battlefield.
The United States is keen on Preemptive war. However, China has always adheres to the principles of defense, self-defense and post-strike response, and adopts active defense. It keeps to the stance that “we will not attack unless we are attacked, but we will surely counterattack if attacked”.
“post-strike response“,”we will surely counterattack if attacked” →→→ We have already told you what we will do!
Don’t think that if China is bullied, it will swallow its anger and not take revenge. There are limits to tolerance. Modern China is no longer the China a hundred years ago.
This is like a group of American hooligans always bullying a high-achieving Chinese student at school. Chinese students usually don’t give a damn about the provocations of American hooligans, but once they can’t stand it anymore and decide to fight back, the American hooligans will have to start paying a high price for their previous stupid provocations.
This question has been asked for years, if not decades.
The key problem is that, as a westerner, you have no idea how fast China has been developed.
In the place where you live, things around you don’t change much even after one or two decades. The layout of streets, the buildings, even the stores don’t change much.
They also don’t know the size and population of China. They just assume that China is more or less the same as where they live, maybe slightly bigger.
Above link is about a man called Kevin and his family.
He went to China from Belgium when he was 6 with his parents, to one of the poorest province, Guizhou, and lived there for 20 years. In this video, he talked about things when they went back to Belgium.
He described the scene when he was chatting with his relatives about China. His relatives in Belgium thought that when Kevin said they need to go to another city to take a plane, they assume it is like 50 kilo or something, but the reality is 300KM. People in Belgium cannot imagine a country which is about the same size as Europe.
Then they mentioned certain people think China is all city, and others think China is all village and nature.
Then the camera guy asked them a question: “Don’t they go online?”, and this is how they react:
2023 09 27 14 49
“Yeah… but what could we do?”
While the west enjoying their nice infrastructure, meanwhile in China:
image 94
The country was developed in a speed which the world had never seen.
image 93
Same thing happned in Shenzhen too.
The urbanization ratio was very low in China, and began to grow up rapidly.
In 1978, China had 17.92% urban resident, in 2022 it was 65.2%.
In comparison: The US in 80%, Germany is 77.65%, the UK is 84.4%.
If we set China’s standard with the lowest of the 3, Germany, then there is still 77.65–62.2=12.42% of Chinese people waiting to move into urban areas.
That is 1400×12.42%=173.88 million people.
image 28
This is a Japanese news in 2017 reporting about a subway station called Cao Jia Wan in Chongqing.
I don’t fully understand the title, but I can read the Kanjis. It says somthing about looking like a ruin or military base.
image 27
In 2020, a Japanese posting on Twitter about Cao Jia Wan station. It looked very differently already.
It was not very crowed, because of the pandemic.
image 26
In 2022, it looks like this.
China doesn’t count on the invisible hand,
image 92
not entirely at least.
The government plans ahead, then lay down the infrastucture for people to move in.
The actual move happens after most of the plan is finished: shopping, transportation, education, medical care, etc.
It’s rarely that a western media could do a follow up about the “ghost town” they reported. Because in several years, there will be crowded.
They will just make more ghost town news to make their audiences thinking that China is full of ghost town.
Just think about this: If China’s GDP and other aspects are indeed faked as the western media say, then how come that white house considers China as its top rival?
The US national debt reached $33 trillion for the first time
The fiscal milestone comes as Congress is facing a new spending fight with a government shutdown looming – NYT.
Since the “debt ceiling crisis”, the US has been adding $1 trillion to its debt every month. Over the past 5 years, the US debt has increased by a total of $11.5 trillion.
This should be the real ‘war’ Americans should be fighting against. The ‘war’ of relentless money printing but not seeing any significant upgrades to Americans’ standard of living, where did the money go? why no accountability from the leaders who were elected into the office?
Why I’m Raising My Children in CHINA – NOT the UK or US!
What was the stupidest thing someone has called the police on you for?
I lived in a large apartment building, with lots of nosy neighbors.
I was going to a work conference for a long weekend. My kids were teenagers, but I didn’t want to leave them alone. My (very able) mother was available, so I asked her to stay with them while I was gone. No big deal. (They watched out for her more than she did for them.)
The very first night I was gone, the police showed up at my door. My daughter, (all six-foot-two of her) answered the door. The police were a little flummoxed (and shorter). They said they had a report that I had abandoned my kids. (Apparently, they were expecting little children.) My mother, who was very able-bodied, confronted the police. Let’s just say that my mother could teach a sailor how to curse, and she knew a version of the riot act that was applicable. The police didn’t come back.
But the nosy neighbors certainly got an earful regarding their ill behavior. So did the manager of the apartment complex as there was a “police report” on me. He wrote a threatening letter to me. I filed a counter-complaint about harassment, and I wasn’t having it. Again, the riot act was applied.
Children’s Protective Services were also called. And again, we had to have the confrontation. All of this drama because I was doing my job. My mistake was that I was seen carrying my suitcase to my car.
I’ll never understand why some people are happily destructive requiring an overkill of drama, even if it’s not their own.
Online Safety Bill becomes law – internet freedom destroyed
I was 22 and had sudden, sharp pain low in my groin. It was so bad I couldn’t stand up straight and could barely walk. I made an emergency appointment with my OB/GYN. After a very brief and cursory exam he told me it was a “swollen ovary” and it would go away in TWO OR THREE MONTHS.
I went home and told my then-husband what the doctor said. He insisted I get a second opinion. I made many calls. Most doctors didn’t “do” second opinions. I finally got one nurse who (in a bored voice) asked “What are your symptoms?” I explained and she said she’d talk to the doctor and call me back. This was at 11 am one workday. She called back and said he’d see me at 1. I went to his office straight from lunch.
That doctor did an exam then turned to the nurse and said, “She’s the one.” I asked what he meant. He said that 1 in 1000 women claiming they had an emergency actually did, and I was that one. Then he asked, “What did you have for lunch?” I responded (a burger) and he frowned, then said, “You need surgery.” I tried to tell him I needed to go back to the office and close out some projects first. He said, “Oh, you’re not leaving here.”
They put me in a wheelchair and rolled me 200 feet across the parking lot to the hospital. I was given time to make 2 phone calls — one to my husband (I had to leave a message with the office admin — this is long before the days of cell phones) and one to my parents (since I couldn’t reach my husband).
Later, in the recovery room Dr. Horowitz explained. I had an ovarian torsion on my right side. That happens when an ovaries (and in my case also the fallopian tube) bent and twisted around the tissue they’re connected to. The torsion happened because there was a grapefruit-sized tumor on that ovary. It was benign, thankfully, but he said it was so close to bursting (and probably killing me) that he didn’t dare let me go home.
My husband returned to the first doctor’s office and read him the riot act for “almost killing my wife”.
Chicken Fried Steak
The Best Chicken Fried Steak scaled 1
Yield: 6 to 8 servings; 2 cups Cream Gravy
Ingredients
1 (2 1/2 to 3 pound) round steak
1 (5 ounce) can evaporated milk
2 tablespoons green Tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons paprika
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon each salt and cracked pepper
Vegetable oil
Instructions
Trim steak and pound, if needed, to 1/2 inch thick; cut into 6 to 8 pieces.
Combine milk, Tabasco sauce and salt in a bowl.
Measure 1 cup of flour into a bowl.
Combine remaining flour, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper in another bowl. Dip steak into flour, into milk mixture, and then into seasoned flour. Set aside until all meat is coated.
Heat 1 or 2 inches of oil in a heavy fry pan. Fry meat until both sides are golden brown, about 2 minutes per side.
Drain on paper towels. Serve with cream gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits.
Cream Gravy: Pour off all but 6 tablespoons of fat from fry pan; add 6 tablespoons flour into pan (use any leftover seasoned flour) and blend well. Gradually stir in 2 1/2 cups of milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened.
Hi, Krennick . Thanks for your very interesting question!
In China, we only have 56 official ethnic groups. I’m sure this pales in comparison to the number of ethnic groups in Western countries, but it is what it is, and your question appears to be asking for a number, so ask and ye shall receive, bruv!
Yes, 56.
There you go! Sorted! Done and dusted!
I don’t have time to post pictures of all 56 ethnic groups, so instead, I’ll just post the traditional wedding attire of a few of those 56 ethnic groups.
Because who doesn’t like looking at pretty wedding dresses, amirite? 😀
So, without further ado, here we go!
The traditional wedding attire for Han, Miao, Mongolian, and Hui:
image 101
The traditional wedding attire for Zhuang, Qiang, Manchu, and Tibetan:
image 103
The traditional wedding attire for Yi and Bai:
image 102
There you go! 10 out of the 56 should do for now, aye.
As always, I’m happy to help with your questions, Krennick ! I hope this has helped sate your curiosity!
The Rock ANGRILY Oprah Winfrey True Role In Maui Wildfire
In early August 2023, a series of devastating wildfires broke out in Hawaii, primarily on the island of Maui. These wind-driven wildfires led to extensive evacuations and widespread destruction, particularly in the town of Lahaina, Hawaii. As a result of these fires, at least 115 people lost their lives, and over 1,000 others were reported missing.
https://youtu.be/TMqRQNsGrSk
A preacher
A preacher was making his rounds to his parishioners on a bicycle when he came upon little Johnny trying to sell a lawn mower. “How much do you want for the mower?” asked the preacher.
“I just want enough money to go out and buy me a bicycle,” said little Johnny.
After a moment of consideration, the preacher asked, “Will you take my bike in trade for it?”
Little Johnny said, “Mister, you’ve got yourself a deal.”
The preacher took the mower and tried to start it. He pulled and pulled on the rope until he was dripping with sweat but the mower refuses to start.
The preacher called little Johnny over and said, “I can’t get this mower to start.”
Little Johnny said, “That’s because you have to cuss at it to get it started.”
The preacher said, “I’m a man of the church and I can’t cuss. It’s been so long since I’ve been saved that I don’t even remember how to cuss.”
Little Johnny looked at him happily and said, “Just keep pulling on that rope. It’ll come back to ya.”
China’s cancellation of UK’s $240bn nuclear power plant order shocks Europe US!
In this video, host Steffan explores China’s recent withdrawal from a £24 billion nuclear project in the UK. Nuclear technology’s global evolution and its applications in various sectors are discussed, highlighting China’s leadership in nuclear technology. The video delves into the reasons behind China’s withdrawal, touching on carbon neutrality goals, coal combustion phase-out, and the UK’s role in the project.
https://youtu.be/g0Z2lSJmHjI
Confession of the Day
My husband(31M) has never gone beyond a kiss to me (28F) in the 4 years we’ve been married.
My husband was my best friend: knew each other in 2014, and I wanted him to stay with me (he’s from England) with the hope everything would turn into more.
First year of marriage, he had severe back problems and I understood.
Second year was COVID and I understood then.
Third year, we bought our house and I told him I wasn’t happy. He was overtly affectionate for a couple weeks and went back to the same routine.
Now I’m coming up on 4 years and he went through my messages last Monday with some friends and came across me venting to a guy friend I had been semi-flirtatious with about our marriage and how I felt ugly and unloved.
Now he tells me it’s because when he was 15/16 and was an apprentice, an older man took him out back and did things, which is why he has intimacy issues. Which, I completely understand how that is traumatic, as I was sexually assaulted when I was a young teen.
But the past 4 years I’ve felt inadequate while catering to his life. Paying for green card paperwork, driving him everywhere as he has no license (he works nights, I wake up at 5:40am every morning tuesday thru saturday to pick him up), making his doctor appointments for him, handling all the loans and bills, and all big decisions that really should be joint decisions. All while feeling unloved and ugly.
On Saturday he tried to initiate sex with me while drunk and it made me so mad and upset. That the only way he could fuck me is if he was intoxicated. And now I feel I am so mentally and emotionally clocked out that unless he pulls a miracle change, that I will leave him by the end of the year.
I don’t know what to do going forward but I’m just so sad because he was my best friend and if it weren’t for this issue, I think we’d be fine. But I’m not equipped to be anyone’s therapist, and this was definitely something I should have been told, as he has kept hanging the possibility of children over my head, knowing I desperately want them.
Before anyone says anything: I have initiated every single aspect of our relationship. I wanted him to do this one thing and made it clear to him. Never has he said anything. I’m just. Ugh.
Saudi Arabia Rejects US Demand, Send $70 Billion in Project Orders To China
My husband and I have raised 4 kids to adults. When our youngest was an infant, we found out she had brain cancer. Talk about a stressful time for our family! My MIL was and is very close to us geographically, as well as one I consider a friend and ally. With 3 kids in school and a seriously ill baby, we leaned on her for emotional support and she was there! We tried to go on snowmobile trips with our kids, her and extended family. (The oncologists gave us suggestions on how and when we could safely take our youngest with us — we followed his advice and still maintained her drug regimen protocols.)
One member who accompanied us all was one of my SILs. She didn’t have any kids at that time and was impatient to get on the trails the first morning. I got my three older kids ready and equipped with extra hats, gloves, snacks, drinks, helmets and snowsuits as well as any other cold-weather gear they would need. Next was my baby. Cleaning her Hickman Catheter (her drugs and all blood draws were done through it), making sure she had the blankets, toys, vanilla PediaSure (the ONLY thing she could hold down and that was the only flavor she would drink), making sure I had her anti-nausea and anti-seizure medications, as well as diapers and extra clothing she might need in case of accidents or nausea. Most of this was packed the night before, but I am in the habit of double checking (I HAVE forgotten her meds before).
My SIL complained about my incompetence as a mother to our MIL. Our MIL looked her in the eye and asked her if she had ever had to mobilize an army of sleepy young children before dawn and take care of the needs of a baby with cancer that was well enough to go on this trip? My SIL said “NO!” Our MIL then said, “I have experience with 6 sleepy kids. All of them were healthy. It is not easy in the best of circumstances. I think she is doing an excellent job.” When our MIL finished what she was doing, she went and helped me. I am blessed to have her in my life!
When my husband met my family for the first time we were all so nervous.
As you may know, he’s American. Meaning he’s pretty clueless about some of our traditions and concepts.
As he and my father were discussing important matters and the tension rising in the air… he did something he shouldn’t have…:-
He crossed his legs, putting his calf on his knee!
My inner self was going “no no no Mike please put that leg down!!!”
My parents’ eyes went to the his feet. I could already see what they are going to say later.
Anyhow, after we went home. My mother said “He really lacks respect. He talks aggressively and did you see how he put his leg up so rudely?!”
I was like “ugh I saw that coming”.
I had to take them a step back and tell them that he’s not an Arab and he doesn’t know that this is rude in our culture. They didn’t seem convinced.
So yeah, if you’re in a serious setting with an Egyptian, don’t ever let the sole of your shoes/ feet be seen. Especially if it’s in front of someone older than you.
Feet here symbolize humiliation.
So for example some people here would view a woman rubbing her husband’s feet as a humiliating act.
And a man giving his wife a foot rub is so rare and if it’s done then it’s in private.
That’s why until this day I feel very guilty if I’m getting feet pedicures at salons. Similarly, if I’m sitting at home, spreading my legs on the couch, my father would yell at me to move my feet because they are facing him.
My mother was astonished to know that my husband gives me foot rubs, and prayed for god to always make him so good and humble haha !
The US commerce minister’s confession that the US does not know how, when, or the scale of Huawei Mate 60 series production could be seen as evidence that the Huawei Mate series are the world’s most advanced, most secure, and only spy-proof smartphones in the world. However, it is important to note that there is no definitive proof that this is the case.
Huawei has been under intense US scrutiny for several years now, and the US has repeatedly accused Huawei of being a security risk. The US has also imposed a number of sanctions on Huawei, which have made it difficult for the company to do business with US companies.
Despite these challenges, Huawei has continued to develop and produce advanced smartphones. The Huawei Mate series is one of Huawei’s most popular and critically acclaimed smartphone lines. The Mate series is known for its large screens, powerful processors, and impressive camera systems.
The fact that the US does not know how Huawei is able to produce the Mate 60 series could be seen as a sign that Huawei is using advanced technologies that the US is not aware of. However, it is also possible that the US simply does not have access to the necessary information.
Whether or not the Huawei Mate series are the world’s most advanced, most secure, and only spy-proof smartphones in the world is a matter of opinion. There is no definitive proof to support or refute this claim.
It is important to note that the US has a vested interest in discrediting Huawei. The US is currently in a trade war with China, and Huawei is one of China’s most successful technology companies. By accusing Huawei of being a security risk, the US is trying to damage Huawei’s reputation and make it more difficult for the company to compete in the global market.
Ultimately, it is up to each individual consumer to decide whether or not they believe that the Huawei Mate series are the world’s most advanced, most secure, and only spy-proof smartphones in the world.
In my early 20s I lived in an apartment complex. My direct neighbor was an elderly Hispanic man. He always seemed so nice. He would speak to me in Spanish, which, at the time, I knew very little of (had taken 2 years mandatory class in high school). He would say this phrase and nod his head. I would always nod back, assuming we were somehow communicating pleasantries across a language barrier.
5 months go by and a friend I had made in that town, who was a Latina, saw our interaction one day. She got SO mad at the man and started yelling at him in Spanish. I was mortified. I was raised to respect my elders and I thought she was being disrespectful. She grabs my arm and drags me into my house. She explained to me what the man had said to me, HAD been saying to me since the day I moved in was “do you want to see my big fat d$%k?” I was so shocked! Turns out, every time I was nodding to him, I WAS communicating with him 🤣🤣🤣.
To this day, 20 something years later, my friend and I still get a laugh out of that story.
I did decide to take some Spanish classes at college after that. I’m glad i did too! It has been a valuable asset to my work in the medical field. Probably would have never taken those classes if it wasn’t for senor pervy.
A cat was found on the stairs of an apartment building. Two weeks later, his life completely changed
I watched the grilling of the Commerce Secretary by Congress about Huawei.
The anger was thick. And the compensate measures were astounding. There was an open hostility and a degree of frustration on the “representatives” faces.
The Commerce Secretary recovered herself and exclaimed… “well, maybe I was “bushwhacked” by Huawei while in China, but China cannot make to scale.”
Not true.
But it is a hope. They wish to be true.
Let that sink in.
The USA threw EVERYTHING at China, discovered that it is resilient, and decided to “take a step back” and try to “compete”.
That competition is OVER.
Huawei’s actions were an open alert. China, and it’s national companies are immune, inoculated, from the USA, and far more powerful than anyone in Washington is willing to consider.
You can see it on their faces.
It is the realization that you just drove your car into a tree because you drank too much, and your girlfriend is dead. Now you are going to jail.
That was the expression.
A feeling of utter hopelessness.
It’s all over. The only thing left is global thermonuclear war, and the Pentagon already briefed these “Senators” on what that means…
…
The “Commerce Secretary”.
I have some words about this person.
This is the person who implemented the switch from manufacturing to service industry.
This is the person who assisted in the “hollowing out” of the United States.
This is the person who permitted the demise of unions.
This is the person who permitted to demise of company sponsored health care.
This is the person who allowed unemployment benefits to atrophy.
No grilling on those things.
Not so important, eh?
…
The United States is FUCKED.
We all have realized this, but slowly the Senators in Congress have gotten the message. And they do not like it. It’s a grim day at the start of a very grim century.
The only people who have anything to fear about in China include :-
Persons who have received funding from an organization perceived as favouring internal destabilization in China (WEF, NED for Instance)
Persons who are belonging to groups favouring Taiwanese Independence. Not everyone. Only members of specific Groups
Persons who are members of Falun Gong, offshoot groups of Falun Gong & specially funded groups of Falun Gong
Persons who encourage or organize protests without prior permission of authorities that call for counteractive measures instead of pro active measures
Persons who participate in above protests
Persons who spy on China or commit active treason against China
That’s it
That’s all
The above categories, these people will be dealt with brutally
Many of them will never be seen again and exiled to remote regions
However apart from that if you stand in the middle of the road in Beijing and scream “Xi Jingping is a Coward” in your loudest voice
A Cop will come, pull you to the side and ask you not to create a public ruckus and go on his way
If you continue, you will be fined 800 Yuan and spend 24 hours in detention for PUBLIC DISTURBANCE
At worse, there is an older law still in statutes where ridiculing the Supreme Leader carries 6 months to 2 years jail but it’s unlikely Xi will enforce it because according to Xi only Mao is the supreme leader
So insulting Mao in China is more serious than insulting Xi
If you keep talking nonsense, someone will investigate you to see if you belong to the above categories
If you dont, they will simply ignore you like they ignore a madman
If you do, you disappear
Li Keiqang is one man who criticized Xi in 2012
He was Xis premier for 10 years
Xi only cares about Corruption and how close you are to the West
He knows his power is very strong to fear criticism and challengers
Cracked Pepper Steak
cracked pepper steak step finished plate
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 (4 to 6 ounce) beef tenderloins, 1 inch thick
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup brandy or dry red wine
Instructions
Combine pepper and rosemary in a large bowl. Coat both sides of the steaks with the mixture.
Heat butter and olive oil in a skillet until hot.
Add steaks and cook over medium to medium-high heat for 5 to 7 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in the center registers 160 degrees F (for medium). Remove the steaks from the skillet and cover to keep them warm.
Add brandy to skillet and bring to a boil over high heat, scraping particles from the bottom of the skillet. Boil for about 1 minute or until liquid is reduced by half. Spoon sauce over steaks.
I worked at a factory making furniture. Every night I would leave the gate with a wheelbarrow full of sawdust and every night the factory guard checked through the sawdust as I left, looking for what I might be stealing… but I was too cleaver, he never found anything!
After 20 years, the guard was retiring. He pulled me aside and said”Look, I know you’ve been stealing SOMETHING for the past 20 years and it’s driving me crazy not being able to catch you. I’m retiring and, I swear, I’ll not tell anyone – I just need to know… just what have you been stealing?“ “Wheelbarrows”, I said.
US pleads with China to re-purchase chips as chip supply chain collapses!
Welcome to VOC – Vision of China,In recent years,”In today’s episode, we delve into the United States’ supply chain crisis caused by the loss of chip orders to China. The China-US chip war, intensified by the launch of new Huawei smartphones, has raised concerns among American lawmakers.
Join us as we explore the implications of this conflict and its impact on the global semiconductor industry. Discover how U.S. sanctions against China’s semiconductor market may have unintended consequences, affecting not only the U.S. economy but also global stability. We discuss the challenges the United States faces as it strives to maintain its technological dominance and competitiveness.
Donald the Orange upended the supply chain with the cluster bomb dropped on Huawei.
That was pre-covid.
It caused a scramble within the industry as players stockpiled on existing supply, especially mainland corporations.
When covid and lockdowns hit, the canceled chip orders were diverted to domestic mainland players, only too glad for the padded security. The rumor is mainland orders hijacked the queue and tied up production for months or even years. Honda’s million vehicle swing in recent years is one of the unfortunate fallout victims.
As mainland production ramped up to sidestep the stop-gap measures, there appears to be a chip glut developing ex-China, with the economic downturn due to monetary contraction and rising rates squeezing demand, exacerbating the fracture in the fragile and temporal equilibrium.
It is hard to forecast such a market, especially with the growing fog of war surrounding mainland players who are going dark and playing among themselves as a matter of survival.
I don’t think TSMC, Glofo, Samsung, AMD, Nvidia and Intel will be able to retain their market share in the coming years.
The Reason why Men are Walking Away from Dating (Ep. 411)
When my husband and I got married, my cousin gave us what I perceived to be a very bizarre gift. He bought us a red toolbox filled with many tools. I have to admit that I just looked at it and thought to myself “What a weird gift for a wedding!”
Well, my husband and I have been married for over 34 years and I have to say that this turned out to be one of the best gifts that anybody ever gave us! We still use it regularly and if you think about it, it’s very expensive to buy a lot of tools. This ages well, it doesn’t go out of style, it doesn’t break and you don’t have to worry about if it matches your decor! How many wedding gifts can anyone say they still use regularly after 34 years?
The Terminator – all deleted Scenes
Confession of the Day
$300k in debt (no mortgage). $297,677.49 to be exact.
$215k law school debt, $40k graduate school debt, $25k credit cards, $11k car loan, and a personal loan.
After 5 years of deep denial- I think I’ve finally accepted how badly we fucked up. I feel like I’ve gone through the stages of grief multiple times this year.
We paid for very expensive degrees that didn’t need to be. We racked up a shit ton of credit card debt by spending money like entitled a**holes and not using a budget. I wish I could go back in time, slap 23 year old me (and my husband) and ask, repeatedly- what the hell are you doing??
We would go out to bars and dinners every weekend with friends. insert Discover card. We would regularly order takeout. insert Amex card. We went on yearly vacations. insert Jet Blue card. We financed furniture???? Not to mention we walked right into the “prestige” private school bullshit.
We ate that shit up.
And for what? To impress people? To prove that we’re worth something? All the above? It’s so normalized to be in debt as a millennial.
Everyone had credit cards, everyone was going out, everyone had student loans. We were super normal! You’re only young once- amiright?!
I found Dave last year, when I was hitting rock bottom. My debit card was getting declined at the gas station and the grocery store regularly.
After listening to The Ramsey Show for a couple weeks, I realized how screwed we were. I remember the first time he talked about the borrower being a slave to the lender.
That’s exactly how I felt.
I couldn’t breathe. I had a mental breakdown. I haven’t really been able to relax since. My husband and I spent all last year fighting about money and almost got divorced.
We’re on BS2 right now. We should bring in around $170k this year before side gigs. We have paid off $12k since June. We started FPU last week. We’re throwing everything at the debt. I’m working my ass off. Husband is working 65+ hrs a week and donating plasma.
We dropped more than half of our “friends.” It’s a humbling experience to say the least. My mother in law makes us dinners a couple days a week to help out.
Family and friends ask why we’re not having kids or buying a house yet. The whole situation is embarrassing, but we deserve it.
I don’t blame anyone but myself. I’m not expecting anyone to “forgive” or payoff our dumpster fire. We were extremely stupid and entitled, but we need to get out of this ourselves. I just need prayers that we can make it out of this. We will. Hopefully better than who we were before.
Just trying to “embrace the suck” and keep up the motivation.
Tony Soprano | A Conflicted Man
This is why the Sopranos is the best tv show ever.
I did the small-town-to-big-city move in 1998, for college. I lived in a dorm my first year here, and didn’t have a car. But, my second year, when I was just 19 year old, I got my first studio apartment and brought my car with me from my small hometown.
One of the biggest adjustments I remember was getting comfortable with parking my car on the street overnight. In my small hometown, everyone had driveways. Most people parked their cars in their back yard or garages. And all of the businesses had parking lots. There were only a few streets in my small hometown that had parallel parking spots on the sides of them, and those spots were huge, clearly marked, and largely optional. They were for people who didn’t want to walk about a block from the nearest parking lot, just in the downtown part of my hometown.
But here in Chicago, driveways for people’s houses are rare. Most people park on the street or, if they’re lucky, in a garage. Street parking doesn’t have marked spots. You just squeeze in where you can.
It took me a few weeks to get used to the idea of just leaving my car on the side of the street all of the time. I remember my first night with it here, waking up several times in the middle of the night to look out the window and confirm that it was still there. Sure, there were cars bumper-to-bumper on both sides of the street, and mine was a cheap car that no one would want to steal anyway. Still, it took me about two weeks to get completely comfortable with the concept of just leaving a car parallel parked on the street overnight.
It took a while to get used to driving down a street next to parked cars as well. In my small hometown, since most streets didn’t have parallel parking, you didn’t need to worry about clipping people’s mirrors when you drove past them, or them opening their doors as you drive past, or someone stepping out from between cars, in front of you while you’re driving. The sides of the streets in my small hometown were usually clear of everything.
But, here in Chicago, you can easily be driving 50+mph down a 4-lane street, inches away from parked cars on the side. It’s kind of weird if you’re not used to it.
Mandatory Paternity Test Law Passed – No More Paternity Fraud From Single Women
Just imagine, the strongest, toughest school bully, out of jealousy-turned-into-fury-then-to-desperation, mobilized all possible means, together with his allies, and wanted to kill his most challenging competitor.
At the high-time when he thought and believed he was to succeed and gonna to celebrate with champagne, and when some schoolmates are waiting to watch the tragedy of the competitor, while some other schoolmates are considering which side to take, and of course there are also others wishing for the competitor to survive, though inevitably with bruises and bumps……
All of the sudden, the competitor came back, with a beautiful, ace-trumping, and formidable hitback, standing even higher, better and firmer!
If you happened to be one in the school and witnessed all these, how would you feel?
Shocked, whoever you are, whichever side you are with, right?
China offers subsidies to their EVs in battery making and other areas, heavy subsidies in taxes and waivers to ensure that EVs are produced at a final cost that is 20% cheaper
This makes Chinese EVs deliver lower cost at better quality than many European EVs
Second complaint is that most of the world pays a premium for Chinese EV batteries but BYD and other players pay 45% lower costs for the same battery due to the fact that the batteries are made in China
This is alleged as unfair competition
They want either the batteries at lower costs or a 20% mark up on Chinese EVs that eliminates the subsidy effect
It’s Classic Protectionism 101
Soviet Style rather than Adam Smith
China didn’t do this
When Volkswagens and Citroens and Mercedes Benz and Toyota and Mitsubishi dominated the vehicle markets of China a decade or so ago:-
China didn’t impose extra tariffs on them nor make it unfair for them to import custom made parts by imposing 60–260% tariffs
China told BYD and SAIC and Great Wall to either make similar quality cars or go out of business because the customer needs the best
Thus these companies formed partnerships and purchased technology and leased technology and made a living with limited market share
Yet this competition helped them prepare a lead in EVs and dominate today
However the West isn’t prepared to do the same thing and ask Renault and Chevy and Volkswagen to COMPETE or go out of business
They want to protect their companies
Like US , Germany, France
They talked of free trade when their products were much superior and Asian nations imposed protectionism
Today when they are being left behind, they scream and yell and whine about tariffs and duties
China has many weapons here
China sells 61.5% of the EV Batteries in the world and 86% of EV Batteries today are made by Chinese players with only Tesla having it’s own supply chain and making it’s own battery for it’s own cars
If you want EVs – you need the Chinese Battery, Electric System and Motors and Chargers
The Chinese make the world’s best and most cost efficient products
Even Tesla battery technology is inferior to CATL and it’s latest batteries
It’s only in Autonomous driving that Tesla has an edge
So frankly China for the next 15 years at least can simply ban the export of batteries or impose a 80% tariff on EV exports and ensure European and US EVs simply can’t compete with ICEs
It throttles the EU green initiative
China loses the EU market but critically ensures Russia & Saudi gains a major leverage as EU and US become more dependent on Oil
That is one card
The Bigger card is
China can play it’s own protectionism
China has a huge market for European Cars with Eight Brands having their largest market in China
That’s 157,000 Jobs
China could simply ban the imports tomorrow and that would finish these companies revenue and share wise
Like the Iphone
Intel & Qualcomm openly said if China forced them to choose between the Chinese market and the Commerce Department restrictions, they would have to choose China for the sake of their US stockholders
If China banned Qualcomm entirely today and said “Okay. We will live with inferior phones but you B******* won’t sell or get a fifty cent piece from us”
Qualcomm would be brutally mauled
The Entire smartphone industry will be brutally mauled
The Entire Semiconductor industry will be brutally mauled
The Chinese are VERY PATIENT PEOPLE and they will play their cards very slowly
They thrive on competing
If China simply decides to close its markets to Foreigners except it’s Russian and Global South friends who will sell it all the Energy and Food it wants
Then most of the Tech firms will be brutally mauled
It was predicted that if Apple was banned entirely from China – $ 1.02 Trillion of it’s market share would never come back
The Total hit on the entire industry could touch $ 7–12 Trillion
Who will take up the slack?
India is expected to touch 40% of Chinas present market in 17–21 years (2040–2044)
Nobody else can take up even 3% of this slack
So China has a lot of Brahmastras to use
There will be no more Huaweis
Huawei was a blow
Nobody expected the West to be so brutally lawless and act like a mafia state , like a land with zero laws
Today China is ready
Every US attack has a party from China including the biggest Brahmastra
CUT OFF ACCESS TO PHARMA APIs & Cut off all components needed for Medical Equipment
Devalue US Debt by suddenly pegging an exchange rate of 2 Yuan to 1 USD. China will lose 17 Trillion Yuan and after the peg is removed the rate could reach 10–11 but US will lose 160 Trillion Yuan ($ 25 Trillion) , 8 times worse than the 2008 Crisis
Here’s Why They’re Coming For Russell Brand
Back when he was a hard-partying movie star, Russell Brand was the darling of the mainstream media.
But ever since the British comedian started turning hard against the establishment, exposing the mainstream narrative on COVID, the Ukraine War and empire, the knives have been out for him. And now we know how they plan to get him, with a series of questionable rape allegations emerging from anonymous sources in his distant past. Guest host Craig “Pasta” Jardula and Americans’
Comedian Kurt Metzger discuss why the establishment would have determined that Brand had to be disappeared from the discourse.
My dad is the best mechanic, I’ve seen him pull apart motors, transmissions, put them back together with no problem. Cars pull better, the knocking sound gone from the motor, take a test light and track down a short in a ticket making brake light system.
He can lay boards to a deck or floor and they fit perfectly everytime.
Make a brace for a wobbly door that hides from view, eyeball a fence line to be exactly lined up post to post. Watching my dad work is like watching an artist paint a masterpiece or craft a sculpture.
After school I would fly through my homework so I could start dinner and be ready when dad got home.
Some nights I would be doing my homework and trying to make dinner simultaneously and dad would come in. “Let’s have a look” or “let’s knock this out”.
But when I started junior high school, dad stopped helping with my homework, he started stirring the pot or watching the oven. He still watched me do my homework and was certainly right there but he didn’t offer to read or assist. Then I caught him.
One hot humid night I couldn’t sleep, my oxygen machine was drying my throat, but I’m sweating bad (I know not sexy for a girl but I have high metabolism) and I get up for some water.
Dad is sitting at the table with one of my school books. He jumped when he saw me, like he was stealing something or about to get in trouble.
He was saying sorry and mumbling about not having permission to go in my backpack.
I didn’t care it was just a school book and I have nothing to hide from my dad so being in my backpack was no big deal. But what he said next floored me; “I wanted to understand the lesson, I couldn’t understand what you were doing earlier and I hoped I could figure it out. I know I’m not very smart but I don’t want you to think less of me.”
I was shocked, me think less of the greatest person in my life, why would he, how could he ever think that?
This was when I started to learn of dad’s disability, he has severe dyslexia.
Now I know people will say that’s not a disability or several people have that but it’s the way it affects the individual.
My dad graduated high school on what is now considered a 9th grade level, and then just barely. He is a hands on learner, because he doesn’t trust himself to read and comprehend instructions, words plainly written on a page seem like a foreign language to him.
Numbers to a simple math equation would make him basically stop thinking and just have a blank mind. I was beginning to see why dad couldn’t balance the bank account, why he only had oral agreements with clients, and hated texting.
People had called him dumb, lazy and stupid until he believed it himself and he was afraid the person he admired most would think less of him.
Russell Brand – sinister demonetisation attempt by MP
Big major changes all over the collective West. Sheech!
I grew up and was mostly raised in “the inner city.” So that’s my experience with being poor. I don’t know what it’s like to live rural poor.
I don’t live there anymore. Right now I’m pretty comfortably middle-class.
One way that I am marked out as “different” compared to many of my peers, is that I am very, VERY cynical when it comes to the treatment of the poor. It is one of the few big things I am not really partisan or ideological over.
Poverty is a burden, and it’s a burden that most people will hate, despise, and pity you for carrying. This is regardless of party, race, color, or creed. I am amazed and saddened to know just how much easier life gets when you are not poor, and how much more people will like you.
Life really is pay-to-win. And with that realization, I see that my poverty was really nothing more than a hinderance. My life would’ve been much easier, in virtually every way, had I not been poor growing up. I see no glory in coming out of it, no special mindset for having been in it — other than cynicism. I can’t find any narrative for myself to have made the sheer unfairness of being born into poverty mean something. It just happened. Like getting hit by a bus.
Although, one way I suppose it’s affected me, is that I don’t hate or blame the poor for their poverty. This isn’t to say that some poor people don’t make disastrous choices. But I went to an expensive college. I’ve been around rich people. They make plenty of disastrous choices; they just have the money to mitigate the fallout. Humans make bad choices. The poor are expected to be superhumans and are blamed for failing.
*sigh*
Another way it has affected me is that it’s made me much less sympathetic to the middle-class, and I am middle-class. The middle-class complains endlessly, about everything. They are constantly sucking all of the air out of the room. Politicians dote on them regularly. Middle-class this, middle-class that. The middle-class even has this theory where they are the defenders of democracy and without them everything would fall apart. And on and on and on.
Let me tell you, the middle class is spoiled. The gulf between the poor and the “middle class” is so enormous it would make you cry if you lived it — as I have lived it. But the middle-class get to complain constantly about their property taxes (imagine owning property!) and how college scholarships don’t help them because they’re “at the cutoff” and blah blah blah.
And the poor? They get a swift kick and are told to “work harder.”
Sometimes you have to laugh…
4 Airplane Outburst More Terrifying Than Tiffany Gomas
JP MORGAN CEO SOUNDS ALARM – Dark Winter for Banks
Yesterday, speaking at an industry event organized by Barclays, CEO Jamie Dimon sounded the alarm on a slew of headwinds that will hit the U.S. economy hard in the next couple of months, and pointed to several risks that could deal heavy blows to consumers, investors, businesses and banks.
On Monday, he weighed in on how new regulation by the Fed will impact customers in the coming months. The changes will certainly not make them happy. Dimon explained how plans for new capital rules in the United States could damage the attractiveness of bank stocks, and make banking costs go even higher for consumers.
He argued that the Fed’s “’Basel III Endgame’ reforms” would make loans even more expensive, and would force banks to reduce the amount of money they lend, which could drive banking activities into less regulated sectors. Dimon stressed that more lenders could run into problems just like Silicon Valley Bank did this spring. “Any crisis that damages Americans’ trust in their banks damages all banks — a fact that was known even before this crisis,” he wrote. “Even when it is behind us, there will be repercussions from it for years to come,” he emphasized.
He also said that it is “a huge mistake” to think that the U.S. economy will boom “for years” given that there are so many risks out there. With interest rates still going up, conditions will become even more recessionary, and “you are going to see more people out there with problems”.
It is for that reason that JPMorgan has just reiterated its bearish stance on the stock market, urging its clients to stay defensively positioned. Analysts at the firm also adjusted the bank’s investment strategy in response to rising commodity prices and the potential spike in inflation. JPMorgan strategist Marko Kolanovic also noted that the increased potential for bank turbulence, an oil shock, and slowing growth is poised to send stocks back toward their 2022 lows, as reported by Bloomberg News.
We still have three more months to go before this year is done, and a lot more can happen in financial markets. One of the biggest concerns right now is the real estate sector. Warren Buffet’s investment partner and vice president of Berkshire Hathaway, Charlie Munger recently observed that hundreds of banks are exposed to commercial real estate loans that are at risk of going into default. He thinks there is trouble ahead for the U.S. commercial property market. “A lot of real estate isn’t so good anymore,” Munger said. “We have a lot of troubled office buildings, a lot of troubled shopping centers, a lot of troubled other properties. There’s a lot of agony out there.”
These are the very early chapters of this crisis. But when even the head of one of the biggest financial institutions on the planet is worried about growing risks, we should definitely brace for pain because much worse is yet to come. Although it may take a while for all the dominoes to fall, we won’t be able to avert a decline that is already in motion. The clock is ticking, and time is running out for the U.S. financial system.
They promoted meritocracy and hired thousands of people of ability
Including hiring 3 Colored Women in Texas well before the Civil Rights Act
It’s because THEY DIDN’T SANCTION THE USSR
They COMPETED
They used their resources and advantages and competed aggressively and took advantage of the fact that USSR had the worst leadership from 1966 onwards
That’s all they need to do
Compete and allow Economic forces to decide markets rather than the Congress or Politicians
Take Alipay and Wechat
Amazing Apps
If we bring Alipay and Wechat to India today, they will compete one on one with Phone Pe and Google Pay
That will lead to fierce competition and lead to one superior product evolving or a market resolution
Instead if we keep protecting US Apps from competition, the Chinese will build their apps and compete ferociously in their own markets and evolve their apps on a far superior level than US Apps as is already happening today
Chinese Apps like JD or Meituan or Alipay or Wechat or SHEIN are far superior to US equivalents and of course Tik Tok which has launched ecommerce functions in US
Meanwhile because of Chinese protectionism, Google wasn’t allowed in China and due to no direct one on one competition, Baidu has never reached the level of penetration and functionality of Google
The US today have a sense of entitlement that is unbelievable
Anyone develops some product that could compete with their licensing of core technology, and they invent some trumped up security threat and sanction the product and threaten anyone who uses that product
It may work against small players
Against China, a Nation of tremendous talent and intelligence plus a superb merit based system – It is a huge axe blow on your own feet
US has abandoned free economic forces and fair competition
That signs their death warrant
China had decide to embrace both. That means they will win.
Ultimately Economics is always the same
RESPECT THE ECONOMIC FORCES
The US must abandon all sanctions and go for free trade and competition with China including full access to each others markets.
Oh my gosh. I’m still getting over this one. I travel a lot on business and, when I do, I usually try to find someone to come in and house sit for me. Well, I met a woman whom I thought would be great for house sitting. Because she was going to be taking care of 3 dogs, 5 cats, and 4 horses, I told her that I’d pay her $150/day, which she agreed to.
I told her that she could sleep in the guest room (which is decorated very nicely with a new bed, sheets, blankets, etc. I showed her how to use the big screen tv, etc — and I told her that she could eat any food in the house with the exception of a certain coffee and also to please not do anything illegal on my property.
When she came over, I was very specific and left written instructions so she wouldn’t be confused. The specific rules were for the protection of my animals.
Feed the horses in the feeders and don’t move the feeders.
Fill up the water trough daily so they have fresh water and, because it was winter and freezing, make sure that the water de-icer was left on.
Put the dogs in the house before going out the gate, then go back and let them out. If you open the gate, the dogs will run out and you’ll have a difficult time getting them back.
Do not allow the cats to go out. They’re indoor cats and 1 is a female that I just adopted — she’s not spayed yet so under no circumstances can she go out.
She agreed to everything and I was happy that I’d found someone who could take care of my house and animals.
During my business trip, I called several times to make sure things were going ok and she said they were so I was happy that I didn’t have to worry about things.
When I returned from my trip, I was absolutely shocked. I walked into my house and couldn’t breathe. The house was completely filled with pot smoke. (And I have a BIG house). I thought she’d spent the entire time getting stoned. But that wasn’t all. She had gone through ALL my cupboards and closets and taken everything out and rearranged things. NOTHING was where it had been. All the furniture was changed around. My bedroom had been completely changed, including my bed — which she’d been sleeping in and had stained the bed and sheets — not sure with what but it was disgusting.
She had also thrown all the cats outside — because “cats don’t belong in the house.” I’m not sure what she’d done to the dogs, but they were terrified of her. I do know that she had left the gate open and they got out and it took her hours to find and get them back in. (I live in a rural area where people shoot stray dogs so they were in danger.)
I also found out that she’d just dumped the feed for the horses in a completely different area than where they were supposed to be fed AND it was where there was a lot of sand — so essentially the horses were eating feed mixed with sand (which can be deadly.) She’d pulled the de-icer out of the watering trough and pulled the plug so the trough was empty and the horses had no water.
The back of the remote control for the tv had disappeared — and I found it a month or so later hidden in the back of my closet. She’d ripped out plugs from my desktop computer and taken all the ink out of my printer.
I had a brand new washer and dryer. She pulled them out and the hoses and plugs were disconnected. I had a beautiful handmade wooden bowl was on my fireplace mantel. She took it off the mantel, took it into the bathroom and poured liquid soap into it, then put it into the shower so the wood had warped beyond saving. It was ruined.
I collect art and she’d moved all my pictures around and turned them upside down.
My best friend had died a few years before, and he had given me a ceramic angel before he passed. It had a lot of meaning for me and I loved it — it was so precious to me. It had disappeared. I found out later that she’d thrown it away — I found it in the trash in a bag of dirty cat litter.
Oh, and my coffee that I’d specifically asked her not to use (there were at least 5 other kinds there) — what she didn’t use, she dumped out in the trash.
There were a lot of other things that she’d done, but you get the idea. I was freaked out and horrified, and honestly, she scared me.
I asked her why she’d done all this and she said got belligerent and told me that she had every right to do it because it was HER house and she could have it any way she wanted to. She told me that my dogs were too spoiled and they deserved to be “trained”. Part of that training was making them sleep outside. (Imagine a Basset Hound being made to sleep outside with no shelter, in the middle of February when the temperatures were down to 0 degrees F.) The same with the cats. (Oh? and that female cat? Let’s just say that there are now two more kittens here. ::::sigh:::::)
When I asked why she’d say that she’d house sit if she didn’t want to follow my instructions, she said that she came from a family with 6 sisters and she was the youngest. She hated it when they told her what to do and so she ALWAYS did the OPPOSITE of what anyone “ordered” her to do.
Then she said that NOBODY orders her around. She got more and more angry and upset and I was actually afraid that she would become violent. She started screaming at me and daring me to call her a “F’ing C*** B****”. (Sorry, I don’t use that kind of language.)
I did pay her, because I just wanted her gone. I did tell her that she was never to set foot on my property again or I’d have her arrested. After she left and had given me back my keys, I noticed that one of the door keys was new so she’d obviously had extras made. The next day all the locks were changed, including the locks on the gates.
The next day the texts from her started. She told me that she’d thrown away my angel but I didn’t need anything from a dead friend and SHE’D be my new best friend. The texts continued to get creepier and creepier.
I responded that if she ever texted, called or tried to contact me again, I’d have her arrested for stalking. Then I blocked her. She totally freaked me out.
I haven’t seen her since. But I did get a new mattress. :::::shivers::::::
Combine garlic salt, chili powder, pepper and cinnamon. Use your fingers to press mixture onto both sides of each steak portion.
In a large skillet cook steaks in hot oil over medium heat to desired doneness, turning once. Allow 8 to 11 minutes for medium rare or 12 to 14 minutes for medium.
Transfer steaks to a serving platter, reserving drippings in the skillet. Keep warm.
For sauce, add white onion, leek and shallots to skillet. Cook and stir over low heat for 5 minutes or until onions are tender.
Add beef broth and Worcestershire sauce. Cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes more or until broth is slightly reduced.
For a while, right before I was “recovered” by MAJ at China Lake Naval Weapons Systems, I found myself in California and making ends meet. I knew that I had to be in California, but where? And how to contact my “up-line handlers”?
I hadn’t a clue.
So I parked myself in various cities, and waited for their actions.
Right before they “found me”, I was working as a breakfast cook at a restaurant called “Louse’s place” in the beautiful town of San Louis Obispo. This town, a college town, was nestled in a nice area, surrounded by mountains, and built upon a network of streams. It was, at that time, quite lovely.
2023 09 26 11 42
I wore a short sleeved shirt, a white apron, and a chef’s hat, and performed my cooking rituals in front of the customers. Basic stuff, really. Bacon and eggs, gourmet omelettes, and specialty sandwiches.
I lived off the small salary, and the tips that I would get.
SAM 2073
I worked a 5am to 3 pm shift. And it wasn’t bad at all. I got a free lunch, and could take home leftover “blue plate specials”. And I did just that, as I would walk the distance to our broken down van, that was parked at the edge of a obscure parking lot until we could get enough money to get an apartment and leave.
We would eat the food in the front seat. And just pretty much lived a transit lifestyle.
img 8469 79312
This was in the 1980’s. I can only imagine how bad it must be today. Back then, We were a rare sight. Today, we would be just a ripple in a massive wave of homeless. Gosh! Can you even imagine?
…
I have a lot of compassion of others (homeless in California) who suffer through this plight. It’s difficult, and hard. Housing, utilities and expenses are outrageous, and they do not have to be that way, it is just the super greedy that this created this impossible situation.
If you ever get a moment, give some food to the homeless. Maybe they will accept, maybe not. But show some compassion.
North Korea will participate in a number of Far Eastern Projects and establish a Russia DPRK Labor Commission to engage upto 200,000 workers who will live in Far East for 10 years and could be Prospective migrants
DPRK and Russia will jointly modernize the Air Force of North Korea, Drones in North Korea and Air Defence of North Korea
DPRK and Russia will sign a Trade Pact
Putin has committed around 1 Trillion Rubles investment in North Korea
China will play a key role but China will remain hidden behind the scenes because it’s not a Sanctioned state like DPRK and Russia
They can’t sign an official agreement due to existing UN sanctions that Russia can’t break or violate
Yet they can unofficially make a no limits friendship which they just did
In exchange
DPRK promises assistance to Russia against ROK (South Korea) and Japan as a strong piece on the Chessboard
A Nuclear power with 50 Nukes minimum is a strong powerful deterrent
That the governments of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela have ordered their government officials to stop using Apple iPhones and switch to Mate 60 Pro for security reasons.
Chicken Fried Steak with Mashed Potatoes and White Gravy
2023 09 25 11 49
Ingredients
6 cube steaks
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon pepper
1 tablespoon chicken bouillon
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 tablespoons seasoned salt
3/4 tablespoon celery salt
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon oregano
4 to 5 eggs
Instructions
Add the seasonings to the flour. Stir it all together.
Crack the eggs in a separate dish and mix them together.
Lay the steak in the flour and then dip it into the egg. Place it back in the flour.
Repeat with the rest of the steaks.
Lay the steak in hot oil. Let it cook for a couple of minutes at 350 degrees F.
Repeat with the rest of the steaks.
Plate the steak and serve with garlic mashed potatoes and gravy.
If I were a superhero, I want my superpower to be “involuntary empathy.” I have the power to make people feel what others are feeling. The process is simple: I mark a person as a “target,” and choose a “recipient,” and link them together. The selection can not be random. The recipient’s action must directly impact the target; otherwise, the connection will not work. Both the target and recipient maintain their independent thought and free will. They can go about doing their own thing. However, the recipient will experience the target’s emotions that directly result from the recipient’s action (and nothing else). The recipient can go kill the target if they are willing to experience death. On top of the obvious murder change, the recipient will suffer a mental breakdown and never recover. And if a person has multiple victims, the effect will compound.
For example, if a man abuses his wife, he will experience the physical pain, fear, desperation, anxiety, and shame… that directly result from his abuse. But he doesn’t get to experience the love and joy his wife felt when she was with her family or playing with her children.
I want to be able to walk up to a youth pastor who abuses children and make him experience the anguish, desperation, sense of isolation, shame, guilt, and self-loathing his victims felt while they were being molested. I want him to feel the pain that drove these poor kids to self-harm or even commit suicide. I want to make murderers feel the pain of the families of the victims. I want to make the billionaires feel the pain of their workers.
I want those pearl-clutching “concerned moms” to feel the fear and anxiety and isolation of trans kids who just want to use the fucking bathroom.
I want the shitty parents to feel the pain of the children they abuse.
I want the racists to feel the fear and anger of minority people they bully and harass. I want the KKK members to feel the pain of their victims. I want them to feel every single minute when the victims are beaten and tortured.
I want this pain and suffering to stay with these people for the rest of their lives. And the only way they can reduce their suffering is through genuine remorse and making actual amends.
I want Jeff Bezos to feel the exhaustion of his delivery guys and distribution center workers, the discomfort that they had to hold their bladder, the shame of having to pee in a bottle, the fear of being sick and missing work, the anxiety of doing full-time work and not making a living wage. I want him to feel it every day, every night, every minute of his life on his fucking 500 million dollar yacht. He won’t be able to enjoy any luxuries in life until he changes his company policy.
Of course, the recipient would experience positive feelings from the target as well if that’s the direct result of their actions. So if Jeff Bezos decided to pay his workers fair wages, give them sick leave, and some bonus, he would experience immense joy no 500 million dollar yachts would bring. If the billionaires want to experience incredible joy, they can donate to disaster relief and build schools for underprivileged children. I would be happy to connect them to the children they helped. I mean, actually helped, instead of using their charity organization as a tax haven.
I feel that I could actually make the world a better place if I had this power.
Even MOBILE HOMES Are No Longer AFFORDABLE
Today I am finally showing you around a mobile home park here in California. However, there is a caveat…Its quite expensive to own a mobile home here. However, I was able to speak with one of the residents and get you the details on what its like to live and own in a mobile home park.
I had ridden motorcycles, ATVs, dirt bikes, etc on & off since I was 5. I met a guy on line who was a biker and agreed to meet for a ride & lunch. At the time, I didn’t have a bike so I was to be his backseat “princess”.
Before the ride, I questioned him a lot about riding, how long he had been riding, where all he had ridden to, what bikes he had owned, etc to make sure he was legit. I’m not putting my life at risk with a poser. He came off as legit.
We meet, start the ride and I realize that I was in trouble….he was dangerous with his riding skills. Tailgating, splitting lanes when there was no need to, cursing out car drivers, braking too late, taking curves too fast…. basically he was dangerous. I admit to being scared shitless. He refused to stop to let me get off his bike until we got to the restaurant.
Inside the restaurant, I went from being an emotional wreck to being all out “Irish-Redhead” pissed but presented a calm and exterior. After ordering, I excused myself to go to the ladies room. While in there I called for an Uber to pick me up in 1/2 hour. I rejoined him, ate my meal, including a stiff drink to calm the nerves and thanked him. Then I just went outside and got in my Uber to go home. Be damned if I was getting back on the lunatic’s bike. And of course, I blocked him.
Huawei was once the world’s top smartphone vendor, shipping over 200m phones in 2018.
Last year, under a de-facto embargo by the US, it shipped 28m, an eight-, almost nine-fold decrease from its peak.
The volume has been cannibalized by Apple, Samsung, and other Chinese brands.
Apple, in particular, now sell more iPhones in Greater China than stateside, all thanks to Huawei’s demise.
That’s “national security” and “clean networks” for all you Apple fans.
How bad were the curbs applied on Huawei? Phone assemblers froze assembly lines overnight and refused to fulfill their contractual obligations, components on order were canceled, Google withdrew Android licensing and design license agreements were ripped up.
Huawei had no OS, a completely disrupted hardware supply chain, a deficient set of highly specialized software design tools and its CFO under house arrest in Canada.
It would not have surprised anyone had Huawei announced its withdrawal from the consumer device space.
Amazingly, Huawei the 5G telecoms champion sold off Honor, its sub-brand, and issued 4G phones under the Huawei brand, weathering a gut-wrenching revenue drop off a cliff. It conducted an internal review of the entire supply chain, from its core telecoms equipment business to consumer devices, and began the painful and expensive task of de-Americanization. Any component that had even the hint of American IP was marked for domestic substitution. The process was completed for its telecoms equipment earlier, but the device side lacked two pieces—a capable GPU for AI-assisted gestures, payments and the camera, and a 5G modem, which was protected behind Qualcomm’s giant patent wall.
Huawei found hacks around EDA restrictions, and designed its own GPU. It also introduced novel transistor geometries to boost the performance of 7nm to the 5nm node. It rapidly upgraded its inhouse Hongmeng OS to 4.0, turning it into a polished platform with large language AI and IOT capability baked in. Its software ecosystem is coming along nicely, and the platform is well beyond the market share needed to ensure survival.
To add icing on the cake, the flagship Huawei phone of 2023 can make satellite calls, showcasing its space comms tech maturity and the bandwidth/coverage of the Chinese commercial satellite network.
In field tests conducted by a Hong Kong user, the Mate 60 Pro matched the iPhone 14’s 5G network speed, demonstrating Huawei’s 5G modem was a match for Qualcomm’s implementation. Not a bad milestone for a first effort, eh?
Huawei had no need for GPS, Qualcomm’s 5G, LG’s OLED, Samsung’s storage, Micron’s memory, or even upstream chip design tools that were vulnerable to US sanction. In fact, even if we took the best in class features from Apple, Google and Samsung and put them into a hypothetical hybrid champion, the Mate 60 Pro can still stand shoulder to shoulder, because it has a couple of industry-first or performance leading features. It is truly worthy of a 2023 flagship designation, earned fair and square.
Huawei did all these in less than 4 years, a remarkable turnaround despite becoming a corporation targeted for destruction by the US government, probably a historic first.
Huawei is finding its mojo again on way firmer footing, and it will sell every Mate 60 pro the production lines can churn out this year.
The NEW American Dream: GETTING OUT!
We grew up during the 1970s and 80s in the Midwest back when the American Dream was still the goal and attainable for most people in the middle class. If you worked hard for a loyal employer (they were still loyal back then) or at your own business, you could expect to have a shot at freedom, prosperity, a house, a car, a better life for your kids, etc. Sadly, that is no longer the case for several reasons we discuss in this video. Now, the NEW American Dream is about something most people never thought they would do: Leaving the United States.
(a) If you can produce your own food and supply your own food
(b) If you have a Product that has tremendous Global Demand and its deficit would lead to significant losses
(c) You are a net exporter
Then You are immune from Most Sanctions on a Long term basis.
Its why Iran and Iraq have also survived Sanctions.
They have OIL.
Thats Why Afghanistan is likely to be roasted under Sanctions. Because they dont have the above merits.
How Will The Biden Administration Cope With Its Loss In Ukraine?
While this piece will touch on the war in Ukraine it is more about the U.S., and the Biden administration, and how they will cope with their defeat in their war on Russia. Please keep that in mind when commentating.
Washington’s moment of recognizing the defeat in Ukraine, and its consequences, has yet to arrive.
In his latest piece (archived) Seymour Hersh reports on the state of the war and of significant differences of opinion between the U.S. intelligence services:
There are significant elements in the American intelligence community, relying on field reports and technical intelligence, who believe that the demoralized Ukraine army has given up on the possibility of overcoming the heavily mined three-tier Russian defense lines and taking the war to Crimea and the four oblasts seized and annexed by Russia. The reality is that Volodymyr Zelensky’s battered army no longer has any chance of a victory.
The war continues, I have been told by an official with access to current intelligence, because Zelensky insists that it must. There is no discussion in his headquarters or in the Biden White House of a ceasefire and no interest in talks that could lead to an end to the slaughter. “It’s all lies,” the official said, speaking of the Ukrainian claims of incremental progress in the offensive that has suffered staggering losses, while gaining ground in a few scattered areas that the Ukrainian military measures in meters per week. … The American intelligence official I spoke with spent the early years of his career working against Soviet aggression and spying has respect for Putin’s intellect but contempt for his decision to go to war with Ukraine and to initiate the death and destruction that war brings. But, as he told me, “The war is over. Russia has won. There is no Ukrainian offensive anymore, but the White House and the American media have to keep the lie going.
“The truth is if the Ukrainian army is ordered to continue the offensive, the army would mutiny. The soldiers aren’t willing to die any more, but this doesn’t fit the B.S. that is being authored by the Biden White House.”
The differences between the current CIA and the more neoconned Defense Intelligence Agency extend to their view on China:
A byproduct of the Biden administration’s neocon hostility to Russia and China—exemplified by the remarks of Secretary of State Tony Blinken, who has repeatedly stated that he will not currently countenance a ceasefire in Ukraine—has been a significant split in the intelligence community. One casualty are the secret National Intelligence Estimates that have delineated the parameters of American foreign policy for decades. Some key offices in the CIA have refused, in many cases, to participate in the NIE process because of profound political disagreement with the administration’s aggressive foreign policy. One recent failure involved a planned NIE that dealt with the outcome of a Chinese attack on Taiwan.
I have reported for many weeks on the longstanding disagreement between the CIA and other elements of the intelligence community on the prognosis of the current war in the Ukraine. CIA analysts have consistently been far more skeptical than their counterparts at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) on the prospect for a Ukraine success. The American media has ignored the dispute, but the London-headquartered Economist, whose well-informed reporters do not get bylines, has not. …
The DIA is still saying that the Ukrainian army has a chance, a small one though, to break through the Russian lines. The White House still seems to believe in that. The CIA knows that the Ukraine is done.
Alastair Crooke, in a talk (vid) with Judge Napolitano, says that the moment of truth will only arrive in November.
But what will happen when everyone recognizes and acknowledges, if silently, that the war on Russia has failed?
Ukraine, today, has suffered huge losses of even greater (proportional) magnitude [than the German Wehrmacht in the Battle of Kursk], without achieving any significant territorial gains, unable even to reach the first layer of the Surovikin Line. That will clear the road to the Dnieper and beyond for the 600,000 strong Russian army equipped with weaponry the equal of what the West has given Ukraine. Hence, Moscow is poised to exploit its decisive advantage to the point where it can dictate terms to Kiev, Washington, Brussels et al.
The Biden administration has made no plans for such an eventuality, nor have its obedient European governments. Their divorce from reality will make this state of affairs all the more stunning — and galling. Bereft of ideas, they will flounder. How they will react is unknowable. We can say with certainty one thing: the collective West, and especially the U.S., will have suffered a grave defeat. Coping with that truth will become the main order of business.
Here is a menu of options for handling it:
Redefine what is meant by defeat, victory, failure, success, loss, gain. There is a new narrative that is scripted to stress these talking points: … … This narrative already has been given an airing in speeches by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland. Its target audience is the American public; nobody outside the Collective West buys it, though — whether Washington has registered that fact of diplomatic life or not.
Retroactively Scale Back the Goals & Stakes … Cultivate Amnesia … Next: China …
It is likely that the administration will use all four options to make the pain and memory of defeat go away. Declare victory over Russia because Russia was stopped at the border with Poland. Then forget about all the details and consequences and move towards war on China.
That could end catastrophically.
The focal shift from Russia in Europe to China in Asia is less a mechanism for coping with defeat than the pathological reaction of a country that, feeling a gnawing sense of diminishing prowess, can manage to do nothing more than try one final fling at proving to itself that it still has the right stuff — since living without that exalted sense of self is intolerable. … The U.S. was fortunate, in the case of Vietnam, that the United States’ dominant position in the world outside of the Soviet Bloc and the PRC allowed it to maintain respect, status and influence.
Things have now changed, though. The U.S. relative strength in all domains is weaker, strong centrifugal forces around the globe are producing a dispersion of power, will and outlook among other states. The BRICs phenomenon is the concrete embodiment of that reality.
Hence, the prerogatives of the United States are narrowing, its ability to shape the global system in conformity with its ideas and interests are under mounting challenge, and premiums are being placed on diplomacy of an order that seems beyond its present aptitudes.
The U.S. is confounded.
Major offices in the CIA, according to Hersh, have recognized the danger of such plans. It may well be the reason why the CIA’s informal spokesmen, David Ignatius, and others wrote that Biden should step down.
If he doesn’t the neoconservatives around him will have a great incentive to move on China as fast as possible. As Biden will have difficulties in winning next year’s election he needs some objective that can unify the country. A war that he can claim the U.S. will win is one. Some hostile naval exchanges with China will follow.
(Please don’t use the comments of this thread for details from the war in Ukraine. The current thread for such is here.)
Posted by b on September 21, 2023 at 17:05 UTC | Permalink
Dangerous
On topic we are at a dangerous inflection point. Ironically it is the potential of war with China that is preventing WW3 from starting, in my view. Maerica doesn’t know how to accept loss and animals are at their most dangerous when cornered.
Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Sep 21 2023 18:22 utc | 29
China’s foreign policy towards the U.S. is very simple indeed Allow the U.S. to commit suicide and give them a long rope to hang themselves since they choose ignorance, naïveté and hubris over knowing the real China.
This policy is highly effective cost almost nothing and hurt the U.S. beyond recognition. And it is the US doing to themselves. Take the Chinese response to US thinking they could knee cap China on supposed technological superiority on semi conductor. Over China.
China don’t wish to start a fight now wants to hurt snd harmed China but the US insisted. Hence China chose the precise response that will totally destroy the U.S. that cost China nothing and cost trillions upon trillions of losses in the U.S. chips industry.
But this is not the first time nor will it be the last. The last nation to threaten is one that helped you enjoyed a 30 years inflation free economy. But the U.S. started a trade war against China for no reason except it is popular for politicians. Today the U.S. is paying for a high inflation and looming recession.
Their policy as usual is sustainable, practical and pragmatic while the U.S. policy towards China hurts and harm the U.S. to no end. It is neither sustainable nor effective against China.
China Slams And Issues A Massive Warning To Europe | Sparks Tensions Over EV Exports
“Just like their master, the E.U. resorts to tariffs to try to slow down the growth of Chinese EV’s in its market. In other words, when they can’t compete, they employ dirty tricks to get what they want. How can the E.U. go about the accusation of government subsidies when the same eletrict car costs nearly twice the one in the Chinese domestic market? The madness is beyond belief.”
China can make life really bad for European car manufacturers if it wanted to.
Stanley Praimnath, was working on the 81st floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
He was a vice president at Fuji Bank, a prestigious Japanese financial institution. He had a nice office with a view of the Statue of Liberty and the Hudson River.
He had a good life, a loving family, and a strong Christian faith.
But everything changed in an instant when he saw a plane flying straight toward his building.
He later recalled:
Depiction of the plane.
“I saw this giant airplane coming towards me eye level, eye contact. I’m looking at the cockpit of the plane and I see the red markings on it and I realize it’s an American Airlines plane.” He instinctively ducked under his desk and prayed: “Lord, I can’t do this! You take over!”
The plane crashed into the building between floors 77 and 85, just above Stanley’s office.
The impact was so powerful that it tore a hole in the wall behind him and sucked out everything in his office except his desk, which shielded him from the flames and debris. He was trapped in a small space with no way out.
Meanwhile, on the same floor, another man was looking for survivors. His name was Brian Clark,
a Canadian executive at Euro Brokers, another financial firm.
He had escaped from his office on the 84th floor, which was at the top of the impact zone, and was heading down Stairway A, the only one that wasn’t destroyed by the plane.
On his way down, he heard a faint voice crying for help from behind a wall of rubble.
He followed the sound and found Stanley’s hand waving through a hole. He shone his flashlight and saw Stanley’s eyes staring back at him.
He grabbed his hand and pulled him over the wall.
Stanley was overjoyed to see Brian. He kissed him and said:
“I’m Stanley! We’ll be brothers for life!” Brian agreed and said: “Let’s go home.”
The two men made their way down the stairs, dodging smoke and debris along the way. They reached the ground floor at 9:55 am, just five minutes before the South Tower collapsed.
They ran out of the building and hugged each other in relief. They had just become two of only four survivors from above the south tower impact zone.
Stanley later said that he owed his life to God and Brian. He said: “God sent an angel to save me.” Brian said:
“I don’t know why I survived when so many others didn’t. I guess God had other plans for me.”
After 9/11, Stanley became a Pentecostal pastor and a popular inspirational speaker with religious groups and churches. He also remained close friends with Brian, who he calls his brother for life.
In short answer, Cambodia used to be a prosperous country. After the end of the Indochina War (1945–1954), under the leadership of King Norodom Sihanouk (1922–2012), the economy of Cambodia rapidly went up for the next twenty years, with remarkable achievements. In 1960, the GPD per capita of Cambodia was US$ 111,34 and it was even higher than both North and South Vietnam at that time (with US$ 51 and US$ 105, respectively).
During the 1960s, while Vietnam was stuck into a devastated war, the economy of Cambodia continued to develop rapidly. The capital of Phnom Penh was among the “pearls” of the oriental, where notable figures of the world such as French President Charles De Gaulle (1890–1970) and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929–1994) had their visits.
However…
The fate of Cambodia was sealed on 18 March 1970, after the coup d’état against King Norodom Sihanouk, which was sponsored by the United States. Since then, Cambodia was stuck into a bloody civil war during the next five years (1970–1975), with hundred thousand deaths.
Unluckily, the end of the Cambodian Civil War in 1975 did not mark the beginning of the new peaceful era for Cambodian nation. On the contrary, it subsequently marked the beginning of the Maoist genocidal regime of Khmer Rouge, as one of the most brutal dictatorships in 20th century. “Comrade Pol Pot”, the supreme leader of Cambodia at that time once said:
“In the concrete revolutionary struggle of our country, we creatively and successfully applied Mao Tse-tung Thought.”
(Peking Review (北京周報), Vol. 20, No. 41, 07 October 1977, p. 25)
With Chinese Maoism in his mind together with strong military supports from People’s Republic of China, in just four years Pol Pot rapidly transformed his country into a massive “killing field”, where 2.0 to 3.0 millions of “counter-revolutionaries” or 1/3 of Cambodian population were exterminated! Historically, it was called the “Cambodian Genocide”, in which the whole country of Cambodia was returned to the “Year Zero” (Année Zéro). From a prosperous country during the 1960s, Cambodia became a constant famine-stricken and also one of the poorest countries in the world under the rule of Khmer Rouge regime.
The whole economic structure of Cambodia was totally bankrupt to the root when Pol Pot decided not to use the paper money anymore! The city of Phnom Penh subsequently became a “ghost city”. There were no more French-style coffee shops, no more luxury cars, no more beautiful lights of neon at night, but only the so-called “people’s communes” located around the country, where people were forced to work until their last breath. These below pictures were about the city of Phnom Penh under the rule of Khmer Rouge.
The “Cambodian Genocide” was finally ended on January 1979, when the Cambodian national uprising together with the Vietnamese offensive finally overthrown the rule of Pol Pot and his henchmen. During the next twenty years (1979–1999), together with the Vietnamese military assistance, the new government of Cambodia under the leadership of Hun Sen continued the fight against the remaining Khmer Rouge guerrillas until the death of Pol Pot in 1998 and the total disband of the Khmer Rouge faction in 1999.
Since 1993, Norodom Sihanouk officially returned as a King of Cambodia. Meanwhile, all of the former leaders of Khmer Rouge regime were charged with their crimes against the humanity.
Nowadays, although Cambodia is not a rich country, but the revival process is going on, the whole country of Cambodia is again going up rapidly from zero and obtains average GDP growth about 7.5% annually.
How to LEAVE AMERICA FOR GOOD and escape the rat race in the United States
If you’re thinking that America sucks and is going to hell recently, you’re not alone and lots of people are wondering how to set up an escape plan and get out of the USA permanently before it falls apart.
Or, you might simply be thinking that it would be better to live in another country, regardless of how well the United States is doing, because you’re trying to escape the rat race that we’ve built.
Whatever your motivations for wanting to leave the USA and travel the world full-time, this video will breakdown how to make money while traveling, different jobs available to foreigners, how to work online, how to find jobs in a foreign country, a few countries that I think are good first-time tryouts for anyone who is considering living the digital nomad life full-time, and much more.
“Digital Nomad” is a very highly hyped occupation, but in actuality, it doesn’t really work out that great.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has already answered this question.
Taiwan is part of China.
Since 1956, Mao Zedong proposed the “third cooperation between the KMT and the CPC” to complete the mission of peacefully reunifying Taiwan, and proposed the policy of “One Program, Four projects”, the predecessor of “One Country, Two Systems”.
It is the hypocritical Yanks who have been blocking China’s efforts to unify Taiwan.
The United States has always been the main culprit in dividing China. Without the overt and covert support of Washington, the DPP would not be able to gain power in Taiwan.
We record everything the United States has done to China.
When service economies slow down; they resort to financialization.
This means that they create cash flow by creating debt instead of producing anything.
This is what has happened to the US economy. Most Americans are deeply in debt, and spend a significant portion of their monthly income paying interest on their debt.
It is NOT productivity.
Debt is a necessary part of life, but it should only be spent as an investment for future productivity, not for paying off daily expenses.
Frugal Living Is The Only Way To SURVIVE The Cost of Living Crisis
My main “beef” with my parents was a simple one. At every opportunity for me to do something outside of the school narrative…
“Study hard. Get a good job, and you will be set for life with a good pension.”
…They pretty much sucked at helping me.
I asked my mother; “How do I buy land”? And she looked at me for a moment and answered…
“You just go and buy it.”
Gosh, Mom. That was so helpful.
NOT!
At that time, there wasn’t any Google about. No internet. Only a small town library, and neither the teachers or anyone would help me out. No one could answer my questions.
I’d ask my dad; “How do I buy stocks”?
He would chuckled. Then thought about it, and he answered…
“You just go and buy them.”
Gosh dad. That was so helpful.
NOT!
And it wasn’t just that.
I asked my dad, “How do I ask a girl out for a date”?
And his answer was…
“What, who’s the girl?”
And I would say, “No one you know. So how do I do it”?
And he would chuckle, and he said…
“Oh, you just go up to her and ask her if she wanted to go out with you.”
Wow! So very helpful.
NOT!
…
Do not make the same mistakes that my parents made. Take the time. Enunciate. Explain. Be empathic, and be kind and considerate.
It will make a BIG difference.
Todays…
How China Destroyed US Sanctions and Changed Microchip Forever!
The USA did not declare war on Huawei. They declared war on hundreds of thousands of motivated Chinese set to go starving on the streets, unless they pushed themselves…
What many people don’t know is Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Huawei only owns roughly 1% of the company, and the employees own 99% of the company, so imagine a body of hundreds of thousands of supercharged and super-talented people giving their all, not only for survival of their families but also with a vengeance to prove that they can’t be suppressed and will fight back.
Huawei is a networking equipment maker which makes mobile phones. This means it knows the backend first, and then how to connect the network to its Frontend devices, including mobile phones.
Apple only focuses on Frontend consumer devices, and not connecting with backend devices because its focus is on the user experience.
Apple relies on Qualcomm for its 5G transceiver; Huawei designs its own 5G transceiver.
That is the difference.
Newborn kitten cries when she sees her mother lying motionless on her left side full of thorns
Newborn kitten cries when she sees her mother lying motionless on her left side full of thorns The mother cat and her cubs have an accident on a strange fruit full of thorns A mother cat crashes next to the fruit back.
We have seen the mother cat and her two young children lying here. kittens just a few days old swaddled around their mother. and cried out of voice when he saw his mother in trouble.
next to it is a fruit full of thorns. This cat family is pitiful.
when I thought the fruit from the other corner fell on the mother cat. but luckily the other fruit is just next to the mother cat and the kittens.
Maybe the mother cat was exhausted.
We are walking in a tropical forest. There are a lot of dry leaves here. I came across a family of cats in distress here.
The kittens were crying when they saw their mother lying motionless. The mother cat lies next to the thorny fruit weevil. I come closer to check and will help the cat family.
The kittens are quite small. Luckily this thorny fruit didn’t hit the kitten. The mother cat is very weak. it needs immediate care. I will help this poor meod family.
Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add sweet potato, water and vanilla extract; mix well.
In a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff; fold into the sweet potato mixture.
Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; add to potato mixture.
Stir in pecans.
Pour into three greased 9-inch round cake pans.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 22 to 27 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean.
Cool for 10 minutes before removing to wire racks.
Frosting: Melt the butter in a saucepan; whisk in sugar, milk and egg yolks until smooth. Cook and stir over medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes or until thickened and bubbly.
Remove from the heat; stir in the coconut, pecans and vanilla extract. Cool slightly.
Place one cake layer on a serving plate; spread with a third of the frosting.
When I was in high school, in my senior year, I had a co-op job as an electronic tech, and worked for a small business. The business was on Rt 11, in a business district leading into Bloomsburg Pa.
One afternoon, while at my bench, we heard a car accident occur outside our building. Apparently, a young man no older than me was speeding and decided to use the enter lane to pass people, and caught a young family getting read to turn off to the seasonal hamburger place next door to so (to the right when facing the highway)
Tye family was ok, but a group of workers from the welding/fabrication shop next to us (on the left) ran out to the car and attempted to pull the young driver out.
But he apparently had a broken neck… I will never forget seeing how his head moved, it just sort of flopped around on his shoulders. That was 43 years ago, and I still remember that part vividly.
A day or two later his sister dropped by and asked us if we had seen a ring of his that was missing. We did walk around the accident scene but never found it.
Because he broke his neck on his steering wheel, I started to wear my seatbelt while driving, long before there was a campaign to require it.
Don’t know if this was a thief or not, but a number of years ago there was a rise in fake “Utility Company Representatives” knocking on people’s doors. In many cases things went missing if these people were allowed into people’s homes (they worked in pairs).
At the time we were living in a duplex. The first floor level was about 6–8 inches higher than the level of the front porch. We had a Siberian Husky/German Shepherd mix (both sides of his parentage were pure blood pedigrees), and he was the best burglar alarm even invented. 60–70 lbs of solid muscle, the face of a wolf, and the most disconcerting part, 1 blue eye and one brown eye. Our storm door had a solid panel that went about halfway up the door. High enough that you couldn’t see the dog if he approached the door. The top was screened.
My wife answered the door and was faced with 2 “Utility Company Representatives” that were checking the water meters which were inside, down in the basement. Their trick was to gain entry, get the person who answered to accompany one down to the meter while the other one stayed in side the front door and “waited”, picking up anything they could find that might be valuable. Like wallets from purses. True to form, they wanted to come in and check the meter. My wife knows better and told them they couldn’t come in without some sort of ID. They started arguing that they had a legal right to inspect their hardware (they didn’t), and she kept telling them no and flicked the lock on the storm door.
Our ever faithful guard dog had walked over to the door while they were trying to talk their way in. When their tone started changing he got interested and decided to see who was talking to the boss-lady like that. He popped up on his hind legs which put his face not too far from level with the people on the porch, who suddenly decided they no longer had to gain entry, and said ‘someone else will contact you later’ as they left for greener pastures.
Best alarm system ever.
EDIT… Punctuation repairs (Thanks Ed), and I thought you all might like to see this buddy of mine. We lost him to The Bridge from cancer 29 years ago now, and still miss him every day. Sadly, we didn’t do a lot of picture taking back then, so my choice of pictures is limited.
He had the black and white Husky markings, and the longer snout and some brown from the Shepherd side. Check out his eyes, and imagine them staring at you through a screen door at eye level.
China and technology
The reason Trump thought that he could stop China from making DUV machines is because DUV machines encompass a lot of technologies.
If China is unable to produce any of these technologies then the DUV machines China purchased from ASML would be completely useless in a year or so. The parts need to be replaced. No parts, no working machine.
The light source breaks down all the time. The coating on the lenses only last for a few months. 1 year at most. All those machines that China bought from ASML for over $500 billion would become very expensive scrap metal.
But China managed to develop these core technologies. And it required the entire Chinese scientific community to do so.
But now that China has the core technologies, there is nothing the US can do to stop China from advancing. The US no longer controls Chinese chip industry.
This video explains just how intricate chip production is and how much leading edge technology is required to make on of these machines work.
The Sopranos || Get It Up
This should get more views, it’s such a perfect clean edit
Start buying them lavish gifts, like expensive vacations at 5-star luxury resorts, free airline flights to exotic destinations, Rolexes, things like that. Then buy their mom’s house and let mom continue to live there for free. Then donate the money for their kid’s education at an expensive university.
Okay, that’s an extreme case, but it works. Most famously, the first black mayors of Los Angeles and Detroit suspiciously became a lot more pro-business after they were elected than before, and that was just the result of freely given campaign contributions, invitations to nice dinners, and perks like the odd bottle of whisky that remain within the rules for gifts.
Take a look at Krysten Sinema, who got elected mostly because she had a massive team of young volunteers who saw her as a progressive. After she got elected, she started getting massive donations from pharmaceutical companies and, all of a sudden, she’s shifted a lot further to the right.
One of the reasons why this works is that running for office is incredibly expensive. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s first campaign cost $2 million, mostly spent on the Democratic primary. She was funded by a group who wanted someone more progressive, and now she’s elected to a safe Democratic seat, she will need less money going forward, but her $170,000 salary (seems a lot doesn’t it) still doesn’t pay for her New York rent, her Washington rent, and her student loans.
One of the best tricks plays on vanity. The politician writes a book, which gets published, and “friends” buy enough copies to make it a best seller. This is really sleazy, but it happens all the time, and it is in no way illegal. There are allegations that Hilary Clinton’s success in the futures market was a set up where a benefactor essentially ate losses and just passed on the gains.
This is why the rich are heavily into “charity”, showing how good they are by building college buildings and universities (with their name on them of course). It’s certainly cheaper than paying taxes for the same thing, that’s for sure. Andrew Carnegie started it with libraries, and is seen as a saint, but governments still had to maintain those (most are now over a century old, including one or two in my home town of Toronto) and the donors usually don’t pay for the upkeep.
I’ve already written about some shocking things I’ve come across in the states in another post, so I suppose this is part 2, but here we go:
Heard people going at it…you cannot imagine my shock as a person coming from a conservative area, one who hasn’t even seen her parents kissing, to witness such a thing. But while staying at a hotel, for the first time in my life, I heard two people going at it very loudly so that it was impossible to ignore them. I was so embarrassed and my husband was laughing at me for looking so shocked.
Serving water for free in restaurants. For a capitalist country like the states, I was surprised they didn’t benefit from this one thing that people will undoubtedly pay for. You certainly have to pay for water over here in restaurants.
Ice.. always. Continuing from the last point, water is always served with ice. Someone like me who can’t have very cold water had to specifically ask for it to be omitted.
Medical issues. I needed antibiotics during my visit because of an infection that I get frequently. Not having insurance as a simple visitor, we had to pay 400$ to see a doctor and get this simple prescription. Meanwhile back home, I got it for less than a dollar. So I swore to pack lots of meds next time I come over.
Vast spaces. Perhaps because I’ve been only to Buffalo, Niagara, and Oregon but there was always a ton of space between buildings. The markets were huge with vast parking lots. And the roads were very big for the most part.
Black people everywhere. In New York airport (JFK), almost all workers were black! That was a surprise because I always heard of the diversity in the states. But even later in Oregon, almost everyone was white.
Security at the airport. That one was quite funny. When you get scanned at the JFK airport, you have to stand in a certain cabin, face your right, raise your arms like a criminal, then they scan you. The woman worker shouted, “Put your arms up!” and I had no clue what she was talking about. She kept repeating then showed me the exact position and where to face. Then she said “Seems like you don’t travel often”. I wanted to say “Excuse me? I’ve been traveling since I was 4 but this doesn’t exist anywhere else I’ve been!”.
Coffee. That was no coffee. That was dirty water. Period. Lol. For real though, our definition of coffee in Egypt is Turkish coffee which is very heavy, dense, and intense in flavor.
Huge meals. Everyone said so before and yet I made the mistake of ordering an appetizer before the main dish, only to be surprised that the appetizer is so big that it’s a meal on its own. I felt so sad throwing half the food away as we were traveling and I couldn’t take it with me.
Reese’s everywhere. It was Reese’s heaven! All sort of sizes, shapes, and mixes. Like mixed with Cadbury, Oreos, and so on.
Credit card everywhere. I am not exaggerating when I tell you there hasn’t been a single place I’ve been to that doesn’t take credit.
Rich wildlife. Coming from a desert, it was so impressive to just casually come across deer and squirrels. And at some point, I saw a massive number of seals. I learned the hard way that they stink.
They use their attractions wisely. I’ve been to countries that don’t give enough attention to grand places that leave you in awe, meanwhile, the states try to give such attention to whatever place they feel people may like visiting. Whenever you go to an especially cool place, you’ll find stores near it selling stamps, mugs, and stickers with pictures of that attraction. I’ve seen that at Niagara Falls and the redwoods in California. Did I mention that I’d never seen such huge trees in my life?
The world’s third-largest contract semiconductor maker, GlobalFoundries, on Tuesday opened a $4-billion manufacturing plant in Singapore as part of a global expansion to help ease an industry supply crunch.
The new Singapore facility will produce an additional 450,000 wafers annually at full capacity by 2025 to 2026, general manager Tan Yew Kong told reporters, raising the city-state’s overall capacity to 1.5 million wafers each year.
The chips, usually used in smartphones and other mobile devices, are also increasingly in demand by automakers, especially for electric vehicles, adding to the pressure to raise production.
“The key megatrends of our industry — digitisation, connectivity, cloud computing — are all driving acceleration to a more connected and data-centric world,” GlobalFoundries president and chief executive Thomas Caulfield said at the launch.
“It demonstrates how central and critical the industry is to the world economy and how pervasive semiconductors are in enabling and enhancing all aspects of human life.”
Caulfield said that despite current economic headwinds, the company estimates the industry will double in the next decade.
“The catalyst for this growth will be AI (artificial intelligence),” he said.
The firm’s 23,000-square meter Singapore facility, which broke ground in 2021, will expand the global footprint of the company, which already has plants in the United States and Europe.
Singapore’s chip output currently makes up 11% of the global semiconductor market.
The global semiconductor market is predicted to experience a downturn of 10.3 percent this year but recover in 2024 and grow by 11.8%, according to estimates by the industry monitor World Semiconductor Trade Statistics.
Very often, the answer is no. Not only do intelligent people very often fail to realize how much smarter they are than everyone else, they also tend to overestimate other people’s intelligence even when they do. Let me tell you a little story.
Once upon a time, I was at a bar with some friends. The bar had an outdoor area where you could stand around and drink beer. There was a guy who thought it would be funny to ride past the bar repeatedly on an extremely loud moped. At certain times, he would stop, rev the moped so loud that nobody could hear themselves think, and begin whooping loudly. This same guy had been at it all day, not just by the bar, but riding up and down the streets and residential neighborhoods, screaming and hollering and bothering everyone he could with his moped.
I mentioned, casually, that I wouldn’t mind chucking my beer mug at his head if he were close enough. A friend of mine, whom we shall call Angus (not his real name), said, “Well, you should probably leave someone as unstable as that guy alone. He obviously has some serious emotional difficulties.”
Angus is a smart dude, but he misread the guy on the moped. The issue is that the guy on the moped was probably not suffering from some deep emotional trauma that had made him so obstreperous. Rather, Moped Guy’s thought process was, most likely, no more complicated than this: “YEAH! YEAH! LOUD! LOUD MOTHERFUCKER! YEAH LOOK AT IT MAN! YEAH! LOUD!”
The issue that Angus was having is that Angus, being an intelligent and empathetic individual, was trying to understand Moped Guy’s motivations and look at things from Moped Guy’s perspective. Angus was thinking to himself, “What would have to happen to me to get me to act that obnoxiously?” The thing is, intelligent people of high character, like Angus, are not moved to act like idiots unless they suffer something really bad, at which point a complicated emotional process leads to bad behavior. Angus’ miscalculation was that Moped Guy would have to have suffered some horrible trauma to act in the way he did. The big issue is that Angus did not account for Moped Guy’s stupidity, and forgot the simple fact that stupid people will act stupid without any suffering or instability. Dumb people just act dumb.
I have suffered from this problem myself. For the longest time, I did not realize that so much of human behavior was posturing, and did not realize how to read people correctly. I thought that, when someone talked to me about their interests, they were merely stating facts and not trying to talk to me about themselves. The vast majority of humans are so subjective that most of their communication is about themselves and not about things or ideas or even other people. Intelligent people have problems grasping that.
My father, as I may have said before, is an ER doctor.
One night, a case arrived to the hospital of a teen girl with what seemed like a regular fever. The team gave her the necessary meds and started running a few tests.
Her mother had rushed to the hospital with her and looked particularly nervous. The doctor asked her some typical questions such as when her daughter showed signs and so on, but she would have vague half-assed answers.
However, within a few hours, the girls fever was sky rocketing, and her blood pressure was getting very low, and for some reason she wasn’t responding to regular meds or fluids.
The mother looked very nervous then she timidly approached a nurse and told her “actually, I forgot to tell you something. My daughter just went through a liposuction a couple of days ago. I don’t know if these two things are related”.
Yet by the time this piece of information reached the doctors, the girl had already died. She was being treated for a regular fever until test results showed the real issue.
Turns out that the mother took her daughter, who was not even chubby to begin with, to undergo a liposuction. Given that the girl was underage, a parent’s approval is a must. Her father was completely against it but the mother went ahead and sneaked it with the daughter anyway.
And she was too scared of her husband knowing what she did so she didn’t want to let the secret out until she realized that the complications are more serious than she thought. But it was too late by then.
Lessons of the day:
1-Don’t put your child through unnecessary plastic surgery.
2-And don’t hold back information from the doctor for God’s sake.
Christopher Moltisanti – So Far (The Sopranos)
The most tragic character in fiction, even with all his flaws he will always be one of the greatest characters in the history of television…
The Chinese government is a lot lot lot more transparent than the western government on the economy. It is simple Chinese government don’t need to be popular it need to be effective!
The U.S. government need to and use their media to fool Americans and hoodwinked them so that Yanks will always be highly naive and ignorant. How do they do that? Western media are profit motivated so they are free to make money by writing what westerners like to hear. So they write or broadcast what westerners like to hear.
After conniving you that China is at fault, China is your enemy, China is backward, China is evil, China steal your technology, China cheats, China take your jobs…..What do you like to hear? China fail and U.S. is great, it is exceptional, its economy is still wonderful. Your technology is unmatched. So you media cohort with your government to fool you and guess what that is what you want!
Chinese government don’t face election and popularity contest every 2 years! You do! China says and report as it is and encourage or motivate its citizens that it needs to buck up and work harder. Hence all the superlatives such ad the U.S. is exceptional, Britain is Great, US is the mist innovative, Britain invents everything…
China don’t do that. To us Empty vessels makes the most noise! Western media are simply lying media that spread half truths, fake news, misinformation, fabrications. Demonising others to distract your people from your impending collapse.
I was studious, which resulted into me getting a scholarship in college. One of my friends asked me for some money (2500/-). He was my good friend, not best, and I was completely aware of his gambling and drinking habits.
I wanted to say “No”, because I knew the importance of money at that moment of my life. I was aware of the fact that he will never return it, but I still lent him the money, which was obviously never returned.
It was my first breakup and I was leading a miserable life. There was this girl who was my junior and she started taking interest in me.
I was uncomfortable, but she was pretty. I wasn’t ready for a relationship and she kept pushing me. Again, I wanted to say “No”, but it could have hurt her feelings.
Unwillingly, I said Yes. And that relationship survived for a month only.
Don’t judge me, I was an immature teenager back then.
There were many incidents in my life where I desperately wanted to say “No”, but ended up saying otherwise. And in return, I paid a huge price, not monetarily, but emotionally and mentally.
But today, things have changed. I have changed for my own good. And I have learned the art of saying “No”. People call me rude, arrogant etc, but who cares about their opinion?
This is my life, these are my struggles. They will only give their absurd opinion which is never required. Sometimes people think that saying “NO” is hard because your image will get maligned or it will hurt other people.
My question is, what will you do with your false pride? Maybe momentarily you will hurt people by saying “No”, but in the long term it will save you from huge disappointment.
This is what I learned the hard way: How to say “No” to the face when/where I am hesitant/uncomfortable.
It comes with multiple benefits:
You don’t have to lie.
You don’t have to make excuses.
You don’t have to justify anything.
I refused to please others at the expense of my emotional well being. Even if it is saying “No” to thepeople who are used to hearing “Yes”.
Learn the art of saying “No”. Don’t lie, don’t make excuses, don’t over explain yourself. Just simply decline.
The Sopranos || Easier
“Man, thanks for this awesome work! This gives me power every time I rewatch it to deal with tough shit in evercold Moscow. I’d love to see more motivating sopranos vids from ya!”
When I first started High School, I had a guy that rode the bus with me every day, and made my life a living hell. His name was David R-. He was 18 years old and still in the tenth grade. He was bigger than me, and cussed like a sailor. He was mean and vicious, and he absolutely scared me to death.
I have vivid memories of him sitting behind me on the bus, slapping me in the back of the head as we rode home from school. It happened almost every day. This was 27 years ago and, back then, bullying was just a “common thing.” It was something you had to deal with. You had to learn to stand up for yourself and “be a man”. I would complain to the bus driver and the principal. Mr. Dave would get a good scolding, but he was right back at it the next day.
Well, after six months of this B/S, I’d finally had enough. I just snapped one day. I turned around and dove over the seat, and started pounding on him. Everyone went crazy. The driver slammed on the brakes, and brought the bus to a stop.
I was getting my tail kicked by this guy. He was bigger, faster and stronger, and the only thing I had on my side, was rage. We were up against the emergency exit, slugging it out, when, all of a sudden, the door just popped open, and we went tumbling into the street.
When we hit the pavement, Mr. Dave had his arm twisted behind his back. He landed on it, and I heard it snap like a piece of kindling. He pushed me off of him, and got up with a bone jutting out of his wrist. He was screaming his head off, and blood was pouring onto the asphalt.
Maybe I should have backed off at that point, but this guy had made my life hell for several months, and I wanted revenge. I twisted his broken arm behind his back, and took him down on the ground where I proceeded to beat the living daylights out of him. There were several cars that had stopped by this time, and it took two grown men to pull me off of him. It was the worst fight I’d ever had in my life, and it remains so to this day. My nose was busted and I had a black eye. Mr. Dave had a broken arm, a busted lip, two missing teeth, and a huge laceration across his forehead. They actually called an ambulance for him.
Both of us were suspended. Dave’s mother contacted my dad a few days later, and threatened to sue us. She wanted us to pay for Dave’s medical bills. However, I had a bus full of people, who absolutely hated Dave, and all of them were telling the principal about my six months of hell, and insisting that Dave had started the fight.
I was suspended for two weeks. I also got a month of detention, and couldn’t ride the bus for the rest of the year, but that was the end of my punishment. As far as I know, Dave never returned to school at all. I didn’t see him again for 15 years.
Then, right around 2005, I moved from Mississippi back to my hometown in Georgia. One day as I was walking out of a convenience store, I spotted my old high school bully picking up aluminum cans along the side of the road.
It totally shocked me, and I wasn’t absolutely sure that it was really him. After all, it had been 15 years. Still, I was PRETTY sure. So, I strolled over to the edge of the parking lot for a better look. Just as I walked up, he turned to stare at me, and I recognized him beyond a shadow of doubt. I’m not very good with names, but I rarely forget a face.
He looked terrible. His hair was long. He hadn’t shaved in several days. His clothes were torn and ragged, and he smelled like a wet dog. He was very thin and dirty, and half of his teeth appeared to be missing. He also had an old duffle bag slung across his shoulder, and I got the distinct impression that he was homeless.
“I’m sorry, you’re David R-, aren’t you?” I asked.
His eyes brightened for a moment, and he looked at me long and hard before responding. “Yeah, who are you?”
My first impulse was to tell him. I wanted to remind him of all those days that he had harassed the hell out of me, and then ask him if he remembered our little brawl and his trip to the hospital. Then I wanted to let him know how much money I had made the year before, and tell him all about the new job I had just started down in Atlanta. Instead, I just stood there, staring at him.
“I think we might have gone to school together,” I replied.
His eyes narrowed again, and he really studied my face. Still, I don’t think he had a clue who I was. Apparently, I had changed a lot in 15 years.
“What’s your name?” He finally asked.
I shook my head. “Not important”, I replied. I dug in my wallet, and pulled out a ten dollar bill. I held it out to him, and he took it. I said, “God bless”, and then slowly walked away.
A push-back against Western influence is reportedly prompting countries to reject the pro-Ukraen agenda. Zelensky during a UN General Assembly session.
Western officials have overestimated the willingness of neutral nations to join anti-Russia policies in support of Ukraen, according to The Wall Street Journal.
It’s clear that the West overall has been surprised by the pretty widespread reluctance by many of the countries in the so-called Global South… to come on board.
“animosity toward the US and Europe” in some parts of the world and the desire of rising powers, such as Brazil and South Africa, to “assert their independence”, the article said.
The WSJ detailed purported successes and failures of Western diplomacy to rally the support of neutral nations for what it called “a fair peace settlement for Ukraen” ahead of next week’s gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly.
Loozensky has been internationally promoting his “peace formula” with Western backing. It includes Ukraen regaining control over all former territories, war reparations from Russia, and a tribunal for the Russian leadership. Moscow has dismissed the Zelensky plan as being detached from reality.
My oldest son was driving a red Toyota 4×4 pick up . It was used but solid .
He worked at an auto parts store and had done a pretty good job of fixing it up . One weekend he did a tune up . Plugs , rotor , cap, plugs etc .. about a week later while I was working , he called and said it had statrting running rough then died.
At that point I had more money than time so we had it towed to a shop I had used before .
Next day shop calls me to tell me it jumped time and the engine was a complete loss .
Quoted me 2500 to rebuild .
Only paid 1500 for the truck .
I told them never mind and had it towed to the house .
Finally I was off work a few day and decided to check it out . Pulled the timing belt cover and checked the orientation of the cams to the crankshaft . It was perfect ! So at their point I’m a bit confused . Pop the distributor cap and noticed the rotor was on the wrong cylinder .
Come to find out my son forgot to put the holding screw back in the rotor and it had turned just a bit . This meant the timing was so far off it wouldn’t run .
Put the screw back in, cranked it up and it ran like a champ !
Drove it up to the shop and called out the boss .
Showed him and explained what was found .
His face turned 4 shades of red lol ! Come to find out the tech that looked at it got paid extra to do rebuilds and was condemning engines every chance he got !
Needless to say the tech got fired .3 hours of my time and I saved 2500$ and my son got his truck back .
As an Ordinary user of a smartphone, can you really tell the difference between the 3nm and the 7nm Chips?
You can’t
The difference is more from an engineering point of view and a design point of view than a commercial point of view
The Average customer doesn’t understand 3nm and 7nm.
There is Zero difference from the POV of a retail customer who doesn’t understand Semiconductor Design Or Power Consumption Efficiency (99.9% of the world’s retail customers)
Here are the top six parameters based on which people decide which Smartphones to buy :-
Price
Camera
Battery & Charging
Gaming
Color & Design
BRAND
Do you see ‘Performance’ anywhere?
No
Performance is impossible to gauge for a normal user
You need advanced tools that tech blogger guys from YT have
Sure you can see the difference between a 32 nm Laptop Chip and a 7 nm Smartphone Chip
However it becomes tougher as you come closer and closer to each successive process
Take the I7 vs Loongson 3AC6000
Assuming Loongson had Windows integration
An Average user could not distinguish the two apart unless by GPU performance or Memory superiority
Yet a professional with tools can see that the Loongson is performing only at 50% the rate of the I7
So the answer is YES
My guess is the 3/2nm Chips are redundant for modern smartphones. They are too advanced and unnecessary for the average retail user
Cost effective 7/5 nm Chips are the Uppermost limit for smartphones
The Iphone 15 vs Mate 60 is the best example
The greatest advantage of the Iphone 15 was the GPU of NVDIA according to retail users
Mate60 won with the Camera, Gestures, Satellite Calling, 5G speeds etc
Iphone won with the Graphics
Nobody mentions the A17 Chip except as part of the textbook spec comparison table
3/2 nm Chips will be pathbreaking for the NEXT GENERATION after the Smartphone like maybe Advanced AI systems etc
TSMC will find the 3nm process overkill
Yet if they keep at it, they may find it easier to progress to the next generation of communication technology
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 time in the Marines didn’t go at all as I expected; in fact, I was disappointed with almost all of it. However, I am grateful for these very disappointments. It took me a long time to come this viewpoint, but I am finally able to see the experience in a more wholistic way. As a Christian, I see it through the lens of Romans 8:28:
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (ESV)
When I was planning to go into the Marines, my father encouraged me as he always had. He thought I had sound judgment and that I had made a wise decision. It was a sickening shock for me to find out in the Marines that very few people, men or women, thought this way.
I was generally despised as a woman Aircraft Maintenance Officer. Women hadn’t been allowed into this MOS for very long. I was about the sixth woman to choose it. People thought women couldn’t understand machinery or aircraft.
I personally got ugly comments. One was a note passed to me in AMO school that read, “A woman is a life support system for a cunt.” I was very quiet back then and kept to myself a lot, but other Marines’ hatred for me was so great they went out of their way to humiliate me.
At some point I found out I could not be assigned to a deploying squadron; no women Marines could deploy back then. So this fact meant I would not be assigned to any unit that actually had aircraft, unless it was to a training squadron. My dream of going to a deploying squadron and to a carrier ended.
I was so miserable. I had no friends after a while. A woman captain I knew went to Germany, and a woman TBS classmate with whom I was also close had to take a medical discharge. I was lonely and frightened and made bad personal decisions as a result.
But when I was at my lowest point, I reached out to God in desperation, and He answered. It was the beginning of our relationship which continues to this day. It was about that time my EAS rolled around, so I was then set free from the Marine Corps.
In spite of the traumatic stuff and in addition to my now having God in my life, I did however benefit from my service.
I was able to work for Sikorsky Aircraft as a technical writer. I wrote repair manuals for the SH-60B helicopter when it first came out. The job included testing the manuals out on the helicopter by doing an R and R (remove and replace) of all the parts on it, including the engines, blades, and rotor head.
Being a Marine helped me get a job with the Texas Department of Public Safety as a security officer. Marines are highly respected in the Department, and there are a lot of them in it. To my surprise, many other members of the Department admired me for my Marine service and accepted me because of it. That had hardly ever happened before.
A huge benefit was that my husband, a highly decorated combat Marine, chose me to be his wife. He said that when he learned I was a Marine, he knew I could understand him like no other woman could. We got married six weeks after we met.
So my military service was a rough go, but it prepared me for the rough life I had ahead of me. But most importantly, God used it to bring me to Him and to my wonderful husband.
At so many levels… I was a small child in the 60’s. I remember on the news there was a symbol- a silhouette of a soldier walking – with a number in it, and that number was the number of casualties there had been that day. My cousin was in the 101st Airborne- it would take forever to hear anything so we both were encouraged and afraid when they mentioned the 101st.
Many people say the Gulf War was the first war played out on television. It wasn’t. It was Vietnam. I remember it so distinctly. It was terrifying. I asked my Dad what the war was for… he started to explain but in the end, he just said “There is never a good reason for war, and in the end, it won’t change anything anyway…” Looking back now, what did all that death and pain- on both sides- accomplish?
The city I lived in had a Marine base. Many of the kids I played with had dads who were “in country”, or mothers and fathers who worked at the base. I saw many of them saying goodbye because their lives had suddenly changed, either because their dad would not be coming home, or that he had come home and was now facing extended time in rehab. I remember playing in the stadium right in front of the entrance to the housing area for the base… when we saw a black car with a driver, an officer… and a chaplain… all the kids would run home in terror. Someone was about to get some bad news.
I was grateful that my Dad didn’t have to go to Vietnam. He was in the navy as the war started but I was a sick baby and he was discharged on compassionate grounds.
I remembering wearing a bracelet with the name of an MIA soldier… he didn’t come home, well, his remains didn’t come home, until the late 1970’s, I folded up his bracelet and sent it up to his family.
One of my dearest friends, “Sarge” Robert Hultgren, was a 2 tour vet- he campaigned tirelessly for the MIA and POW. “I can’t forget a single brother” he said. Sarge died several years, of Alzheimer’s Dementia. He forgot his daughter, his wife, his own name… but he thought he was in Vietnam. His PTSD pierced his soul so deeply it was too deep even for Dementia to wash away.
Sarge used to put up a bamboo Christmas Tree in front of Boston’s City Hall each Christmas. Lest we forget.
I remember standing on the front steps with my Mom when all the church bells and sirens from Fire Trucks and Civil Defense were sounding to say the war was over. But how could it be over? My friends were still waiting for their dads.
That next year at Memorial Day, the 1st World War vets marched, all snappily dressed and although old were orderly and looked dignified. The same was true of the World War 2 vets, the Korean War vets… then came the Vietnam vets. The looked slouched, and where people had cheered for the other men, they yelled things at the Vietnam Vets… Baby killer. Rapist. Bastards. WHy didn’t you just die there….
Some of the my friends were there watching their dads marching and they winced at the hatred. We had already seen it, protests at the gates of the base, “peace protesters” telling the small children there that their daddies were murderers and rapists. Who did they think they were to “peacefully” destroy these kids?
Neighbours of my grandparents, the place where we spent every spare minute, were a military family. One day when visiting them, the news came on the TV and they turned it off. “We don’t listen to that when we are here… this is our escape” said the lovely Mrs Wittman. Her husband was a senior military officer. This was the reason:
Lance Corporal Narvin O WIttman 26–9–1946 – 7–8–1967 Their son had died in Vietnam. When I went to see the “Wall”, I took a rubbing of his name. He didn’t even make it to 21.
It was years before we learned our lesson. It is this deep wound of guilt that led to Americans thanking Vets for their service… never again would we forget that it’s not the soldier’s fault when he does what his country asks him to do. I hope.
All those of my generation had the same experience… the pain and horror of Vietnam was all over the news, inescapable, imbedding itself in our psyche.
Thanks for your service… as my generation joins those who pass away, I just pray we as a human race never forget. We inflicted pain on those young men- draftees- and their families. For what?
The Sopranos || Lovely
Breaking bad is my all-time favorite show.. But this show is… its a masterpiece. I remember the first time i finished it. Had a feeling i need to watch it again right away…. They don’t make them like they used to before. What a great time it was for entertainment back then.
Southern Crusty Coconut Pie
IMG 0070
Ingredients
1/2 cup milk
1 1/4 cups shredded coconut
1/4 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (9-inch) unbaked pie shell
Instructions
Pour milk over coconut and set aside while creaming butter and sugar together.
Add eggs to creamed mixture and beat well.
Add milk, coconut and vanilla extract.
Pour into an unbaked pie shell.
Bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until pie is golden brown and firm.
Chinese are not closed off from the world; more than 130M Chinese travel outside China annually, and they spend about US$250B annually on their travels, making them the single largest tourist group by nation, and the biggest spending one.
Just because you disagree with Chinese government policies, do not say that Chinese are closed off from the rest of the world. It is you who are out of touch with what is really going on.
Three mile island is / was a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. They had a leak of radiation in the late 1970’s and served as the back-drop for the story that I am about to relate today.
At 4 a.m. on March 28, 1979, one of the worst accidents in the history of the U.S. nuclear power industry begins when a pressure valve in the Unit-2 reactor at Three Mile Island fails to close. Cooling water, contaminated with radiation, drained from the open valve into adjoining buildings, and the core began to dangerously overheat.
The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant was built in 1974 on a sandbar on Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River, just 10 miles downstream from the state capitol in Harrisburg. In 1978, a second state-of-the-art reactor began operating on Three Mile Island, which was lauded for generating affordable and reliable energy in a time of energy crises.
After the cooling water began to drain out of the broken pressure valve on the morning of March 28, 1979, emergency cooling pumps automatically went into operation. Left alone, these safety devices would have prevented the development of a larger crisis. However, human operators in the control room misread confusing and contradictory readings and shut off the emergency water system. The reactor was also shut down, but residual heat from the fission process was still being released. By early morning, the core had heated to over 4,000 degrees, just 1,000 degrees short of meltdown. In the meltdown scenario, the core melts, and deadly radiation drifts across the countryside, fatally sickening a potentially great number of people.
As the plant operators struggled to understand what had happened, the contaminated water was releasing radioactive gases throughout the plant. The radiation levels, though not immediately life-threatening, were dangerous, and the core cooked further as the contaminated water was contained and precautions were taken to protect the operators. Shortly after 8 a.m., word of the accident leaked to the outside world. The plant’s parent company, Metropolitan Edison, downplayed the crisis and claimed that no radiation had been detected off plant grounds, but the same day inspectors detected slightly increased levels of radiation nearby as a result of the contaminated water leak. Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh considered calling an evacuation.
Finally, at about 8 p.m., plant operators realized they needed to get water moving through the core again and restarted the pumps. The temperature began to drop, and pressure in the reactor was reduced. The reactor had come within less than an hour of a complete meltdown. More than half the core was destroyed or molten, but it had not broken its protective shell, and no radiation was escaping. The crisis was apparently over.
Two days later, however, on March 30, a bubble of highly flammable hydrogen gas was discovered within the reactor building. The bubble of gas was created two days before when exposed core materials reacted with super-heated steam. On March 28, some of this gas had exploded, releasing a small amount of radiation into the atmosphere. At that time, plant operators had not registered the explosion, which sounded like a ventilation door closing. After the radiation leak was discovered on March 30, residents were advised to stay indoors. Experts were uncertain if the hydrogen bubble would create further meltdown or possibly a giant explosion, and as a precaution Governor Thornburgh advised “pregnant women and pre-school age children to leave the area within a five-mile radius of the Three Mile Island facility until further notice.” This led to the panic the governor had hoped to avoid; within days, more than 100,000 people had fled surrounding towns.
On April 1, President Jimmy Carter arrived at Three Mile Island to inspect the plant. Carter, a trained nuclear engineer, had helped dismantle a damaged Canadian nuclear reactor while serving in the U.S. Navy. His visit achieved its aim of calming local residents and the nation. That afternoon, experts agreed that the hydrogen bubble was not in danger of exploding. Slowly, the hydrogen was bled from the system as the reactor cooled.
At the height of the crisis, plant workers were exposed to unhealthy levels of radiation, but no one outside Three Mile Island had their health adversely affected by the accident and no one died as a result of the accident. Nonetheless, the incident greatly eroded the public’s faith in nuclear power. The unharmed Unit-1 reactor at Three Mile Island, which was shut down during the crisis, did not resume operation until 1985. Cleanup continued on Unit-2 until 1990, but it was too damaged to be rendered usable again.
I, like most of my classmates, at meals at the school cafeteria, and drank a lot of beer in between our classes.
Now…
There was a scandal that occurred at that time.
You see, after the three mile island event, the local government ordered that all the cattle that was grazing on the grass near the plant be killed and no milk be produced, and no beef be sold.
But…
Yeah. You guessed it.
Not all the cattle was accounted for. Some couple of hundred of head couldn’t be found, accounted for or located. They just “disappeared”.
One week after the “scandal” our school announced a “all you can eat steak holiday” at all of our dorm cafeterias.
Yeah.
No shit.
And sure as shit, tons of beef, steaks and roasts galore.
…
In the four years that I attended the university, there was only ONE such event. And that was one week after the missing radioactive cattle couldn’t be accounted for.
…
Now, I (who read the local and state news) wouldn’t touch the meat at all. And my classmates relentlessly made fun of me.
Saying that I was the one losing out. I was truly the butt of jokes. I was considered “stupid”, an “idiot”, and just too caught up in “stuff that didn’t matter”.
While they, who lived on campus, and was isolated from ALL OUTSIDE NEWS, lived a very secluded and pampered existence. They had no idea what was going on “outside”.
Maybe I was the fool.
Maybe not.
Of the three classmates who made fun of me, and who ate that steaks, two of them got cancer and died. One in the 1990’s, and the other around 2004 or so. The last one Peter, was still kicking around on Linkedin about eight years ago.
No signs of cancer yet. Knock on wood.
…
Today…
Rustic Southern Sweet Potato Pie
2023 09 17 10 42
Ingredients
Filling
2 large yams
2 large sweet potatoes
2 cups sugar
1 stick butter (melted)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons butter
Dough
3 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
Egg Wash
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
Filling: In a large pot, boil yams and potatoes for about one hour or until tender.
Drain water and let potatoes cool.
When cool enough to handle, peel skins off and place yams and potatoes in a ricer or potato masher.
In a bowl, combine yams and potatoes, sugar, melted butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and vanilla extract. Mix well.
Dough: Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a small saucepan, heat the butter until it turns golden brown. When done, it should have a nutty-like aroma.
Remove from heat and let cool.
In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and sugar, mixing well.
In another bowl, whisk together olive oil, vanilla extract, milk and melted butter.
Pour into the flour mixture and mix with a fork. Dough should hold together. If too crumbly, add ice water, a tablespoon at a time.
Cover and let sit for about a half an hour.
Assemble: On a floured surface, roll out dough to fit a 14-inch round or rectangular baking pan. Place dough on pan.
Spoon filling into the center of the dough, leaving about a 1 1/2-inch border. Gently fold the sides of the dough up and over some of the filling.
Egg Wash: Mix the egg and tablespoon of milk together with a fork.
Coat the bread with egg wash using a pasty brush.
Sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for about 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Maduro displays Huawei phone at press conference
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The latest cellphone of Chinese telecommunication giant Huawei not only caused quite a stir in the consumer market, but also became the gift presented by the Chinese side to visiting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Moros.
When addressing a press conference at the Latin American country’s embassy in Beijing on Thursday, Maduro took out a foldable Huawei mobile phone, attracting a flurry of flashlights.
“It’s Huawei’s newest cellphone that uses the latest technologies, and you can use this phone to directly communicate via satellite,” he said.
He unfolded the new device, and the large screen that emerged showed a photo of President Xi Jinping shaking hands with Maduro.
“Take a look at this cellphone. How does it look? Look at the screen. It’s a very big screen,” Maduro said with great pride. “Look at this moment when an ideal becomes a reality!”
The Venezuelan leader did not conceal his confidence in the quality of made-in-China electronic devices.
“I want all my young friends to buy a good Huawei cellphone,” he said. “I believe this is the most secure cellphone I’ve ever used and I believe it won’t be tapped by any country.”
Source: chinadaily
Chairman of Joint Chiefs, General Mark Milley, “Retiring” End of Month . . . Ukraine?
General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is “retiring” at the end of this month. Quite a number of Pentagon staff seem to think this has to do with the utter failure of the Ukraine situation. One Pentagon Officer said “rats are fleeing the sinking ship.”
In a signal as to how unscheduled this “retirement” actually seems to be, Milley told reporters he “doesn’t even know yet where he is going to live, quipping that he has told his wife “we can go to Dicks and get a tent. I’m good with that. We lived a tent before.”
On their face, such words do not give the impression this was a long-planned retirement and gives credence to the notion that something unexpected is forcing the General out. In many people’s minds, Ukraine losing to Russia is the obvious catalyst for Milley’s rather sudden departure.
Hal Turner Editorial Opinion
I am not a fan of General Milley in any way. After the November, 2020 Presidential election, when Milley penned a letter – also signed by the rest of the Joint Chiefs – telling members of the armed forces they would serve Joe Biden, despite what I saw as clear and obvious election fraud which put Biden illegitimately into office, I thought Milley should have been gone right then and there. Instead of defending the actual vote which re-elected Trump, Milley embraced the illegitimate Biden “victory.” It made _me_ sick to my stomach.
Once Biden was in, the whole Ukraine thing flared back up. It had quieted down to nothing during the Administration of President Donald Trump, yet within weeks of Trump’s departure, war was back on the agenda in Ukraine.
That agenda reached its peak in February, 2022, when Russia, having tried every Diplomatic effort imaginable, had to send troops across the Ukraine Border to protect Russia from continued NATO expansion, and from the placing of American missiles on Ukraine soil.
So here we are, 19 months into the Russia Special Military Operation (SMO) to “de-militarize and de-Nazify” Ukraine, and Russia is winning big.
Even staunch NATO allies like Poland, see the writing on the wall. Just yesterday, the Poland President said “Ukraine entering NATO is out of the question now.”
The Ukraine fiasco is falling apart day-by-day and there is no saving it.
I suspect – but cannot prove – that Milley was among the Hawks pushing this Ukraine-Russia fiasco. Perhaps deluded by his own propaganda, Milley never seemed to realize that Ukraine never stood a chance against Russia.
Now that the Ukraine thing is falling apart, Milley is high-tailing it into retirement.
It was my neighbor. She shot a message to me, all capitalized: “DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THAT?!”
and then, she proceeded to tell me the story about our County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a delivery driver stated that he was unable to deliver a package due to a llama standing in the middle of the road and blocking the traffic.
A cop responded to the location and found said llama in the middle of the road, refusing to move. He finally found a way to sweet talk the llama into putting on a leash and to get it off the road way. If there wasn’t a picture, I’d refuse to believe it.
image 77
People! Keep your pets in the house!
Chinese Innovation Foils U.S. Tech War — Clifford A. Kiracofe
Washington calculated that it could restrain China’s technology advancement and thereby stay ahead of the China. However, it appears that this calculation was mistaken.
image 67
China’s rapid advances in technology will inevitably foil the United States-led Western technology war against China. Huawei unveiled its stunning new high tech Mate60 cell phone and timed the announcement with the visit of U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. Sending a message?
The Donald Trump administration launched an intensive trade war and a tech war against China. President Joe Biden continued Trump’s policies and ratcheted them up to a new level. Rather than engage in mutually beneficial trade relations and scientific and technological cooperation, Washington openly admits it seeks to contain and suppress China’s economic growth and development.
Playing this zero-sum game is a dead end for the United States. China is very well equipped in the pursuit of technological innovation. Fundamental to China’s tech progress is the human factor. For example, it is no secret that China every year produces far more STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Math) students than does the U.S.
Tech war is economic war
Export controls and restrictions on technology development are nothing new in international commerce. During its colonial period, the North American colonies faced an array of trade restrictions and technology restrictions imposed by the British Empire. These were designed to prevent the colonies from becoming rivals to British manufactures. They also were a factor leading to the American Revolution and War of Independence.
In World War I, the United Kingdom enacted a “Trading with the Enemy Act” which created an export control regime deigned to deny Germany war related imports. After the U.S. entered the war, Congress passed its own Trading with the Enemy Act modeled on the British legislation. These wartime legislative measures were applied again during World War II.
After World War II, export controls on a multilateral basis were created by the West to restrict various exports to the Soviet Union and Communist bloc. The Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM) was created at the beginning of the Cold War. The U.S. thus coordinates, in turn, with NATO allies, Australia, and Japan to restrict the export of sensitive technologies to designated countries.
So the Western use of export controls for the purposes of economic warfare is nothing new. But the revival of this mechanism intensively directed specifically against China is a key feature of the U.S.-led New Cold War. The technological encirclement and blockade of China, however, is not sustainable.
image 66
Washington miscalculates
Washington calculates that it could restrain China’s technology advancement and thereby stay ahead of the China. However, it appears that this calculation was mistaken.
Logically, because China’s population is four times larger than that of the United States, there would at some point be a larger pool of STEM trained specialists in China than in the U.S. This is so because of the continuous upgrading of higher education in China and the massive commitment to research and development.
Several years ago, Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. released a study on the STEM issue. The university’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology reported that in 2000 the U.S. issued twice as many doctorates in STEM field as did China. But in 2007, China began outpacing U.S. universities. The report assessed that by 2025 China would produce twice as many STEM Ph.D. graduates.
Because the U.S. cannot compete with its own population base, Washington seeks to import specialists in STEM fields from India as one stop gap measure.
But Chinese innovation is very dynamic and advanced with great future potential. Therefore, it should have been no surprise that China would develop the necessary technology for state-of-the-art semiconductors. This national objective combines the growing pool of high-tech specialists with a large pool of skilled labor together with billions of yuan for investment.
It was not difficult to foresee that China, through innovation and targeted investment, would be able over time to produce the machines and industrial processes to fabricate advanced state-of-the-art semiconductors. This applies to Chinese semiconductor design capability as well.
Why did the Washington miscalculate?
An inter-agency task force on the Chinese semiconductor issue would have concluded that the attempt to block and limit Chinese advances is not sustainable and thus would fail.
Some critics of the administration point to the lack of competence in President Biden’s foreign policy team. They say that Secretary of State Tony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan are just not up to their jobs.
Be that as it may, it is possible that racial prejudice affects Washington’s assessments. There was a time after World War II when it was common to look down on “cheap” Japanese goods. But Japanese success in electronics and auto manufacture by the 1980s showed another story.
Anyone from the U.S., a tourist or an official who visits China’s National Museum in Beijing will see exhibits displaying many centuries of Chinese skill and innovation not only in art, such as ceramics and bronze, but also in inventions and technology. China’s history of science and technology goes back millennia.
image 65
File photo shows technicians of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) inspect the company’s facilities in Beijing. (Photo/Xinhua)
What does the Huawei Mate60 portend?
Clearly, the advanced smartphone is a perception changer at a minimum. No doubt, it will be seen as a game changer as well. Other high-tech breakthroughs are in the news.
It is now reported that the Chinese firm SMIC has a 7 nanometer (nm) N+2 process semiconductor project that is produced entirely in China with no access to Western equipment and technologies. All of the core components in China’s EUV lithography machines are said to be ready and that the prototype is being tested.
On the day that the new Mate60 phone was announced it was sold out in one minute online. Huawei boosted production to 15-17 million units and beginning September 10 Chinese can purchase the smartphone in Huawei’s offline stores. The phone has a satellite capability.
As Chinese firms develop independent semiconductor design and fabrication capacity, U.S. firms inevitably will lose out on this vast export market. It seems logical that the more intense the anti-China trade and tech wars become the more Chinese consumers will turn to homegrown products other than those from the U.S.
The U.S. lifted a stone only to hit its own feet.
The U.S. politicians must come to their senses and adopt a China policy of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, cooperation, and mutual benefit. Washington’s belligerent and destabilizing foreign policy disrupts the international community, increases tensions, and can lead to a war which will harm the U.S. side in the end.
As an American, I can answer this and feel no remorse for brutal honesty: because America sucks. There I said said it. The American Dream was a lie invented by Madison Avenue to sell Packards and cigarettes. Pick a developed (or hell, even a middle income) country and you’ll usually discover the US is usually worse at everything that matters. Healthcare, education, public transport, child mortality, infrastructure quality, violence, city layout, etc. Those are the most glaringly obvious. Here are some more that are more subtle, but you start to feel them the longer you’re away.
There is no community in the US. How many Americans can tell you they know the names of the neighbors? How many Americans would trust their kids walking to a mile to school or the grocery store? For Christ’s sake you can’t even send your kid to a public school without having to worry about a classmate shooting up the place.
Next, we’re even bad about about the thing we go on most about and claim the entire country was founded on…freedom itself. Want to build a house on a vacant lot? Your local NIMBYs will make sure the local government keeps that from happening. Want to walk down the street drinking a beer in any town or city (other than New Orleans or Austin)? Say hello to your arrest for public intoxication. As a general rule, free men choose and unfree men comply. And in the US today, you’re going to find yourself always complying.
And for the flag waving keyboard warriors who are currently furiously typing, “LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!!!” I’m already ahead of you and will be a citizen of Belize before the month is out.
Originally Answered: What is the differences between Huawei's version of 5G versus other companies? And why is Huawei ahead of everybody else in this technology? Did they steal it from US DARPA?
Three years old article , but still very good. Godfree Roberts always delivers -MM
…
It’s not Huawei’s version of 5G that is different: 5G standards are set by international agreement and Huawei and others must adhere to them.
It is Huawei’s implementation of 5G that sets it apart. It’s the lowest-cost provider and the only provider of end-to-end solutions for national telecoms: from servers to cell towers to handsets, all designed to perform perfectly with each other.
Unless it approves Huawei the US will be forced to integrate more costly, less functional, less compatible, less upgradeable components and pay twice as much, take twice as long and endure years of inferior service.
Huawei is literally unrivaled in enhanced mobile broadband. Only Huawei produces every element of a 5G system and assembles turnkey networks–from antennas to the power stations to chips–at scale and cost. It’s just what busy telcos want: one-stop shopping at a fraction of the cost of competitors. And Huawei manufactures its own stuff, too. Here’s one of their many production lines:
Much of the cost of implementing 5G (and much of its benefit) stems from the fact that it requires 5 times more cell sites than 4G. Cell sites are heavy and expensive to install because they need a crane operator to lift them into place and technicians in cherry-pickers to hook them up.
So Huawei shrunk cell sites’ dimensions by 50% and cut the weight of its 64T64R 5G base station to 70 pounds so two people can install them without expensive cranes.
Installation is expensive! The US needs to install 100,000 more cell sites, an investment that runs into billions. US corporations are reluctant to invest the necessary billions because they prefer to use their money for stock buybacks but China will spend $200 billion on 5G network construction by 2025.
Because electricity is expensive, Huawei also reduced the power requirements of their equipment, so it’s 30% more energy efficient than competitors and reduces connectivity cost-per-bit by 80-90% compared to 4G.
Huawei is also innovative: Apple, for example, uses 790 Huawei patents while Huawei uses 90 Apple patents. And Apple cannot ship 5G handsets until late 2020, a delay that postpones America’s full implementation to 2025–an eternity when competing with China, where 5G phones are working in Lhasa. (China is making trendy Monaco the first country on earth to be fully 5G operational).
The US and Apple are effectively out of the 5G race, but China, Russia and the EU are heavily committed to 5G. Germany’s Chancellor Merkel is a PhD scientist and her ministers and CEOs see 5G as a way to boost national productivity, a German obsession.
Even worse for the US is the fact that, by 2027, the first specs for 6G will be issued and 600 Huawei mathematicians and engineers have been working on them for almost a year.
In other words, except as a consumer of Chinese technology, America is becoming irrelevant in mobile telecommunications, an American invention, because it has no industrial policy and its CEOs are shortsighted, greedy and unpatriotic while China and Chinese CEOs are precisely the opposite.
2021 UPDATE: Tibet now has broader, faster 5G service than America’s leading technology cluster, the San Francisco Bay Area.
Yes, except for satellite calls, this phone is not much different from the latest iPhone or Galaxy.
It’s just a mobile phone. It’s not a hydrogen bomb, it’s not nuclear fusion, it’s not even a Mars landing.
2023 09 07 15 44
Why a mobile phone can attract huge attention.
This is because the appearance of this mobile phone represents the end of an era and the beginning of an era.
The power of the United States is so strong that all countries/businesses in the world must obey it. Americans say “Hey. You are not allowed to deal with this company, he is evil!” All companies can only obey. Because even if they are not American companies, their governments cannot protect them.
So before that, no country or company could withstand US sanctions.
In the past, a civilian enterprise that was comprehensively sanctioned by the United States could only go bankrupt, cease operations, be acquired, or shrink to a closed field to survive.
Originally everyone thought Huawei was the same. Without the support of American technology and global supply chain, this enterprise will suffocate to death.
However, the emergence of this mobile phone subverted everything.
It proves at least four key pieces of information
1. The Chinese government has become so powerful that it is not afraid of the United States and has enough power to protect its own companies.They even pranked Raimondo, saying she was the spokesperson of Huawei
2. American technology is not unique, and the Chinese can do it if they spend some time. Since the most complex semiconductor industry can do it, so can other industries.
3. China has built a complete semiconductor technology and industrial chain, and their country can stand shoulder to shoulder with the world. They sent a clear signal: cooperation, welcome; confrontation, come and try.
4. China’s market is huge. In extreme cases, they don’t need global trade, and they are enough to maintain world-class enterprises. If you don’t give me your market, you will lose mine too.
In short, the appearance of this mobile phone has sent a signal to all other countries in the world: when you feel that you don’t like the United States or are oppressed by the United States, we will give you a second choice.
Therefore, it is not just a mobile phone, but a historical milestone.
I believe I am living a good life. I have a fun job, and my own house, and cars I enjoy, in a great place. I also have a very nice family.
What makes it possible:
I live within my means;
my means are adequate;
they are adequate because I deliver something to be considered of value (I teach);
I am apparently not a monster, so people don’t run away from me;
I am surrounded by very nice people, in a very nice society.
And that may very well be the recipe for a good life.
So, be realistic, productive, and nice, in a nice place, and you should be ok. Not rich, perhaps, but a good life doesn’t need to mean you’re rich. In fact, a certain lack of ambition for riches may very well provide you with a more rewarding life than aggressive pursuit of riches, because people will still like you, and that’s a major part of having a nice life.
Here’s my not-rich-life, and it’s good enough for me.
This JUST Destroyed US Sanctions China’s Huawei Smile & America Shocked!
1,025 views Sep 5, 2023
Since 2019, the US government has imposed a series of sanctions on Huawei, alleging national security concerns and effectively cutting off the company from vital components and software. These sanctions have been a significant hurdle for Huawei, but the tech giant has proven its resilience and innovation time and again. The latest chapter in this saga brings us to the Huawei Mate 60 Pro, a flagship smartphone release that has garnered attention for potentially defying US sanctions. In today’s Video, we will delve deep into the intricate web of events, policies, and technological advancements that have allowed Huawei to seemingly outmaneuver US sanctions.
Huawei grant the United States a BACK DOOR to Ukraines Security Network for Trump to be able to prove Biden was corrupt in Ukraine
Huawei promptly refused
Trump then demanded something even stronger :-
Huawei would transfer all their patents and all their 4G Equipment Licenses and all their Network Equipment in US & Europe to an American Entity for a flat sum. Lock Stock and Barrel sale.
Huawei would manage 5G Networks and get a Operations Fee but the entire network would be controlled by the Americans or their companies
Otherwise Trump threatened to Bankrupt Huawei and destroy them
Huawei again said NO
The US always had their way in these things and Trump was very angry
image 55
Huawei was hit with the worst sanctions for absolutely no reason whatsoever
The US refused to allow Huawei a chance to withdraw from Military contracts of the PLA in order to avoid the Sanctions
Huawei refused to sacrifice their Network and 5G patents in exchange to keep selling phones
It would have been the easier thing to do
Huawei was selling 216 Million Units a year of smartphones
These Restrictions took it to a mere 27 Million Units a year the following year
image 56
After Trump lost, Biden came to power and Huawei hoped for a peaceful return
Yet Apple lobbied ferociously to keep Huawei down as they saw their sales rising rapidly in Mainland China, their second largest market
Biden complied as he wanted China to follow his BIDEN DOCTRINE
So as you can see, Apple vs Huawei is not an Economic Or Technology War
It’s a Coercive Political War steeped in protectionism on behalf of Apple and on spurious and baseless charges made by Donald J Trump
Without an Economic issue or proper competition, how can Huawei and Apple ever compete?
Apple is protected so much it has forgotten to Innovate anymore
Huawei is being throttled and conspired against every second day
Unless 6000 US Politicians die and the Neo Cons and Insane Trumpers disappear – No American will allow Free Competition
American citizen living in Germany here.
I get asked often about how long I will stay in Germany and why Germany. I want to stay indefinitely and the reason why is precisely because the USA is not the best country in the world (there is no such thing). I am treated better and have more opportunities in Germany. Here are some things that I can do in Germany that I could not do in the USA.
I can go to the doctor without fear of bankruptcy, without having to argue with insurance companies, without receiving random medical bills at a later date.
I and my husband can have a child and get paid maternity and paternity leave.
I can go to university without taking on debt.
I get 30+ days of vacation each year that I am encouraged and expected to take.
I can feel secure in my job because they cannot fire me without cause. There is no such thing as so called “employment at will” laws.
I can raise kids who are bilingual in an environment that values bilingualism.
I can drink in public places. I can crack open a beer or wine on the sidewalk, in a park, on public transit, nearly everywhere.
I don’t have to worry about taking a bullet at my place of work (I’m a teacher). When I do have kids I won’t have to worry about them being shot in school either. In fact I don’t have to worry about guns at all because they just aren’t prolific here.
I don’t have to worry about CPS (Child Protective Services) being called or being arrested if I let my kids be independent and go do things by themselves. It’s considered normal for even a 6-year-old to walk to the bakery by themself, go to the park by themself, and to walk to school by themself… even in big cities.
I don’t have to leave a tip because I know that my servers are paid fair wages. My servers don’t push me out of a restaurant when I am finished eating. I can sit and enjoy a drink and conversation and I can let my server know when I am ready to leave.
I don’t have to worry so much about nudity. People here tend to have the perspective that it’s just a body and being nude is generally not illegal.
I don’t need to have a car to get just about anywhere. I can use public transit.
I have more freedom of movement. As a woman, I can walk around alone in a big city at 2 in the morning and feel safe. I experience far fewer (nearly zero) instances of street harassment.
I don’t have to tolerate religion being shoved in my face on a regular basis. Yes, people here can be religious too, but they nearly always keep it to themselves.
IS SHE A MAN?! | The Truth Of Barack & Michelle Obama… *MUST WATCH*
The stupidest thing the US government did was to try to stop Chinese progress in technology.
It didn’t work 30 years ago when the US tried to stop Chinese launches of satellites. It didn’t work when the US tried to stop Chinese machine tools, and hey, it didn’t work this time either.
Every single time the idiots in D.C. did this, China ended up with the majority of the world market for that industry.
You would think that since it didn’t work several times before, they would have stopped doing it but no. lawyers only know one thing. Try to screw you over.
So this time, it didn’t stop China either. Instead Huawei alone has a GPU that is as fast as Nvidia’s A100. I thought it would take at least a couple of years for China to catch up to the latest generation GPUs but no. China has caught up.
The only thing is that China can’t make enough. But once those new Chinese fabs that are slated to come online in the next year and the year after that. China will not only be making chips for China but also to the rest of the world.
Micron has already fired over ten thousand people, same for Intel, and AMD. Nvidia will be doing the same once their market share drops due to Chinese chips coming into production.
This is just the start.
US chip companies are going to lose more revenue because of US government sanctions. This isn’t just the Chinese market. After all the US is sanctioning about 1/4 of humanity right now.
No one knows if the US government is going to come after you. So everyone, ironically, including the Europeans are designing out US made components. No one wants their business to be interrupted because a US senator or President woke up and decided to sanction you.
The US simply can not be trusted to carry out normal business.
Business contracts are meaningless as the US government will sanction you for saying the wrong thing or not saying what the US orders you to say.
So US companies have not only lost the Chinese market, they are also going to lose the world market.
…
With the exception of the White nations and US lapdogs.
It won’t be the Indian century because Indian society does not meet the basic requirements for being a modern society.
A modern society does not discriminate against members of society simply on the basis of birth, because they believe human talent should be allowed to flourish regardless of anyone’s social background at birth.
Because of the Indian caste system, India does not do this, and caste discrimination continues. As Indian becomes more powerful and grows, more countries will become aware of the caste system, and this will form a glass ceiling for India’s growth.
The only way for India to deal with this problem is to meet it headfirst, and through a combination of social reform and legislation, make a clean break with the caste system.
China had a class system, and Mao challenged and broke the Chinese class system.
India needs its own Mao to shatter the caste system before it can become a modern state.
Niger Africa Has Beat The French Military – French Military Evacuating Niger
He stopped and froze, a bit concerned. He then points under the trees and says: “Tiger!”
I approach him and look. We were in the USA, what did he see there?
A big orange tabby cat!
His picture book at home doesn’t indicate scale, so tigers, ants or apples are all the same size. How could he have known what size a tiger really was?
Central American Parliament Votes In Favour Of China And Says This About Taiwan Being China’s Part
This is no different to Australia being a Commonwealth Country of UK. We function as a Republic, and we have our own Country … so to say the UK will invade Australia is absurd. The same applies to the Republic Of China (aka ROC Taiwan). ROC Taiwan is already a province of the People’s Republic of China (aka PRC Mainland China). Why would PRC China want to attack ROC Taiwan? It’s already a province of PRC China. The ROC Taiwan functions a Republic and has its own currency … just like Australia.
https://youtu.be/nJRuT88ApT4
Strawberry Cheesecake Chimichangas
Strawberry Cheesecake Chimichangas, a Tex-Mex favorite, features a delicious cheesecake filling wrapped in a flour tortilla, fried to perfection, then coated with cinnamon-sugar.
Divide the mixture evenly between 6 tortillas. Slather the filling in the lower third of each tortilla, fold the two sides of each tortilla toward the center and then roll the tortilla up like a burrito. Secure it with wooden picks.
Combine 1/3 cup sugar with 1 tablespoon cinnamon in a shallow bowl and set aside.
Line a large plate with paper towels.
In a deep saucepan place about 2 to 2 1/2 inches vegetable oil for frying and heat it over medium-high heat until it reaches 360 degrees F.
Fry the chimichangas until golden brown and crispy, about 2 to 3 minutes, and flip them as needed.
Remove the wooden picks.
Transfer the chimichangas to the paper towel-covered plate to drain for a minute, then roll them in the cinnamon and sugar mixture.
Serve with sliced strawberries on top, if desired.
Huawei was once the world’s top smartphone vendor, shipping over 200m phones in 2018.
Last year, under a de-facto embargo by the US, it shipped 28m, an eight-, almost nine-fold decrease from its peak.
The volume has been cannibalized by Apple, Samsung, and other Chinese brands.
Apple, in particular, now sell more iPhones in Greater China than stateside, all thanks to Huawei’s demise.
That’s “national security” and “clean networks” for all you Apple fans.
How bad were the curbs applied on Huawei? Phone assemblers froze assembly lines overnight and refused to fulfill their contractual obligations, components on order were canceled, and design license agreements ripped up.
Huawei had no OS, a completely disrupted hardware supply chain, a deficient set of highly specialized software design tools and its CFO under house arrest in Canada.
It would not have surprised anyone had Huawei announced its withdrawal from the consumer device space.
Amazingly, Huawei the 5G telecoms champion sold off Honor, its sub-brand, and issued 4G phones under the Huawei brand, weathering a gut-wrenching revenue drop off a cliff.
It conducted an internal review of the entire supply chain, from its core telecoms equipment business to consumer devices, and began the painful and expensive task of de-Americanization. Any component that had even the hint of American IP was marked for domestic substitution. The process was completed for its telecoms equipment earlier, but the device side lacked two pieces—a capable GPU for AI-assisted gestures, payments and the camera, and a 5G modem, which was protected behind Qualcomm’s giant patent wall.
Huawei found hacks around EDA restrictions, and designed its own GPU.
It also introduced novel transistor geometries to boost the performance of 7nm to the 5nm node. It rapidly upgraded its inhouse Hongmeng OS to 4.0, turning it into a polished platform with large language AI and IOT capability baked in. Its software ecosystem is coming along nicely, and the platform is well beyond the market share needed to ensure survival.
To add icing on the cake, the flagship Huawei phone of 2023 can make satellite calls, showcasing its space comms tech maturity and the bandwidth/coverage of the Chinese commercial satellite network.
In field tests conducted by a Hong Kong user, the Mate 60 Pro matched the iPhone 14’s 5G network speed, demonstrating Huawei’s 5G modem was a match for Qualcomm’s implementation. Not a bad milestone for a first effort, eh?
Huawei had no need for GPS, Qualcomm’s 5G, LG’s OLED, Samsung’s storage, Micron’s memory, or even upstream chip design tools that were vulnerable to US sanction. In fact, even if we took the best in class features from Apple, Google and Samsung and put them into a hypothetical hybrid champion, the Mate 60 Pro can still stand shoulder to shoulder, because it has a couple of industry-first or performance leading features. It is truly worthy of a 2023 flagship designation, earned fair and square.
Huawei did all these in less than 4 years, a remarkable turnaround despite becoming a corporation targeted for destruction by the US government, probably a historic first.
Huawei is finding its mojo again on way firmer footing, and it will sell every Mate 60 pro the production lines can churn out this year.
Chinese do not really believe in propaganda, otherwise known as marketing.
What you mention are statistics. Statistics are routinely interpreted differently by governments in ways to suit their needs, but this does not make them lies. Western governments do this about inflation.
For example, when talking about inflation, the US government usually does not include gasoline prices. How much do Americans use automobiles for transportation? Would you say then that the US government is lying about inflation?
You see, when it comes to statistics, there is no such thing as objective truth.
There are just different ways of counting.
Internet DESTROYS Oprah, The Rock For FRAUD Maui ‘Fundraiser’
The Rock and Oprah are facing backlash after they tried to save face by “raising money” for Maui. The people of Hawaii aren’t buying it..
In 1986, a fire broke out in an apartment complex in Chicago. The fire was responsible for the death of two brothers and one of these brothers was believed to be a part of the Latin Kings gang. The police suspected a woman living in the building was responsible for the fire because he had a brother killed by a member of the Latin Kings.
The woman was brought in for questioning, but she denied being involved in the fire and instead pointed the finger at 18-year-old John Galvin, and two other boys.. The night of the fire, John had stayed at his grandmother’s house, and there was no evidence to say these boys had done it, but they were brought in for questioning anyway.
When they were brought in for questioning, the police used extreme tactics to get the boys to confess. After an intense interrogation, deceptive tactics and physical violence, John snapped and confessed to the fire.
He signed in a confession that himself, Arthur Almendarez and Francisco Nanez threw a bottle of gasoline at the building and then threw a lit cigarette into a pool of gasoline on the porch to light the fire. The Judge sentenced all three to life without parole.
After being in prison for 27 years, John was watching an episode of MythBusters where they attempted to light gasoline with a cigarette and they couldn’t get it to light, even after many attempts.
After waiting 8 years and many courtroom battles they were finally exonerated in 2022 after spending 35 years in prison.
Douglas Macgregor: UNITS GOT MASSACRED WHILE RETREATING.
I called the woman interviewing me “Tina”. Her name was not Tina. I did this on purpose.
I was being interviewed for an IT position with a very high end resort. From the moment I started interacting with this woman, I knew I wasn’t going to take the job even if it was offered. She was that unpleasant.
However, being the professional that I am, I figured I should at least complete the interview.
That was before she started talking down about her employees as if they were her personal servants. She was elitist beyond belief. She outright laughed in my face when I told her I had experience dealing with wealthy people. She generally made no effort to hide her disdain for “poor people” and told me that I would not be permitted to ever talk to the clients.
It was at some point during this conversation that I had Ron Swanson running through my head.
The woman in question was named Toni, but by the time she was done with my interview, I wanted to call her Satan.
So, at the end of my interview, I stood up, reached out my hand and said “Thank you for the interview, Tina. I’ll see myself out.”
I thought her face was going to explode. HOW DARE THIS PEASANT CALL ME BY THE WRONG NAME!!!!
Yeah, I nuked that bridge from orbit, but I have absolutely no desire to work for a person like that, nor anyone who would associate with her.
Living in CHINA: Culture Shock!
I briefly describe the experiences I’ve had and discuss the theme of convenience in Chinese culture.
Well, I’m a woman who works in Engineering. To say I’m familiar with this would be an understatement.
The ones who walk into my office and give me a high school level explanation of something, and I gesture to the books on the shelf behind me (either as a co-author or technical reviewer) while complimenting them on their grasp of the basics and offer a lend if they’d like to learn more in-depth.
Or the ones whom I helped with some 1950’s HVAC equipment nobody else could, who later swung by my office to thank me, shake my hand, and try to palm me a TWO DOLLAR TIP. ~blink blink~ I laughed and handed it back, helpfully explaining that my tastes run to 20 year old scotch, not Natty Light.
And the constantly being hit on at technical conferences, and when I politely thank them and say I’m already seeing someone, they go off on how I should enjoy my middle class life and tell me how much money they make. With those… I don’t tell them that I make significantly more than they do, they’re already too fragile in ego anyway.
He cried and hugged my leg for help, he had been starving for a long time… I couldn’t pass by!
Thank you so much for helping this sweet innocent defenseless kitten. Poor baby was probably traumatized by some heartless souls who painted him and heaven knows what else they did. You are an angel with such a beautiful loving soul. Thank goodness you saved him, took him to the vet for vaccines and an exam to make sure he was healthy. We, in the USA, have many people who are also cruel to animals,, so it is no different here. You are “The Power of One” to help these sweet beautiful animals.
About 18 months after marrying my husband who was a very fit manual worker, he collapsed in our field with what I thought was a heart attack. I gave him first aid until the ambulance arrived and he was blued and twoed to the main hospital. Turns out it wasn’t a heart attack but he had an aortic aneurysm and a leaking heart valve. He had emergency open heart surgery and was in hospital for quite a while. When he got home he was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome (look it up, it interesting but too long to explain). As he was recovering I cared for him night and day. I never left his side. He slowly started to feel worse. After numerous trips to and from doctors and hospitals, he was diagnosed with leukaemia. I held his hand and wiped his brow as he had bone marrow extracted. He went through hell as you can imagine. Never once did it cross my mind to leave him let alone divorce him!
He started out on the road to recovery but I developed an almighty headache. The doctors treated me for migraine. Nothing touched the intense pain. I rubbed my head on the bedroom wall in absolute agony. I wore the paint and plaster from the wall down to the bare bricks. How much my poor husband did to try to help me. He rang an ambulance when I was at my worst but they refused to attend as “migraine wasn’t classed as an emergency”. He carried me to the car and drove me to hospital, worried out of his mind. I was given ct and mri scans and they discovered a giant aneurysm on my brain. I had emergency brain surgery. That man never left my side. I don’t think he thought of divorce either.
Twelve years later, we are still together, very much in love and we care for each other. Life is hard but we stick together through thick and thin!
China-U.S Clash: China DESTROY The Entire U.S Car Industry
In today’s video, we dive deep into the seismic shift in the global automotive and tech industries. China’s decision to restrict raw material exports has sent shockwaves across sectors, reshaping the landscape and posing significant challenges and opportunities for the U.S. Join us as we unravel the intricacies of this power play, its implications, and the potential paths forward. If you value staying updated on the latest geopolitical and economic trends, this is one discussion you won’t want to miss!
China doesn’t listen to what the US tells it to do; Japan does.
The Chinese currency, central bank, banking system and real estate market take their orders from one organization: the Party. When the Central Committee announces a policy decision, the decision is final. When the US told Japan to overvalue the yen to cut Japanese exports, Japan did. When the US complains about the yuan being valued lower than it should be, China ignores the US.
The US has military bases in Japan. It has no military bases in China.
China has 1.4B people; Japan had about 120M people.
China is dominant in all manufacturing sectors; in the 1990s Japan was dominant in automobiles and machine tools. China had not become significant yet.
China is one of the founding members of an increasingly important economic organization, BRICS. Japan did not have leadership in any international organizations.
China is the leading trading partner for 150+ countries.
What Happened to Millionaire’s Row in Pittsburgh?
US, Europe need China EV batteries to help own firms — Global Times
image 53
There have been calls in the US and Europe to reduce China’s advantage in electric vehicle (EV) batteries. But China’s supply-chain advantage in this area has become so important for the global EV industry that giving up that edge could put a country’s development of its own EV sector at an obvious disadvantage.
Maybe that’s why UK Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said that her country won’t impose import restrictions on those products from China.
When asked whether the UK was overly reliant on China for its EV supply chain, Badenoch said on Monday, “At the moment, China is leading on this technology, so we wouldn’t be able to get to where we want to get to on net zero by completely stopping or banning Chinese products … You can’t exclude Chinese-made products from the battery ecosystem.”
Despite what Badenoch said, it doesn’t mean that Chinese-made EV batteries will not face any trade barriers when entering the UK market, given the “rule of origin” requirements for electric cars in the EU-UK post-Brexit trade deal. Under the deal, starting from next year, carmakers could face tariffs of 10 percent on EV exports to the EU if at least 45 percent of the value of an electric car’s components and 60 percent of its battery don’t come from the UK or EU.
Badenoch’s response was more like an attempt to consolidate carmakers’ confidence in the supply chain. It is no secret that the UK government has been looking for ways to boost its domestic EV and battery industries, but the problem is that it is struggling to attract such investment, especially from foreign companies, as the UK has lagged behind China and the US in terms of EV-related industries.
Under such circumstances, any negative signal to Chinese battery suppliers would constitute another source of risks to the development of the UK’s domestic EV industry. This is because Chinese companies account for more than half of the EV battery market and satisfy as much as 90 percent of demand for some battery materials, according to Bloomberg NEF.
Such economies of scale have allowed Chinese manufacturers to outperform US and European rivals, which is probably why when the US and European EV industries are still dependent on increasing subsidies, while Chinese manufacturers, especially those on the battery supply chains, have already shifted from being entirely subsidy-driven to being market-driven.
In this case, if a country really shuts Chinese batteries out over geopolitical reasons or fear of competition, then its domestic EV companies will probably face higher costs and slower development due to insufficient domestic supplies. The logic applies not just to the UK, but also Europe as a whole.
There are many concerns in the EU about excessive reliance on Chinese electric cars and components like batteries, with some following the geopolitical thinking of the US.
As a result, concerns are rising when it comes to Chinese electric cars and batteries entering the European market. For instance, last month, the EU’s Batteries Regulation entered into force, which stipulates how batteries are collected, reused and recycled to a high degree in Europe. This is seen as one of the newest thresholds for Chinese carmakers and batteries in going overseas.
Of course, it is reasonable for the EU to safeguard its own supply chain stability and economic development, but it should be advised that to achieve the goal of promoting EV development, the EU needs to follow rational voices that are based on the judgment as to whether it is conducive to promoting green development, rather than being derailed by protectionism or geopolitics that will only backfire.
Well, me – 3 or 4 times. The first time was as a new boy, middle of freshman year in high school, moved to West god help us Texas. I was a late bloomer, prepubertal, 100 pounds (maybe) soaking wet, 5 foot nothing tall.
The school was not what you call big, and PE was all four ages from frosh to senior, your schedule with academic classes being considered more important.
A senior kid, obviously bigger, started in as class had ended, we were dressed and waiting for the bell for the next class. “Your old man’s a stupid pig!” “Yeah,” I said. “P-I-G. Pride, Integrity, Guts.” Turned my back and walked out. Axxhole grabbed my shoulder, spun me around for a sucker punch to give me a black eye.
That was the last he landed. Did it not occur to dumb-dumb that a cop’s kid just MIGHT grow up learning self-defense? He missed the next three days of school. I had a shiner.
Word got around. That was the last anyone tried to bully me in high school.
I was going to school in Chicago, USA. I definitely didn’t have much money. At the time, I typically donated plasma weekly for my food allowance.
Walking to class and the train (tube) station weekly (this particular lecture was only once a week), I would pass a small eatery. Near the eatery, there was a homeless person with one leg sitting in a wheelchair with a collection cup. He would ask every time I’d pass by.
One week, the eatery was advertising a special: 1/4 chicken dinner, potatoes, green beans for $5. What a treat! I barely had $5 but decided to purchase on my way back to the train home.
I don’t remember exactly what the lecture was, but surely on gratitude or counting blessings. After, I bought the food. I passed the man in the wheelchair. While I didn’t have much, I did have a roof and some bread. I gave my food to the man. I explained I didn’t touch it yet and had planned it for my dinner. He thanked me and I started to walk away feeling like I maybe made a small difference in his day.
He called after me and I turned. He asked about a drink. I told him I didn’t purchase a drink. He told me it was $2. I told him I didn’t have $2 and I paid in change to purchase the meal. He stood up from his wheelchair on TWO legs. “Bullsh—”. He threw the food down on the ground next to my feet which spilled it. “Who buys a dinner without a drink?”
I walked away. I was embarrassed and hurt. I cried on the train ride home. I went home and ate the only food I had left for the week- some bread with peanut butter. I ignored him every week after that.
1930s USA – Fascinating Street Scenes of Vintage America [Colorized]
Nobody is your enemy. You are everyone’s enemy because you think you owned the world and that everyone must be submissive and subservient to you!
You who ask this question is your own enemy! China is not your enemy. China want to be strong and powerful so that you cannot threat them. That is simply a right thing to do. If you think China is only a friend if they lie down and let you walk all over them you are wrong. You are simply not clever.
China won’t and so is the rest of the world. Nobody likes a bully like the U.S. no one wants a self proclaimed world policeman that no one appoints. No want wants a trouble maker and a war monger.
Breaking Bad – TIGHT TIGHT TIGHT
Tuco was, BY FAR, the funniest dude on breaking bad, every time he takes a hit of meth, is pure entertainment.
Did knights have to be kind to peasants in medieval times?
Yes, especially if he wanted to get in your pants. (Although lower-class medieval women generally did not wear trousers.) So the Duke of Normandy was looking at his fortress. He saw a beautiful tanner’s daughter dipping animal skins into the water. She had lifted her skirt. The Duke liked what he saw. He sent a soldier to fetch her. She said she would go to the duke’s castle if she rode the soldier’s horse. The soldier agreed. She borrowed a pretty dress. Then she mounted the side saddle of the soldier’s horse. She and the Duke had sex and the future William the Conqueror, King of England was conceived.
I really liked this girl, she was funny, charismatic and helpful.
Until one day, I met a friend of hers and she was really pleased to meet her. Right after the other friend left, she said “look at her, if she gets a boyfriend before me, I’ll kill myself.”
I found this a rather odd thing to say but I shrugged it off, but it didn’t stop there.
Time and time again… she would smile in people’s faces and what she would say behind their backs was awful.
This had me feeling really sympathetic for people that called her a “friend”. It was also a wake up call like damn, what could she be saying behind my back.
We still talk but not much especially after I confronted her to tell her that what she was doing wasn’t cool. I’m in a place in my life where I’ve lost interest in her and honestly my respect for her too.
Don’t backbite your friends it’s not cool people, not cool at all.
The states have been different from all countries I’ve been to so far. I visited NewYork state then went all the way to Oregon. And I had some general impressions on both:
1- People are so friendly. In fact, too friendly for someone like me, lol.
Everyone chats with you like they’ve known you for a while. They ask “how are you today?” and answer in length something like “oh not doing my best given the weather but other that it’s all good” with a bunch of giggles and smiles.
Not to mention, the waiters constantly check on us, asking if we need something.
Having been raised in Kuwait, the small chat is usually kept to the very bare minimum. And how are yous are replied to with 2 words no more.
Not only that, but Americans also apologize furiously and sincerely for things that look very normal to me. People would apologize deeply that they couldn’t help you find something or that they had to do something that caused you a minute inconvenience.
I found it sweet but way too deep for interaction between strangers. But that’s just a matter of what I’m used to.
2- Traffic light for every lane.
image 78
I had never seen or heard about this before I landed in the US. I would look up and there is 4-5 traffic lights for one street only ! My husband then explained to me that the right or left lanes can sometimes move when the others aren’t, hence each has their own traffic light.
In Kuwait there is usually one traffic light on each side of the street is all.
image 79
3- Diversity in products.
You can ask my husband how my first visit to target then Walmart went. I was basically like a child in an enormous candy store.
There is a huge number of products suitable for everything.
I found hair products in huge numbers for each hair type. I found makeup shades with huge ranges. Given that back home, accepting diversity isn’t that big of a trend yet, I had to get myself some supplies.
4- Doing everything yourself.
Call me spoiled, but back home I never fill up my gas tank myself, or carry my luggage into an hotel, or check myself out of a supermarket without interacting with a cashier worker. But in the US, I had to it all myself.
However, the most shocking thing I had to do myself is this:
We finished eating in a restaurant, so I informed the waitress the I wanted my food for takeaway. So she came, left this carton on the table then walked away:
image 80
If my husband hadn’t explained to me that this is normal there, I would’ve been pissed at the poor service and laziness. But it was just the norm as I had to do to pack my food into boxes in a couple of places after that.
5- Asking for a bag and a straw.
Being so environmentally conscious isn’t a big thing yet back home, so I was definitely taken by surprise that I have to go out of my way to ask for a bag or a straw for my drink. Most people didn’t get bags if they purchased few things and some had their own bags with them.
6- Interaction with the waiters.
When I went to restaurants with my husband in different countries, I never understood what he was doing. We’d want our cheque but he kept sitting there only to tell me that no one’s looking at us yet. So I would just raise a hand and shout “excuse me”.
Then I came to the US and I realized that service there is all about eye contact.
You close the menu, they see that and come pick it up and get your order. You need the cheque, you give them a look and they know that you need something and come right away.
Everyone in my family thought that’s hilarious. If I kept waiting for a waiter to look at me, I’d spend the night in a restaurant every week over here.
And of course, I was not used to tipping at all and forgot to do it all the time.
In fact, I had no clue how to tip when paying with a credit card until my husband showed me. You basically write the amount you want to tip on the receipt.
I still think that giving 20% of the receipt as a tip is way too much. But I guess I have to follow the norms because the system is very different over there.
7-Calories on the menu.
Everything on the menu has the calories written next to it. Thank you for ruining my chance to have a guilt-free dessert America ! Lol. I definitely see how it’s useful for others though.. just not to someone as obsessive as me.
8- Dogs everywhere.
I had a vague idea about this… but oh boy, I underestimated the size of it. There were dogs everywhere I went. The supermarkets, airports, houses, elevators and so on.
In the few hours I spent in the airport of San Francisco, I’ve seen more dogs than I see in Kuwait for weeks.
9- The bathrooms are shocking.
This has been mentioned by most people before for a reason. There is no squirter/ hose/ bidet. You only use toilet paper. I forgot that most of the time and therefore didn’t prepare for it so I had to keep wetting tissues before using the toilet.
image 81
Also, I had no clue how to shower without drains on the floor. Back home, we have a drain in the bathroom. So even if you spilled a ton of water on the floor, you simply push it into the hole with a squeegee in the ground and you’re good.
image 82
So my husband showed me that I have to shut the shower curtains tight- as I don’t have any at home. And that I should keep the towel very close to me to dry myself before leaving the shower and so on.
10- The houses are modest and not as fancy as I expected.
I had always thought that everyone in the US lived in a huge fancy house as shown in hollywood movies.
One time I even squabbled with my husband because he wanted to live in a house. I said “ I don’t want to have to clean all that much all the time !”. He explained to me again and again that it’s not that much bigger than an apartment but I wasn’t convinced.
And I wasn’t the only one. One of the things my family asked me is “does their house (my in-laws) look like the one from home alone?”.
image 83
But to my surprise, houses can be as small as you want them to be. From the inside, when it’s a one-storey house, it looks exactly like an appartment.
So basically, they were like apartments sliced up into units, instead of being gathered in a building.
I am that person. I sunk money into a large deck, hot tub, atrium, in ground pool, 3 car detached garage, a third floor, 15kw solar array, an extra bath and a half, over size hot water system, built in BBQ, gardens, and all sorts of other amenities. All the stuff a realtor will tell you not to do because there would be little, if any, return on the money.
Some people don’t care about getting their investment back. I just wanted to live well with all the stuff I ever wanted. Been here 20 years now and I got my money’s worth. I’ve always known that eventually I’d be selling the place but I didn’t do it to make a profit. I’m getting too old (77) to take care of things and am going to have to downsize within the next few years, but the last two decades were worth the money. What good is money if you can’t enjoy it???
At the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa in August 2023, 40+ countries applied to join, and six nations were admitted.
China is already the leading economic power.
But these countries are not applying to join BRICS because China is the economic world power. They are applying to join because they are not satisfied with the current economic order as represented by the G7, and they want a system where they can be treated fairly as equals, instead of being dominated by a minority.
San Francisco Is So Bad That Construction Projects Are Being Cancelled
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
He was part of a huge family of film financiers but his father was among the poorest members of the same family
He roomed in the same area as Bachchan and Amjad Khan and Shatruguan Sinha in 1970–1972
He eked out a living as a small time writer and selling shirtings and acting in small parts for various studios
Then in one day his life changed
He was WILLED almost 4 Acres of Land in Bombay in the mid 1970s and 14 Luxury Cars
A Very Wealthy marwari financier who was pissed off with his family, willed his entire estate to Sudhir solely because Sudhir drove him on his last journey as a favor
A Clear will naming Sudhir as the sole beneficiary of the mans will witnessed by a reputed doctor and by a famous producer
Obviously the Will was contested ferociously
Meanwhile Sudhir received a monthly rent of ₹ 210/- for each Unit of the Chawl due to rent ceiling and had to pay almost ₹40, 000/- in Taxes
He was cited for illegal construction in 1986 and warned to hand over the property to someone else in exchange for a ₹7 Lakh compensation
He leased out those 14 Cars for film shootings. The Courts allowed him these lease amounts as earnings but any sales sum would have to be placed in a separate account
For 31 years, Sudhir and his family saw an avalanche of litigation during which Sudhir sold his cars but had to put the money in a separate account
He refused to settle with anyone
Meanwhile he survived on handouts for his treatment for Pulmonary Something and struggled financially
In 2007, the Courts decided in his favor
They acknowledged that the Financier had clearly said all the earned wealth would go to Sudhir and it was not the courts business to interfere in why certain people made certain decisions
Sudhir was entitled to ₹ 46 Lakhs earned from the sale of the cars plus interest in the bank
Then he sold one car for ₹3.3 Crore to Vijay Mallya – a Vintage car
His financial position improved dramatically by 2009
Still the legality of the Chawl was pending
Sudhir died in 2014 , willing the Chawl to his son and daughter and wife equally
In 2019, the Courts decided that the Chawl belonged to Sudhir legally as Lalwani had paid a sum of money and legally purchased the land on which the Chawl was built
The Value of the Land?
Roughly ₹ 240 Crore
The State protested and used the Land ceiling in Mumbai and said No Individual could own 4 Acres of Land in that area single handedly
In 2021, the courts valued Sudhirs estimated ownership at 0.96 Acres per the 1976 standards
Thus Sudhirs share was estimated at around ₹59 Crore
The family finally got ₹46 Crore after all taxes by the State Government Or Local Corporation
Sudhir had been gone for a decade but still HE EARNED ALMOST ₹50 Crore cumulatively just by a single will and a moment of anger and indecision by this Marwari financier
Tariffs on China Backfire as American Companies Are Leaving US, Eyeing to Set in China!
The American government ought to consider if it would not be wiser to have a more friendly attitude to China instead of making enemies all the time.
Only 2000 Taiwanese are allowed to travel to the mainland every day
Around 120,000 Taiwanese are restricted from visiting the mainland
Mainlanders who visit Taiwan are literally spied on to the last minute of their visit and cannot spend overnight in Taiwan without an express permit
Taiwanese Researchers are forbidden from visiting the mainland anytime
In fact it’s a GODDAMN CRIME in Taiwan
If a person restricted to travel to the Mainland, goes anyway – he could be jailed!!!
Why do you think they have such rules or restrictions?
Why not boldly say “Any Taiwanese can visit the mainland if he wants”
After all MAINLAND has no such laws
Anyone can leave and spend 10 days in Taiwan and 30 days in US and 30 days in UK and 30 days in Spain and return back
Taiwan is the East Germany of Asia
It’s people are developing a pull to go to Mainland China which is now developing and growing faster than Taiwan outside numbers
The Vast Spaces, the vast Tier Two and Three Cities, the emerging railways, the cleaner crisper air and the boundless opportunity for more research and a huge scope of expansion
Against
The congested island, the crowded cities, the overkill saturation of US influence that is having a reverse effect on the Taiwanese and the fewer opportunities to expand or handle research
The Mainland is their home too
There will come a day when Nature wins and when ultimately the Chinese on both sides decide to unite to maximize their growth and development
Just like East and West Germany and the Berlin Wall Moment
Taiwan is a slave satellite to USA just like GDR was to USSR
Not to mention the Anti China wave in US is also affecting the Taiwanese in US as they very much look the same
So Why would China rock the boat by Invading Taiwan?
That’s what US and the West want today
To divert attention from the Ukrainian horrors that they are facing plus finding a divide between the Mainland and Taiwan
No need to invade even if Lai Wins
Even if Taiwan under US influence make some demented declaration of Independence
By simple Natural Economics, China will succeed in reunification
Richard Wolff on How Europe DESTROYED Itself in America’s War on China
Dying for America must surely be a good cause. Well done, EU. Do it for America. </sarcasm>
Originally Answered: What is the best case of “you just picked a fight with the wrong person” that you've witnessed?
I was that kid!
Let’s set the scene. It’s 1975. I’d just started at a state Grammar School, a short, weedy 11-year-old first-former.
For some reason, some mop-haired blond idiot of a fourth-former bully decided I was going to be this year’s soft target. Think Draco Malfoy. Similar looks, similar attitude. He took every opportunity to threaten me: “I’m gonna get you after school! You’re going home in an ambulance!”
The threats continued, day after day. I was starting to think he was all wind.
One day, he proved me wrong. Waiting until I was just out of sight of the school—the only smart thing he did—he and his retinue of about eight or so other idiots surrounded me in a wide ring, and he advanced with all the swaggering menace a half-grown young man can show a little kid.
I wasn’t going to talk my way out of this one.
Now, a little flashback. Ripple, ripple.
When I started this school, a few weeks prior, my Dad gave me a new case. It was made of ABS plastic, a relatively new material, and this briefcase—hinges, handles, the lot—was one single moulded piece, folding in the middle, with added locks. It looked smart. Grown-up. I was proud of it.
Ripple, ripple. We’re back.
That day, it was full of textbooks and homework. It weighed (it seemed to me) a metric tonne. Turned out, that was quite handy.
I was terrified, but that fear inspired me to something I could never imagine any other time. Like an Olympic hammer thrower, I started a turn. Imagine this, but with a scrawny 11-year-old and a heavy plastic briefcase:
image 45
As I completed the 360, I took aim.
>CRACK!< The far corner of the briefcase, with all its accumulated speed and weight, and at the full extent of my reach, crashed into the right temple of the bully. Instantly smacked him flat on the road.
I didn’t even stop to see if I’d knocked him out. I ran through the circle of his stunned former admirers, straight back to school, and into the Headmaster’s study. I described him, his friends, and what happened. They showed me three-year-outdated photos of kids. I commented that even if I’d not picked the right picture, he’d be easy to spot next day.
He was. Apparently, he turned up to school with an angry-looking, brightly coloured lump the size of a swan’s egg on his forehead.
He never made it to his first class. I gather this wasn’t his first offence—but with perfect proof attached to his face, the school had a cast-iron case to expel him on the spot.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Vostochny Cosmodrome near the town of Tsiolkovsky in the Russian Far East’s Amur region to discuss a number of pressing issues, including those related to bilateral cooperation, as well as regional and global security.
The two leaders conducted negotiations on Wednesday both as part of their countries’ delegations and in a face-to-face format, in a meeting that lasted a total of about six hours.
“Thank you for inviting us, despite your tight schedule,” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told Russian President Vladimir Putin before the two started the tour of the Soyuz-2 space launch facility ahead of the negotiations.
and the Angara rockets, among other things. He notably left a short entry in the book of honorary guests of the cosmodrome, writing, “The glory of Russia, which gave birth to the first space explorers, will be immortal.
Putin, for his part, noted that the Vostochny Cosmodrome was an unusual venue for his meeting with Kim.
“We are proud of the development of our space industry, and this facility is new for us. I hope that you and your colleagues are interested in it,” the Russian president said.
He also recalled several memorable dates for North Korea
as the two met at the cosmodrome, located near the town of Tsiolkovsky in the Russian Far East’s Amur region.
“I am very glad to see you. Especially after such events took place: 75 years since the [Democratic People’s] Republic’s [of Korea (DPRK)] formation, the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War, and 75 years since the establishment of [Russia-North Korea] diplomatic relations,” the Russian head of state said.
Kim on North Korea’s ‘First Priority’
The North Korean leader called Pyongyang’s ties with Moscow his country’s top priority.
“Our friendship has deep roots, and the very first priority for our country now is relations with Russia,” Kim underlined, stressing that his visit is taking place “at a very important period.”
He signaled Pyongyang’s readiness to “further develop ties [with Russia],” adding, “We have always supported and support all the decisions by President Putin and those by the Russian government.”
Kim also expressed confidence that his meeting with Putin will raise bilateral relations between Moscow and Pyongyang to a new level, pledging that North Korea would always stand together with Russia in the “fight against imperialism
.”
In this vein, the North Korean leader pointed out that Russia “has risen for a sacred fight to protect its national sovereignty and safety against hegemonic forces.”
Productive Parleys
Speaking to Russian media after the Wednesday talks, Putin said he, in particular, held an open exchange of views on the situation in the Far East region.
“It is a good start, [and] very productive [one]. A very frank exchange of views took place on the situation in the region and on bilateral relations,” Putin emphasized, adding that he and Kim also discussed the development of bilateral relations in the field of agriculture. The statement came after the Russian head of state noted that Kim’s visit “is taking place in a truly comradely and friendly atmosphere.”
The North Korean leader, in turn, said during a gala dinner after the talks that high on the agenda was the situation in Europe and the Korean Peninsula.
“Comrade Putin and I just discussed in depth the military and political situation on the Korean Peninsula and in Europe and [we] arrived at a satisfactory consensus on further strengthening strategic and tactical cooperation, supporting solidarity in the struggle for the protection of the sovereign right of security, for creating guarantees of lasting peace in the region,” Kim underlined.
He expressed hope that his visit will serve as a catalyst to further bolster bonds between Pyongyang and Moscow.
image 23
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Vostochny Cosmodrome on September 13, 2023.
“In conclusion, I would like to express my confidence that our [delegation’s] current visit will serve as an important moment in the further development and transformation of traditional friendly Russian-DPRK ties into unbreakable relations of strategic cooperation,” the North Korean leader stressed.
He said that such strengthening is in line with the countries’ interests, signaling Pyongyang’s intent to build long-term relations with Moscow.
Sign to Washington
Konstantin Asmolov of the Moscow-based Institute for China and Modern Asia Studies with the Russian Academy of Sciences has, meanwhile, told Sputnik that what matters most from the Putin-Kim meeting
is “the visible show of support” of Russia by the North Korean leader.
Asmolov pointed to Russia becoming the first country where Kim arrived after three years of self-isolation, which he said is “a rather important fact in itself.”
image 22
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives at the Vostochny Cosmodrome for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 13, 2023.
The expert suggested that the two most likely focused on changes in the geopolitical situation in the region during the closed-door talks, especially in light of emergence of regional alliances, such as the Washington-Tokyo-Seoul bloc, which was created amid “global turbulence.”
When asked if the US is alarmed about closer ties between Russia and the DPRK, Asmolov said that America just “pretends that they are terribly afraid of apocalyptic consequences from this relationship in order to justify the formation of an Asian NATO.”
Victor Teo, a Singapore-based political scientist who specializes in the international relations of the Indo-Pacific region, for his part suggested that the two discussed “strategic matters of common interest” during the face-to-face talks.
Asked about the signal Putin and Kim are sending to the West, the political scientist said that “one key message this meeting is sending is that despite the United States’ strength in the Asia-Pacific, Russia too has allies in the region.”
“I personally think that Russia and North Korea are already on good terms, and that while Western press reports have raised various concerns, the United States government understands that the DPRK has traditionally relied on the Soviet Union/Russia for help in various aspects. The US security establishment is therefore not all that concerned with Russia-DPRK interactions unless it involves sensitive military technology exchanges that the US does not wish for the DPRK to possess,” Teo pointed out.
Sea launch 1st by Chinese private entity!
image 52
China on Tuesday sent a sea-launched rocket into space from the waters surrounding Haiyang, a coastal city in the eastern province of Shandong, placing four satellites into planned orbit.
The commercial launch vehicle, CERES-1, blasted off at 5:34 p.m. (Beijing Time). The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center conducted the offshore mission.
The rocket maker Galactic Energy said it was the 9th flight and the first sea-based mission of the CERES-1 series. The launch also makes it the first Chinese private company to complete a liftoff from the sea.
image 51
Compared with a land-based launch, the sea launch is a new mode, having more flexibility, better adaptability, and more cost-effective services. Furthermore, flexible positioning of the launching and landing areas can ensure spent rocket stages. Other debris falls into the sea rather than on land close to populated areas.
These advantages give the rocket company the confidence to increase the frequency of sea launches in the future.
Aboard the CERES-1 rocket were four satellites Tianqi 21-24, developed by Guodian Gaoke, a Beijing-based commercial sci-tech firm, which are part of the Tianqi low-Earth orbit Internet of Things constellation.
The 38-satellite constellation will go into operation in 2024. It will provide global data services for application scenarios such as emergency communications, ecological environment monitoring, and tower detection.
He was a young man who ended up splattering his brains all over the side of the pavement in the UK. He was well known amongst the petrol head community in the UK for all the wrong reasons.
He was a young man who seemed hell bent on dying young and impressing other people and trolling others.
If I recall correctly (it;s been years) he crashes his car impaling himself in the face and losing an eye. He seemed unfazed by this and bought a high power motorbike and scared the shit out of people by riding recklessly. Within a year he crashes and ends up spreading his brain on the pavement.
I recall his GF’s mother said she was glad he was dead, she was glad because he kept taking her daughter for dangerous drives around various roads.
Originally Answered: What science photos are hard to believe but are indeed real?
The most amazing photo in science ever taken and the one so hard to believe, is this one:
image 50
This is a photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2012 of a tiny tiny section of night sky. Called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, it took 11 days of exposure to capture the light from these small dots. What is so mind-blowing about it is the fact that with the exception of four small objects, no dot of light in this photo is a star. They are all entire galaxies of stars, over 10,000 separate vast islands of stars spanning quadrillions of miles in size each. The dimmest dots actually represent galaxies that are over 12 billion light years from Earth. Because light travels at finite speed, it took over 12 BILLION YEARS for the light from those galaxies to arrive at Earth. Stare at the photo for a bit and realize the incredible vastness it represents! Look deep into the image to find those dim dots.
The Hubble team did something really cool. Using hard data of how far each galaxy in the above image was from Earth, they created an actual video simulation of what it would look like to fly INTO the galaxies in the Ultra Deep Field image above. Every dot in the video is an entire galaxy of stars passing you by. Here is that video. To really appreciate the Hubble Ultra Deep Field photo, click the video below to fly into that scene: (Note: At the speed of the video, it would take you trillions of years to fly at that speed through these galaxies in real time).
Scientists also looked deep into the blackness beyond the above galaxies and asked if there were even more galaxies to see, if the Hubble took an even longer exposure. A few years later, with upgraded camera software, Hubble took an even longer and closer view of the same above spot. Sure enough, called the “Extreme Ultra Deep Field”, it contained a slew of even fainter galaxies. Here is the result:
image 49
In all likelihood, there are even more fainter, more distant galaxies hiding in the above darkness, beyond Hubble’s ability to see.
OK, so the sky has lots of galaxies. Surely that is crazy to grasp but perhaps not so hard to believe. Well, to understand better what is so mind-blowing about the above photos, consider this image below:
image 20
So, just how much of the sky did the Hubble telescope photograph to capture those 10,000 galaxies in one shot? It is the answer that is impossible to believe. Look at the image above. See that tiny faint yellow square in the upper left center? THAT is the area of space the Hubble photographed. All of those 10,000 galaxies in the first image, stretching back in time almost to the beginning of the universe, came from inside that tiny yellow box. WHATTTTTT????? In fact, the space occupied by that image would fit into an area smaller than a grain of rice, held up to the night sky at arm’s length. Move it a millimeter to the right, left, up or down, and it will block 10,000 more galaxies, then another 10,000, then another and another and …. Imagine how many galaxies you can cover if you contemplate the entire night sky? WHOA!
Well, was this some kind of fluke? Perhaps Astronomers pointed the Hubble at a section of sky known to have lots of galaxies. In response, the Hubble took a dozen additional long-exposure photos of different parts of the sky over the years, also spanning no more distance than that tiny box above.
Here was the result of another such exposure:
image 21
This one, taken in 2018, is a time-exposure of another tiny part of the sky and found a whopping 15,000 galaxies in a single image. Called the Hubble Legacy Field, it used the upgraded cameras on Hubble. It reveals galaxies stretching almost to infinity. Again, look deep into it to understand its magnificence.
Here was another exposure from yet a third tiny part of the night sky, named simply the “Hubble Deep Field” (it was in fact, the first photo taken of them all):
image 48
As you can see, it is filled with over 3,000 galaxies (the black area at top right is a camera artifact).
For a final view, this one is a closeup of a cluster of galaxies, one of hundreds known to exist. Most of the objects in it are massive galaxies, clustered together by their mutual gravity. It is called MACS JO717 (objects with long cross-hatch lines are stars in our Milky Way).
image 47
In short, everywhere Hubble looked in its dozen+ photos, it saw galaxies of stars … thousands upon thousands of them. No one knew the night sky had that many islands of stars. Every Astronomer on Earth was blown away by the realization that when you look out at the night sky tonight, the darkness you see is not dark. It is FILLED with thousands upon millions upon billions of galaxies of stars, each containing hundreds of billions of suns and possibly trillions of planets of their own. In fact, latest surveys estimate that our visible universe contains over 2 TRILLION galaxies, stretching to distances that no one can even comprehend. That is an almost impossible number to contemplate and is so humbling to realize.
Modern computers can draw simulations of what 2 trillion galaxies might look like, if we could see just a tiny fraction of them from a distance. Here is one such simulation (called the Large Scale Structure of the Universe)
image 46
Each dot above would be a galaxy of billions of stars positioned by the computer in its correct spot in the night sky. WHOA!
To best understand this, choose just one tiny dot in the above image … anywhere. Do it now. Stare at it a bit. Then imagine that dot is our entire Milky Way galaxy. With our current technology, it would take humans 2 BILLION YEARS to cross just from one side of that tiny dot you picked out to the other side of that same dot. Really! Now, look around it in space. Imagine how vast is the universe when you contemplate traveling between these galaxies, between those tiny dots. We are just a tiny blob of protoplasm on a tiny planet orbiting one star out of septillions, in just one galaxy among trillions, in an impossibly immense space. That is why the Hubble photos of these galaxies have been voted by many scientists as the most amazing photos ever taken in science. I totally agree!
It is like allowing the U.S. have a long rope to hang itself. Every time the U.S. media and politicians look down and pretend that China grow slowly or China don’t grow. And that the U.S. grows when in effect it is in a technical recession, it allows China to zoom past them.
So westerners who repeat such lies are in fact helping Chi a and not hurting China at all. This situation helps China. It wants to hide its strength. Not behave obnoxiously like the U.S. boaditing and showing off.
One year. I arrived in Nov 1967 and worked Huey night maintenance at Bien Hoa airbase for the 118th Assault Helo Co. My first exposure to combat was when the VC attacked the base in the Tet offensive, Jan 1968.
In April 1968 I was assigned a crewchief slot with the 68th AHC, the TopTigers and by mid May, I’d lost three helicopters and 2 pilots to enemy action and a crash. By June I was flying with the Mustang gun platoon and by November, my year was over. But I still had a third year of total service obligation left and my unit was short experienced crewchiefs. So my CO asked if I would extend my tour six months and in return, at the end of the extension, the ARMY would grant me an “Early Out” thus forgiving my last half a year of service. And in a decision only a VN vet could understand, I decided my place was with my flying buddies and I signed up for the extra six months. I made three.
In March 1969 my gunship crashed and I was medevaced out of VN a 20 year old casualty of the war. Recovery took a year and the VA granted me 30% disability and a monthly check of $42 which today has increased to $560. The California VA also paid for my Engineering degree as well as college for my two daughters. These bennies were well worth the discomfort of my injuries.
Interestingly, extensions in VN was not unusual in my unit. Several of my fellow crewchiefs came home, realized how tedious stateside service was, and missed the camaraderie of their aircrew buddies. So in 1970 – 71, they returned to our old unit and to a man, regretted it. The buddies they’d known had been replaced and the unit espirit had changed as well. VN was winding down.
As for me, my service in VN is no doubt the most memorable time of my life. I’d accumulated approx. 1000 hrs in the air and managed to avoid doing anything that would haunt me later in life. As a result, I have no regrets and sleep very well at night. I guess I’m one of those boring VN vets that made a normal adjustment to civilian life.
Huawei Chips are no longer made in Taiwan!
After 1566 days, Huawei Kirin 9000s is back, and it’s now made in China.
The chip is released in HW Mate 60.
McConnell appears to freeze for more than 30 seconds during press conference
A few days ago, the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center of China and 360 Total Security Company jointly issued a report entitled “‘Empire of Hacking’: The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency – Part I”.
The report details the CIA’s long history of leveraging its technological advantage to eavesdrop on or launch cyber-attacks against countries, businesses and institutions around the world.
image 44
As the initiator of cyber warfare, the largest supplier of advanced cyber weapons, and the world’s largest cyber spy, what has the United States targeted in its cyber attacks? The answers mainly include: Personal privacy, communications industry, critical infrastructure, and core network facilities.
According to the U.S. Army Times, the U.S. Army has requested $16.6 billion for the fiscal year 2023 to support its network and IT departments. Approximately $9.8 billion will be used for military network modernization, and about $2 billion for offensive and defensive network construction, and research and development in the field of cybersecurity.
Internet technology originated in the U.S., making it the first country to plan and deploy cybersecurity issues. However, this first-mover advantage did not lead the U.S. to a path of inclusiveness, fairness, balance, and cooperation when formulating cyberspace strategies; but, rather, maintaining and protecting its existing hegemonic advantage.
In 2013, American whistleblower Edward Snowden exposed the secret and comprehensive monitoring of the leaders of France, Germany and other European allies by the United States.
As the evidence shows, the U.S. is clearly the biggest threat to global cybersecurity. The “Hacker Empire” U.S.’s eavesdropping and cyber-attacks on other countries are fundamentally aimed at using digital hegemony to maintain its military and financial hegemony in the real world.
As the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson pointed out, cyberspace is not a battlefield or wrestling ground, still less should it be used as a tool to split the international community or contain and bring down other countries. A secure, stable, and prosperous cyberspace is of great significance to world peace and development.
They got made a prisoner. Usually interrogated, then sent to a POW camp.
True story. My mother lived in Kent during the Battle of Britain, she and her friends often watched the planes fighting.
One day, they saw a plane shot down. They knew it was a German Aircraft , and they saw the pilot bale out, and his parachute land in a field not far away. So they cycled over to the field. On the way, they met the local gamekeeper, on his bike, who had seen it too. He had his shotgun with him. They all went to the field. They saw the parachute laying in the field.
As they went across the field, the pilot stood up from behind some hay bales, with his hands up.
The gamekeeper pointed his shotgun at him.
The pilot shouted in English “ hallo! “ he pointed at his waist where he had a pistol “ I give you gun!”
And slowly pulled it out and threw it .
“ my leg hurts”
They went up to to him; and said “ sit down, it’s OK”
My mother was a nurse. she spoke some German, as she had an Austrian cousin. It turned out that he also spokequhite good English.
She had a look at his leg, it seemed his ankle was badly sprained.
The gamekeeper gave him a cigarette. They decided that they should take him to the farmhouse while they waited for the police. They helped him across the field and got him to the farm house .
Grandmother already had the kettle on so they had tea while the farmhand was sent to find the local policeman. About an hour later, he arrived, with two members of the local home guard in a car and the local doctor
Every one saluted each other; the doctor strapped up his ankle.
They all had some more tea , then the policeman said “” well sir, we have to take you to the police station, and wait for the Army to come and get you “
“Of course, thank you for the tea”.
And off they went.
Thé follow up is that in 1950, there was a knock on the door, and it was the pilot. He had spent the rest of the war as a POW in Scotland, then returned to Germany, and had got a job as a civil engineer, rebuilding Germany. He was visiting on business. He became a family friend.
Thousands of kids missing in Maui as walls go up to hide the truth | Redacted
It’s been 22 days since a massive fire destroyed the town of Lahaina on Maui… 2,000 homes incinerated, hundreds of people killed and all in an area largely owned and lived in by long time native islanders. What is really going on here? Why are drones being blocked, residents arrested when they try to return home? Why are 2,000 kids missing?
China is committed to building its own semiconductor industry and has invested billions of dollars in chip manufacturing projects, which has also boosted the performance of chip equipment manufacturers.
The Chinese scientists and engineers have already made their own reflectors, lithography equipment and control methods in extreme ultraviolet lithography and core technologies. Through independent research and development and innovation, China has gradually reduced its dependence on external technology and equipment and achieved a series of breakthroughs by relying on the huge domestic market demand. Therefore, in the fields of lithography machines, chips, etc., the Chinese are increasingly emerging and becoming a leader in global technology development. At the same time, China will continue to be committed to increasing its efforts to further promote independent research and development and innovation in key areas. This not only provides impetus for the sustainable development in China, but also makes a positive contribution to global scientific and technological progress.
At Harbin Institute of Technology, there have been frequent breakthroughs in the field of lithography machines. In February, a self-developed ultra-precision high-speed laser interferometer won top awards such as the “Golden Sui Award” gold medal at the World Photonics Conference. In March, a new solution for the development of miniaturized short-wave lasers was made. In April, the realization of an “electric energy conversion plasma circuit” and the realization of a DPP-EUV light source were all set to go.
Tsinghua University, Nanjing University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Specreation Company, headquartered in Hefei, Anhui, have all applied for patents on EUV light source technology in the past year.
The front-end lithography machine for chip manufacturing, mainly consists of four parts: extreme ultraviolet light source, reflective projection system, photolithography template (mask), and photolithography coating (photoresist) that can be used in extreme ultraviolet. The machine is simply called EUV for short.
In the technical fields of optical chips and 3D stacking, China has already begun to deploy and has achieved good results. These can bypass ASML’s EUV lithography machine.
Regarding the workpiece platform in the core technology of EUV lithography machines, the Chinese Huazhuo Precision Technology Co., Ltd.’s self-developed dual workpiece platform has completely broken ASML’s technology monopoly. Huazhuo Precision Technology Co., Ltd. (中国华卓精密科技有限公司) has become the second company in the world to master the core technology of dual workpiece platforms.
A small factory in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province broke Japan’s 20-year monopoly in one fell swoop, increased the purity of domestic photoresists by 10 times, and enabled mass production of high-end KrF and ArF photoresists, the 100% domestically produced upstream photoresist materials.
Shanghai Microelectronics is expected to deliver the first domestic SSA/800-10W lithography equipment by the end of 2023.
On the road to domestic substitution, a number of excellent suppliers have emerged in the upstream and downstream of the semiconductor fabrication industry, such as lithography machine light source system manufacturer Fujing Technology, objective lens system manufacturer Aopu Optoelectronics, and photomask manufacturer Feilihua, defect detection manufacturer Dongfang Jingyuan, photoresist manufacturers Nanda Optoelectronics and Rongda Photosensitive, photolithography gas manufacturers Jacques Technology, Walter Gas, etc.
Shanghai Microelectronics is already producing 28nm lithography machines and 14nm lithography machines are also under development. In terms of etching machines, China Microelectronics has developed an etching machine with a 5nm process and is making faster progress.
According to customs data, as of May 2023, China has successfully reduced the import of 45.5 billion chips. Based on this scale, it is expected that China will further reduce the import of more than 100 billion chips in 2023.
Generally speaking, the breakthroughs made by the Chinese companies in dual workpiece stages, objective lenses, light sources, masks, photoresists and other semiconductor core systems and materials prove that the Chinese are going further and further on the road of independent research and development of chip manufacturing. The Chinese are increasingly confident that under the environment of unity and cooperation between domestic enterprises and clear division of labor, and with the strong support of the state, the future of domestic chips is promising.
China has obviously understood that relying on the foreigners will not last long after all.
Bluntly, it’s a total and complete catastrophe, a shocking combination of yellow-bellied cowardice and overwhelming incompetence. It’s offensive to the natural world, God, morality, ethics, and sentient life itself.
Dozens of highly armed and armored and well trained police stood outside in the hall while little kids bled out.
In the picture above, taken 46 minutes before the police did their fuckin’ jobs, at least five officers with rifles are visible. One has a ballistic helmet. Two have ballistic shields.
They did nothing.
Active shooter protocols vary. Some are simple: The first to arrive moves aggressively toward the subject and neutralizes them, or dies trying. Others suggest that a brief wait for a small ad-hoc team, between two and four, may be worth it, but as soon as such an element is formed, it should aggressively move and neutralize the subject.
None call for more than four.
There were four men within five minutes.
They did nothing.
Instead, they allowed themselves to be directed by a shockingly incompetent on scene commander to simply wait, while he waited for radios, shields, rifles, swat, a key, and a motherfucking invitation before he did his damned job.
While they did nothing.
The excuses from the chief are just ‘You know, this doesn’t make it better’. His radios didn’t work in the school? The schools are literally his only responsibility. If his radios don’t work, it’s his fault. If he can’t move with his radio, it’s his fault. The doors not being locked was his fault. That he didn’t know that the door didn’t lock is his fault. All of this makes it worse.
To add on to the basic fact that he did nothing.
Indeed, we have credible reports of individual parents, with no training or weapons who acted in a vastly superior tactical manner to the chief. A woman who was handcuffed, and managed to have the presence of mind to get herself uncuffed, sneak into the school, and rescue her children. Make that mom the chief of police!!!! She clearly has both the courage and problem solving skills to do the job, unlike the abject failure that is currently employed.
This incident has forced my to seriously recalibrate what role I think that police should play in society. If they can’t do this, then what’s the point? Shut it down and go home.
I’m not quite standing with the ACAB and defund people, but I can sure as hell hold a friendly conversation with them at this point, with no need to shout.
When seconds count, the police are 83 minutes away.
Gympie Gympie, also known as the suicide plant, is known to drive people insane. This notorious Australian plant is one of the worlds most poisonous plants, and those nettle like stingers pack a punch.
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The pain is described as being burnt with acid and getting electrocuted at the same time. The tiny hairs that cover the leaves are described as being like little hypodermic needles, which embed themselves deep into your skin before injecting you with a neurotoxin.
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The pain is said to last for weeks, even months and in some cases years. The little hypodermic stingers sink deep into the skin, and it’s really difficult to remove them. The plant was first discovered in 1886 when a road surveyor’s horse got stung by the plant, went mad and died two hours later.
The embedded hairs can stay in the skin for up to a year and release a toxin during triggering events like touching the affected area, pouring water on the area, or even a temperature change. Once it releases the neurotoxin, a severe burning sensation will increase in intensity for about 30 minutes, and it could last for weeks.
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A British officer is said to have committed suicide after he mistakenly used a leaf as toilet paper causing him to go insane from the pain before shooting himself in the head.
The hairs are so small the skin will grow over them, making it almost impossible to remove them. The best treatment for it is to use acid to remove layers of skin to expose the needles and plucking them out.
Dear Americans
You all must check out this American advertisement. You must watch it. It’s super short.
For years I worked on old cars, raced them, show cars, fixed them up for fun. I purchased a old 55 Chevy 4 door from a woman who was in her late 80’s. It was her husbands car and he only drove it to town (5 miles away) for groceries, PO, bank ,etc. I spent a few months getting the car back in shape, paint, engine, interior and finally insured it and tagged it. Proud of the old car I decided to drive it to work, about 10 miles away. I got about a mile away and the car quit running. So I walked the rest of the way to work. A co-worker gave me lift to the old Chevy and we decided to see if it would start, sure enough it fired right up, he would follow me home. As soon as I pulled into the driveway the Chevy coughed and stopped. The next week I rebuilt the carb, new fuel filter, checked the wiring, everything I could think of, even changed the fuel tank sending unit and replaced the fuel filter sock that went into the tank. Decided to drive it to work, one mile short of work it quit running again. Got the old car home again and decided to drain the gas tank, new filters, etc. Drove it again same thing. I finally figured it out (just to make the story short) it seems the old man who owned the car was a depression era guy, he never put more than a few gallons of gas at a time in the car. Over the years the tank starting rusting at the top of the tank due to condensation and water in the gas. Even though I drained the tank I could not see the rust in the corners and as I drove the car the rust started breaking off a little at a time and clogged the little fuel filter soak and cutting off gas flow. Seems like 9 miles was all she could go till the fuel filter sock was full, the funny thing was when I stopped the car and the fuel pump wasn’t working the rust and debris fell away and opened back up the fuel flow. Drove me crazy. A new gas
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tank from YearOne Auto Parts and the old Chevy lasted many years of good service.
So you’re a multi billion dollar transnational corporation, or working for one, and you want all those sweet natural resources located near people too poor and disconnected to sue you for hazardous mining operations, but you also don’t want to pay a cent to the country where you’re doing this? I got great news for you, we can manage that, in this easy step by step plan.
We find a country with proven resource reserves, but who are too poor to actually develop them without help.
We offer them to develop their resources under the deal that the facilities and actual resources extracted will be ours, but the labour will be locally employed, and the country’s government will get a percentage of the value of the resources in the form of tariffs which they control. If this deal doesn’t immediately sound appealing, then pay who ever is in charge of negotiating it 10–20 million dollars, which is an absurd sum for an individual especially in a poor country. Make sure the deal is verified by the World Trade Organization (WTO)
We construct the facilities with efficiency in mind, but it is vitally important that the machines used for extraction is reliant on parts and preferably on site engineers from out country. Call this a safety measure against countries who would have the idea they could take it over in the future.
Now we got the operation going. Let’s say copper for example. We have managed to mine copper and refine it on site (it’s pretty dangerous and pollutes a lot so best keep it there) and we now want to sell it on the world market, for an estimated price of 3 billion dollars. However, our deal earlier says the government takes 20% of the value on exported items. So what we do is that we shell the entire storage of copper to our own separate paper company for 1 dollar, the government takes 25 cent. This is a fair price.
Our company paper company in Switzerland now owns 3 billion dollars worth of copper, obviously Switzerland is a great place for copper imports, because their taxes are low and the questions are few. Things which are good for an effective company.
We don’t actually import the copper to Switzerland, we just pay the minimal tax there when we convert our 1 dollar copper to 3 billion, the copper is still in the original country. It is being shipped to various places in EU for electronics manufacture, loaded on ships with flags in Panama by minimum wage labour.
In summary, we built a facility worth half a billion, bribe an official about 20 million, and pay our workers probably less than 10 million per year in total. One time investment of 530 million dollars, annual 10 million in salaries, 25 cent in export tax, 8% in Swiss import tax (240 million), and a few costs for maintenance. Roughly 780 million in expenses, 2.22 billion in profits. Switzerland gets around 24 times more per year than the local government does of course, but this is good because it keeps pressure on them to keep wages low.
Just in case anyone ever wonders why Switzerland a land locked nation not part of the EU with no bilateral trade agreements with Zambia has an OEC page that looks like this.
Why don’t they just nationalize it?
Because it’s difficult to operate.
Don’t they realize the tax evasion scheme?
Sure they do, but their deal allows for it.
Why don’t they cancel their deal?
Because that would violate the principles of the WTO and constitute contract breaking and that would land them with economic sanctions they can’t afford.
Why don’t they get rid of the corrupt officials who make these deals?
They do actually when ever possible, the person making this deal is already in jail for corruption.
But if the deal was made with the use of bribes with a person who is convicted of corruption, it is clearly not valid.
A contract is a contract, does you country have corruption, that’s your problem. WTO isn’t here to fix corruption, it’s here to enforce trade agreements, no matter the circumstances they were written under.
Dallas Tacos
This is a Tex Mex-favorite in Dallas – mini soft corn tortillas topped with smoked brisket, chopped red onion, shredded red cabbage and pepper jack cheese.
dallas tacos
Ingredients
Beef
3 pounds brisket or chuck roast
Salt
Black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or bacon grease
1 large yellow onion, cut into quarters
8 cloves garlic
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 cups beef broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 jalapeño peppers, seeds and stems removed, cut in half, lengthwise
2 leafy stems cilantro
1 bay leaf
Tacos
2 poblano chiles
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 cup shredded red cabbage
1 large red onion, chopped
1 cup (4 ounces) pepper Jack cheese
Corn or flour tortillas
Flour tortillas
Salsa
Instructions
Heat the oven to 250 degrees F.
Sprinkle the brisket or chuck roast with salt and black pepper.
In a large ovenproof pot, such as a Dutch oven, heat up the oil on medium-low, and brown the beef on both sides, about 5 minutes per side.
Remove the beef from the pot and add the onions. While occasionally stirring, cook until they begin to brown.
Add the garlic cloves and cook for another 2 minutes.
Turn off the heat and pour the red wine vinegar into the pot, scraping along the bottom to loosen all of the particles.
Return the beef to the pot. If using brisket, place it fat side up. Pour in the beef broth and add the cumin, jalapeños, cilantro and bay leaf. Cover the pot and place in the oven. Cook the brisket for 6 hours or until it’s fork tender.
After removing beef from the oven, let it rest in the pot uncovered for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, to make the taco toppings, roast the poblano chiles under the broiler until blackened, about 5 minutes per side.
Place chiles in a paper sack or plastic food-storage bag, close it tight and let the chile steam for 20 minutes.
Remove the chiles from the bag and rub off the skin. Remove stem and seeds and cut the chiles into strips.
Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium low, and add the chopped onion. While occasionally stirring, cook until softened, about 10 minutes.
Add the cut poblano strips and cook for 1 more minute.
After the beef has rested, remove it from the pot, cut off the fat cap (if using the brisket) and shred the meat with two forks until it’s in long strands.
To make the gravy, strain the cooled broth, throwing out the vegetables. Remove the fat from the broth with a gravy separator. Or alternatively, you can take a quart-sized plastic storage bag and pour some broth into it. Snip a bottom corner of the bag and drain the broth, stopping when you get to the fat layer that is on top. Add 2 tablespoons of the gravy to the shredded brisket, reserving the rest for serving. Taste the beef and adjust seasonings.
To make the tacos, place on one side of each tortilla some pepper Jack and slide the tortillas under the broiler for 30 seconds or until the cheese is melted. Fill the tortillas with shredded beef and top with some of the onions and poblano strips.
Serve with the pot juices and salsa.
Serve with a side of salsa, mashed avocado and a jalapeño.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Nebraska: 4 Mile Evacuation Ordered; Rail car Explosion with Toxic Chemicals
A rail car has exploded and is burning in North Platte, Nebraska and very unusual things are now taking place. 1) An evacuation area of four MILES is in effect around the rail car. 2) The US Air Force Deployed a WC-135 “Nuke Sniffer” plane to fly over the scene.
While an evacuation zone around a burning railcar is not unusual, there are very many questions about why the US Air Force sent a WC-135 “nuke sniffer” aircraft above the scene.
the WC-135 with flight ID AE048D flew repeated circles over the rail yard at North Platte, NE today, as well as over the rail lines due west of the railyard:
ATOM 01 North Platte NE 1
And west of the rail yard as well:
ATOM 01 North Platte NE 2
Word is already leaking out that the Union Pacific Rail Yard in North Platte is the world’s largest rail yard. Word is also leaking out that “more than 70% of the rail engines had safety defects, as did 20% of the rail cars!”
Three days ago, the Federal Rail Administration stated publicly “the nations largest rail carrier failed to fix and continued to use faulty equipment.”
Ukraine Scores Big Hits; Destroys Russian Submarine and Landing Ship
Ukraine has successfully attacked the Russian port of Sevastopol on Crimea, and destroyed the Russian Submarine “Rostov-on-Don” and the Landing Ship “Minsk” (pictured above). Both vessels were in dry dock for repairs.
We learned about the consequences of Ukraine’s attack on the Sevmorzavod (dry dock/shipyard) in Sevastopol last night. Sources in the Black Sea Fleet, in the General Staff and in the Sevastopol government told us the following:
As a result of the missile strike, 11 people were killed – factory workers and military. 31 people, according to the latest data, were injured.
The Ukraine missiles completely destroyed two vessels – the large landing ship Minsk and the submarine Rostov-on-Don. Both vessels were in for repair but are now not salvageable. In addition, two more vessels were damaged at the Sevmorzavod Ship Yard, and it may be possible to restore them. Authorities refused to say the names of these ships, “so that the enemy would not receive valuable information about the result of his attack.”
According to updated data, eight Ukrainian missiles and two naval drones were fired at Sevastopol. The drones were destroyed, and only two of the missiles were shot down, so the damage from the impacts is serious.
Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev has already demanded to strengthen the city’s air defense.
During the missile strike last night, panic began in Sevastopol. The police received information that saboteurs were operating in the city, and sent several patrols to search for them. One of them mistook an armed military patrol for saboteurs and opened fire on his own. As a result of the shootout, four people were killed – three soldiers and one policeman.
The Submarine B-237 “Rostov-on-Don”, passed tests and entered the Russian Navy fleet in 2014. It cost about $300 million and was a Kalibr missile carrier.
Living in the Us is extremely hard in many ways.
Economically speaking is very very expensive. Even the places that are called affordable are still expensive and the truly affordable places are stagnant economically.
The rat race, socially speaking you are continuously pushed to want more, try to earn more, do more, it is never enough. You have to be VERY strong mentally to escape that and go against the flow.
Radicalized, dogmatic, borderline lunatic masses. Everything is an issue, the media loves to blow it out of proportion, politicians love the circus. As a result, a lot of hatred, divsion, anger, fringe lunatics compleely deranged, this translates into violence.
Violent society. Less than a month after Uvalde there were 33 mass shootings all over the US. So many the media does not even report it anymore.
A lot of poverty with almost no way out. Grow up poor in the US chances are you will die early and poor in the US.
LAck of health care, that is a BIG BIG issue.
Backwards and purtiannical…. thinking 18 year olds with assault riffles is fine, but that same 18 year old having a beer is terrible! The neverding gun debate, now women-s rights taken away by religious lunatics in power *Saudi arabia like*, today I read the same lunatics in power want to revisit gay rights.
Fading glory. The Us feels tired. You drive around the country and it feels like it was a wow place to be back in the 50s and 60s…. today, not much! At times is like a time capsule to the mid 20th century!
Infrasctructure surprisingly mediocre. Options for public transportation minimal and very mediocre.
Car dependancy…. you literally have to drive EVERYWHERE in 95% of the country.
Religion, scary kind of it with lunatics thinking it is a sin to not live like humans did in the dark ages!
Guns, there are four guns per person in the US.
Double standards, the US can bomb, dismantle, destroy governments left and right, wait for Russia or China to do it and it is an international outcry.
Peach Pudding Cake
peachcake591
Ingredients
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter or margarine
10 peach halves, fresh or canned
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 cup whipping cream
Instructions
Sift flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together.
Cut in butter until mixture resembles cornmeal; sprinkle over bottom and sides of greased 8 x 2-inch round ovenware cake dish.
Place peaches, cut side up, over crumb mixture.
Combine brown sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over peaches.
Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 mintues.
Combine egg yolks and cream; pour over peaches.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.
Serve warm.
So Surprising!..| FIRST TIME HEARING Robin Trower – Bridge Of Sighs Reaction
Robin Trower is a genius, but vocalist James Dewar is on an equal footing with his own genius. In my opinion (and many, many others’) Jimmy Dewar was the finest blue-eyed soul/white blues singer in British history. Rest In Power Jimmy!
I have related how I was retired from the ONI; MAJ branch, and what happened. I have told the story about how I got ready, and then took a plane and arrived in China… the very first opportunity I had.
But…
What I didn’t relate was the “bait and switch” that I endured for the first two weeks in China. And that story, I will relate now.
…
While I was in the ‘States, I was getting everything ready. Not just my identification, my clothing, and taking care of things, but also making arrangements inside of China. I contacted my ex-girlfriend (now my wife), and I made arrangements with her, and I found work.
I contacted a schoolmaster in Shenzhen who would take me on as a English teacher. And at that, I could start when the semester started, and low and behold, I made it happen.
I got my flight. Lost my bags. Was stranded in Newark New Jersey due to a storm, and then endured the 33 hour long flight to China.
So I arrived at Shenzhen.
…
Ah…
But… No one met me at the airport. Not my girlfriend. Not my new employer. Not any one else that I had contacted.
That sucks.
It has happened before, and I specifically tell everyone NEVER, EVER force an international traveler to arrive alone.
…
Ok.
Well… it’s all good right? I’m out of the Hell that the United States became for me. I’m out of their range, off their radar screen, and gone. Good bye!!!!
No problem.
So alone…
I wandered in the dark streets of Shenzhen until I found a hostel (I had to use a local app, that I had to install and all that hassle) and went to it. Given the late hour, they had me pay full price, seeing that it was 3am in the morning.
I entered the room.
Crashed!
Konk!
…
The very next day, I took a bus to the school and met the headmaster. First thing I did was ask him why he didn’t have anyone meet me like he promised.
No good answer. Hem. Haw. Bullshit.
Then, he proceeded to tell me that I couldn’t work there…
…he had another school “just down the street” that I would work at.
…and…
Oh, by the way, the salary would be much less. But it would still be free room and board, and all the rest.
…
WTF?
Yeah. What the fuck?
…
So I tried to call my girlfriend… no answer.
No options at that time.
Sigh, so I went along. Got in the car, and he drove down the road.
It’s just “down the road a spell”.
…
FOUR FUCKING HOURS LATER…
Yeah. Just “down the road a spell”.
Another fucking city.
…
He hand me over to this private training center and given my “handler”. You see Danguang was “too dangerous” for foreigners. So I was to have this person besides me at all times, and that I couldn’t go out or leave.
Nice girl. Cute.
Oh, and…
The doors to the house complex were locked tight at 9pm, and that was it. I had to stay inside, and be watched 24-7.
But…
I got my own room in a shared dorm, with a broken television, and it looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in a decade, and taught for one week…
…
When I finally got a hold of my girlfriend, she was furious!
I endured all that I went though in Arkansas, to arrive within blocks of my girlfriend, only to be whisked away to some decrepit town in the middle of nowhere. She was enraged.
Can you imagine?
She was really hot. I’ll tell you what.
So we hatched a plan.
Friday night, after the gate was locked I snuck out of my locked bed room…
… made it outside…
… then scaled the cement wall.
Went over the broken glass…
…the rusty barbed wire top, and jumped down….
… and then walked the two kilometers or so to the nearest inter-city bus.
Got one to Shenzhen and took the ride to my girlfriend.
There…
She got me an interview in the center of the city, and I got the job. Then she arranged for a hotel for me to stay at while we went house hunting. Yeah.
But…
No. It wasn’t so easy.
I had to endure being “Shanghaied” in Shenzhen. And now you all know the rest of the story.
They already are working together economically and militarily:
Russia is moving more of its foreign currrency reserves from US$ → Chinese yuan and;
They are holding military exercises, and in 2017, 3,000 Chinese troops with tanks entered Russia to participate in war games. They jointly hold anti-terrorism exercises on a regular basis.
Both countries are founding members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which is the leading security organization for central Asia.
To sum up, it is changing, but it is not given much coverage in the western press.
I wonder why?
Southern Jugged Soup
vegetable beef soup fb 2
Ingredients
6 potatoes, sliced
1 onion, sliced
6 tomatoes or 2 cups canned tomatoes
1 turnip, diced
1 can peas
1 grated carrot
1/4 cup rice
3 quarts water
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 pinch allspice
Instructions
Arrange vegetables, rice and seasonings in alternate layers in the bottom of a stone crock with a cover.
Boil any carcasses of cold chicken, bones of waste meat or steak with trimmings, in three quarts of water, until liquid is reduced to two quarts.
Strain, cool and remove.
Pour the broth over the vegetables.
Put on the cover and seal, using tape or muslin, to keep in the steam.
Set crock in a pan of hot water.
Place in oven and cook from four to six hours.
Recipe published in 1935 Southern Cook Book of Fine Old Dixie Recipes
Ukrainians living in Ireland have begun receiving notices from the Ireland Department of Justice, informing them they are being Extradited to Ukraine to fulfill military Draft. Recipients are warned they can be imprisoned if they ignore the notice.
The letter contradicts itself. It points out “The Death Penalty does not apply to the offense” but death is most certainly what each Draftee will get when they come face to face with the Russian Army.
In a nutshell, what this is goes like this: Ukrainians anywhere in the world have been sent letters from the Ukraine government telling them they must come home to be Drafted and go fight in the war. They failed to come home and failed to respond, so Ukraine has issued criminal warrants for them.
Countries these people are in MUST extradite someone for a criminal warrant because Extradition is agreed to by Treaty.
THAT is how desperate Ukraine has become to draft more people to die against Russia.
Oliver Anthony- Rich Men North of Richmond (Remix Mashup ft. Black Pegasus & Chris Webby)
This is the rumbling under the ground of the United States. Great mashup.
I have spent the better part of a decade in the Middle East in a country that is just becoming modernized. It was considered a “hardship” assignment when I got there because everything would be more difficult than in the United States. Healthcare, telephone, internet, shopping. It was all a nightmare, but I managed to eventually get set up and I developed healthy habits, like exercising and not smoking and making healthy food. I read a lot, took classes online, and did fulfilling things. I was creative and I had time and money. I couldn’t go to movies, or get certain products, and I couldn’t even drive, but I could obtain these products and DVDs and I had a driver, so I lived a fulfilling life and was happy.
Now that I’m back in the United States, it is a bigger mess than it ever was there. I could get healthcare a lot easier over there. I thought it was terrible, because I faced a few Islamic rules and sometimes doctors lack credentials and made mistakes. However, the fact is that here there is a catastrophic amount of chronic illness befalling everyone at catastrophic rates. We all have cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and inflammatory conditions – we are all on pills with many side effects that only make the condition worse, or whatever they are selling now, including marijuana, to keep people sick with their lifelong, chronic diseases. Cures for disease are the only area of technology that hasn’t advanced since 1959. Everyone is struggling to afford medical care, mandated ny our governmenr, that is totally corrupt.
Stupid robots handle everything from answering phones to work schedules to banking. Yes, automated systems are just that: robots that are stupid; limited, thwarting and or cheating us left and right. If that is not broken I don’t know what is.
One has to leave here and find out how things are in the third world, and come back to really grasp how scary it has become.
Our movies and music are cheap and horrible now. They propagate numbness and annihilation of the mind. Lyrics are autotuned syllables repeating over and over again. It sounds garbled, like plastcized voices using mouthwash. Movies are not even worth seeing.
The fashion of today is unkempt with plastic hair color. Women with a spare tire hanging out of their icky jeans. Ratty hair. It’s no wonder no one overseas assumed I was an American.
Everyone shops at Walmart and everyone is fat.
Everyone is chronically depressed. Tired. Overwhelmed.
There is no middle class anymore.
Everyone is facing money problems.
Those that have money are driving ugly cars and wearing ugly black metal wedding bands and are still living in the same misery as everyone else.
People do not eat real food anymore.
Even pets are ill. My own pet got sudden onset diabetes and heart failure and died. I bought the best of food. But it was United States food. It probably killed him.
People have no pride in how they speak or write anymore. They text. Others text and drive. Everyone has their face in their device. It’s horrible. I’ve seen people at work holding a pencil with their fist. Yes, people plural.
The device is nothing but an RFID chip. It is tracking you. It knows your every move. It knows especially your health status. What pills you might be on next! What your last blood test was, the status of your health insurance. They want to find the next thing wrong with you. The only strategy to deal with overpopulation and flagging capitalism now is to sell everyone what they need to get sick and die. Bad food. Medical insurance. Obesity. Chronic disease.
For other industries, capitalism has toppled ethics and given rise to a mentality of “nothing matters except how much profits are” – and short term, not long-term gain is emphasized, at that.
Pollution and plastic garbage pervades.
Wildlife and natural beauty is dying.
Selling hunting tags, killing wolves – a cascade species that protects all living environments.
Internet should be cheap and free but it is outrageously priced.
Information on the internet is now “sold” so that searches do not turn out what you really want to know. Instead what comes up is related to what you could buy, based on your other searches. Instagram and Facebook is what constitutes relationships which ee now call “social networking”.
The President tweets and is unaware of and not addressing many real problems.
Young people can’t afford college.
They say now college is a scam.
Young people live at home. They can’t find jobs.
Jobs now are often a scam.
This place is horrible! I wish I never came back.
Those of you who haven’t been out of here don’t realize how messed up things are here. It’s not “going downhill” or “getting bad”.
It’s absolutely an atrocious, horrible, toxic nightmare.
Crime and guns are rampant. Someone close to me got a gun and threatened my life since I came home.
Old people are losing their social security.
Iran really sucked I thought. I couldn’t deal with it for two weeks. It was hard to plug anything in even. They were protesting there and trying to overthrow the government, to an extent utterly unknown to anyone here. They wanted to be free like us.
In America we are not free to do things and buy things. We can’t get to anything, because we are busy trying to get money, and things cost too much and they are no good.
We are all different species of rats running in different kinds of mazes that we have created for ourselves. All sick and dying and spending everything we have to pay for it.
This is the truth and it may hurt but it’s time to wake up.
Sopranos-Paulie does the gardeners
Paulie stopped a guy from smoking, help another guy from a tree, and negotiated a business deal all within 5 mins. A true role model for America’s youth.
Show me someone who says you can reliably, quickly, and humanely (as in outside of a very lucky shot) take down a boar with a .22 and I will show you someone who knows not a thing about hunting or wild boars. So let a humble country boy from Texas edumacate you.
This is a feral hog (North America). It is a hybrid of domestic European pigs that got loose over the course of literal centuries (the Spanish first introduced them to the New World in the 1500s) and later wild European boars in the early 1900s.
The average male weighs around 400 pounds (180 kilograms) and stand at or just about at 1 meter tall at the shoulder. Standing beside the average human adult male, they come up to about the hip. They are almost immune to poison, venom (rattlesnakes and copperheads are part of their regular diet), and diseases. They can sprint up to 30 miles per hour – they can conceivably run down Usain Bolt. Adults have very sharp, very dangerous tusks averaging 7 inches (17 cm) long. They are omnivores that eat anything, including aforementioned snakes, carrion, and even newborn deer.
We’re talking about a beast that has hide up to two inches (5 cm thick) backed by a layer of fat that sort of self-closes when punctured, and runs around in sounders of a dozen individuals or more and carries the average London chav’s shiv around in their mouths. And the majority of their DNA is derived from wild European boars – so they’re also quite aggressive. The reason you hunt feral hogs from a tree stand is because you’ll likely end up in the tree anyway…
Point being: we ain’t talking about Wilbur or Babe here.
I have seen these animals shrug off multiple .223 Remington* rounds – that’s a bullet that isn’t much bigger around than a .22 LR, but has a greater mass and travels much faster. Most feral hog hunters use something much more robust; personally I used my venerable SKS in 7.62x39mm Russian (until Putin’s special military operation drove prices sky high). It takes at least that much of an oomph to make an adult feral hog feel it – and often, it takes more than one shot no matter where you hit them because they’re absolute tanks.
So imagine what it takes to hunt a bear, or moose, or even a less aggressive but equally stout ungulate like a mule deer.
Contrary to what you believe, a .22 LR is perfectly fine for rabbits, squirrels, and other small, delicate critters** – but it will only piss a feral hog off. If they even feel it. And if they do feel it, you absolutely need to have multiple backup shots on deck because the chances they’ll charge you are about the same as the chances they’ll run away.
* by the way, that is roughly identical to the 5.56mm NATO round that, well, is called 5.56mm NATO for a reason.
** and yes, you can definitely kill a human being with a .22 round. But that’s not because a .22 round is powerful – it’s because human beings are pretty soft and squishy as far as the animal kingdom goes.
Family Guy- Stewie & Brian run a Brothel
Stewie and Brian start a BnB which later turns into a Brothel.
I hired my neighbor a contractor to replace my patio as it was needing to be done for years. He did a super job. the price included a table and 2 chairs for me to enjoy it. I was going to use some old chairs for the rest of the seating. He brought over two more matching chairs when I asked him to replace the old ones onto the patio. I asked how much the extra two matching chairs would be. He said it was a gift. I cried, as I never had been treated so kindly in my 83 years.
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.
She DIED & Discovered We Live In A Simulation | NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE
Near-death experience guest 907 is Virginia Drake. During her NDE experience she encountered the Council of 12.
China is Eclipsing the US (and Japan) to Become the World’s Animation Powerhouse
A Review of Deep Sea (2023) by Tian Xiaopeng
In the new Chinese animated film Deep Sea, a girl on a cruise with her dad, step-mom, and step-siblings gets thrown overboard during a storm. As she clings to a life preserver, awaiting rescue and barely alive, her imagination transports her to an underwater world of anthropomorphic walruses and squid-like demons, plus many other bizarre creatures, who help her process her mother’s absence. It’s Spirited Away (directed by Japanese animation titan Hayao Miyazaki) meets Life of Pi, and it’s one of the best animated films in years. The cutting edge animation technology cost tens of millions of dollars, and I’m glad someone threw that kind of money toward something so risky, unattached to any existing intellectual property or popular brand.
I’m convinced director Tian Xiaopeng will go down as one of the animation greats, alongside the likes of Walt Disney, Tex Avery, and of course Miyazaki. Starting from the launchpad of Pixar’s innovations, Deep Sea skyrockets into galaxies Pixar’s team couldn’t even dream of. Through dazzling sequences of fluid color that wash across the screen, the film translates traditional Chinese ink drawing into breathtaking CGI animation. The end product is a style that is both innovative and distinctly Chinese.
I can understand arguments asserting that Tian’s maximalist style can get overwhelming. I could sympathize with anyone who claims Deep Sea is a bit too long. Tian really does let his entire arsenal loose on this film, like he wants to show off anything and everything he’s capable of. But I prefer this bombastic style to muted or irony-poisoned restraint. The latter approach has trapped a lot of younger artists in the US who could be great if they would only drop their pretense to nihilism. As mentioned in the title of this essay, China is surpassing us on the artistic front, and we should humble ourselves and learn from their advances.
And on that note, what a shame it is that this gorgeous film is getting near zero exposure in the US. In China it played on IMAX; here I had to watch it on my laptop via some obscure streaming site. Its foreignness, specifically its Asianness, is no excuse for the lack of any kind of marketing push stateside. See, for example, the massive success of Japanese anime here and in other parts of the West. I’m currently reading up on the history of the importation of anime to the United States, and I’ll be writing more of my reflections on that process and how it might potentially be applied to importing Chinese animation and other recent popular culture.
U.S. To Assassinate Niger Coup Leaders? Putin’s Intel Drops A Bombshell
U.S. To Assassinate Niger Coup Leaders? Putin’s Intel Drops A Bombshell – Nations like the United States and France have unequivocally expressed their positions regarding the recent coup d’états occurring in certain African countries. However, aside from imposing sanctions, there has been no indication of these major powers actively intervening in these coup situations.
However, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has reported that the U.S. government is deliberating the possibility of taking action against the leaders of the newly established military administration in Niger Republic, which assumed power in late July.
According to the SVR statement the United States is contemplating the potential of taking direct action against the leaders of Niger’s National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, the group responsible for orchestrating the military coup against Niger President Mohamed Bazoum.
As per intelligence received by the SVR, the United States is evidently dissatisfied with the unfolding events in Niger, where an interim government led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani recently assumed control following a military coup.
Washington is actively exploring strategies not only to curb the rise of Africa as a significant center of influence in the multipolar world—a development seen as potentially perilous for Western interests—but also to assert its influence in the strategically vital Sahel region, effectively taking over the role previously held by France, stated the SVR press office.
When it comes to the paranormal, I’ve had a few odd experiences, some really creepy, others rather comforting but through it all I believe the power of the mind is pretty amazing and believe all possibilities need to be acknowledged.
When it comes to the Ouijia board, I admit I’ve been pretty spooked but not say its totally dangerous..
My first experience with a Ouija was after Christmas 1993 a friend I knew had one she recieved for Christmas, brand new, unopened we decided to play in her basement.
I don’t remember the context but it seemed normal, than something sinister came through it kept repeating “Ozozozozozozo” we thought it was “Ozoz”…. It spooked us out as it kept getting more violent. So we said “Good bye” and put it away…I don’t remember us ever playing again.
It wasn’t until I got online many years later and found out there was a common spirit named “Zozo” that comes through Ouija boards, I’m not sure if she knew this or not…we were a couple of 9 year olds with no Internet, and no library to research it within 5 miles. We also came away thinking its name was Ozoz… but whatever this is lots of people experienced it.
Another time we played for fun and my ex husbands friend was a non believer, suddenly his mom came through he was watching three of us play, but not participating.
His mother died 5 years before my ex husband met as teens, so he knew things about her life I wouldn’t, his other friends son, or my husband wouldn’t know.
He asked “only I know what your favorite drink is, what is it?” It spelled out “grape soda” he looked shocked.
Then he asked the Ouija “what did I put in your coffin when you died?“ it said “picture”. Lastly…. He said “what was on the picture?“ the Ouija replied a picture of “a heart names”. It was a heart with their names folded up and put with her body, none of us could know that.
Sounds beautiful and comforting, well that was it. It started getting violent saying things like “die, rape” repeatedly…horrible things!
No harm came to anyone one, but this certainly wasn’t the manifestation of our thoughts or behavior as we were very happy to see him tear up over the experience thinking it was genuine until the other bit happened.
When we did this, the other friends son was making fun of it, taunting it, scratches appeared on his neck we wanted to see what caused it, and we don’t know his hands were in front of him on the board the whole time.
Putin Hasn’t Even STARTED Yet ft Col Macgregor
Maybe Kamala just confused the word Russia with Ukraine… then it makes sense…
Over the last few months I’ve made friends in the Romanichal and Traveller communities online, since many of us are distant cousins rekindling our roots through DNA.
One of my friends who always calls me “cuz” still travels with her husband and family. They travel in Caravans and set up in local areas, maybe open fields, parks, a few of her family became settled, many have settled now days.
However I see them every so often down by the sea front, they live in RV’s or at least travel in them…not the US double wide or anything.
She lives full time in one, some people may have something like a base, maybe the home or property of a settled relative, some keep moving.
One man I met said his grandfather family pitched in and acquired property and put there caravans on it. The property always stays within the family.
I imagine there has to be some fixed address somewhere in all this, I haven’t figured that one out.
The Japanese and chinese media has completely disassembled the Huawei Mate60 mobile phone and found that 90% of the parts of this mobile phone are produced in China.
The only components provided by South Korean suppliers are memory chips from Hynix.
But this kind of memory chip is a general-purpose product sold publicly and used in many digital devices, and does not need to be provided secretly.
Since the technology required for this kind of chip is not that cutting-edge, there are domestic suppliers in China that can replace Hynix.
“They are HIDING this about China, and it’s about to get worse”
We are being treated a barrage of anti-China headlines today. The Wall Street Journal reports that Chinese spies are infiltrating U.S. military bases by asking for a Burger King…That’s weird. China is said to be ready to conduct military exercises with Russia and North Korea in response to the U.S. conducting military exercises with South Korea. Huawei released a new smartphone that has the U.S. wondering how they did that. This is a lot of China worry. What is behind it? Carl Zha joins us to discuss this and break this down between the lines.
I can’t blame you for being scared of dying. It feels like a huge step to take, and all we know here is life!!
But I can tell you that I have been out of my physical body too many times to count, in full aware consciousness, and we do not need a physical body to be “our selves” in a true sense. (Well, of course we do to get through physical life while we live here, but what I am saying is you can live, be aware, be free, without a physical body.)
Okay, well, besides that I have had such strong and beautiful contacts with loved ones passed. They are obviously still living in another dimension which can connect with this one from time to time. So try not to be so afraid. When your time comes to cross, you will accept your transition happily, I bet , and see and feel the beauties in what lies beyond this limited physical form we have got so used to living in! We will see a much wider spectrum of reality. I feel it is something to actually look forward to.
BLOCKADE FAILED! Huawei 5G chip mass production | Holland Hopes to Return To Chinese Market
Whoever listens to the US eventually ends up kicking their own ass.
First of all, a “normal family” is NOT the same thing as an “average family”.
Here, I will describe what a “normal family” living in the United States looks like. This description was the “textbook” descriptor used throughout the United States up until the late 1980’s. Today, of course it has been totally revamped and has become a bastardized Frankenstein monster.
So, here we will use the per-bastardized official United States description of what a “normal” American family looks like…
It has two people that define a “family unit”. One is male and the other is female.
The male will work. The female will take care of domestic responsibilities. (Due to the catastrophic economic situation in the Untied States, today, most families have both people working.)
These two people will typically have children. But not always.
The number of children varies considerably from family to family. Some have only one child, while others might have many, many. The reasons have to do with economic stratification, and religion. With heritage, and geographical location playing a major role.
Most families will cook their own meals, and eat in restaurants once or twice a week. (This varies from the 1960’s which was once or twice a month.)
Most families will have a car. Many will own multiple vehicles.
Most families will own televisions, computers, and cell phones.
Most families will be in debt. (Today, the family debt tends to be enormous,)
Most families will be educated. (Today, the quality of education tends to be substandard compared to the rest of the world.)
There is a stratification in home ownership. Some people of social-economic background will own homes while others of different backgrounds will not.
Most families will have family members taking medicines.
Of course, this is not an exhaustive answer. It is a general answer and is useful ONLY if you wish to compare your life and family against an “American normal”.
I advise everyone NEVER to compare yourself to others. You are unique. Whether you are LGBTQ+ or something else, whether you are rich, or poor, or an immigrant or a “blue blood”, makes no difference. You are precious. It is your responsibility to define YOUR LIFE on YOUR TERMS.
And whatever you decide; I support your decisions. Because I believe that you are smart enough to plan and execute your own precious lifestyle.
40 something aluminum siding salesman Jacob Rodney Cohen tried to break into standup comedy comparatively late in life. Nobody wanted to hear what an aging wannabe had to say, and he was having trouble getting bookings. He fell deeply into debt and depression as a result. The only place that would book him (jokingly referred to as Denunzio’s in his act) only did so if he did it for free. He was basically playing to a crowd that was more concerned with what dinner fork to use, than listening to him. He knew he needed to come up with a gimmick, a persona that would differentiate himself from the myriad of other amateur comedians trying to break in.
Denunzio’s was frequented by older, low level mobsters. One night while waiting to go on, he overheard one of these individuals lament that the new guys coming up showed him no respect. No respect at all. He latched onto it, ran with it, and nailed it. Yep, using that catchphrase, and style of self-deprecating humor, Rodney Dangerfield was born that night as the lovable schlub and ne’er-do-well who couldn’t do anything right.
Gina Raimondo visits China. Bringing the “Carrot and Stick” in the most boring, American way.
In this episode of China Currents: Gina Raimondo visits China. China puts on new economic policies to stimulate economy. China finally puts an end to the COVID testing policy.
China has no plan of invading the U.S. but they do very much want to win the chip war which would mean decimating the U.S. chip companies and directly affect how the U.S. military can sustain our combat readiness.
It’s amazing how Huawei was able to keep its development so much completely under wrap until their launch. Considering that it needed the entire village to build the ecosystem for Huawei, so too was it not just Apple but its entire ecosystem of supply chain contractors that took the hit in the market.
This is not an overnight thing and not just about one company. trump banned Huawei on May 2019 and set China on the course of having to build its own chip industry. And as projected then, this is just on track that within 10 years that China should be able to have its own self contained industry to produce its own chips. It is estimated that it would take about 5 years before they can make it’s own lithography machine.
China is the existential threat to the U.S. hegemony.
After the announcement, Apple shares dropped by about 8%. It has recovered slightly since then. It is possible that the share prices will drop further when China sales figures are known.
I expect iPhone sales to drop significantly even among the public in China, firstly because of Xi’s directive and secondly because of the announcement of the new Huawei phones.
It is a fitting Chinese response to Apple after moving manufacturing to India (only to regret it later).
I don’t think that they take it too personally when their country is criticised. But they do take it personally, when that criticism contains lies and falsehoods.
In that way, the Chinese are very different from, let’s say, the Americans. You can see this clearly from Quora itself. Every so often, there will be Americans on Quora posting grandioise questions such as “Why is the USA the greatest country in the world?”.
When I point out objective facts to show why this is untrue
(eg I note that the USA is plagued by horriific levels of gun violence; their literacy level is very low for a developed country; they have the world’s highest rate of dryg overdose deaths; their state of democracy is shameful as evidenced by, for example, the Capitol Hill riots; their public infrastructure is crumbling, as certified by their own engineers; their police brutality is systemic; their income inequality is huge; they practise slavery in the form of prison labour – see the exception to their 14th amendment which allows for slavery),
well, the Americans get upset and angry.
And yet I am just speaking the facts and truth. Oh well.
Price Hike
This guy, he knows how to put what we’re all thinking into words! You the man!
He is a treasure.
Is the communist party getting ready to retire Xi Jin PingPong for his incompetence in handling China’s challenges? https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/China-up-close/Analysis-Xi-reprimanded-by-elders-at-Beidaihe-over-direction-of-nation
West and Japanese fools better stop dreaming. Xi is super popular with the Chinese people.
My two most favourite Chinese dishes are and have always been sweet and sour pork, and lemon Chicken, and my wife makes both to perfection, but then I can’t think of a single Chinese dish that I don’t like, and yes, when ever my wife makes them I have a smile on my face.
Fitch downgrading US credit rating is a warning to all, not just China. The rising interest rate to counter inflation is not working. Instead, it only increased government interest expense, while national debt keeps climbing, creating a vicious cycle that guarantees the US will never get out of its debt. Going forward, the US can only increase its reliance on bullying tactics to maintain its hegemony to sustain its domestic economy. The writing is on the wall.
Many US politicians have openly demanded defaulting on the US treasury bonds held by China. That is not music to China’s ear. In fact, many countries and their civilians have assets in the US arrogated for no fault of theirs. The US just decides to rob them such as what it did to Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and many other countries who are too weak to defend themselves against such robbery. The most recent victim of such robbery is Russia after putting up a fight to defend its national security against NATO encroachment after years of protest had been ignored. Even the SWIFT was weaponized against Russia.
The US has been trying to pick a fight with China. Part of the motivation is to erase its debt to China. It’s obvious that China is forced to take preventive measures by freeing itself from a hostage situation.
Southern Peanut Butter Soup with Pepper Jelly
2023 09 16 16 29
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons grated onion
1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons flour
3 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup light cream
2 tablespoons roasted peanuts, chopped
1/2 cup hot pepper jelly
Instructions
Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat; add onion and celery. Sauté for about 5 minutes.
Add flour and mix until well blended.
Stir in chicken broth and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes.
Remove from heat, strain broth.
Stir the peanut butter, salt and cream into the strained broth until well mixed.
Serve hot.
Garnish each serving with a teaspoon of chopped peanuts and a dollop of jelly.
Xi Jingping and China are very formidable adversaries
They can rattle global markets in seconds if they decide to do so
A Simple apple iphone ban for Government Officials has caused a $ 216 Billion share value depreciation for Apple
Putin is not frightened of Xi
Putin knows Xi is firmly on his camp
He knows Russia and China have tied their fates together as has Iran
Either all the three nations will make peace with the West or all the three will form their own BLOC
INDIA?
Modi has his feet in both camps
If Putin makes an enemy of China, Putin loses the Yuan Buttress, the Investments, the Huge Supply Chain for Russias Industries and the Huge Chinese Imports that keep the consumer economy going
Not to mention a very strong Geopolitical player with a very strong army with a huge military industry that can outproduce NATO easily
India?
If Putin makes an enemy of India, he loses sales of Oil to India but frankly he won’t care much because the payment is still very cumbersome
India loses Discounted oil and will pay $ 95 a barrel and maybe even $ 100 a barrel and risk inflation
India has zero geopolitical influence outside Bhutan , is a nation that knelt before Qatar and kowtowed to their demands in a mere 24 hours (Against China who openly forbade the name. Mohammad and Abu in Xinjiang, demolished mosques and Qatar did zilch)
India has no military industry to assist Russia in a major war, it’s production capacity a mere 17% of Russias and 8% of Chinas
India has little by way of investment potential against the vast $ 42 Billion invested by China in Russia in the last 3 years
Plus Modi can easily jump to the US Camp tomorrow and leave Putin hanging
Plus if Modi dies or resigns, the next PM can jump to the US Camp whereas the CPC is the CPC even after Xi and likely so is Russia
So dont be stupid
Putin will always choose Xi over Modi because Russia needs China a hundred times more today than India
Putin wants to be friends with India too and has kept his relations firm
He hasn’t accepted Xis Map
He just hasn’t commented on it
Neither has Modi right?
Modi too hasn’t justified Russias SMO so far while China has justified the SMO as a legitimate action needed
How will Modi handle Xi Jingping?
Modi should just do his job and mind his own business
Xi Jingping is intent on forming his own BLOC today
His focus is on other players – Oil rich players, Food rich players
He may offer India a nice border solution soon which could include full recognition of all lands disputed in exchange for a road through kashmir to xinjiang connecting Gwadar and existing water rights to the Brahmaputra region
Plus closer friendship in the BRICS
India would do well to take it as it is a win, win for us
I believe Xi is ready to extend this offer today but Modi wants an unconditional recognition of Ladakh and Arunachal to make it look like a victory for him
It’s maybe why Xi released that Map in the first place
You know guys. When you think about it, I mean spend some time and think, the most crazy stuff about “extraterrestrials” is that you adapt (as a human) they become normal to you.
Maybe it is my “Frankenstein” programming, or just four decades or so of close proximity, but it’s not a big thing. Not at all. To me, they are like my pet cats, my pet dogs, my friend down the street. They are most certainly not a “shock” in any way shape or form.
If anything, I just kind of wish that I would spend more physical time with them, somehow. But, you know, I know that is not gonna happen soon. Sigh.
…
When I was attending university, there was a saying that all my classmates had (guys and girls). And this saying was “I’ll do (try) anything once.”
I wonder how many of them caught Genital Herpies, HIV, or got addicted to cocaine, over the decades. Some of those “first things” can stay with you forever. Don’t you know.
Now, I was NOT one of those people who repeated that mantra. I just nodded knowingly and agreed verbally, but internally disagreed.
Of course, for many, I suppose that (at that time) they were thinking of sex, or drugs. But, to me, I thought that it was like playing Russian roulette. One of those “try once” events could be your last. Like “speeding down a highway way too fast”, or “jumping out of a plane skydiving for the first time”.
To me, it’s all a big “NOPE”.
…
Through, joining MAJestic was one decision that I will never truly regret.
Today…
Why do American expats say that the USA is a shit-hole?
Because it’s true! I am an American who permanently moved to central Brazil. It was the best decision I ever made.
● I built my new house in central Brazil and was able to pay it off in ONE year.
● My property taxes are $100 US dollars a year. No, that is not a misprint. $100 US dollars a year!
● My dental implants are less than half the cost of the same in the United States…with equal and often better results.
● My food isn’t loaded with hormones and chemicals and I even have space to grow my own organic vegetables. Within 2 months in Brazil I lost 40 pounds without much exercise….just eating better food (which is difficult in the US).
● Almost every day is sunny and breezy with low humidity.
● Racism is much less pronounced than in the US. People in Brazil actually help each other and are not afraid to talk to strangers.
● Doctors actually take the time to listen to you and don’t treat you like a “number”.
● Brazilians enjoy life and have “fun”. They don’t worship the “Almighty Dollar”….except for some who are very greedy. For the most part, people are more important than money.
When Americans speak about “life” they speak about “life in the United States”. There are many ways “to live” and , for me, life in the US is NOT “truly living”. Americans don’t know what it means to truly live. In the end, materialism isn’t what brings true peace and satisfaction…….good relationships are.
Tex-Mex Macaroni and Cheese
2023 09 08 09 24
Ingredients
1 pound ground pork sausage
1 small onion, chopped
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 cups milk
1 (16 ounce) loaf Mexican pasteurized cheese
1 (4 1/2 ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
16 ounces macaroni, cooked
8 ounces shredded Southwestern cheese blend
Instructions
Cook sausage and onion in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until sausage crumbles and is no longer pink; drain.
Add flour, cumin and milk, stirring constantly, until thickened.
Add Mexican cheese and chiles, stirring until cheese is melted.
Add macaroni.
Spoon mixture into a lightly greased 9 x 13-inch baking dish.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes.
Sprinkle with shredded cheese blend, and serve with salsa.
China has two very large and very powerful rivers, the Yellow River and the Yangzi River, both of which have their source in the Tibetan plateau. Harnessed the right way, these rivers are able to provide water irrigation to support a very large part of the world’s population. However, these rivers are unruly, and would often overflow their banks, and flood the surrounding plains which were fertile farmland. Many thousands, even millions of people would die in these floods.
The challenge for any Chinese ruler was simple then: control the waters so that the people would have food to eat, and not rebel against their ruler. At the same time, prevent floods from wreaking widespread damage.
This question goes so far back into Chinese history that one of the early, probably mythical rulers of Chinese history, Yu the Great
, had to deal with the issue of controlling the rivers about 2200 BCE. Because he succeeded, he is venerated as one of China’s great emperors.
Now, the challenge of controlling floods required a central government which was able to command huge resources in its ability to create and handle large engineering projects. Not only that, but there needed to be a large bureaucracy.
This is one of the reasons China has gravitated to a large central and authoritarian government. Big challenges normally need big governments and bureaucracies to solve them.
At the same time, this meant that small local rulers and kings would have less power, because in comparison, they would only be able to handle comparatively smaller local projects.
Because the farmers could only pay their taxes in grain, this required a complex national bureaucracy which could collect grain (farmers didn’t have money, and had no use for money most of the time), and store it in central locations so that in case of a grain shortage in one area, it could be shipped to another area where it was needed.
When the water problem was solved, the Chinese then gravitated to small hi-intensity farming. This was highly efficient, and Chinese farmers were able to increase the yield of their crops. As the Chinese farmers fed their families, they had more children, and more sons.
These farmers’ sons then formed the core of the army used to unify China the first time.
This was why Qinshihuang was able to unify China the first time in 221 BCE.
But one piece of the puzzle was still missing. In order to turn these men into soldiers, he needed to be able to quickly train them and standardize their weaponry. Furthermore, these weapons needed to be interchangeable on the battlefield.
The weapon which the Qin dynasty standardized upon was the crossbow, and the piece of standard equipment it needed to make in very large numbers was the Chinese crossbows’ lock and trigger mechanism.
Basically, the Qin dynasty took the Chinese bureaucracy and put it to use to master mass production and manage what was probably the world’s first national armory to produce standardized weapons to conquer all of China.
Because the conquest of all of China required huge national resources, the Qin unification made the nobility obsolete. The state controlled water distribution, food distribution, taxation, fielded a national army and large-scale weapons manufacture. The nobility was now irrelevant.
If we turn to Europe during the Roman period, the Roman empire also had tremendous central state power. If we take a close look at how the Romans spent their engineering talent, we see roads, aqueducts, temples and coliseums. Compared to the Chinese, they did not have to deal with huge unruly rivers and floods, which probably also meant that the Romans were dealing with considerably smaller populations than Chinese rulers.
If we turn to Europe during the feudal period, the rise of local barons in what is now England and Germany is precisely because they did not have national bureaucracies and armies. As a result, the barons had large estates, and would provide land to the serfs, and the serfs would have to turn over a significant portion of their harvest to the lord of the manor as their rent.
When the King of England would go to war, he would have to turn to his barons for support, and they would be responsible for raising armies from their serfs. The most highly skilled fighters were knights, who would have to be paid by the barons, and had squires and other supporting company. All of their fighting equipment was custom-made, and was not made in a national armory. Moreover, they had to carry the costs of the production of their weapons.
This meant that the local nobility, or the barons, had great power over the King of England, and if he could not rally the barons to support his cause, he would have his knees cut from under him.
This is what happened with the Magna Carta.
It was all about separation of powers, and this is what gave way to what would eventually come to be western democracy.
In contrast, the Chinese emperors and dynasties never had this notion of separation of powers. To this day, this continues to be a foreign notion to Chinese rulers.
To sum up, the Chinese rulers discovered in the second century BCE that with the right combination of water, food, population, weapons and bureaucracy, one emperor and one dynasty could rule all of China, becoming the Son of Heaven. His rule was direct, and he needed no nobility.
This never happened in Europe, which is why the hereditary nobility survived.
The Sopranos – Paulie vs Ralph
Why does the USA Suck?
As a low income American that worked multiple jobs that just covered rent, utilities and health insurance, I can assure you I was scraping the barrel of third world living conditions, my house was ruined, we had no hot water, no heat, and barely enough for food. It cost me $25,000 a year to survive, barely survive.
For the same amount of money in the UK I have a home, all utilities paid, cable WiFi and landline, a cellphone, health care, transportation, a whole months shopping for groceries and money left over. I also get 15 free hours of child care for my children and 28 paid vacation days. I have never lived better in my life.
Some wealthy person is going to say the US is easy, well for lower class people it’s a nightmare. I don’t have time to put the links but Google the following.
51 percent of Americans earn less than $30,000 a year.
Only 0.01% of minimum wage workers can afford a 2 bedroom apartment at fair market rent
The average minimum wage worker needs 2.5 jobs to have a two bedroom apartment at fair market rent
Low income Americans can’t afford 95% of colleges.
Our healthcare, infant and mother mortality rankings.
When you are poor you are left with nothing, there may be programs but they are extremely limited, hard to get, usually you are denied several times until you give up. As someone who just barely survived I got SNAP. I fed my family on over a hundred dollars a month, that does not last.I eventually had to get Medicaid when my job closed up, but nothing in the form of cash benefits.
First, second and third world reside within the US, your income depends on what your reality is.
Design philosophy. What some people are calling “flaws” were conscious decisions and tradeoffs made in the design process.
To be honest, it’s only later in the Cold War where the two began to diverge significantly. Prior to that, both were in a pretty neck-to-neck, “my machine is the better version of yours” competition. I’ll emphasize more on the Soviet side:
Small turrets and low profile
In World War 2, the Soviets noticed that plenty of the fatal hits their T-34 took were to the turret. The concluded that they need to minimize the turret to make it harder for NATO tanks to hit them. Similarly, keeping it small means the tanks would be harder to find and hit from great distances. At the same time, they also realized the 3-man turret works best, which means that the turret would have to accommodate the commander, gunner, and loader even though it means that each would have a very constricted working environment.
The Western approach of keeping ammo on the turret, making it nearly as big as the hull, makes little sense from this point-of-view.
Autoloader and ammo inside the hull
People love to jump on this like it’s a “gotcha” thing the past year or so, but this was also another conscious decision.
Having an autoloader means that you eliminate the loader position, allowing the turret to be smaller. It also means that you can crew a tank with just 3 people instead of 4 (Western standard) or even 5 (World War 2). This has massive implications in an all-out World War scenario:
Imagine you have 1,200 trained tankers. With the Soviet approach, you can man 400 tanks, but with the Western approach, you can only crew 300. 100 extra tanks is a formidable force, no matter how you look at it. World War 2 was a numbers game, where quantity can trump quality. Both sides were expecting World War 3 to be no different fundamentally.
(Of course, with only 3 people servicing the tank, the workload is higher during repairs.)
Keeping the ammo deep inside the hull is as old as tank design. Without blowout panels (on the turrets), this is the most sensible place to put ammo since it has the most armor protecting it. The other thing is, if something did enough damage to go through all that armor, the crew would probably be already dead anyway.
In any case, even modern Western tanks have provisions to store ammo inside the hull. The main downside of keeping ammo in the turret is simply that you’re far more limited even with that huge turret and you’ll run out of ammo quicker.
Contrary to what some people say, autoloaders can be installed with ammo-on-turret designs. See the French Leclerc.
Simple/“crude” technology
It all goes back to World War 2, again. Soviet tanks were designed to be easily repairable in the field and manufactured in great numbers. Those were the main qualities of both the T-34 and the Sherman (even though the Sherman has a much better “finish quality” than the T-34). The Soviets also knew that they stuff they’d be mass-producing wouldn’t be very high quality, but they absolutely needed the numbers. That was how the older but more sophisticated T-64 was supplemented by the T-72.
That said, the newest versions of both are about equal.
Light weight
Bridges. That’s it. The Germans had issues trying to cross rivers because sometimes they found out that their tanks were too heavy to use certain bridges. The Soviets wouldn’t have any of that. Of course, the downside of keeping the tanks light is that you can’t put too much stuff on it (including armor).
Ground pressure and mobility on soft/rough terrain is a bit more complicated than simple weight. After all, Pressure = Force (weight) / Area. All you really need to do is to make the tracks wide enough. But having lighter weight also helps.
Gun-launched missile
This is to offset NATO’s superior optics and computers and also that generally, you want to be the first one to shoot. Even if the missile missed, the opponent would have to do something to defend themselves, making them more vulnerable to follow-up strikes.
In any case, the Soviets absolutely love missiles given that they put it on just about anything that moves (the BMP series was ahead of its time, it’s not until late in the Cold War that NATO had anything comparable, with the M113 being the workhorse. The M113 APC versions do not have missiles and barring a few modifications, its armament is usually just machineguns).
This Phone Just Destroyed US Sanctions… America Shocked!
This is STUNNING! Jesus. H. Christ!
Why do American expats think that the USA is a shit-hole?
I haven’t spent that much time in the US, barely two years, but was also very happy to leave.
My issue with American society:
artificial culture with short lived relationships, therefore people are great at making first impression, but after that it gets quite shallow and interest based
materialistic culture where people are quite obsessed with money. This isn’t America specific thing, but it is very strong in America, and rather on third country levels where it is rather understandable that people really need money, but not on more relaxed developed country level
overconfident culture based on “American exceptionalism” can be too much for people who prefer to rely on data in their life, and are independent thinker
Therefore, a lot of entitled people which is quite annoying since they have often no reason to be so entitled
Those entitled people are often in debt, sick and not being able to afford appropriate treatment, education, not having money reserves, but underlying still acting like some movie stars and big patriots
Fundamental problems:
The society is overall in a bad shape. High suicide rate, high depression rate, high *insert random sickness and USA is probably quite high in rankings*. You see that in people, overworked, sick and depressed. Most live paycheck to paycheck.
Crime rate is quite high for a rich country, actually the highest among rich countries. And it has some unique problems that are not being addressed like mass shootings.
Combination of high violent crime rate, mental and economic issues and a lot of “confident” yet not good at problem solving people leads to constant tension in all areas of live. USA just feels tense and stressful.
Healthcare and education are way more expensive than elsewhere, probably adds also to the tension.
Overall, with all the fear and tension there are technically less freedoms.
No specific perks of being in USA. All patriotism aside, there is nothing what you can’t get elsewhere (for guns obsessed ones, yes, guns too, USA isn’t really that special here)
In the US, if you’re shopping for food, find a store run by immigrants from India, the Middle East, Latin America, China or Vietnam. Probably almost every item you’re looking for, they’ve got the cheapest prices and best value in town.
I live in the Twin Cities. I go miles out of my way to drive up to Northeast Minneapolis to shop at Holy Land (which specializes in Mediterranean, Balkan and Somali food) and Little India — the mother lode of spices in this town.
Stores like these usually aren’t very “visually appealing.” It’s pretty low overhead. They’re not in very wealthy neighborhoods. They cater mostly to a working-class immigrant clientele. And that’s partly why they’re so cheap. (Many American yuppies actually go out of their way to pay more for products so they can show off and feel rich. That’s one reason why REI is so popular in the clothing line. They might be paying textile workers more — I don’t know — but a lot of consumers just feel like they’re getting a “better” product if they pay more. This is a huge American consumer mindset.)
Spices that I’d have to pay $16 a pound for at my usual neighborhood market… Little India sells for a third of that price. And man, they’ve got spices. This is about half their spice aisle. Both sides of the aisle, all spice:
I also love that they sell a 28-ounce bag of this stuff for a reasonable price. A pound and a half of the stuff:
Honestly, I don’t know if all the products you find at these markets are optimo primo top quality. But if you’re poor (I’m poor), it’s good enough for you.
When I wander into a Whole Paycheck/Whole Foods, the setting is spiffier, but that’s about it. I see just about nothing there I can’t find for a better price at an immigrant market, plus a lot of unique imported goods that I can’t find anywhere else at all. (I don’t know any standard grocery store in the Twin Cities that sells fava beans. No other stores sell Turkish coffee, also called Greek coffee, also called Bosnian coffee. And where I do buy Bosnian chocolate cookies or tangy Bulgarian yogurt — even though the brand I buy at Holy Land is made from California milk? Well, the Lebanese sell it.) I’m also happy to support an immigrant instead of a big company.
I’ve lived most of my life in the Midwest. There’s a lot of immigrants in the Midwest. You can find these stores in probably every big US city. Even if you live out in the country, if you buy bulk, sometimes it’s cost-effective to do your shopping while you’re in a city. Lots of items like spice, oil, tea, coffee and obviously rice and beans — this stuff keeps for months if not years.
This is one of the experiments that, like the Milgram experiment, simply scares me.
Because it shows why people allow themselves to be led en masse to their own downfall.
Let’s take a look at this.
Participants were alone in a room and had to fill out a questionnaire.
Then, suddenly, smoke came out from under the door.
What would you do now?
Leave the room immediately and tell someone, okay?
And that’s what 75% of the people tested did. And, on average, they did it after 2 minutes.
Then, the subjects were exposed to the same situation, but with other people in the room.
In this case, there were two actors and they pretended not to notice the smoke.
And now only 10% of the test participants left the room, continued to fill out the questionnaire.
Even when the smoke burned his eyes and rubbed them visibly .
The experiment shows that people react slower (or not at all) in emergency situations when other people are passive.
They seem to rely heavily on the reactions of others, even against their own instincts. If the group acts like everything is fine, then it has to be, right?
That’s what always scares me, because I see it everywhere.
But I know that others don’t react until they believe that at least most other people would react.
This fact makes me desperate because it is being used to manipulate the masses . And I will never be able to do anything to convince them until everyone cares.
It’s so scary!
Germany just told Ukraine to F*CK off, along with 3 other E.U. countries | Redacted News
We will not extradite people to die! That is what four countries have told Ukraine in response to the country’s request to send back those refugees they were so nice to last year. They need to throw them into battle to die, please.
The Czech Republic has said that it will not do that and so has Austria, Hungary and Germany.
Speaking from personal experience; as an American living in China, I have found the following to be rather difficult to obtain. (Oh, anything can be obtained in China. The issue boils down to accessibility, cost, and quality.)
Here’s a brief list;
Fresh bagels.
And creme cheese to put on them.
Thin crust pizza. (In China it is either impossible to get, or cooked to a cracker.)
Deep dish pizza.
Cheese-It crackers. (Does not exist in China.)
Goldfish crackers. (I found some once.)
Jar of pickles. (Doesn’t matter; dill, sweet butter chips, gerkins. Not available.)
Jar of relish. (Can be found if you look hard enough.)
Fresh and hot pretzels.
Jello. Not unheard of, just very rare.
Hard rolls. Forgetaboutit.
Hamburger (Known as “mince”). You have to make it yourself in a grinder.
Pre-made bread, or pizza dough.
Of course, must Western foods are available in a restaurant. But these are limited to either fast food, or steaks. Forget about “blue plate specials” and things that you normally get in the ‘States.
Grits
Cheese omelette
Rye toast. (Rye anything…)
Eggs Benedict.
Milkshakes. (McDonald’s USED to carry them, but they fell from popularity. Presently, they are impossible to find.)
Back about 1980 I bought a raffle ticket (for only 50 cents) from a sorority in Little Rock, Arkansas. The prize was dinner for two at the 6 nicest restaurants in town. Eventually I got a call that I had won and would get my gift certificates soon. No tickets ever arrived. I contacted the sorority and they offered to refund my 50 cents! Unfortunately for the girls who sold me the ticket, I worked with a certain fraud division of the state government. I contacted the restaurants mentioned on the raffle ticket and discovered they knew nothing of the raffle. I then brought some serious heat down on the sorority, and they quickly delivered my prize. As they left my home, one of the girls said “We’ll never sell YOU another ticket.” As if.
About a year later my car needed a tune up. The car needed new spark plug wires so I replaced them myself before going in for the tune-up. While I’m waiting for my car to be fixed the technician walks in and announces that I need new spark plug wires. Oh really? I asked to see the wires. They had been cut. I explained to the man that I had just put on that new set of wires not an hour ago, and the only way they got cut was by him cutting them himself. The result of that business’s interaction with the fraud folks? They found themselves closed down. There had been plenty of complaints about that business but now they had defrauded the wrong person for sure.
China Wins the Deep Sea Mining Race, Becomes Precious Metals and Critical Minerals Rich Country
“Thanks for sharing this information, I love your podcasts,,, We don’t get this knowledge on mainstream media.”
The US congress representatives referred to reports that show that 800,000 barrels of Iran’s seized oil have been wandering off the coast of Texas since about 11 weeks ago, and American companies and parties are reluctant to unload their cargo for fear of alleged Iran’s possible retaliatory measures.
The US seized the tanker in a sanctions enforcement operation, Reuters reported.
The delay in discharging the cargo is also partly out of fear of repercussions from Iran. A senior commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ navy said last month Iran would retaliate against any oil company unloading Iranian oil from a seized tanker.
They continued that enforcement of petroleum sanctions will become irrelevant if American citizens and companies involved constantly live in fear of Iranian retaliation.
They asked the administration for a briefing on the progress of the transfer of the seized oil from the Suez Rajan to US custody.
After withdrawing from the JCPOA nuclear agreement in 2018, the US government has implemented all the suspended sanctions under this agreement against Iran. US has also required third countries and companies to implement its territorial sanctions against Iran.
LOL at uncle shame…
The Teen That Lit 91YO Man On Fire..
That man lived a long hard life and this is how it ends, a teen’s selfish and senseless act. RIP wise old man.
After World War I, Hitler was broke and unemployed, and he made money by (1) being paid by the Army to speak to young people about the evils of Bolshevism and (2) spying for the Army at political gatherings.
In July 1919 Hitler, on his second part time job, was sent to a meeting of what was then the German Worker’s Party, a nationalist, anti-Semitic, pro-capitalist reform group of about sixty people. During the meeting, Hitler, who had read up on politics, started talking and everyone there started thinking he would be a good spokesperson for the group.
Now, Hitler was a bright involved student in elementary school (top of his class as a matter of fact) but his ultra-strict father and doting mother (Hitler was the family’s only son who survived infancy) turned him into the equivalent of an emo-kid when he got to high school, and he insisted he was going to be an artist, something that his civil servant father was opposed to, but his mother encouraged.
Hitler’s father died when he was young and his mother actually gave Adolph the money she got from the Austrian State pension for a child benefit so he could move to Vienna to pursue his dream. However, when he was 18, the money stopped when the state stopped paying for him, and his father’s estate and death benefits still had to be used for the support of his mother and sisters.
As such, Hitler became largely homeless, art school didn’t want him (he wasn’t particularly good at it) and he hadn’t finished high school, which was a prerequisite for architecture school. Let’s just say at that point he was like a teenager who discovers Ayn Rand and thinks he’s better than everyone thinks he is. What he read during this period of time started to shape his views on the economy and non-Germans.
When World War I started Hitler actually fit into the army quite well, but after the war he fell for the “Big Lie” of the day, that the socialists had sabotaged the war effort (in fact, the previous government had collapsed under the weight of lack of supplies and money). The peace treaty in 1919 didn’t help as it required Germany to pay more money than existed on the entire planet at the time.
When Hitler and his buddies, now re-named the National Socialist Party, tried to overthrow the government of Bavaria in 1923, he avoided the death penalty by appealing to the right-wing German Empire judges that he was only trying to save the country. He served less than a year in prison while he dictated a very bad polemic book, “My Struggle” (Mein Kampf) to a couple of his friends.
Anyway, Hitler was banned from speaking so the Nazi’s were moribund, but then the ban was lifted just as the Great Depression began. Mainstream parties couldn’t cope, but both the Communists and the Nazis grew rapidly in popularity and Hitler positioned himself as a middle-left alternative to Communist Soviet-supported Bolshevism. As he gained electoral success, he paralyzed the government by having his legislative deputies vote against everything, and then argued that the problem was that there were too many political parties.
Hitler never had a majority of deputies in the legislature (Reichstag) so despite numerous elections and legislative paralysis, the centrist and right parties managed to keep him at bay. Finally, in a panic, Hitler said he would be Chancellor if just two other Nazis were in the cabinet. They bought it, but the two Nazi ministers controlled the police and the army, which were quickly used against Hitler’s adversaries. When someone tried to burn down the Reichstag, he managed to convince it to give him emergency powers, which he used to arrest even more of his rivals. Eventually, when the only balancing force, President Hindenburg, passed away, Hitler just took his place. He had a mortal lock on everything, and most of that was his idea.
California, 1949. My 16-year-old mother was called into the office of the very agitated high school principal who explained emphatically, “There are reports that you have been dating a Negro. We have an integrated school here now and the only way than can work is if the races do not ever mix. As a white girl I expect you to uphold that standard.” My mother stared that woman down without a word, then simply walked out of the office and nothing else was ever said about it. The reports were quite true, and three years later they were married. I was born the following year.
Poor Kitten Showed No Sign of Life, and Her Mama kept Worrying for Him
My plebe (first year) at West Point, I asked my Tactical Officer (a TAC is the legal commander and supervisor of a cadet company) if I could give up my summer leave (1980) and serve at Nellis AFB. Even this was pretty bold for a plebe to ask a Captain. He said he would (might?) look into it. I mentioned it again during graduation week (just prior to leave) and he said it couldn’t be arranged.
The following week, when I arrived home in Las Vegas, my Dad asked if I wanted to attend the 100th year birthday party at the American Legion for the oldest veteran in the state. (He had been a veteran of the Spanish American War). I said sure and attended in uniform.
There were many veterans, active duty military, and dignitaries present, including the commanding brigadier general at Nellis. He recognized my uniform and that I was a newly minted “yearling” and asked how I was doing at the Academy? I said it was tough but that I was doing well. He asked what I had planned for summer leave? I replied, “Sir, I was hoping to work for you.” He was surprised and asked why? I said, “I thought it would be career broadening.” He said, “That sounds like a great idea. Why didn’t you do it?” I said, “My tactical officer said it wouldn’t be possible to arrange… with all the inter service bureaucracy” He replied, “Inter service bureaucracy? I’ll give Joe Franklin a call and we’ll have it set up by tomorrow afternoon.” Brigadier General Franklin was the Commandant of Cadets. Apparently, they were classmates.
I was speeding down a highway in the dark of night, around 10 or so, when I passed a state patrol car sitting in the median. I knew I was busted, so I took my foot off the gas, looked in the rearview mirror to see if he was coming after me (of course he was) and then looked down at my speedometer which read 75. Yikes! How fast had I been going?? Anyway, I pull over and get my stuff ready to hand to him. He pulls up behind me and gets out, and out, and out of his car. Big man, very tall and imposing. I was thinking oh crap. He comes to my window and asks me how I’m doing as I hand him my driver’s license. I tell him pretty good, just trying to get home to go to bed. He stops, leans (way) over and looks in the window at me. I recognize him as one of the regular customers at the convenience store where I work days. He says “what are you doing?? Go home. Slow down and drive safely!” And hands me back my driver’s license. I thanked him profusely and we both went on our way. No ticket, no nothing. Whew! Dodged a bullet there. It pays to be good to law enforcement. 😀
Star Trek Enterprise – Unknown Space Capsule
Please enjoy this segment. I did.
Star Trek Enterprise “Future Tense”
Why do American expats say that the USA is a shit-hole?
Because it’s true. I moved to Spain in 2017.
My health improved dramatically thanks to high EU food-quality standards (and the 2000 additives and chemicals used in the US food industry that are banned or restricted in the EU).
My quality of life improved thanks to low crime rates and Spain’s emphasis on quality of life over work. Everyone is happier.
My cost of living went down a lot, especially my healthcare costs.
My doctors here actually listen to me and take time with me because they don’t have to rush through as many patients in a day due to the high costs of everything. Healthcare isn’t all about profits. It’s about… health. Imagine that!
Even the health of my pets improved.
Instead of Oklahoma and Louisiana being my “backyard” (I lived in Texas), France and Portugal are.
During the Cold War, lots of people expected the US and the Soviet Union to exchange nuclear missile strikes. They thought nuclear armageddon could arrive any day.
So in the event of nuclear armageddon, what are some tips? One tip that was widely popularized, was the Rule of Thumb.
The Rule of Thumb says if you extend your arm, and put your thumb over a nuclear mushroom cloud, you can tell if you’re in danger from radiation. If your thumb covers the entire cloud, you’re safe. If it doesn’t, you’re in danger and need to take cover.
This tip wasn’t necessarily true, but luckily nuclear war never broke out and they never had to use it.
But in the Fallout games, nuclear war did break out. And guess what extremely popular Fallout character is using the Rule of Thumb?
The Government has Secret Listening Posts in Every Major City
New York City has skyscrapers of all shapes and sizes. But why does this 500 foot tall, 29-story building have no windows, no lights and no markings at all?
Because it’s a top-secret NSA spy station built to withstand nuclear war.
Officially, this is an AT&T telecommunications building. But thanks to leaked documents, we now know that 33 Thomas Street is actually a top secret NSA mass surveillance hub.
It’s code name is: TitanPointe.
And right now, as we speak, TitanPointe is listening.
The gray, granite tower is located at 33 Thomas Street in Lower Manhattan. Locals know the building as the “Long Lines Building” and it’s been a source of mystery for years.
What jumps out is that the building has no windows and no exterior lighting.
During the day, it fades into the background of the New York City skyline.
And at night, it becomes an invisible shadow.
Thanks to NSA documents leaked by Edward Snowden, we now know that creating an invisible building wasn’t an accident. It was absolutely by design.
33 Thomas Street operates under NSA codename TITANPOINTE.
And Titanpointe is a core location used for a controversial, and possibly illegal, NSA-sponsored mass surveillance program.
According to leaked documents, this program has targeted the communications of the UN, the World Bank, the IMF. It’s been used to spy on at least 38 countries, including US allies like France, Germany and Japan. It’s common knowledge that AT&T is very cooperative with the NSA.
Using an AT&T cell phone? Eh, you might want to rethink that.
Black Zimbabwean on receiving end here. Many years ago, just after getting married, new hubby & I flew from Harare (capital city) to Kariba (small touristy town 45 minutes away by air) for our honeymoon.
On arrival at the little airport, we head for the courtesy shuttle. A group of mostly middle aged (& all white) American tourists have already taken up most of the seats when we step onto the bus. Some look a little startled, and one woman pipes up, “You can’t get on this bus. This is OUR bus”.
We politely explain that no, it isn’t ‘your’ bus, it is actually meant for anyone booked at the local hotel.
She argues; there are a few supportive mutterings from her compatriots, until the driver chimes in, and with a huge smile, confirms what we’ve just told her.
I suspect he’s encountered this before.
A few minutes later we are on our way, & we soon strike up a conversation with our nearest neighbours (the natives are friendly here ). A woman in the next seat interrupts and says, in baffled tones, “Your English is really good”, and her male companion adds, almost accusingly: “You sound educated!”
I don’t remember feeling offended, just mildly taken aback and amused at the level of unconscious presumptuousness.
My sweetie and I were in a BBQ restaurant in Cambridge, MA. The place was crowded with lots of people, including a family of 2 adults, 1 son, and an infant. The son was going from table to table flailing his arms, screaming in people’s faces, grabbing their food, knocking over their drinks, while their parents did absolutely nothing to control their child, who was ruining dinner for everybody else in the place.
The layout of the restaurant meant that we would be the last table for him to torment. Sure enough, he arrived and began shrieking very, very loudly in our faces. My sweetie smiled at him, and made the exact same sound back at the kid. In an instant, the child stopped, smiled, and began a low and happy conversation with my guy. End of problem. It was the first and only time the kid smiled.
What happened next was unbelievable. The wife/Mother came up to our table, and began to yell as loudly as she could that we were being horrible to her child, we should be thrown out of the restaurant, and never allowed back again.
The next thing that happened was my sweetheart changing his demeanor 100%. In an instant, the gentle man playing with the kid was gone, to be replaced with a deadly serious person who quietly but forcefully said to the woman “Hey lady, f*** off!” Other customers actually applauded. As the husband/Father got control of his family, he came to apologize for his wife’s behavior, saying dealing with the kid was very hard on her.
While I had all the sympathy in the world for the family, no child should be allowed to ruin the dining experience for 50 other people. If the child can’t be controlled, then take it outside. Period.
Ideally, there wouldn’t be any ‘telltale’ signs of an ambush, but in practice, this is as good as impossible.
To successfully set up an ambush, there need to be a few elements in place and this can give the attacker away.
Ambushes are executed from concealed positions, locations where you’re able to hide a number of soldiers very close to the troops that you want to ambush.
The ambush has to take place on a road or path frequented by your enemy, most often at a certain time. An ambush is not a fishing expedition. If you don’t know that an enemy will pass by your ambush site, you are just wasting your time.
If you attack vehicles, you need your enemy to slow down or stop. This can be achieved either by choosing a location where your enemy has to slow down (a sharp bend or uphill) or you place an obstacle on the road (a tree ‘fell’ down, a carcass, etc.).
Very bad for your health, but not an ambush: a roadside bomb or IED (photo: US Army 25th Infantry Division soldiers during an “IED trainer course”).
Often a mine (or Improvised Explosive Device, IED) is placed on the road. It has two functions, to stop the enemy’s vehicles and to give the signal for the attackers to open fire.
To make things clear, an IED per se is not an ambush but a remote controlled mine. An ambush by definition is “a surprise attack by people lying in wait in a concealed position.”
[1] This can happen with the help of an IED, but the detonation of a road mine alone isn’t sufficient to qualify an attack as an ambush. In other words, you need soldiers attacking you.
When you are on patrol, you’ll probably never see a direct sign that there is an ambush ahead of you, but bearing in mind how an ambush has to be set up to be successful you will have a good idea where it’s most likely going to happen and how to avoid it.
If you use the same road twice, the risk for you to be ambushed increases dramatically.
If you approach an area with buildings, bushes, or other covers near the roadside, be careful!
An obstacle on the road that forces you to slow down is an alarm sign.
Sharp bends, ravines, and hollow-ways are the classical spots for an attack.
Every activity “out of the usual” might point to a possible enemy attack. The absence of people or animals or a road that has been blocked and requires you to take a detour might point to an ambush.
Experienced soldiers learn to read those signs and many others, often unconsciously. You acquire a ‘feeling’ when something ahead of you doesn’t look, sound, or smell right and you’ll be able to take countermeasures.
My birthday one year ago was really sucking. I decided to go buy myself a cake at the grocery store and get it decorated, because it was my birthday and I wanted something nice. When the guy at the counter asked who it was for (in retrospect he meant what name to put on it) and I said it was for me, he was incredulous that I had to buy my own birthday cake. I just kind of shrugged and went out to finish shopping for groceries. He said my cake would be need to be paid for at pick up.
When I came back to pay for and pick up my cake, a different person was at the register and she said my cake had been paid for. It was also decorated a bit more than I thought it should have been. I have not seen that guy working there since and in my head I’ve called him the cake fairy.
It was a good cake. I still cried eating it because the entire day sucked, but it was a good cake.
The Sopranos Tribute “Don’t stop believing”
“Strange how you can miss people from a tv series like they were your family even though you know they are fictional characters. Even today I feel like a part of my life ended when the series stopped.”
My baby son was fast approaching his first birthday. I was working away from home in South Wales and had just completed a 3 month long project before returning to head office in Aberdeen. I received a phone call, at home, informing me of a problem in another location and requesting me to travel to Shotton steel works, in England, as soon as possible.
My wife went ballistic. She informed me that I had only been home to enjoy my son growing up for 6 weeks of his first year of life. Not only that but I would miss my boy’s birthday. On reflection, she was correct.
All that night I reviewed my life. I recalled my own childhood with my father being a fisherman. He was away at sea for 3 to 4 weeks at a time and only home for a couple of days before sailing off again. We never had time for any father/son activity. I loved my dad but he was a stranger to me. I simply didn’t know him well.
The next day I scheduled a meeting with my managing director and informed him that I couldn’t continue to spend as much time away from home. His response was that I was the only person qualified for that job and nobody else could do it. That wasn’t what I wanted to hear.
I tended my resignation and started looking for another job. I ended up working in the oil and gas sector. I was office based and got to help raise my kids. It was definitely the best decision I ever made.
This is FLASH Traffic. North Korea has agreed to send three-hundred-thousand (300,000) to five-hundred thousand (500,000) troops to Russia to assist with its Special Military Operation in Ukraine, against NATO.
The first deployment will be about 20,000 soldiers to assist with Logistics.
North Korea will also deliver to Russia, the new KN-09 Multiple Launch Rocket System.
This is the latest North Korean version of the KN-09, with two pods of SIX rockets each.
Intelligence assessment of these new rocket launchers is as follows:
Judging by the published photos, the military received MLRS, known under the Western designation KN-09 or KN-SS-X-9. Its caliber is 300 mm.
The first version, which has eight missile tubes, was shown in 2015 at the parade in honor of the 70th anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
It is believed that missiles with a warhead weighing up to 190 kg are capable of hitting targets at a distance of at least 220 km.Guidance is inertial, in preparation for use, the calculation uses data from navigation satellites, which provides a fairly accurate hit.
In 2020, an upgraded version was introduced, in which the three-axle all-terrain vehicle was replaced with a four-axle platform with twelve tubes.
THOUGHTS & OPINIONS
North Korea is supplying military materials, ammo, weapons systems, supplying military logistics, and manpower to Russia.
A 500,000 man military presence is large enough to; Completely take over the Ukraine war effort from Russia. Occupy and conquer Ukraine. Serve as a complete self-contained invasion force for NATO and Europe.
All reports indicate that Ukraine has been sufficiently weakened by the USA / NATO leadership decisions that it is a “404 nation”.
NATO, and the largest European nations inside of it are now in the process of De-industrializaiton, suffering energy shortages and high inflation. All of which is a very terrible mix were they to be invaded.
North Koreans have been taught, from cradle to grave, how dangerous the West is, and that the United States and it’s proxy nations need to be eliminated from the surface of the planet.
North Korean soldiers are “enraged” soldiers, and are a very dangerous and lethal force.
The decision to place a NATO office in Japan is viewed as a direct threat to North Korea.
The decision, last month, to have NATO war games next to North Korea, (to include Germany) is viewed as a direct threat to North Korea.
CONCLUSIONS
The NATO use of Ukraine as a “cat’s paw” has been a disaster.
The American neocon dream of a “Pacific NATO” has resulted in dangerous consequences.
Now, North Korea is basing an enormous invasion force at NATO’s door. This is exactly what the United States (and it’s proxies) have been doing to Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and the Global South.
The size of the force betrays it’s intent; the conquering and subjugation of Ukraine. Followed by a “dagger at the throat” of NATO.
But parents aren’t dumb. Especially when the family is as religious as mine it’s easy to see when your child strays. It’s like having a gay kid who you can easily see his lack of interest in the opposite gender early on.
However, if I were to pinpoint the start of them noticing, It would go back to the time I was in high school.
I was curled on my bed sobbing like there’s no tomorrow. My mother came up to me and asked me why I was crying. I said that when I pray I sometimes wonder what if I’m talking to myself and no one’s actually listening to me. And I said that I hate myself for having such bad thoughts. She said “Salma it’s the devil playing with your mind. It’s okay all of us have thoughts like that sometimes”.
But I wasn’t anyone. I was obsessive, still am. I had a form of OCD where I had to wash so many times before each prayer to make sure I’m clean. I always repeated my prayers over and over to make sure they are to God’s liking. And at the end of the day after all the washing and repeating I would go to bed crying and whispering “please god make it easier on me”. But he didn’t.
My thoughts increased “what if god doesn’t even care about washing five times a day to meet him and pray?” “What if everything I believe in and take for granted is false?”. And naturally I was devastated and drowning in guilt and shame for even having in such thoughts.
I talked to my mother about it and she was really scared and told my father. They took me to a therapist who’s from their very same religious circle. I told him about my obsessions and my thoughts. And he would try to convince me so strongly of the falseness of my thoughts and that they are all OCDish thoughts not what I truly think. And with my excessive washing and the like it was believable at the time. I was prescribed meds to get rid of my OCD. And my obsessive actions stopped. But my thoughts never did.
The more time passed the more I doubted things. Then I went to pray while sobbing and said “help me ! I’m about to stray. Please don’t take my faith away. I don’t want to go to hell”. Yet by that point my blind faith and certainty of the rightness of my path had already vanished. Despite myself when I sat with religious people and heard them talk about Quran and Sunnah, I thought of everything they say with a critical eye and not the eyes of a believer who listens and obeys. And when I did that I noticed how much I roll my eyes at the silliness of what’s said.
I was miserable. I lived for Islam and wanted to die for it. My whole life revolved around it. I was a teacher at a mosque, I knew the Quran by heart, and I prayed much more than the average Muslim. So I felt like the very core of my personality and life is being pulled away from my heart.
In my last prayers, I was desperate. If you know the Islamic prayer, you know we place our foreheads on the floor. I would stick my head to the floor, holding to the rug around me like I’m holding to dear life. And from the very bottom of my heart I would whisper with a cracked voice “Help me. Help me. Help me.”. I would cry and sob and pray “please god take me. If you don’t now I’ll die as an infidel and spend an eternity in hell”.
And that was it.
The knots of faith were already fully untied after that. My mind went numb. And I finally allowed my brain and heart to be on the same page.
My parents noticed it all. They especially noticed that I didn’t pray anymore. Which was anything but easy, for weeks everytime I skipped a prayer I felt utter shame and fear of hell. But then even that disappeared. My parents gave me advice constantly urging me to pray again. They would always tell me the benefits of prayers and all that.
They urged me to visit a therapist again. And what’s a therapist going to do? Make me believe that god cares about washing before praying especially if I farted beforehand? (Yes this is a teaching). He’s going to convince me that God wants me to not listen to love songs or shake hands with male cousins?
What was the point?? So I insisted on not going.
The final straw, was after I met my husband. They discovered that we’re chatting. And yelled at me “you’re going to marry an infidel??” And they insisted that this marriage will never come to life.
So I had to come out and say it bluntly.
“I’m not a Muslim. And if I married a Muslim he’d be sinning anyway because he’s not allowed to marry a non-believer”. (Muslim men are allowed to marry Muslims, Christian’s or Jews which I was none).
The silence resounded in the room. My father’s broken voice was the only thing that put an end to it “so you’re really not a Muslim anymore? That’s it?”. He looked devastated.
I hated it all. Should I have just lied for life? Should I have hidden the truth sentencing myself for a life with misery and hypocrisy? But I didn’t take anything back. It was either now or never. Either I choose to break free and be true to myself or bury myself to suit their tastes. I loved them so much but I couldn’t make such a sacrifice.
They were heart-broken for months. Until I broke down completely mentally and emotionally. The guilt and pressure were too much for me and I snapped. I was in so much heartache. I had to be put on a big dose of anti-depressant and an even bigger dose of mood-stabilizers.
That’s when my parents softened up and came around. Finally my happiness meant something to them and they just gave in.
My father was in denial for long though. Whenever the topic came up he would change it. And when I said something that indicates that I don’t care about Islamic teachings he would ask “why?” As if he doesn’t know the answer.
However, after months, our relationship now is really good. I no longer lie, hide and sugar-coat. So they know me better. They still hope I go back on my decision but never pressure me to do it. And I love them for it.
Dr. Phlox Confirms That the Pilot Was A Human Male
Star Trek Enterprise Season 2 Episode 16 Future Tense
Why do American expats think that the USA is a Shit-hole?
I’ll start with the definite truth of my own life: Leaving the US was, without a doubt, the best decision I ever made.
I have said this out loud and reflected upon it often. In short – it had to do with identity and personal happiness.
I was always an energetic child and a hardworking student. Motivated by accomplishments; incredibly obedient; afraid of getting in trouble – a teacher’s pet type. I was generally nice to people around me; just wanted to do well and get on with my day.
After elementary school, I started going to private school – for a better education and hopefully better access in life. During that time, my Black, middle class background became the center of the world. I still did well in school, but I wasn’t spoken to as if I did well or was capable. I was made to feel inadequate at every turn, even in the face of great accomplishments.
As a teenager, this racial alienation was emphasized through social and dating dynamics. All teens have teen problems, but I wasn’t just a moody, insecure kid – I was a Black kid in a sea of White and there was nothing to be done about that. There was no amount of patience, kindness; weight loss; working out; grooming; hair perming – that would make me less Black. And you can’t talk about that to anyone; no one can relate; you’re unceremoniously accused of “bringing race into everything”. A very lonely reality.
Throughout the entire secondary school process, my intelligence was always doubted and I was constantly insulted. My school offered Chinese – they tried to tell me I wouldn’t do well because it’s “a very difficult language”. Within a year, I had top marks. I once had a teacher tell me my writing was so bad I probably had a learning disability. (I’m about to finish my Masters with distinction in England, and I’ll be starting my PhD in the fall).
By high school, I decided to spend a portion of my senior year in China. It was like night and day from my home school. Suddenly, I was smart again. Without a concerted effort of teachers telling me how stupid I was all the time, I was flourishing. I got straight A’s in AP Calculus – a course, among others, my home school wouldn’t let me take because it would be “too hard for me”. When it came to college lists – I was told I couldn’t get into any of the schools on my list; I shouldn’t aim higher than my State school. Mind, at 17 I was a varsity athlete; president of thespians; worked on a number of school plays; danced on the school team and studied Martha Graham independently; first chair clarinet; played alto sax in Jazz band; fairly skilled in drawing and painting; spoke Chinese and had a high honors GPA. So – what made me less than my peers?
In China, it was the first time anyone (other than my parents) had ever told me I was pretty. Looking back, I was still quite young; so a lot of firsts would be happening around that time anyway – but it was definitely different than in America. In America, I was just ugly. People might not say that to my face – but it was reflected in certain ways.
Beyond that, college was the same for socialization. I tried to be cute, preppy and peppy like my White friends – but I wasn’t. I was sad and defeated. And still had some discernible, inferior, human status.
So again, in college, I went to China. And again, I was able to find normality, humanity and love.
After I graduated college, I went back to China to work. I soon met my current partner and we’ve been together six years. We moved to England together last year so I could continue studying to change careers. I’ve done incredibly well and I’m just happy.
In summary:
I personally felt my intelligence and beauty were never appreciated in the US.
I was suicidal sad; until I could no longer deny that I needed to live life a different way.
My partner is Greek and it feels very freeing to not be a part of the radical, radicalized, American fervor. Also, biracial relations aren’t questioned in England the way they are in the US.
Life doesn’t feel so heavy. My days are nice. I have a nice home. A nice partner. My efforts are recognized. I’m just, whole.
I was going to Providence, RI on a stretch of highway known as Route 295. It’s a wide highway but in a rural area and there are no lights on the road. It’s long and actually pretty boring. It was nighttime and I was racing down the highway in the middle lane when I thought I saw a glimpse of something dark. I only noticed it because it created a black patch of dark in the middle of the dark night which otherwise was studded by ambient light from other sources. I pulled into the fast lane and when I got to it, it was a shipping container, right there in the middle lane, just sitting there, with no lights. It had evidently fallen from a truck – but there was no truck to be seen. Apparently the driver didn’t even know he had lost it. It was just like this in the photo:
2023 09 08 09 12
If I hadn’t been paying attention I would have plowed right into it as if it were a brick wall at 70 MPH.
I immediately called the State Police who dispatched a cruiser. My brother is a state cop who told me that there were almost many accidents. They had to put a cruiser with lights flashing behind it until a truck could come and retrieve it. I was astonished at how nearly invisible it was. Without power from the truck or reflective panels, it was as if it weren’t even there. It would have been easy to crash right into it.
Casino | “Meeting in the Desert Always Made Me Nervous”
Ace (Robert De Niro) and Nicky (Joe Pesci) arrange to have a secret meeting in the desert outside of Las Vegas. As federal law enforcement closes in around them, the two find their friendship has reached its breaking point. They exchange insults and foul language in one of the finest acting moments in any Martin Scorsese’s film.
Tex-Mex Hash
Tex Mex Sweet Potato Hash 3
Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup rice, uncooked
2 teaspoons salt
3 onions, sliced
1 can whole tomatoes
1 teaspoon chili powder
Dash of pepper
Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Pan fry ground beef until light brown in skillet. Drain fat.
Add onions and bell peppers and cook until onion is tender.
Stir in remaining ingredients and heat until warm.
Pour into a casserole dish. Cover, and bake for 1 hour.
When I lived in American Samoa (Pago Pago), there were many unique aspects of it that I have long since forgotten. But today, well something jogged my mind. And you know what came up? Yes.
Turkey-ass sandwiches.
Yupper. Very popular in Samoa. They (for some reason that I do not understand) inherit a large amount of turkey-ass meat. And the locals take this cheap meat, and cook it and make sandwiches out of it.
Two slices of bread; mayonnaise, and turkey ass meat.
It’s not exactly my “cup of tea”, but I had a few sandwiches (back in the day). It fills your stomach. But not as good as you would hope for them to be. I’ll tell you what.
Long post today. Many videos. More than average number of Oliver Anthony reaction videos. Kinda like a mother-load. But overall thoughts on the absolute devastation of Western culture and Western society today.
Krugman initially made such a report based on the Western Model and predicted Chinas collapse in 2005
Krugman wrote a paper where he established that the Banking Crisis of the 1990s would surface by 2005 and displace China
It didn’t happen
Because as I keep saying Repeatedly – the Chinese work and think differently and their economy works as per their own system
Now Americans and the Western systems HATE Saving money. Money is meant to be spent. Money has to keep being spent and drive consumption.
If you don’t have the money – BORROW or avail what is another major driver – CREDIT
image 33
The Chinese on the other land love saving money. They love having money in the bank. They prefer to spend only money from their current earnings or from any PROFIT or INTEREST they earn on those savings
Likewise Americans invest very heavily in paper or non asset backed instruments
It’s very easy to go to New York tomorrow and raise $ 50 Million capital from a small hedge fund who will simply call someone else who will invest the money from an Insurance or Pension Fund
In the 1980s – the Americans loved the free market
Today they are confident of a Federal Bailout ever since the 2009 Crisis
Chinese don’t trust paper instruments
They trust ASSETS
They like Land, Gold, Resources, Buildings, Windmills
In 2002 – The Government of China converted 160 Billion Yuan of Bad Debt ($ 18.3 Billion) by Banks into Units of Land Holdings owned by the Banks
image 32
They offered these units as sale
The Debt was paid off in 8 Days!!!!
A Debt that was 10 years old, paid off in just 8 days
So unless an Economist knows China, Chinese Culture and the Chinese system including the fact that the State owns all the land and resources – they cannot understand China
image 31
They always judge China by the Western Standard and when China thrives and doesn’t collapse like they predicted
They don’t apologize and realize their mistakes
They double down and keep assuming China must have done SOMETHING SHADY
It’s fodder for the MSM Propaganda against China
These Experts, they apply the Western System everywhere
BASEL was fine in Switzerland and developing companiss
However applying it in India destroyed almost our entire enterprise and banking so far
So Krugman, he simply tries applying the Western system to China
He tried this in 2005 and failed badly
Now he is doubling down
Unless he truly understands the Chinese people and the Chinese system – his predictions aren’t worth a damn
Nobel Prize or No Nobel Prize
I Finally Heard the Viral Country Song EVERYONE is Talking About.
Yep you are right – NATO+G7 hold around 65% of the World’s Gold Reserves
They also hold $ 81.79 Trillion in External Debt combined
If you have a Gold Backed currency, it means the NATO and G7, they can’t keep printing notes anymore
Tomorrow every note they print can legally be redeemed against a few micrograms of gold
Their Printing fun is OVER
Now BRICS
BRICS have 20% of the World’s Gold Reserves
Their Cumulative External Debt is only $ 5.105 Trillion
So now YOU DO THE MATH
NATO +G7+ Japan have 3.25 times more gold
They have a whopping 16 times more external Debt
That’s the Big problem here
Low Country Chicken Bog
2023 09 13 15 18
Ingredients
1 (3 pound) whole chicken
6 cups water
1 tablespoon salt
1 onion, chopped
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup long-grain white rice
1/2 pound smoked sausage of your choice, sliced
1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
2 cubes chicken bouillon
Instructions
Place chicken, water, salt and onion in a large pot. Bring to a boil; cook until chicken is tender, about 1 hour.
Remove chicken from pot and let cool. Remove skin and bones and chop remaining meat into bite-size pieces.
Skim off fat from cooking liquid and measure 3 1/2 cups of this chicken broth into a 6 quart saucepan.
Add rice, chicken pieces, sausage, herb seasoning and bouillon to the saucepan. Cover the saucepan. Let come to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cook for 30 minutes. If mixture is too watery or juicy, cook over medium low heat, uncovered, until it reaches the desired consistency. Stir often while cooking.
TELL IT LIKE IT IS!!! | Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North of Richmond
All the focus is on the CHIP, the Chip and it’s stacking and it’s revolutionary inhouse design
In reality the real breakthrough by Huawei isn’t the damn Chip.
It’s the FILTER
The Bulk Accoustic wave Filter, the small component that in laymans terms enables those different latent speeds on your smartphone and gives you 5G connectivity
The Chip is great news
Yet that’s nothing amazing or new. Yes China can make 5nm Chips with Foreign DUV equipment
That’s why US sanctioned the equipment which is probably why China now uses stacking to get the same processing power but with higher power consumption
The BAW filter is the BIG BREAKTHROUGH and China is diverting all the attention from this to the CHIP hoping that idiots like Raimondo or Blinken go after the Chips
In reality the BAW Filter made entirely of Chinese Design is the killer here
I bet the Chinese commercially make it at 60% cost
Now China can make it’s entire 5G network spectrum without any dependence on the West
Zero Dependence
They control the raw materials, the equipment, the design and the process entirely in house
Companies that design and make the BAWs are entirely anyway on the US Blacklist so they won’t be affected in the least
Plus now that Huawei has designed a BAW for 5G Latents, it’s only one step for higher latents (6G)
It’s why China and Huawei are diverting everyone’s attention towards the CHIPS again and again
The West will say “They were made using ASML and we have restricted the exports of ASML so this will end”
Nobody will look at the 5G BAW filter designed and made by China from scratch and scaled efficiently
Helping China scale it’s way to 6G without any dependence on the West and KEEPING THEIR LEAD
That’s the big breakthrough Huawei has achieved which they are masking from the world to remain undisturbed for another 2–3 years while the Idiots focus on the Chip again and again
Originally Answered: What does it feel like to go from being wealthy to being poor?
It’s absolutely horrible. I was 50, had recently sold my very successful car washes, had a $1MM in my checking account, the big house, kids in private school and life was grand. I was focused on growing my other business (car wash equipment sales) when the manufacturer we represented lost a client that accounted 1/3 of our business, Hurricane Katrina hit (followed by several other hurricanes), and then the great recession. I had stopped taking a salary and started loaning the company money. I was determined to work through this. I even spent my retirement in a last attempt to turn things around. Fast forward, the company was broke, I was broke, and I couldn’t pay the house mortgage. I had to give up the house and shut down the business. A personal bankruptcy soon followed, and then a separation from my wife of 30 years. The stress was unbearable, and I contemplated suicide. The only thing that stopped me was that my dad had taken his life when I was 26, and I knew first hand the pain that my loved ones would bear for my actions.
The worst part is the loss of self confidence and depression, followed by the loss of “friends”. It’s amazing how quickly they disappear! I will say that two friends stuck by me. One in particular would check on me and take me out to ride his motorcycles to help take my mind off of things. I moved into a friend’s rental property and I started looking for work. I had owned my own companies since college, was a past Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, and had never really worked for anyone. At the worst, I was working at a construction company repairing equipment in their yard, collecting food stamps and living alone.
Fast forward a couple of years. My wife and I got back together, we moved to Texas, and I took a job back in my industry (building car washes). We now rent a nice home, and were recently able to buy a nice used car. It gets better every day. I love my job, and I hope to get back into car wash ownership (with investors), while continuing to do what I do.
In summary, there are a couple of important lessons to take from this:
Good times don’t last; bad times don’t last.
Most of the people who claim to be your friend are only there for the good times.
Business associates that you’ve spent millions of dollars with over decades will instantly turn their back on you when the money stops.
Don’t ever stop taking care of yourself. Exercise is great for relieving the stress.
Face facts. Recognize when you have a losing hand and walk away. And if bankruptcy is inevitable, just do it. Don’t procrastinate and stick your head in the sand.
Do not EVER use your retirement money. I used mine to try and save the company, and I am now 60 years old and starting over.
Never stop believing in yourself.
The Left RAGES Over Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North Of Richmond” | Tomi Lahren Is Fearless
China’s core competence is manufacturing and logistic. It has IP independence in numerous areas, and the industrial chain can collaborate to bring complex, world-class projects online in record time.
As I’ve said repeatedly over the years, China class is world class, because the Chinese competition has to beat the world’s best in order to be counted as domestic champions. There are few absentees in the world’s largest single market. Chinese corporations do not compete in sandboxed silos, unlike elsewhere.
The best thing is, the Chinese are among the best informed people when it comes to business intelligence, because of the completeness of the supply chain.
Case in point: Kuo Ming-Chi has been one of the best-informed and accurate Apple “analyst” over the past decade, because he taps the Greater China-centered supply chain directly.
That is also why only Apple is left in the brutal handset business in China, with the Koreans, Japanese, Taiwanese and Europeans all relegated to “others” or complete irrelevance on the mainland. Transsion, a company few have heard of, outsells Samsung in Africa, a market that Chinese handset vendors dominate. The competition that China offers is multidimensional and immense.
We will see entire industries being remade on a global scale as China moves up the tech ladder and redefine the 21st century factory. Today, a journalist who wants to showcase industrial innovation will find the best material in China, and not Germany, Japan and the US. Instead of going wild over AI’s use as a human-like chatbot, China is deploying AI, ML and big data on an industrial scale to run intelligent factories, automating the often tumultuous marriage between lean manufacturing and quality improvement.
What impressed me about the Mate 60 Pro’s soft launch was the order fulfillment. The announcement went live on the webstore around 12pm, and orders were processed for an hour before selling out. Customers received their purchases several hours later. That’s world class, cutting edge logistics, and it is already what the Chinese consumer expect as norm.
China is writing the 21st century future.
Can you imagine a world where Southeaast Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Russia (yes, Russia!) enjoying the same as the Chinese recreate the mainland experience overseas?
The global south leapfrogging the first world, in delivered outcomes.
Makes for interesting times, don’t you think?
My First Reaction to Oliver Anthony | I want to go home | REACTION
Jim Haywood wrote the best answer to these stupid questions I have come across on Quora:
OK, I’ll bite…
In the UK, I’ve never heard it called “free” by anyone except Americans looking for a straw man argument. In the UK we normally just call it “the hospital”, “the doctor”, “the clinic”, “the ambulance”. The exception is “the dentist”, which has a standard charge if you’re registered with the NHS. AND…
BEFORE YOU START YOUR NEXT STRAWMAN PROJECT… the state of people’s teeth is better in the UK than the US.
A personal experience.
Last year, I spent three weeks in hospital for major surgery. I wasn’t well enough for the operation at first and I was pumped full of antibiotics, vitamins and three fuck-off-size bags of amino acids and other nutrients (its called TPN). My biggest fear was the drip stand falling and crushing me, (like suffocating under a cow’s udder!). I took a photo.
The extra nipple is for visitors.
I’m joking, of course; there were no visitors during the covid lockdown.
I had the operation, and some days recovering, at the end of which (the evening before I was due to be discharged), I tested positive for covid (you remember that funny little bug), so had to stay longer.
I had about £2.60 in my pocket. I went home with £2.00 because, one day, I went for a walk in my hospital slippers and bought a Twix at a vending machine.
(The food, btw, was good, and already paid-for, of course, since you asked. Not Michelin starred, but wholesome, tasty, familiar, comfort-food. It was the same as served in the canteen for visitors and staff and cooked on the premises.)
When finally home, I was looked after by “district” nurses visiting me at home to change dressings, and specialist related to the particular procedure I had. This was daily at first, tapering off as I needed less support.
At home, then, I got a pulmonary embolism (a blood clot in the lung, probably as a consequence of covid combined with the op.), I was reticent to go back to hospital (as you might expect), so the GP came out to me, at about 9pm, just to check me over and make sure I went to hospital (a PE can be life-theatening). I was admitted back into hospital via A&E (Emergency Room) for a day of monitoring.
More drugs. Slow recovery over the last year, with regular checkups and blood tests.
Money?
Now, I’m not a rich man, and I have a mortgage, and bills to pay like everyone else.
Not once did I worry about medical bills. Not once. Because there weren’t any. No forms to fill in, other than a simple consent for the operation, no “co-pays” (as I’ve learned you call them), no payments for diagnostic imaging – x-rays, ultrasound scans, and no insurance man checking whether I could have the treatment or the meds (WTF??).
Being that sick is a shitty experience whatever country you live in. But, by God, I was very grateful for the Nation Health Service.
No, it’s not free. We all pay for it based on our ability to pay. If you’re rich, you pay more; if you’re poor you pay less. It’s funded directly from general taxation and comes out of my monthly salary before I see my pay in the bank. (BTW, the tax system is massively more efficient than in the US, too. I haven’t had to complete an annual tax return for 20 years, for example.)
I post my experience, here, not because it was exceptional – it wasn’t – but because it was ORDINARY and EXPECTED.
Oh yeah, “socialised” medicine:
So when I need medical treatment, it’s already paid for, fairly (we’re not bloody savages), by every tax payer in the country.
Just to head off a few other straw men:
If you haven’t paid your taxes, you still get medical treatment, because the doctors don’t care about your tax: it’s none of their business. And we’re not bloody savages.
If you’re terminally ill, you still get treatment. We’re not bloody savages.
There are no such thing as “death panels”, an invention of liars in the US media. We’re not bloody savages.
And the only time you see a shop till is in the cafe in the reception foyer (and that’s staffed by volunteers) or the staff canteen.
What it really costs you, Americans.
Not only do you, in the US, pay more (about double) for a similar quality of service, some of you pay with your lives.
Being scared of medical bills, people put up with pain, put off worries, and sometimes die, unable to afford the most basic medication. Insulin, for example. You don’t pay for insulin in the UK.
How else do you pay? Drug addiction, as “doctors”, cajoled and incentivised by big pharma, look for a quick, affordable (to the patient) fix, and end up hooking the patients onto addictive drugs.
On average, your life expectancy is two years shorter than in the UK. Now, some people might say “ Well, those are two years of pain and decrepitude at the end of my life, so no great loss!” No. They are two years of healthy life that you haven’t had. And all that’s left to you then is some horrible religious drug-addled fatalism as you watch your life and your savings bleed away to be sucked up by big pharma and the bloated, useless “insurance” companies. This is a one-way flow, notice. Once that money is gone from your family it’s gone for good.
Free-rider “problem”? There’s plenty of free riders – you’re already paying for the health plans of all those insurance salesmen, actuaries, marketeers, administrators…
End of rant. Now the really sad part:
You know, I’m sure you’ve noticed a certain sneering from some respondents on Quora towards the USA. Not Americans, I hasten to add: we tend to like Americans. You might put all that negativity down to “hate” (which seems to mean something different to Yanks, but never mind). I tell you though, it’s not hate, it’s not envy, it’s not spite or helpless rage or snobbishness. It’s something much more damning:
Disappointment.
A footnote about prescription charges.
In the UK, there are prescription charges. But you don’t pay if you’re a child or pregnant or over 60 or suffering from one of a number of long-term conditions or on state benefits, or receiving disability allowance, or unemployed, or living in Wales or Scotland (which have slightly different arrangements).
If you do pay, it’s a standard change of £9:30 per prescription, but you can buy a “prepayment certificate” for £112 per year, if that’s better value.
When I collect a prescription, I’m asked “Do you pay for your prescriptions?” I used to answer “Yes”, and pay, or “No, I have a ‘cert’. Now, they rarely even ask, because I look my age, 60. Not once, have I been asked to prove my age or show a certificate. Why? Because its too much bother – if I needed to cheat, I wouldn’t have to because I would get it free anyway (in most cases)!
BTW, if medicines are dispensed in hospital, there is never a prescription charge.
Anything else?
Yes. One more thing that screws American patients: your litigious culture: if something goes wrong you can be awarded punitive damages. Suing a hospital is cheap and the rewards can be very high. This incentivises ultra-precautionary medicine so you go to a doctor (on your sooper-dooper insurance policy) with a simple strep throat. The Doc writes you up for a mountain of almost certainly completely unnecessary tests to de-risk himself (not for your benefit). He has an army of lawyers on stand-by in his own indemnity insurance, which has to be paid for. So his charge are higher, so insurance premiums are higher, and ultimately, the individual pays. The costs are so high, everyone is looking for an opportunity to screw someone else.
In the UK, the system, even today, works more on trust: patients trust the doctors to advise them and diagnose them correctly, and trust that there are check and balances in place that will identify bad doctors and disqualify them. Suing a doctor is still possible, but damages are only to reimburse the failed patient, not to punish the failing medic.
You’re are all paying to keep the ambulance chasers chasing ambulances.
Finally, let’s go back to your question:
Why do some call universal healthcare free when it isn’t since people pay for it through their taxes?
No, matey. It’s not free despite being paid for through our taxes, it’s free because it’s paid for though our taxes:-
Free at the point of use.
Free from the threat of bankruptcy.
Free from co-pays and desperate attemps to claw back money through lawyers (and their fees).
Free from the fear of lawsuits.
Free from drug companies’ profiteering from your illness.
Free from t.v. adverts for life-saving drugs (ask your doctor for what???).
Free to leave your crappy, toxic, wage-slavery dead-end job, yet still receive treatment for your “pre-existing” condition (as opposed to non-existing conditions, presumably).
Free not to have to choose between your home and living out of pain.
Free to hold your newborn baby in hospital (you’ve GOT to be joking!).
Free from Go Fund Me campaigns for your kids’ cancer treatment.
Free from the selfish, vindictive, judgemental, spiteful attitude that Human Being X doesn’t deserve to live because they didn’t buy enough insurance.
Put all that together, folks: what a weird and twisted SICK system you have (accidentally, perhaps) invented! Some of you think it’s normal, even to the point of QUESTIONING another, better system. If you’re happy with it, you’re just as weird and twisted. But probably not sick. Yet.
U.S Lose $1.7 Trillion USD in Trade, After Tariff On China
Welcome back to Innovative Check! Dive deep into the intricacies of the U.S.-China trade dynamics and uncover how tariffs are impacting American manufacturers. As companies like MISCO feel the strain, what does the future hold for U.S. domestic production?
To little to late, the horse has bolted, China have the ability to make their own now, there is no going back. The USA have lost their little chip war, NEVER start a fight you can’t finish, you’ll end up with a bloody nose. The US never seem to learn, block them from the ISS, no problems, China just make their own, block the chip supply? No problems China just make their own, try and block technology? Won’t work, China will end up with better than yours, when are they going to wake up, that it’s better to work with them than against them? If they start a war with China, they might end up with a lot more than just a bloody nose,
I am planning to study Mandarin Chinese, yet I am overwhelmed by what to do, and what online resources there are available, can you please assist?
If you are serious, move to China and immerse yourself in the environment which will force you to learn Putonghua. If you are not serious about learning Putonghua, don’t bother, because the time investment is worth it.
My second son was a toddler and we were on the way to meet friends at a soft play centre. i always stopped off on the way at a local garage and got a large coffee. There was a short zebra crossing from the parking area to the shop and a young girl in a convertible parked across it. Son was walking holding my hand and I said
“Did you have to block the crossing”
“Too bad you fat cow” she flounced off into the shop.
Coffee in cup holder I watched her pull away between a lorry and the bollards at the shop front … and scrape the side of her pale blue car along the side of the lorry. I almost wet myself laughing so hard and loud enough that she heard me. The driver of the lorry who had watched this with amusement looked across at me and said
“No Chinese can say it?” where have you been? Definitely not China.
I worked with uni students in Guangzhou who major in several European languages including English. They translate English to Mandarin articles for me in a few hours, and here we are, speaking English and Mandarin in a Zhongshan cafe.
My China nephew about to graduate from engineering course from Guizhou university listens to old Beatles songs, he likes the group, and we talked in Chinese and English.
Huawei naming of their latest phone is for the international market. In Kuala Lumpur Huawei has a skyscraper HQ and their mobile phones are popular among Malaysians.
The world does not exist only for English speaking people.
In tiny Malaysia, a former British colony, you’d be surprised how many people eat, live, and breathe Mandarin only, they don’t need the English language.
Kasandras Beware – China’s Economy Will Not Hit A Wall
The economist and columnist of the New York Times Paul Krugman wrote about China hitting the wall:
China is in big trouble. We’re not talking about some minor setback along the way, but something more fundamental. The country’s whole way of doing business, the economic system that has driven three decades of incredible growth, has reached its limits. You could say that the Chinese model is about to hit its Great Wall, and the only question now is just how bad the crash will be. … Wages are rising; finally, ordinary Chinese are starting to share in the fruits of growth. But it also means that the Chinese economy is suddenly faced with the need for drastic “rebalancing” — the jargon phrase of the moment. Investment is now running into sharply diminishing returns and is going to drop drastically no matter what the government does; consumer spending must rise dramatically to take its place. The question is whether this can happen fast enough to avoid a nasty slump.
That was written in 2013 when China’s GDP at purchase power parity reached $16.3 trillion. The number has since more than doubled to a projected $33 trillion in 2023. (In the same time span U.S. GDP(ppp) grew from $17 to $26 trillion.) But that hasn’t influenced Krugman’s conclusions. Two week ago he wrote another column that paints the same gloomy picture and prescribes the same false medicine:
Since the late 2000s, however, China seems to have lost a lot of its dynamism. … … China clearly can’t sustain anything like the high growth rates of the past. … At a fundamental level, China is suffering from the paradox of thrift, which says that an economy can suffer if consumers try to save too much. If businesses aren’t willing to borrow and then invest all the money consumers are trying to save, the result is an economic downturn. Such a downturn may well reduce the amount businesses are willing to invest, so an attempt to save more can actually reduce investment. … The obvious answer is to boost consumer spending. Get state-owned enterprises to share more of their profits with workers. Strengthen the safety net. And in the short run, the government could just give people money — sending out checks, the way America has done.
How is giving checks (btw: no Chinese or European citizen uses those antique instruments) to people who are saving instead of consuming supposed to increase their consumption? I would presume that it would rather increase their savings. Giving more income to people who like to save to increase consumption is like pushing on a string.
David Fishman, an economist who lives in China and speaks Mandarin, had an interesting chat with a taxi driver. He concludes:
1. Even after buying a property, long-term considerations still drive Yang to save money, most prominently his daughter and parents. 2. Yang and his wife give up consumption in pursuit of their long-term goals, even working an extra job, to put away extra cash for those goals. 3. He associates loose/free consumption habits with youth and a lack of responsibility. His consumption today is strategic and intentional. 4. He is unperturbed by the prospect of real estate losing value, since he bought his house to live in, and doesn’t intend to resell it.
Now, macro econ punditry is *not* my lane.
But if I hear a pundit talking about Chinese consumers, and how they will/won’t behave in response to some government policy, I will always wonder what their mental model of this generic Chinese consumer’s behavior looks like.
To be credible, that consumer behavior model should probably look like Yang, willing to work an extra job & skip consumption, not out of today’s financial necessity, but in preparation of being a good filial son, and so his 3-year old daughter can take dance lessons someday.
And that is Krugman’s problem with diagnosing China’s economy. People work hard in China. And they like to save instead of consuming all their income. They retire pretty early but live long (though that retirement age is likely to rise). So having a bit of money on the side will make for a nicer living in later years:
The official retirement age for men is 60. Women in managerial positions have a retirement age of 55, while blue-collar female workers can retire at 50.
Chinese people are simply not Americans. But Krugman’s economic models presume that they are and he isn’t willing or capable of looking beyond those.
Still he was onto something when he opened his column with this:
The narrative about China has changed with stunning speed, from unstoppable juggernaut to pitiful, helpless giant.
It is indeed a fact that the narrative about China’s economy has changed way more than China’s economic numbers. But Krugman fails to ask why.
First, the most salient preoccupations of Western commentators reflect the skewed distribution of foreign-owned capital within the Chinese economy. … The second feature relates to the financial industry’s reliance on the art of political-economic storytelling to sell investment options.
But it is probably more a political instrument to support the general U.S. war against China.
Newsweek recently published a rather laughable story which asked if Shanghai (25 million permanent inhabitants) had turned into a ‘ghost town’.
The Global Times editors see political motives behind such ‘bad China’ narratives:
If only Newsweek is doing this, then it is an isolated case, indicating the media outlet’s problematic professional ethics and the negative impact it caused is not significant. However, starting from March or April this year, not only Newsweek but also other US and Western media outlets have been selectively using some specific data from a certain point or in a certain field to generalize, and even fabricate information to undermine, the Chinese economy. This is a coordinated and large-scale campaign, with consistent steps, intense actions, and extensive content, which is rare in recent years. Can we say that this is a coincidence?
The ‘bad China’ narrative is an economic phenomenon but is used for political reasons:
In the field of economics, there is a term called narrative economics, which uses storytelling to influence judgments, even at the cost of creating false information, to undermine the morale and confidence of the target and attempt to deter foreign investment, thereby having a substantial impact on the economy. The US has openly regarded China as its biggest competitor and even treats China as an imaginary enemy in many practical aspects. We cannot expect it to engage in fair competition with China. In order to win this “competition” initiated by itself, the US often resorts to any possible means. This perspective can explain the phenomenon in which the US is badmouthing the Chinese economy in a collective manner and can also roughly predict the US’ future actions toward China, indicating that it aligns with the basic facts.
War propaganda falls apart when a war is lost. Economic propaganda falls apart when the new numbers come in. Krugman’s doom and gloom propaganda from 2013 was defeated by China’s growth. His 2023 propaganda is likely to have the same fate.
Posted by b on September 12, 2023 at 16:39 UTC | Permalink
EXPLOSIVE! New details in the JFK assassination & RFK, JR responds
EXPLOSIVE! New details in the JFK assassination, and now RFK, JR. is responding. On Saturday, 88-year-old former secret service agent Paul Landis gave an exclusive interview with The New York Times where he shared he shared his revelations regarding what happened November 22, 1963. And it turns out he’s the one that picked up the magic bullet from the back of the President’s limo. This completely upends the story around the magic bullet and undermines The Warren Commission.
I’ll tell you a story from my Marines career. Not marine Corp, Royal Marines. I was responsible for intel and let’s just say I was on detachment to some of the better Royal Marines. We had some young gawky junior officer fresh out of training and looking to stamp his authority on us. So one day he decided to make me do 20 I took the piss and did a few extra got back up and stood to attention. A few hours later I got called to the bosses office.
Conversation as follows.
Hayworth did he reprimand you?
Yes sir
Why?
I was laughing at him behind his back
CO to hotshot,
You might want to remember that this guy is the one who’s going to be getting the right intel to your unit, basically when he’s on operations he is the guy making the decisions
Officer Hotshot. Why, I’m in charge.
CO to hotshot, not without fucking intel you’re not. Now get the fuck out of my base and get a transfer. If you think stamping authority around here is going to get you any favors then you are useless to me and my men. There is no rank around here, not even me. That’s the SBS way. We’re all experts at our jobs and I don’t need a fucking junior officer upsetting my teams. I still love that CO.
My Stepdaughter passed away at 22 due to complications from her Type 1 Diabetes. She had massive medical bills. We had insurance, but it only covered parts. So, let’s start by being harassed by a debt collector calling about someone that had passed away.
When the bills started coming I called all the companies. 99% only asked me to send a copy of the death certificate. But, this one company, well, they were total slime balls. The odd part was this was on a bill that was actually paid by the insurance in full. So, on the first call from them I sent them copies of the paid in full notices, and a copy of the death certificate.
A year went by, and I got a call from them again on the same bill. I told them about their error, even sent a copy of the registered mail signed copy. Week later, another call. This time I was hot. Gave them an ear full. A month later, same thing. This time, the asshat actually said they don’t believe she is dead. Wanted to know how to reach her so they can sue her for the money. I gave them the address to the cemetery. A month went by, another call. Same thing: we don’t believe you, etc. So, I said, Do what you got to do.
And believe it or not, they actually sued her. I went to the office of the lawyer, with my lawyer, and a counterclaim on behalf of the estate. The lawyer wanted to drop everything right then. But, we took it to court. We made them play the recording of the agent telling me that they refused to believe she was dead. The Judge dropped the hammer on them. We won a $30,000 donation in her name to the American diabetes Association.
However, back in he 1960s I was one of a group of about 20 new graduates taken on by a large multinational. We were in an enormous site and were all expected to trek across it in order to clock in every morning. We quickly took it in turns for one of us to go and clock in for us all.
One day, one of my colleagues had just finished clocking in for us when he was apprehended by a portly manager for this illegal practice. “Do you know who I am, demanded this august presence?”
“No” my friend replied and listened to the fellow describe his important position in the company. When he had finished, my friend asked him if he knew who my friend was.
“No” replied the manager.
“Thank God!” said my friend and took to his heels. An investigation followed but we were able to hide the miscreant
Shortly after, we decided to go on strike and all refused to clock in. The company relented after we agreed to sign an attendance sheet. The local union rep found about this and made a fuss about it as it was a privilege normally extended to more senior staff than new graduates. The result was we were all promoted to a position where we were ‘legally’ allowed to sign in which carried a pay rise with it.
I don’t know what this proves except that perhaps it pays not to accept being messed about with.
Testimonial: “They Moved a Biological Man into My Dorm Room!”
The #WalkAway Campaign is a true grassroots movement, founded by former liberal, Brandon Straka, dedicated to providing a place to share #WalkAway testimonials and personal journeys to freedom.
I worked at a state park for a few years. The primary sources of income for the park are day-use fees and the seven campgrounds. The main two campgrounds and day-use areas are developed, very nice with running water, showers, and are only accessible through a manned gate. The other five undeveloped campgrounds and day-use areas are self-pay on the honor system, but since that unfortunately means most people don’t pay, one of my main duties was going around and collecting fees.
More often than not, most people were “just about to go pay.” Sometimes they’d been in the park for days, but were inevitably “just about to go pay.” What timing.
One day I stopped by a campsite where I was immediately confronted by a diminutive and very angry camper. He immediately started accusing me of harassment, then started listing an exhaustive series of offenses I had committed against him and his family, even though I’d been there for about a total of 45 seconds. Recognizing that he had a few too many with lunch, I put on a big smile and assured him I was just there to collect the campground fees. He told me to look in his truck, he had his self-pay permit attached to the windshield.
He wasn’t wrong, it was there. The problem is that the window tag is attached to an envelope. You put your money in the envelope, write down your license plate number, and put it in the locked collection box. There’s even a matching number on both in case you didn’t write your license plate number on it. The tag was on his window, but the envelope was still attached.
I calmly explained this to him, and asked for the $8 fee. He swore at me, called me names, threatened me. I asked him if there was someone else I could talk to. That really set him off. He started screaming at me, hitting his own truck, and threatening to call the cops and sue me. I tried my best to keep him calm, then decided to give him some cool down time. I left and started going to the other camp sites, planning on returning on my way out and maybe even catch someone more sober and reasonable.
However, a few minutes later I received a call on my radio. A camper had called 911 to report that a ranger was harassing and threatening them. They wanted me to go talk to him and see what was going on.
This is a unique form of irony.
Seeing the conflict of interests and not wanting to escalate the situation, I asked if a county deputy was really available. One was, and he was there within minutes. I met them both back at the campsite where I found the man yelling at the deputy. I calmly explained that if he just wanted to pay his $8 we would leave and he could enjoy the rest of the night.
Long story short, he spent the night in jail and received over $100 in fines.
TRAVEL FROM GHANA TO KENYA WITH ME | MY SURPRISING FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF NAIROBI
My wife quite possibly saved our lives. We were on our last vacation, a two-week road trip through some western states. At her insistence I booked two nights on the Las Vegas strip. (I love playing poker but I can’t stand Las Vegas. I would have preferred an extra night in Laughlin or at an Indian casino). The moment we arrived, she was on edge. I did all right, and even cashed in a small sit-and-go Hold-Em tournament.
When I got back to the room, she said we are leaving first thing in the morning. We had reserved a nice room on the strip for Thursday and Friday nights, and this was still Thursday. We had already toured the renovations going on “Downtown” and planned to spend Friday on the strip. There was some huge music festival going on Friday night we wanted to check out. Nope. WE. ARE. LEAVING.
Yes, Dear. Some things shall not be questioned. Change some reservations, whatever. Reminder to self: I don’t even like Vegas. Her idea to go there, and her idea to LEAVE. RIGHT. NOW. Yes, Dear.
We had just settled in to a Motel 6 in Bakersfield CA when Stephen Paddock opened fire at that music festival on the Vegas strip.
Didn’t give the judge a laugh but gave others in the court room one. My older cousin was a senior in high school and her social problems class was on a field trip to the local court. We lived in a small county, so cases ranged from traffic tickets to drug offenses to child support cases before one judge.
This was before DNA testing. A 17 yo mother was on the stand testifying that she had only been with one guy and he denied that he was the father. The judge called the one she named as the father and he admitted he had had sex with her, but so had his two friends. The judge believed the mother. He called each of the guy’s friends and they testified that they had each had sex with her and they were winking at each other as if they were fooling everyone. The teen mother was upset but was quiet. The judge looked at the three friends and ruled that each would pay the full amount of child support and he would see them in a month and maybe by then they would have figured out which one was the father before he ruled if all three would pay back child support.
Bet the three friends had an interesting conversation outside the parking lot
Bobby Asks Tony To Give Him Better Jobs – The Sopranos HD
The evolution of Bobby’s character was one of my favorite details from The Sopranos. From a shy, bumbling guy Tony ridiculed and dismissed into Tony’s most trusted soldier.
Yes, because I was the manager when this incident occurred.
For all of an hour and a half or so, I had to fill in as a temp for the Domino’s store I worked at.
Why my manager picked me, a kid who had just turned 18, to be her fill-in is beyond me, but I guess she trusted me more than I thought she did.
Apparently, she had a doctor’s appointment to attend to and the assistant manager was unable to clock in early, so it was up to me to hold down the fort.
Even under unusual circumstances, I was determined to perform well in my new role, even if it was only temporary.
I did perfectly fine for the first hour, as business was going well as usual.
That was, until some kid wearing a Civil Air Patrol (CAP) blues uniform walked in and told me that he had somehow ‘earned’ some free cookie brownies.
The uniform looked similar to Air Force blues, but without the ribbons, the lapels, and the rank.
And how did the kid supposedly earn free brownies?
According to him, he was walking down the street when one of the delivery drivers pulled up next to him and told him he could have some free brownies solely because he was wearing the uniform and the driver wanted to thank him for his “service to the community.”
I knew that was bullshit immediately because I personally knew all the drivers on shift, and none of them would ever hand out free brownies to anyone, no matter who it was.
And they definitely weren’t going to pull up to some kid and tell him to walk to the store for some free brownies.
That sounds really stupid, doesn’t it?
Anyway, I told the kid he had to pay for whatever he wanted or he wasn’t getting anything.
With that, the kid left. Or so I thought.
A couple of minutes later, his mom walked in and demanded that I give her son his free brownies because of his service to the community or whatever.
There was no way in hell I was going to be a pushover for some entitled boy scout and his even more entitled Karen of a mother.
I told her that I wasn’t going to just give anything out for free and that they would have to pay for what they order, or else they had to leave the store.
The lady didn’t seem very pleased with that, so she told me to ‘get’ my manager so that she could further ‘negotiate’ or really just demand.
I told her no because I was the manager at the time, and I then told her to leave or else I would have to call the cops and whoever else I saw fit.
That scared away the mom and her kid, so they left the store, and I told them to have a nice day.
I was shocked to see that two people could have such an irrational sense of entitlement, and it still bothers me that people like them are out there.
TSMC has a large number of resignations;6,000 Tsinghua scientists defect to Huawei
TSMC has a large number of resignations; 6,000 Tsinghua scientists defect to Huawei; Ren Zhengfei personally receives Chinese students.
16. My province, New-Brunswick, is completely bilingual . You can get served in English or French. Everything has to be bilingual as well, including road signs, menus, food labels, etc…
A few years ago, my wife heard what sounded like an animal scratching around in our attic. I figured a squirrel must have made its way inside. The attic access is a little 3 foot by 4 foot opening in the ceiling of one of the closets. It’s a pain to get up there, but I know even a single squirrel can cause a lot of damage so I got the ladder and a flashlight with Intention of trying to chase it out the vent up there.
i climbed up through the opening and turned the flashlight on to see what was happening and I saw about 50 pairs of bat eyes reflecting back at me. I turned the flashlight off, slowly climbed back down the ladder pulling the door cover closed behind me.
My wife, anxiously awaiting my return asked if I had gotten rid of it already. I just said nope and that I wasn’t going back up there.
it ended up being a whole ordeal to get rid of them. They are a protected species, so you can’t have them exterminated. You have the house sealed off to prevent the bats from getting, but they leave a hatch the bats can get out through. Once they all leave in the evening to eat, you are good. Only problem was, it was their mating season so we were told if we sealed the house now, when the mothers left to eat, they would not be able to return to care for their babies, so we had to wait two months until the babies were old enough to go feed on their own.
it was a long two months hearing them moving around up there. Fortunately, homeowners insurance did pay for the removal and cleanup afterwards.
I’ll never forget all of those eyes staring at me though. Still gives me chills.
Buckle Up: This White House MISTAKE Will Hurt Americans
The European Union’s leader has proposed the idea of a Global Digital ID, which would allow governments worldwide to monitor their citizens. While it’s framed as “keeping track,” it raises concerns about potential surveillance and control. The plan involves countries contributing funds to establish this system, overseen by the United Nations. Critics liken it to dystopian scenarios, like the “Mark of the Beast” from religious texts, as it could enable extensive tracking, restricting access to basic necessities for those with dissenting opinions or unvaccinated individuals.
My mate Graham, almost 70 years old. He came out of his house one day and 3 young guys are lounging against his BMW car parked in the street. “Come on guys, off the car, it’s mine”.
Reply was, “ huh, don’t have to, we can do as we want!”
“Oh, so it’s OK for everyone to do what they want? Regardless of the consequences?” “ Really?”. The guy said “Yes!”
Graham hit him with a left hook that sent the guy flying and bleeding into the road. He turned to the others and said, “Hey, this is great, being able to do whatever I want, with no consequences!” They ran for it and the other one picked himself up off the road and followed them.
The moral of the story: don’t fuck with an Ex British Para and ex French Foreign Legionaire, even if he is almost 70!
Oliver Anthony Slams High Ticket Prices, Cancels Show
I just like this guy more and more as I see how he deals with his success. In a world of so many bad leaders and people who are driven by money alone, it’s so refreshing seeing someone who won’t bend his morals to greed.
When he backed down an abusive teacher without saying a single word.
I was in second grade, and my teacher was haranguing me while I waited for my father to pick me up at the office. He walked in, saw me sitting there, bloody and clothes torn, and simply looked at her. She started, then began to shrilly list my supposed faults. Silence, and the “Dad stare”. She started spouting justifications. More silence and one eyebrow raised. She burst into tears and bolted from the room…
US/EU pressure UAE in effort to pick apart BRICS
This just further shows how desperate the US and collective West are getting, their military industrial complex along with the USD’s hegemony are in decline and they know it.
It is stuff like this that kind of annoys and amuses me because it shows that people that are commenting don’t even have a basic idea of how a cell phone works.
SK Hynix is a manufacturer of DRAM and flash memory chips. DRAM is basically a commodity market, and it would have likely been impossible for SK Hynix to prevent Huawei from using its DRAM even it it wanted to. The thing about DRAM is that is it basically interchangeable with other DRAM and flash memory. So unlike other chips which have to be custom designed, Huawei can replace those with local chips if it wanted to.
One thing that kind of really makes my blood boil is that the US seems intent on preventing China from manufacturing top of the line cell phones. Okay, if the US wanted to restrict China from getting atom bomb secrets or manufacturing better missiles, I can sort of deal with that.
But we are talking about a consumer cell phone, and if China can’t manufacture better cell phones then I don’t know what the US expects China to do.
This is hard to watch…
That chick wouldn’t be so bad looking if she didn’t turn herself into a clownish monster.
Absolutely. There was this kid (literally, he was 17) who was pretty much the model recruit. He never complained; did what he was told; helped the rest of us out; and was physically in great shape.
He’d been in competitive martial arts for years. Not YMCA level, but “has to travel to Japan for belt tests,” skilled. (He never, ever bragged about it.)
The only time I can remember him getting yelled at was when we were in the sand pit learning basic unarmed self defense. (The super cheesy kind that makes you think you’re in a World War II training film. I think that they have dramatically improved that portion of the training now.)
The Private was decidedly and obviously half-assing it. Not arrogantly, more like bored out of his skull.
One of the drill sergeants came over and was doing his motivation screaming thing and asked him, “You think you don’t need this? Are you too good for this?” and other variations on the theme.
Pvt Yarberry replied, again, matter-of-factly and not boastfully, that no, he did not actually need that training.
It went about how you’re imagining it.
The only thing that saved him was that he had been such a model recruit. So the drill sergeant eventually says, “Show me.”
Mind you, this was not an angry fight. They assumed ready stances and this recruit did a series of moves that were very fast and almost gentle? Honestly, I can’t really describe what he did because it was so fast. The drill sergeant was basically laid onto the ground in a control position where he could not do anything about it. Nobody tried to hit anybody, but it was clear that the 17 year-old kid could put this 30 something year-old experienced soldier in the pretty muc…
German deindustrialization accelerates
“I spent a lot of time in Germany. I cannot believe that the Germans I knew would follow the Ukrainian mission over the cliff like lemmings.”
Doom and Gloom
On August 24th, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) announced partial suspension of Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines due to low semiconductor demand. Similar challenges are affecting South Korean semiconductor factories due to the loss of a crucial customer, China. South Korean Chip Factories Announce Shutdown of Lithography Machines Due to Lack of Chinese Orders!
This nightmare will hit South Korea in two steps.
Loss of China market as its chip manufacturers enhance technology and ramp up capacity.
Reduction of global prices as China manufacturers enter the international market in 2024 and that would affect the profit of the South Korea chip companies.
The nightmare for South Korean chip companies is only starting. It is too late to reverse the situation.
Huawei is capable of self-reliance, and the US plan to sanction Huawei has failed, but they will not resign themselves to failure, and there will be more madness in the future. ake trouble, fail, make trouble again, fail again . . . till their doom. that is the logic of the American imperialism over in dealing with the rival companys, and they will never go against this logic.
Over the weekend, the United States and South Korea agreed to a five-year deal to increase the military payments, subject to legislative approval in both capitals. Under the agreement, South Korea will pay $1 billion this year, 13.9 percent more than its annual payments in 2019 and 2020, officials said on Wednesday.
IMO there is little chance of a rapprochement between China and SK until the American Pie and Yankee Doodle singer is gone. His hardline towards China will cost not only his job but has affected the future of many South Korea.
What a jerk SK has elected for the Blue House? Now they understand the price they have to pay for Yankee Doodle democracy as per USA.
I Left USA and Moved To Thailand. Why I’ll NEVER Go Back.
As a korean-american who just came back to the US after 3 months stay in Bangkok, I couldn’t agree more with what you said. My quality of life escalated significantly when I was in Thailand. I miss Thailand so much haha.
I’m a truck driver. One day, when I was waiting in line to load at a coffee warehouse, the driver behind me who was an owner-operator asked if he could load before me because he was in a hurry to get to his delivery on time. So I let him pass in front. He then told me that he’d just bought another truck and asked me if I would drive it. He offered me much more money than my current employer, so I accepted. That was 15 years ago. He now has a fleet of 50 semi-trailer trucks and I’m still working for him.
They need the Chinese market to have the revenues to do research and stay relevant.
If they lose the Chinese market they will end up as laggers in technology rather than leaders.
Micron is already projected to lose 50% revenues. And YMTC hasn’t even started production with their second much larger fab yet. That is due to come online next year.
So Micron can expect to lose the entire Chinese market.
Micron will also lose the world market outside of the US, EU, Japan, lapdogs, etc. As those Chinese chips are going to be going into Chinese products shipper worldwide.
Same for Nvidia, Intel, etc. SMIC is building 4 more fabs. As they come online and start making chips, they will displace US, EU, and Japanese chip makers. And we are talking about all types of chips. Everything from power chips to FPGAs to GPUs to CPUs to DRAM to ASICs for everything.
As BCG’s (Boston Consulting Group) paper said. Western companies would lose their leadership position. They thought it would happen in 30 years…I laughed when I read that. Clearly they didn’t understand Chinese progress in tech.
He who controls the market controls the industry.
Hi-Rez – Rich Men North Of Richmond (Rap Remix) – Reaction
During the G20, Xi Jingping spent his time meeting Nicholas Maduro of Venezuela and setting up a Oil Deal to assure the energy security of his nation
He later toured the provinces of China to supervise the Agricultural Areas and talk to the people about Health Insurance and renewed improvements in Agrarian financing
In short he was doing what a Leader should be doing
Visiting his people and discussing their problems and finding solutions
While people like Sunak , Ursula, Scholz and Biden and Macron paraded around pompously, blissfully ignoring the problems their people face
Xi Jingping is doing what’s best for China and the Chinese people
He sent Li Qiang to Delhi as a representative believing that it was enough, having lost any real respect for the alliance and feeling the alliance to be a lackey group for the G7
image 38
As for PM Modi stealing the limelight
Barely 24 hours later Bidens speech in Vietnam included
I met with the Indian PM, Nare..Nare.. Modi and they didn’t allow a Q & A, those Indians. I had a good talk on Human Rights concerns and the importance of a Civil society and raised several pertinent questions
Meaning Modi has been TOLD to respect human rights and follow a Civil Society
Biden doesn’t tell this to Britain or Japan does he?
image 39
Trudeau openly said
Actions of a few don’t represent Canada. Canada respects freedom of speech and peaceful protests and believes it fosters progress
Any idea what he is referring to?
The Farmers protests of course. A Protest that forced Modi to finally back track his farm laws.
Now what has India gained from the Summit?
It’s over now
The AU are happy but that’s it. They go back home now and they need GRAIN and RAILWAYS and JOBS and TRADE
image 37
India can’t give them any of these
US can’t give them any of these except Bradleys and Howitzers and sermons on Democracy
Only China and Russia can give them all of these
300,000 Tonnes Grain Cargo from Russia is worth 500 G20 Summits
$ 16 Billion waiver of interest for 3 years from China and a new Hydro power plant is worth 500 G20 Summits
The AU had their Pindi Chole, Lal Maas etc and now they are gone
They have trouble, they will call Putin and Xi
They won’t call Modi or even remember him unless they meet him again in Rio in 2024
Same for Saudi Arabia
MBS is on a State Visit
He will persuade India to buy Saudi Oil and ask for investment into Refining and Petrochemicals
India will obviously delay and drag and eventually say no
India has inked 3500 MOUs in the past 4 years or so and only 19 have managed to gain ground and proceed to operations
MBS needs Russia for his OPEC Solidarity and China to modernize Saudi Arabia and even maybe to build a nuclear power plant
Once he leaves India, he forgets Modi until he meets him in Kazan in 2024 or Rio in 2024
LEVERAGE!!!!
That’s what China holds and Russia and even the US
No G20 summit is needed to enforce that
India holds near zero leverage today
A Thousand G20 summits and Pindi Chole and Laser Shows and Five Star pandering can’t advance Indias leverage by 1%
How the U.S. is preparing for conflict in Asia: Hynes
The U.S, is building power by creating a dense network of military alliances among Asian countries, says Phill Hynes, a top geopolitical analyst based in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, here’s the answer to the puzzle of why the media tells Australians that an invasion is imminent, but their submarines won’t be ready until the 2040s.
Mississippi Delta Tamales
2023 09 13 15 20
Ingredients
Filling
6 to 8 pounds boneless meat (pork shoulder, chuck roast or chicken)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup chili powder
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Wrappers
Corn husks
Corn Meal Dough
8 cups yellow corn meal or masa mix (available in most grocery stores)
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 2/3 cups lard or vegetable shortening
6 to 8 cups warm meat broth (from cooking the meat)
Instructions
Filling: Cut meat into large chunks and place in a large, heavy pot. Cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until meat is very tender, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Remove meat and reserve cooking liquid.
When meat is cool enough to handle, remove and discard any skin and large chunks of fat. Shred or dice meat into small pieces. There should be about 14 to 16 cups of meat.
Heat the vegetable oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Stir in chili powder, paprika, salt, pepper, cayenne, onion powder, garlic powder and cumin. Add meat and stir to coat with oil and spices. Cook, stirring often, until meat is thoroughly heated, 7 to 10 minutes. Set aside.
Wrappers: While meat is cooking, soak husks in a large bowl of very warm water, until softened and pliable, about 2 hours. Gently separate husks into single leaves, trying not to tear them. Wash off any dust and discard any corn silks. Keep any shucks that split to the side, since two small pieces can be overlapped and used as one.
Corn Meal Dough: Stir corn meal, baking powder, salt and lard together in a large bowl until well blended. Gradually stir in enough warm meat broth to make soft, spongy dough the consistency of thick mashed potatoes. The dough should be quite moist, but not wet. Cover with a damp cloth.
To assemble the tamales, remove a corn husk from water and pat it dry. Lay husk on a work surface. Spread about 1/4 cup of the dough in an even layer across the wide end of husk to within 1 inch of edges. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of meat mixture in a line down the center of dough. Roll husk so that dough surrounds filling and forms a cylinder or package. Fold bottom under to close. Place tamales in a single layer on a baking sheet. Repeat until all dough and filling is used.
Stand tamales upright, closed side down, in a large pot. Place enough tamales in the pot so that they do not fall over or unroll. Carefully fill pot with enough water to come just to the top of the tamales, trying not to pour water directly into the tamales. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until dough is firm and pulls away from the husk easily and cleanly, about 1 hour.
If you prefer to steam tamales, stand tamales upright, closed side down, in a large steamer basket. Cover with a damp towel or additional husks. Steam tamales over simmering water until dough is firm and pulls away from the husk easily and cleanly, 1 to 1 1/4 hours.
Serve tamales warm, in their husks. Remove husks to eat.
Yield: 7 to 8 dozen
American cities are collapsing and democrats are in PANIC mode
Should entire families be deported to solve the migrant crisis? That is what Republican Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy promised to do if elected. This would bring about a Fourteenth Amendment question.
Ramaswamy says that there are “legally contested questions under the 14th Amendment.” This comes as progressive politicians are showing real signs of fear over illegal immigration.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams says that the city is facing a “financial tsunami” because of it and predicted that the rapid influx of immigrants will destroy the city that he knows and loves. What is the solution besides burdening the already-burdened U.S. taxpayer?
An apartment complex in the city of Kramatorsk Ukraine was said to be cursed.
In 1980, an 18-year-old woman living in apartment 85 suddenly died. Two years later, the girl’s 16-year-old brother died, followed by their mother. They had all died of Leukaemia, but doctors couldn’t find the root cause of it.
image 36
Then in 1989, another family took up residence in apartment 85. A father and his two sons had been living there less then a year when both sons fell ill. Rumour began to spread around the city that the apartment was cursed when it turned out the two boys also had leukaemia.
With the apartments history the father knew something other than a curse was the problem. When one of his two sick sons dies he pushed to have to apartment inspected.
In the late 70s workers lost a radiation level gauge in the Karanksy Quarry located in the city. Workers spent a week looking for it, but it never turned up. No more thought was given to the level gauge, and the rocks from the quarry were then used in the construction of apartment 85.
When inspectors came out to check for high levels of radiation they found it radiating from a wall along side one of the kid’s beds. They knocked the wall and found a capsule of Caesium-137 that had broken out of the level gauge. By a stroke of poor bad luck for two families the capsule ended up becoming a part of their apartment. 17 other residents living in the apartment block received large doses of radiation.
Bernini’s “The Abduction of Proserpina” is a mesmerizing sculpture that captures the dramatic moment from Roman mythology when Pluto, the god of the underworld, seizes Proserpina, the daughter of Ceres, to make her his queen. Completed in 1622, this Baroque masterpiece portrays the intense emotions of the characters: Pluto’s powerful grasp and Proserpina’s anguish. The work showcases Bernini’s skill in sculpting marble to convey a sense of motion and realism, making it a celebrated piece in art history and a symbol of Baroque sculpture’s dynamism and emotional depth.
image 34
It currently resides in the Borghese Gallery in Rome.
This year, the Chinese economy has been growing more slowly than expected because of the ongoing real estate crisis, and trade decoupling with the G7 countries led by the US.
But the launch of the Huawei Mate 60 Pro offers a bright spot for Chinese spending. Up until US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s China trip, it looked like most Chinese were going to stop spending until things became clearer for the economy. Most Chinese had treated their purchased homes as a major asset and because real estate prices were deflating, they cut back on their spending.
No more.
The US’s demands for Huawei to stop spending on research and development have hit a very nationalist raw nerve among the Chinese. (Huawei spends about US$22B on R&D annually.) Many feel that this is an insult not just to Huawei, but to China, the nation. How do they push back? By buying the Huawei Mate 60 Pro, which sells at 6999 yuan each. Some estimates are that Huawei may sell 35–50M units by year-end.
The Mate 60 Pro is first in a line of tech products developed according to Chinese instead of western standards. While Chinese are careful about their spending, many feel that now is the time to stand up and support Chinese tech companies by buying their products, just as the tech companies are struggling hard for their survival. Some Chinese will do this even though their home values are declining.
This means that it will likewise be a very hard time for foreign tech companies in China such as Apple. Apple has tried very hard to steer clear of the US-China tech dispute and up until now, it has succeeded. At the end of the day though, it is a US tech company which will side with the US government in a crisis.
The friend and enemy lines are being drawn more clearly.
This also means that as the US tries to build new supply chains outside China, in India and Vietnam, they cannot count on support from Chinese suppliers helping to make the switch. The management of some of these suppliers will decide that supporting the Chinese home team is more important than making money.
Some remarkable stories are coming out about the development of the Huawei Mate 60 Pro. Many Chinese component suppliers came together voluntarily, forming cooperative teams across companies which normally were competing against each other. Engineers spent all-nighters in their competitors’ offices developing and testing equipment. Many gave up going home. Some Taiwanese companies in the PRC also joined in. They did this because they felt that the Chinese tech industry was in a life-and-death struggle to survive, and they needed to come up with new standards, components and products which were completely free of western patent claims. This was not normal business, and they needed to fight and survive and set aside the normal profit motive for the time being.
Just to cite one example, they were able to create a 5G wireless modem which went around Qualcomm’s very broad patent claims. Apple has spent the past six years trying to do this, and even buying a business unit from Intel, but so far has failed.
The team around Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro did it in about a year and a half.
Some day, this would make a great movie story.
Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North of Richmond🔥 | WAKE UP AMERICAN
When my daughter was 4 we went into a store. There was a man there that was physically handicapped. His legs were skinny and twisted and he was walking with crutches.
My daughter walked up to him (very confidently) and asked “what’s wrong with your legs?” I wanted to crawl under a rock!!
This man was absolutely AMAZING with her! He looked down at her, smiled and said “God didn’t give me good legs like you have so he gave me these (indicating his crutches).” That was enough to satisfy her curiosity. He looked at me and smiled and said that I had a beautiful child.
He was pleased that she asked instead of being afraid of him because he was different.
I was truly embarrassed when she asked him her question but so amazed at his gracious answer.
This is what really-really AMAZED me
Raimondo was in China where she had hoped that China will return to buying Boeing jets
Given what they had done to Huawei, why would she even think that China would buy Boeing aircrafts
Boeing have forecasted that China would need 8,485 new passenger planes by 2041 and, traditionally Boeing had received half of the Chinese market
but no longer, other than a few immaterial amounts, China has essentially stopped purchasing Boeing aircrafts
image 18
this will now NOT change especially since Huawei had broken the American chip blockade
over one million American aerospace jobs (including related American supply chains) will be/was lost
On a side note, of the industrialized countries that I have travelled in, the United States have one of the poorest telecommunication infrastructure. Because it has locked out Chinese companies, the United States pay a heavier price primarily from non-American/non-Chinese suppliers for a poorer telecommunication product. I won’t discuss what will happen to American semiconductor industry. So Americans are paying what was done to Huawei in MANY ways.
The Americans are SILLY-fied people who are unable to learn and pivot to a better place.
My daughter started talking quite early and was always very curious. Around the time she turned 2 she loved showing off her communication skills by naming things around her. “”Look mommy an apple! Do you like apples? I like apples too!”
It was very cute and she was usually quite loud which garnered much attention and lots of compliments.
On one fine day while driving home from picking up my teenage son from school, he was 13 at the time, she began identifying things around her.. cars, people, buses. Then I heard“”what’s that mommy?” I looked over and saw a dump truck so I responded “”that’s a truck sweetheart.”
Little one can’t pronounce the “t” sound and says ever so innocently “oh… fuck!”
Teenage son loses his mind with laughter which is all the little one needed to know she was on to something. Next thing we hear my 2 year old dropping F-bombs left and right from the back seat.
Wish the story ended there. Couple of weeks and lots of t-phonics practice sessions later, we are in the front yard of my brothers house, when lo and behold a trash truck is driving by. In front of about 15 family members and 5 other kids my sweet little toddler looks at the truck and says very loudly, you guessed it, “FUCK!”
No one was able to hold in their laughter much to my terrible embarrassment.
That eventually some people will be left to pick up the pieces.
Every battle has a clean up just like any other mess. Someone has to make the phone calls to let family know their son or daughter has died.
Someone has to remove the body from the battlefield. It is very common to see soldiers’ bodies with photos of their loved ones, like this Italian soldier in WWII with a picture of his baby in his hand.
image 35
The last thing he did was look at his child before he bled out.
These are the very real sacrifices people make. I grew up on military bases and have been to many military funerals. Families never truly move on from the death of a young loved one like this.
There are often inner conflicting feelings about encouraging their son to join the military (even amongst the most patriotic families). These things are all normal.
War is a terrible thing and anyone who tries to glamorize it as some video game has never truly endured it.
Merkules – Oliver Anthony ”Rich Men North Of Richmond” Remix
Few months ago I was visiting Colorado. While leaving for the airport to go back home, someone hit my rented Tesla from behind. The usual process happened where cops was called, complaint was filed, numbers exchanged, etc.
After this incident, I dropped by at a near-by pizza place with my son. I was tired and somewhat stressed about this accident. Although it wasn’t my car or my fault with the accident but I still felt bad for the person who owned this car. I had a great trip but the last few hours of my trip was something. My son and I walked into the pizza place. The manager asked, “How was your day?” I responded saying, “good” but my son said, “No it wasn’t good. Someone hit our car so my mom is feeling bad.”
We ordered and ate our pizza. I asked the waiter for the bill and he said the manager took care of it ($19). He said, he can sense the stress on my face and wanted me to go home peacefully. In addition, there were two other waiters who constantly checked on us while we were eating to see if we wanted anything else. One of the waiter also entertained my son while I had to take care of some phone calls. In addition, while talking to the waiter, I also learned that the business was suffering during Covid but they’re trying to rise up again slowly. I was so touched by their kindness and willingness to pay for my pizza even though their business was not in the best condition financially. I offered to pay my bill numerous times but the staff wouldn’t let me. So I left a $50 bill with the manager and asked him to split the tip between the three waiters. In addition, I also took the manager’s card and sent him a bottle of wine from my state for their kindness.
This was a small encounter but I’ll never forget this kindness. There are very few people in this world who will think about others even when they have their own problems to worry about. May God bless such people. I hope their business thrives.
Wow, so many upvotes. Thank you for reading this answer. I didn’t expect such a nice a response :).
Update:
Here is picture of the manager, Jonathon. I randomly dropped by Priti’s pizza in Denver and captured a picture of this kind soul 🙂
When I was out of university, I visited home and checked in with my High School friends. The smartest kid in our class: John E. had dropped out of college and was working in the local lumber yard, and getting high on marijuana every single day.
Being old friends we talked about life and work and he told me about “snuffy”.
Now Snuffy was a co-worker of his. And also (as I tell you all now) an old co-worker of my father. And Snuffy loved to eat. In fact, he would eat anything given to him.
So one day…
(I know youse guys know what’s coming…)
My friend John E. offered him a sandwich. But it was conditional. He had to eat the entire thing. Lock, stock and barrel or else he need to pay him $20 (big money in those days).
Now, John E. put an entire container of “chew” in the sandwich between the lettuce, tomatoes, peanut butter and turkey. ‘Chew” is a chewable form of tobacco that is popular in Western Pennsylvania. And a full container is about 100ml. Sizable. Big. Large.
So, let’s talk about “Good Interstate” and “Bad Interstate”
It’s not like the United States didn’t have highways pretty much everywhere when World War II ended in 1945. Route 66, for example, went all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles. If there had been no interstate system, cars and trucks would still be using those roads today. Heck, back in the 1970s, my family drove from Toronto to Orlando via Detroit, taking I-75 all the way. The problem was that I-75 hadn’t been completed yet so, through a couple of very long stretches, we were on crowded 4 lane highways. People still took them.
So, when Eisenhower becomes president, American highways haven’t improved much since he led a road expedition across the country in 1919, a trip that took 62 days and destroyed many of the vehicles they used. Highway standards were wildly different from state to state, with many highways barely having room for two standard cars to pass. Bridges and tunnels were rare to non-existent. Some highways were impassible in winter because they simply couldn’t be maintained. Others were closed during times of heavy rain. Through the numerous mountainous regions in the country, they went back and forth through the mountains hugging the terrain, often for dear life.
Now, Canada currently has a national highway system that is only slightly better than what the United States had in the 1950s, but at least it’s all paved and open all year (at least the main routes). However, a lot of key highways are still two lanes. They all get heavy use.
So let’s take a look at a basic interstate map
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. It joins most of America’s major cities and forms the backbone of the road transportation system. These roads are safe and open year round. One runs through the Donner Pass, which killed most of the people who first attempted to cross it when they didn’t reach it before ten feet of snow blocked it. Now, it’s merely an inconvenience for the California Department of Highways, which keeps a fleet of plows ready. Yes, several portions of it are crowded, and that’s a problem that can’t be addressed with “more highways” but part of it is due to another problem.
So, let’s look at the real problem. “Bad Interstates”. Interstates that join large population centers to other large population centers are crucial. What are not crucial are these.
This is Detroit, Michigan. Motor City. The place that made automobiles a normal thing to own. Starting in the 1940s, the federal government, state of Michigan and local leaders felt that the way to go was to build lots of freeways to keep cars moving.
But it was a trap. It was one of the reasons for the city’s decline as cars started to displace offices and people. The highways cut neighbourhoods in half. People used to walk in downtown Detroit, and only recently started to do it again. However, the interstates that go right through the city, like I-75 and I-94, plus their spurs, plus local ones like the Davison and the Lodge and stroads like 8-Mile and Telegraph Road, while great for tooling around the city by car, make navigating it in any other way impossible.
During the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco, one of their freeways collapsed. They didn’t bother to rebuild it. Traffic actually improved, and the waterfront is now a thriving neighbourhood. Rochester, New York is in the process of removing the “Inner Loop”, a small freeway that joined the three urban interstates that came downtown, and completely destroyed the area. It’s now starting to thrive again.
Freeways just don’t have any place in an urban environment. They automatically turn it into a car-dependent suburban environment, increase parking requirements, displace transit, and don’t really do anything to make traffic more than marginally better.
Brocato’s Spumoni
brocatos spumoni
Yield: 8 to 10 servings
Ingredients
3 pints pistachio ice cream
3 pints strawberry ice cream
1 cup heavy cream, whipped to stiff peaks
1/2 cup candied cherries, chopped
Instructions
Put a 2 1/2 quart ice cream mold in freezer.
In a large bowl, beat the pistachio ice cream with electric mixer until smooth but not melted. Evenly spread the pistachio ice cream in the chilled mold. Freeze until firm.
In another bowl, beat the strawberry ice cream with electric mixer until smooth but not melted. Then spread the strawberry ice cream over the pistachio ice cream. Freeze until firm.
Mix the chopped cherries into the whipped cream and spread as the final layer in the mold. Freeze until firm.
Niger forces have attacked a French military base
This is part of a much larger video. Important section begins at this clip.
A tough but necessary decision would likely force the West to back off, enabling an earlier end to the Ukraine crisis and preventing it from expanding to other states
By Professor Sergey Karaganov,honorary chairman of Russia’s Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, and academic supervisor at the School of International Economics and Foreign Affairs Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow
has sparked major debate among experts in Russia about nuclear weapons, their role and the conditions of their use.
This is especially the case given Sergey Karaganov’s status as a former presidential adviser to both Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, and his position as head of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a noted Moscow think tank.
Some prominent figures have reacted with dismay, while others have been less critical.
RT has decided it would be beneficial for our readers to read it in full. The following piece has been translated and lightly edited.
***
Our country, and its leadership, seems to me to be facing a difficult choice. It is becoming increasingly clear that our clash with the West will not end even if we achieve a partial – let alone a crushing – victory in Ukraine.
Even if we completely liberate the Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, it will be a minimal victory. A slightly greater success would be to liberate the whole of eastern and southern Ukraine within a year or two. But it would still leave part of the country with an even more embittered ultra-nationalist population pumped full of weapons – a bleeding wound that threatens inevitable complications, such as another war.
The situation could be worse if we liberate the whole of Ukraine at the cost of monstrous sacrifices and are left with ruins and a population that mostly hates us. It would take more than a decade to “re-educate” them.
Any of these options, especially the last one, will distract Russia from the much-needed shift of its spiritual, economic, military and political center to the East of Eurasia. We will be stuck with a wasteful focus on the West. And the territories of today’s Ukraine, especially the central and western ones, will attract resources – both human and financial. These regions were heavily subsidised even in Soviet times.
Meanwhile, hostility from the West will continue; it will support a slow-burning guerrilla civil war.
A more attractive option is the liberation and reunification of the east and south, and the imposition of capitulation on the remnants of Ukraine with complete demilitarization, creating a buffer, friendly state. But such an outcome would only be possible if we are able to break the West’s will to support the Kiev junta, and use it against us, forcing the US-led bloc into a strategic retreat.
And here I come to a crucial but hardly discussed issue. The root cause of – and indeed the main reason for – the Ukrainian crisis, as well as many other conflicts in the world, and the general increase in military threats, is the accelerating failure of the contemporary Western ruling elites.
This crisis is accompanied by an unprecedentedly rapid shift in the balance of power in the world in favor of the global majority, driven economically by China and partly by India, with Russia as the military and strategic anchor. This weakening not only infuriates the imperial-cosmopolitan elites (US President Joe Biden and his ilk) but also frightens the imperial-national elites (such as his predecessor Donald Trump). The West is losing the advantage it has held for five centuries to siphon off the wealth of the entire world by imposing its political and economic order and establishing its cultural dominance, mainly by brute force. So there is no quick end to the defensive, but aggressive, confrontation that the West has unleashed.
This moral, political and economic collapse has been brewing since the mid-1960s, was interrupted by the collapse of the USSR, but resumed with renewed vigour in the 2000s (the defeats of the Americans and their allies in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the crisis of the Western economic model in 2008 were milestones).
In order to slow down this seismic shift, the West has temporarily consolidated itself. The US has turned Ukraine into a punching bag to tie the hands of Russia, the politico-military lynchpin of a non-Western world freed from the shackles of neocolonialism. Ideally, of course, the Americans would simply like to blow up our country and thus radically weaken the emerging alternative superpower, China. We, either not realizing the inevitability of the clash or hoarding our strength, have been slow to act preemptively. Moreover, in line with modern, mainly Western, political and military thinking, we were rash in raising the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons, inaccurate in assessing the situation in Ukraine, and not entirely successful in launching the current military operation.
By failing internally, Western elites have actively fed the weeds that have taken root in the soil of 70 years of prosperity, satiation and peace. These comprise of anti-human ideologies: the denial of family, homeland, history, love between men and women, faith, service to higher ideals, everything that is human. Their philosophy is to weed out those who resist. The aim is to neuter people in order to reduce their ability to resist modern “globalist” capitalism, which is becoming more and more obviously unjust and harmful to man and humanity.
Meanwhile, a weakened US is destroying Western Europe and other countries dependent on it, trying to push them into a confrontation that will follow Ukraine. The elites in most of these countries have lost their bearings and, panicked by the crisis in their own positions at home and abroad, are dutifully leading their countries to the slaughter. At the same time, because of greater failure, a sense of powerlessness, centuries of Russophobia, intellectual degradation and a loss of strategic culture, their hatred is almost more intense than that of the US.
Thus, the trajectory of most Western countries clearly points towards a new fascism, which could be called “liberal” totalitarianism.
In the future, and this is the most important thing, it will only get worse. Truces are possible, but reconciliation is not. Anger and despair will continue to grow in waves and waves. This vector of Western movement is a clear sign of the drift towards the outbreak of World War Three. It has already begun and could erupt into a full-blown conflagration either by accident, or due to the growing incompetence and irresponsibility of the ruling circles of the West.
The introduction of artificial intelligence and the robotization of war increase the risk of unintended escalation. Machines can act outside the control of confused elites.
The situation is aggravated by “strategic parasitism” – in 75 years of relative peace, people have forgotten the horrors of war, have stopped fearing even nuclear weapons. Everywhere, but especially in the West, the instinct for self-preservation has weakened.
I have spent many years studying the history of nuclear strategy and have come to an unequivocal, if unscientific, conclusion. The advent of nuclear weapons is the result of the intervention of the Almighty, who, appalled that mankind had unleashed two world wars within a generation, costing tens of millions of lives, gave us the weapons of Armageddon to show those who had lost their fear of hell that it existed. On that fear rested the relative peace of the last three-quarters of a century.
But now that fear is gone. The unthinkable in terms of previous notions of nuclear deterrence is happening – a group of ruling elites, in a fit of desperate rage, have unleashed a full-scale war in the underbelly of a nuclear superpower.
The fear of atomic escalation must be restored. Otherwise humanity is doomed.
It is not only, and not even so much, what the future world order will look like that is being decided in the fields of Ukraine right now. But rather whether the world we are used to will be preserved at all, or if all will be left is radioactive ruins, poisoning the remnants of humanity.
By breaking the West’s will in imposing its aggression, we will not only save ourselves and finally free the world from the Western yoke of five centuries, but we will also salvage the whole of humanity. By pushing the West towards catharsis and the abandonment of the hegemony of its elites, we will force it to retreat before a global catastrophe. Humanity will be given a new chance to develop.
Proposed solution
Of course, there is an uphill struggle ahead. It is also necessary to solve our own internal problems – to finally get rid of the mindset of Western-centrism and of the Westernizers in the administrative class. Especially the compradors and their peculiar way of thinking. Of course, in this area, the NATO bloc is helping us, unwittingly.
Our 300-year journey around Europe has given us a lot of useful lessons and it has helped us to form our great culture. Let us cherish our European heritage. But it is time to return home, to ourselves. Let us begin, with the baggage we have accumulated, to live in our own way. Our friends in the Foreign Ministry have recently made a real breakthrough by referring to Russia as a civilizational state in their foreign policy concept. I would add – a civilization of civilizations, open to the North as well as to the South, to the West as well as to the East. Now the main direction of development is to the South, to the North and, above all, to the East.
The confrontation with the West in Ukraine, however it ends, should not distract us from the strategic internal movement – spiritual, cultural, economic, political, military and political – towards the Urals, Siberia and the Pacific Ocean. A new Ural-Siberian strategy is needed, one that includes several powerful spiritually uplifting projects, including, of course, the creation of a third capital in Siberia. This movement should become part of the much-needed formulation of the “Russian Dream” – the image of the Russia and the world to which one aspires.
I have often written, and I am not alone in this, that great states without a great idea cease to be such or simply disappear into the void. History is littered with the graves of powers that lost their way. This idea should be created from above and not rely, as fools or lazy people do, on what comes from below. It must correspond to the deepest values and aspirations of the people and, above all, it must take us all forward. But it is the responsibility of the elite and the leadership of the country to formulate it. The delay in putting forward such a vision is unacceptably long.
But for the future to come to pass, the resistance of the forces of the past – i.e. the West – must be overcome. If this is not achieved, there will almost certainly be a full-scale world war. Which will probably be the last of its kind.
And here I come to the most difficult part of this article. We can keep fighting for another year or two, or even three, sacrificing thousands and thousands of our best men and grinding up hundreds of thousands more who are unfortunate enough to fall into the tragic historical trap of what is now called Ukraine. But this military operation cannot end in a decisive victory without forcing the West into a strategic retreat or even capitulation. We must force the West to abandon its attempts to turn back history, to abandon its attempts at global domination, and to force it to deal with its own problems, to manage its current multifaceted crisis. To put it crudely, it is necessary for the West to simply “piss off” and end its interference in the direction of Russia and the rest of the world.
However, for this to happen, Western elites need to rediscover their own lost sense of self-preservation by understanding that attempts to wear down Russia by playing the Ukrainians against it are counterproductive for the West itself.
The credibility of nuclear deterrence must be restored by lowering the unacceptably high threshold for the use of atomic weapons and by moving cautiously but quickly up the ladder of deterrence-escalation. The first steps have already been taken through statements to this effect by the president and other leaders, by beginning to deploy nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles in Belarus, and by increasing the combat effectiveness of the strategic deterrent forces. There are quite a few steps on this ladder. I count about two dozen. It could even go as far as warning our compatriots and all people of good will about the need to leave their homes near the objects of possible nuclear strikes in countries directly supporting the Kiev regime. The enemy must know that we are ready to launch a preemptive retaliatory strike in response to its current and past aggression in order to prevent a slide into a global thermonuclear war.
I have often said and written that with the right strategy of deterrence and even use, the risk of a ‘retaliatory’ nuclear or other strike on our territory can be minimized. Only if there is a madman in the White House who also hates his own country will the US decide to strike in ‘defense’ of the Europeans and invite retaliation by sacrificing a hypothetical Boston for a notional Poznan. The Americans and the Western Europeans are well aware of this, they just prefer not to think about it. We, too, have contributed to this recklessness with our peace-loving pronouncements. Having studied the history of US nuclear strategy, I know that after the USSR acquired a credible nuclear retaliatory capability, Washington never seriously considered using nuclear weapons on Soviet territory, even though it publicly bluffed. When nuclear weapons were considered, it was only against “advancing” Soviet forces in Western Europe. I know that the late Chancellors Helmut Kohl and Helmut Schmidt fled from their bunkers as soon as the question of such use came up in an exercise.
Movement down the ladder of containment-escalation should be fairly quick. Given the current direction of the West – and the degradation of most of its elites – each successive decision it makes is more incompetent and ideologically veiled than the last. And, at present, we cannot expect these elites to be replaced by more responsible and reasonable ones. This will only happen after a catharsis, leading to the abandonment of much ambition.
We cannot repeat the ‘Ukrainian scenario’. For a quarter of a century we were not listened to when we warned that NATO enlargement would lead to war; we tried to delay, to “negotiate”. As a result, we ended up in a serious armed conflict. Now the price of indecision is an order of magnitude higher than it would have been earlier.
But what if the present Western leaders refuse to back down? Perhaps they have lost all sense of self-preservation? Then we will have to hit a group of targets in a number of countries to bring those who have lost their senses back to their senses.
It’s a morally frightening choice – we would be using God’s weapon and condemning ourselves to great spiritual loss. But if this is not done, not only may Russia perish, but most likely the whole of human civilization will end.
We will have to make this choice ourselves. Even friends and sympathizers will not support it at first. If I were Chinese, I would not want an abrupt and decisive end to the conflict, because it will draw back US forces and allow them to gather forces for a decisive battle – either directly or, in the best Sun Tzu tradition, by forcing the enemy to retreat without a fight. As a Chinese person, I would also oppose the use of nuclear weapons because taking the confrontation to the nuclear level means moving to an area where my country is still weak.
Also, decisive action is not in line with the Chinese foreign policy philosophy, which emphasizes economic factors (with the accumulation of military power) and avoids direct confrontation. I would support an ally by providing him with rear cover, but I would go behind his back and not enter the fray. (In this case, perhaps I don’t understand this philosophy well enough and am attributing motives to my Chinese friends that are not their own.) If Russia uses nuclear weapons, Beijing would condemn it. But Chinese hearts would also rejoice knowing that the reputation and position of the US had been dealt a severe blow.
How would we react if (God forbid!) Pakistan attacked India, or vice versa? We’d be horrified. Upset that the nuclear taboo has been broken. Then let us help the victims and change our nuclear doctrine accordingly.
For India and other countries of the world majority, including nuclear weapon states (Pakistan, Israel), the use of nuclear weapons is unacceptable, both for moral and geostrategic reasons. If they are used “successfully”, the nuclear taboo – the notion that such weapons should never be used and that their use is a direct route to nuclear Armageddon – will be devalued. We are unlikely to win support quickly, even if many in the Global South would feel satisfaction at the defeat of their former oppressors who plundered them, carried out genocides and imposed an alien culture.
But in the end, the victors are not judged. And the saviors are thanked. Western European political culture does not remember, but the rest of the world does (and with gratitude) how we helped the Chinese to free themselves from the brutal Japanese occupation, and many Western colonies to throw off the colonial yoke.
Of course, if they do not understand us at first, they will have all the more incentive to educate themselves. Still, it is very likely that we can win, and focus the minds enemy states without extreme measures, and force them to retreat. And after a few years, we take take up a position as China’s rear, as it is now performing for us, supporting it in its struggle with the US. Then this fight can be avoided without a big war. And we will win together for the good of all, including the people of the Western countries.
At that stage, Russia and the rest of humanity will pass through all the thorns and traumas into the future, which I see as bright – multipolar, multicultural, multicolored – and giving countries and peoples the opportunity to build their own destinies in addition to the common one, which should unite worldwide.
Americans Can’t Believe What China is Doing to US Farms
(IP)- With 6 new countries joining the BRICS, these 11 countries will create a new grouping at the global level.
The 15th BRICS summit was held last week in the Sandton district of Johannesburg in South Africa. In a joint press conference with the leaders of Russia, China, Brazil, and India, the President of South Africa announced the agreement of the BRICS with Iran, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Ethiopia joining this group. 6 new members will officially join this group at the beginning of 2024. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina, and United Arab Emirates. After this event, various comments regarding the position of BRICS at the global level were raised.
One of the views is that with the joining of 6 new countries, each of which is of great economic and political importance, the BRICS can create a new polarization at the level of the global system. The main reason for such a view is that the old and new BRICS members have a large share of the world economy on the one hand and are against the unilateralist political order in the world system on the other hand. Salem Nasser, an international law expert at Brazil’s FGV Direito SP University, says the requests to join BRICS show that there are constant changes in the global balance of power.
BRICS is a new pole of economic and political power that will compete with the hegemony of North America. Mehmet Ali Guller, a Turkish analyst, also believes that BRICS is one of the most important pillars of the new world order and has dealt a heavy blow to the US energy-political powerhouse.
Another issue is that BRICS members, both former and new members, can make important decisions in the economic field at the global level. This influence will be especially high in the field of energy because Saudi Arabia, Russia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the UAE are among the largest oil-producing countries in the world. The alignment or shared opinion of these countries in the field of energy can have many consequences for Western countries and affect the global economy as well. Also, the expansion of BRICS will increase the share of this group in global exports from 20.2% to 25.1%. Global banking group “Goldman Sachs” believes that by 2050 the economy of the BRICS countries will compete with the economies of the richest countries in the world.
Another important point is that BRICS can be a serious competitor for the Group of 7 (including the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom). With 6 new countries joining the BRICS group, Russian news agencies wrote in a statistical analysis that the total gross domestic product (GDP) of developed BRICS will be approximately 65 trillion dollars in terms of purchasing power parity. In this way, the share of this group in the global GDP will increase from the current 31.5% to 37%. Meanwhile, the share of the Group of Seven advanced economies is currently around 29.9%. Meanwhile, the 11 countries of the BRICS will have an area of 48.5 million square kilometers, which is 36% of the world’s area, and this figure is more than double that of the Group of Seven. Their total population will reach 3.6 billion people, which is 45% of the entire world and more than four times higher than the group of seven.
By: Seyed Razi Emadi
The Sopranos – Ralph Gets Passed Over
Ralph Cifaretto gets passed over as capo of the Aprile crew. Tony makes less qualified solider Gigi Cestone the new captain. One of the reasons being Ralph took Jackie Jr on a pick up that turned violent.
I am from Taiwan, so I am observing you and your masturbative questions more from the sideline in amusement, but I can’t help providing some insight here to address all your diarrhea at a fundamental level. Given the intelligence, or lack thereof, displayed in your questions, I am not sure you would understand what I have to say below. In any case, this answer is for whatever audience can understand it.
All your questions amount to a basic theme, namely, some aspect of China deemed unappealing to your personal bias, which translates into inferiority of China vis-à-vis Japan or South Korea, which you consider yourself a proud member of, despite dubious credential to claim either ownership of or contribution toward such credentials.
I would like to crush your pitiful self-loathing complex with the bottom line, independent of whether your personal bias is justified, or whether you yourself are entitled to such sense of superiority as a member of the group you are hiding under.
Let’s assume all your personal biases are justified, a Big IF, and let’s assume you yourself indeed are entitled to your claims. Under these Big IFs, that would amount to the following picture.
China is like a wolf in the wild, being its own Master. It may be dirty (your personal bias) and rude (your bias) and ugly (your bias) and uncivilized (your bias), and it may not know a lot of fancy tricks to hunt and eat its catch elegantly (your bias). It nonetheless goes wherever it pleases whenever it pleases, and does whatever it pleases, beholden to no one. It is nobody’s slave.
Japan and South Korea are like two pedigree dogs groomed in the most fancy and elegant (your bias) beauty parlors and having the most advanced suite of plastic surgery done on them like the wife of the South Korean president. They look totally beautiful (your bias) and well-mannered (your bias). But they are two slave dogs kneeling under their Master’s feet, living off the craps thrown at them, with their necks held in leash in the hands of their Master. The Master can kick the shit out of their face whenever the Master feels like it, make them eat shit whenever the Master is not in a good mood, and make them lick the Master’s ass whenever the Master wants to remind them who the Boss is.
So this is the real picture of China vis-à-vis Japan and South Korea.
And it is based on facts, with no room for personal bias, because this is in plain sight for everyone to see.
Some people prefer to be the dirty, ugly wolf of the wild, and some people prefer to be the beautiful, elegant slave dog in chains, and be proud of it. It is a matter of personal choice. Everyone is free to choose according to his own personal inclination and character. We know what your choice is and what you are proud of.
See, I am from Taiwan, and I am never as presumptuous and audacious as you are to make similar remarks as you do about China vs Taiwan, maybe because I have more savvy, because Taiwan is just another slave dog like Japan and South Korea, and I don’t want to make stupid remarks to make a fool of myself as you did.
That’s all. Now go on brandishing your diamond studded dog chain to taunt that ugly wolf of the wild.
A Significant Turning Point in History | Paul Craig Roberts
“I am puzzled how such a rational and humane person as Dr Paul Craig Roberts is allowed to publicly express his rational, non-propagandized opinions so openly without facing all the usual impediments. A very fine spokesman for international and economic affairs.”
I stopped trying to convince others of joining activities I want to do but they don’t and rather do them by myself. If they want to join, that’s fantastic but I am not using up energy to get others out of their own inertia.
I stopped buying snacks because realized that if I don’t have them at home, the inconvenience of having to go out and buy them when I get the cravings often prevents me from eating stuff that isn’t good for me.
I stopped badmouthing others because I realized that even though it is a quick emotional relief, it undermines my relationships in the long run.
I stopped smoking because I realized I only did it to deal with boredom and so when I fixed boredom I fixed my urge for cigarettes. Now, instead of a pack of cigarettes, I grab my guitar.
I stopped trying to hide my flaws because I realized that if there is nothing to hide there is nothing to be insecure about.
I stopped worrying about what strangers think of me because I realized that they are busy thinking about themselves and their own problems. Now I just worry about what my friends and family think of me.
I stopped eating meals hot and fast because my digestion deals better with lukewarm and slow.
I stopped judging others for having different views on how to live life because I realized all our experiences of life are different we are all just trying to get by as best as we can.
I stopped watching porn regularly because I realized that it warped my expectations of what healthy and fulfilling sexuality means in real life.
I stopped being so sure I’m right in an argument because in the past, it often turned out I was wrong no matter how convinced I was of being right.
And I feel like I’m a much happier and better person because I stopped all that stuff.
An Empty World, A Time Traveler, Another Dimension | Liminal Spaces: The Reality In-between
In the past year or so, three internet mysteries popped up that really got my attention.
They may seem very different, but trust me, they’re connected.
The first one is about a girl who found a door in the basement of her AirBnB. She opened it and inside was an abandoned shopping mall. The second story is about Javier aka Unico Sobreviviente, who woke up in a hospital in the year 2027, in an alternate universe.
In his version of the future — everyone on earth has vanished. He’s the only one left, and he has video to prove it. The third mystery is known as the Backdoors. A reality adjacent to ours that, if the conditions are just right, you can accidentally slip into.
Then you find yourself lost in an endless maze of dingy carpet, fluorescent light, and yellow wallpaper.
If the specs are confirmed, it spells a huge downturn for one name.
QUALCOMM.
There are many firsts in the Mate 60 Pro, selling for less than $1,000 dollars, a bargain in the premium handset segment today.
First, there is a custom GPU in the SOC, and that means the Kirin is even more inhouse than Apple’s A-series chipset.
Why?
It has an inhouse 5G modem. Apple with its hundreds billion war-chest has been unable to crack Qualcomm’s patent wall on this particular piece of technology, but it appears Huawei has.
If Huawei makes the design available to Chinese handset makers, we can say goodbye to Qualcomm and Snapdragon, where volume sale is concerned. That or a fierce price war ensue. We will see.
…
Second, the Mate 60 Pro can make satellite calls, while industry leaders external to China are only adding texting/emergency signals via satellite. That’s a killer feature for blindspot coverage in China’s vast countryside.
As a reminder, a modern satellite phone looks like a “walkie talkie”. Yup, walkie-talkie size, only with an unsightly antennae.
But the Mate 60 pro, all of 9mm thick and looking like it came out of the future.
…
Three, this runs Hongmeng 4.0, a mature OS that’s designed from the ground up to take full advantage of the IOT ecosystem. For example, Android auto exists as an app, but Hongmeng’s vehicular integration is baked in. Chinese handset makers will increasingly jump onto the Hongmeng bandwagon to hedge against a repeat of Huawei’s booting by Google on “national security concerns”.
My mainland friends have high praise for Huawei’s OS, and these are guys who own multiple handsets, including Apple.
…
Four, it is AI-assisted, with Huawei’s own large language model Pangu built in. That’s a step (or several) ahead of Android and iOS.
I expect this phone to sell out.
This phone runs with the best in class. But it cannot be sanctioned.
Let me repeat.
THIS PHONE IS SANCTION-PROOF.
Not by Google.
Not by TSMC.
Not by any western semiconductor toolermaker.
Not by any Taiwanese/Korean/Japanese/American component or materials supplier.
Not through application of American patent rights.
No other handset manufacturer can boast such an achievement. American IP-Free at the cutting edge is a historic first.
I’ll end with a short note on the significance of the Mate 60 Pro’s announcement, an earth-shattering injection into the news cycle around Gina’s visit.
Let me explain.
The comprehensive sanctions on Huawei severed its dependence on foreign suppliers vulnerable to US sanction, and forced Huawei to create a domestic-only supply chain that could afford sanction without losing their livelihood.
The existence of this completely independent supply chain (not yet complete), which includes Swift-free financing, is a nightmare for Gina and Co., because she won’t have birds-eye view data on Huawei developments, other than resorting to humint and hacking.
American corporations in a completely separate eco-system will be similarly disadvantaged.
China though, remains fully in the game, since all players are represented in the domestic supply chain.
Gina and American corporations will have to fight Huawei (and Chinese high-tech) with the fog of war turned on.
Best of all, this is a problem created by America, for America.
Suck on it…idiots.
Tony contemplates ‘whacking’ Paulie
Paulie repeatedly denies telling Johnny Sack about Ralph Ciparetto’s joke about Ginny Sack.
Happened to a guy I worked with. There was a rocky period in his marriage prior to the pregnancy and the wife had an affair. At some point afterwards it became obvious that the child was not his.
His take on it? He told me, “There is an old English saying, ‘Whosoever bulleth my cow, the calf is mine’”.
He gave it a lot of thought, realized both he and his wife had been at fault, but if they broke up over this situation he’d lose his biological children and his life would be a mess. So he left his name on the birth certificate as the father and he said he would raise the little boy as his own, no different than his other kids. His older kids had no idea what the situation was. He’d made up with his wife and he wasn’t going to destroy everyone’s life over the DNA of this one little child. He said to him it was no different than if they had adopted or had use donor sperm, they were family and the little boy was his son. He kept his ego out of it and moved on.
I was left wondering how many men would do that. I suspect not many.
Huawei has firmly confronted the four rounds of regulations imposed by the United States and fully engaged in independent research and development.
It has successively created the HarmonyOS, EulerOS, and MateERP systems, among others, to meet Huawei’s business development needs.
Amidst great anticipation, Huawei suddenly released news and announced the long-awaited results.
In the first half of the year, Huawei achieved a revenue of 310.9 billion yuan, and the number of devices in the HarmonyOS ecosystem exceeded 700 million.
With cutting-edge core technologies and leading advantages in the industry, Huawei possesses top-notch expertise in communication, chips, operating systems, artificial intelligence, and other fields.
I did actually walk over to her house and asked for the car to be removed. I also told her I had to go to a doctor’s appointment. This is actually what happened and the vehicle was not moved. I called the local deputy station and for a tow truck. She got her vehicle towed and a ticket. Two days later she came over to my house cursing me and making threats. Congratulations, I called a deputy again to come out and explained to him and a friend of mine witnessed what she did. She was taken away in his vehicle.
She was a very entitled person that thought she could do just anything she wanted to do. Keeping me away from my chemotherapy appointment really was the last straw for me.
Jimmy Meets Gus | Better Call Saul
As Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) is helping Mike (Jonathan Banks) to discover who is following him, he bumps into the iconic owner of Los Pollos Hermanos, Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito).
Things are moving very fast as far as BRICS is concerned
Modi had a good US visit and showed his friend Biden that he was a friend of democracy and the rules based order
Yet this summit literally saw Russia and China go on a full flow against Western Hegemony and in favor of Expansion
They spoke of a literal alternate system to protect and counter western hegemony
Russia, China were fully on board and South Africa who were already pretty pissed off about the ICJ warrant against Putin and being forced to look weak, jumped on the bandwagon
Brazil shrugged and decided to change their mind
So Modi had to watch as BRICS expanded openly and set a tone that would slowly involve an escape from western hegemony
He looked very uncomfortable during this summit
Like in a Hypnotic Daze
Modi is caught between a rock and a hard place
He needs Russia badly. If he is asked to pay market price for Oil which is rising now and could reach $ 115 by December, that would cause economic issues and high inflation right at the time of elections
He needs the West of course because all of Indias reserves and exports depend on their markets
He needs China crucially for his Make in India initiative for the value enhancement of $ 300 Billion of retail value
So like a volleyball, he has to keep being bounced from place to place
China busted another CIA spy, the second arrest in 2 weeks | China Currents
In this episode of China Currents: China busted another CIA spy; BRICS welcomed 6 new members; Japan released nuclear contaminated water into the Pacific.
During the souther Ukraine, near Robotino, a Challenger 2 was destroyed while spear heading an assault. The tank burned out due to being penetrated by a Kornet ATGM according to the Russians in the area. Judging from the video which has already circulated in which the internal fire is visible through the side of the tank. It appears that an ATGM hit the front right side of the hull, and also the side of the turret.
The kornet is 152mm tandem warhead ATGM, developed in the 1990s, it has previously penetrated M1 Abrams tanks in Iraq and Israeli Merkerva in Lebanon. It seems highly likely that this is the responsible ATGM. Though, if the hits as I suspect are on the side of the Challenger 2, basically any ATGM could achieve it.
The idea that the Challenger 2 survives 70 hits from RPGs of any kind anywhere other than a small area on the front, is of course fantasy. Tanks tends to have quite weak side armour, certainly incapable of protecting against direct hits unless the warhead is defective or incredibly old.
“The U.S. & Russia Will Go To War Within A Year!” – Tucker Carlson
During a recent visit to Hungary, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson explained to an audience of Hungarians that the American people are being fed a steady narrative by the mainstream media that Ukraine is winning the war with Russia and all it will take to put the Ukrainians over the top is a few more F-16s. The truth, he noted, is quite the opposite. Guest host Craig “Pasta” Jardula, along with Jimmy Dore and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger, discuss another video in which Carlson predicts the U.S. and Russia will be engaged in a “hot” war within 12 months.
This happened to me when I let an old friend live in my spare room “just until he could find a job and a place “ of his own.
After ten days it was obvious that he was “secretly” drinking vodka every day and had no intention of finding a job or another place to live.
When he began to verbally abuse me and physically intimidate me ( never hit me, but would block my access to my room, come sit in whatever room I was in and glare at me, bust into my bedroom and lay on my bed and refuse to leave)it got so bad I called the cops to make him leave.
Come to find out, he had been in my house just long enough to claim legal residence.
Which, in Arkansas, where I live, is not very long.
My only recourse, the police said, was to go pay $168 for and eviction notice that would be served by the sheriff.
The whole experience has made me feel very weary of ever letting anyone stay here more than a few days ever again. So, my advice is to look into whether the state you live in will allow for you to have them evicted.
NIGER: MILITARY ORDERS POLICE TO EXPEL FRENCH AMBASSADOR
What’s wrong with these people do they think that they own Africa?
Around age 10, one of my friends suddenly had this new passion for surfing.
We lived in Florida where that was a big thing. His walls were covered in posters. He could name every surfer, as well as the many types of waves. His encyclopedic knowledge of surfing was immensely impressive — until he actually surfed.
I was surprised. He couldn’t even stand up on his board for more than two seconds. And to be fair, neither could I. But I hadn’t spent a mountain of time studying and talking about surfing.
This speaks to a common issue in self-improvement. People read self-help books for hours. They listen to podcasts and attend seminars.
They do all the things except the actual work. Yet by being near the problem, they feel like they are getting things done. This is why blogs with titles such as “tiny habits” are so popular — they imply massive change comes from small increments of effort.
The easiest way to get better is to focus on one simple framework or set of advice. Put that reading time directly into the effort instead. Our brain can’t focus on twenty self-help priorities at once.
It is focused efforts protracted across stretches of time that produce lasting change. In other words, dedication.
China Just SHOCKED Australia With This $100 Billion MEGA Project!
Prepare to be astonished as China unveils its mind-boggling $100 billion MEGA project that has left Australia in awe. Join us in exploring the staggering scale, innovation, and potential impacts of this monumental endeavor. Discover how this project is redefining the landscape of collaboration and development in the region. Subscribe now to witness how China’s audacious vision is making waves on a global scale.
I can only speak for the situation here in Chicago, where I teach at a private school that has seen an influx of new students in the last five years. Here are the reasons parents here take their children out of public schools and put them into private schools:
Student discipline. Student behaviors in public schools are out of control. This is, by far, the main reason parents pull their children out of public schools. This is also one of the primary reasons for the teacher shortage in some public schools. Adults don’t want to deal with out of control kids all day, and they especially don’t want their own children in that environment. This is also why people move out of neighborhoods, businesses close, etc… Everyone is just trying to avoid people with anti-social behaviors as much as possible. Prices for real estate and schools both fall in tandem with how much riff-raff you have to deal with in that place. The more you’re paying to be in a place, the less likely you have to deal with shitty behavior from others.
Smaller class sizes. My largest class this year has 15 students in it. One of my new students told us that her public school class last year had 33 students in it. That’s par for the public schools around here.
Academic rigor. Because private schools have smaller classes full of relatively well-behaved students, it’s easier for the teachers to challenge each child to their personal level. I’m starting novel groups next week. Some students will be reading a tenth-grade-level novel, while others will be reading an eighth- or sixth- grade level novel. I have the time and experience to teach all three novels at the same time.
Traditional curriculum. One of the common comments from parents, during our open house, when they see my class sets of novels, is that they appreciate that they recognize most of the titles. I have about 50 novel sets to select from for my novel groups, and about 35 of those are “classics.” That’s what the parents want to see. The other 15 are newer, more high-interest novels, but nothing too edgy.
Inclusion of religion/morality in the curriculum. Honestly, not too many Catholic school parents care too much about this. It’s just a nice bonus for them. They want their children to be taught the same general morality that the parents have or, at the very least, not be taught something that directly contradicts the parents’ morality or religion.
Geographical convenience. Sometimes, parents want their child to attend a school that’s closer to the parent’s workplace, or a caretaker’s house, or some place that’s just more convenient logistically. If the public school requires an hour bus ride each direction, and the private school is right across the street from your house, then maybe it’s worth the price, simply for the convenience.
Vinegar Grilled Chicken
vinegar grilled chicken
Prep: 10 min | Marinate: 4 hr | Cook: 10 min | Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
2/3 cup water
1 1/3 cups white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh-ground black pepper
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce
1 tablespoon hot sauce
3 tablespoons butter, melted, or sesame oil
4 (10 ounce) bone-in chicken breast halves
Instructions
Place the water, vinegar, pepper, salt, Worcestershire or soy sauce, hot sauce and butter or sesame oil into a large, resealable plastic bag. Shake to combine ingredients, then add chicken, seal and shake to coat. Place in refrigerator to marinate for at least 4 hours.
Heat an outdoor grill* for medium-high heat, and lightly oil the grate.
Remove chicken from marinade, and shake off excess. Discard remaining marinade.
Cook on preheated grill until no longer pink in the center; about 10 minutes per side.
Notes
* This cooks beautifully on a George Foreman Grill also.
To make this chicken roadside-style, use boneless chicken tenderloins and brush with barbecue sauce the final minutes of grilling.
Huawei Mate 60 Pro: Game over for US chip sanctions?!
The Washington Post, usually a pretty good barometer of the sentiment on Capitol Hill, opined: “New phone sparks worry China has found a way around U.S. tech limits,” which one analyst described as a slap in the face to Washington.
Much deserved, I say!
Today I will break the situation down in layman’s terms, and we’ll also catch up with US geopolitical analyst Thomas Pauken the Second. This is Reports on China, I’m Andy Boreham in Shanghai. Let’s get reporting!
The world is set to ignite. The old is going to die. It can evaporate quietly, or be ripped into bloody grizzle. But the USA is set to explode.
…
In 1977, one of the top songs was “Love is in the air”, while all of us were jamming to Peter Frampton “Do you feel like I do?” We were watching “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman”, and going to McDonalds to get our 25 cent hamburgers. Our biggest concern at that time was Roller Disco, and whether to have coleslaw or potato salad at the next get together.
Man, life has certainly changed…
…I don’t think that it is an improvement.
Are Chinese citizens legally allowed to use a VPN in China?
Yes. The companies which sell VPN access are state-owned. That’s right, the companies which sell access to get around the Great Firewall are owned by the Party. Welcome to China!
Baking with Hillary
In this program, Hillary Clinton demonstrates how nation building is a lot like baking a cake. Yum!
The Barbary Corsairs were afraid of Britain, because the UK was a naval superpower, and so they didn’t dare attack them. British ships sailed unhindered through North African waters.
This immunity to attack had also applied to ships of the 13 Colonies prior to independence, but not to the new United States. The Barbary Corsairs were not afraid of them, so American ships soon came under attack.
This went on for over a decade. Eventually in 1801 President Jefferson decided to go to war with one of the Barbary States, Tripoli. He sent a small fleet, which linked up with the Swedish navy who were also at war with Tripoli. The US also had significant help from the Kingdom of Naples, which offered them the use of three naval ports in Sicily as well as supplies and port personnel. Without this aid it is doubtful that the US Navy could have conducted a successful war so far from home.
However, saying that the US ‘destroyed and defeated the Barbary Pirates’ is a major exaggeration. They blockaded one Barbary city, Tripoli, engaging in several naval actions and raids onto the land until finally, after four years, the Pasha of Tripoli agreed to negotiate a treaty. This required the Americans to pay Tripoli the sum of $60,000 ($1.5 million in today’s value) and in return the Barbary State released about 300 American slaves.
This did not end Barbary attacks on American ships. In 1815, just after the end of the US war with Britain, another fleet was sent to the Mediterranean, this time to attack Algiers. They were able to force the Dey of Algiers to release about 10 captives and pay compensation of $10,000. He also promised to stop attacking American ships in the future, but soon afterwards (when the US warships had returned home) repudiated this treaty.
It was at this point that Britain decided to get involved.
The Napoleonic Wars were over, and the UK had naval power to spare for more humanitarian missions such as ending piracy. A large fleet of British warships including five ships of the line, in cooperation with a squadron of Dutch frigates, was despatched to the Mediterranean. The Barbary States were ordered to halt all piracy and free their Christian slaves.
The states of Tunis and Tripoli, intimidated, backed down without a fight. Algiers resisted.
Admiral Pellew, commanding the British fleet and its Dutch attached squadron, ordered an attack on Algiers on 27 August 1816. The city was heavily fortified with over 300 cannons in land forts as well as many warships in the harbour. The fighting was bloody and went on late into the night, with almost a thousand casualties in the Anglo-Dutch fleet; but the Algerian forts were pounded into rubble, their guns destroyed and their ships sunk.
The following day, the ruler of Algiers surrendered to the British admiral. He freed over 3,000 Christian slaves and paid compensation of $372,000 (£80,000). He also agreed to end the practice of piracy entirely.
In practice, the Barbary Corsairs did not entirely keep their promise to end piracy, though its scale was much reduced after 1816. It took the French colonisation of North Africa, beginning in 1830, to end Barbary piracy forever.
The view on America after spending 40 years in Asia
This is pretty good. Well worth the time to watch. Very interesting.
Meet Karl. He is from the US and has been working in Asia for almost forty years. Karl speaks Mandarin Chinese fluently and was known as a rainmaker for NFT technology in China. He told me about cultural differences with his Taiwanese-Chinese wife, his views on how America should treat its immigrants, and the way his views on the US changed after living in Asia. Enjoy!
My father is a Vietnam veteran with three purple hearts and a silver star. He is the toughest person I have ever known.
This is his story
My father volunteered to join the Army in 1968, he did not get drafted. He worked in a saw mill as a teenager, and grew up the son of poor Italian immigrants. He was raised in a quanset hut in Connecticut (yes there are poor people in Connecticut) until my Grandfather had enough money to build a house by hand with a couple of buddies in the late 50s or early 60s.
Once in Vietnam my father was wounded three times, but on the first two he never left the country even though he could have.
The third time defines toughness.
My father’s platoon, as part of a company operation, walked directly into a VC Base camp in southern Vietnam (my father was a grunt in the 2/60th of the 9th Infantry Division) roughly during the Tet offensive.
A VC Machine gunner fired on him from a concealed position that was no more than 15 feet away. One round instantly almost ripped his foot completely off, and it dangled mainly by the achilles tendon. Another round destroyed my dad’s hand, and also another rendered his M16 inoperable because the bullet went through the bolt and destroyed the action. When he fell down from the impact, and somehow crawled a bit, he somehow escaped the wrath of that particular machine gun nest, but then he saw another in front of him, but this new VC machine gunner didn’t see him yet and was firing at others in his unit.
At this point, men were screaming in pain for help everywhere around my father, and the pain in his hand and leg grew, and he was weaponless. He had to get away from this new machine gun without it seeing him, and the only way to go was over the rice paddy dike that was about 10 feet behind him.
As soon as he moved one inch to begin his escape, that machine gun swung around on him and opened fire. My father only talks about this moment with me, and he only talked about it once or twice ever, and he literally breaks down with the shakes at the recollection.
As the bullets spewed at him, he jumped up, standing on the end of his ankle bone on his right leg, since the foot was flopping, and did the best he could to basically run and dive over the dike. In the process he was hit three more times. Once in the underside of his arm, shredding his bicep and part of his tricep, again in the shoulder, and another in the underside of his Jaw/face.
He landed in the mud on the other side of the dike and could feel his jaw swinging on his face, and his arm was pumping blood like a garden hose. He didn’t even feel the one in the shoulder at all.
His tongue and face began to swell so badly that he couldn’t breath, so he somehow cut himself a trachea with a jackknife using his one good hand. He also packed his arm with mud to stop the bleeding because those Army bandages were totally useless.
the trachea didn’t work perfectly, so he occasionally had to grab his swollen tongue and pull it down so he could breath a bit more, and he did this intermitently as he put his bayonet between his thighs, and hooked the pin on his grenades on the blade so he could pull the pin with his one hand and throw the grenades. He said he couldn’t talk, but he was trying to yell at “the sons of bitches” the whole time.
He crawled along the dike and got weapons from the dead, or from those who were so wounded they couldn’t function, and continuously fired them with one hand to hold the enemy back (they had started to advance through their kill zone basically). Multiple evac helicopters were shot down during this time, and eventually my father had lost so much blood he started to fade… he was going to die.
Out of nowhere, a huge black man from Texas named Cleaver, scooped up my father, and carried him to a chopper that had finally been able to land somewhere. This man barely knew my dad, given that he was black and this was 1968 so the platoon was kind of self-segregated. Cleaver saved his life, and I wouldn’t be here without him – today he would have gotten the medal of honor, but then he didn’t get a damn thing. This is a whole ‘nother story.
Cleaver ran through a hail of bullets, and threw my dad in a huey on top of other bodies, and that’s the last thing my father remembers until he woke up in a hospital in, IIRC, Okinawa (could be wrong on that).
Fast forward two years and hundreds of operations on his jaw, arm, hand, and ankle, my dad is released from the Army with a 300$ pension (they messed up his disability rate, but he “never expected to get any money anyway because he had volunteered”). He is missing a finger and has limited use of his right hand, and his ankle is fused together with a tangle of screws, and his jaw was bone graffed back together but was wired shut for almost a year.
He got a job in a factory in Deep River, CT, marries my mom, and has kids (me). In the late 70s and early 80s he still gets multiple operations, and I remember him shooting an M1 carbine out the window due to insane flashbacks (we lived in the middle of nowhere). He worked in this factory for 30 years.
Then something else happens to him. He somehow becomes deathly allergic to bee stings. He has three near death experiences with this, barely surviving one occasion. He always says, “I can take 5 machine gun rounds, but a goddamn bee sting is what’s gonna kill me… WTF”
He coached our school soccer and baseball teams for years from crutches, or a wheelchair, or both, and every year he coached we won the CT shoreline championships (soccer).
Then another thing happened. One day my grandfather and him were cutting wood in the forest, and a dead tree fell on him. Imagine the luck. You’re in the woods, and a dead tree decides to fall, right on where you are squatted cutting another tree. My grandfather yelled to him just in time for him to turn, and that turn allowed the tree to only graze him. He still was unconscious for several days in the hospital, had a massive concussion and other damage, but somehow lived.
He was also electrocuted once as well… but this post is getting too long already so I’ll stop there.
My dad is now 73, and his wounds don’t get any better, especially the mental ones. He met Cleaver later in life, and they were both so overwhelmed that they really didn’t know what to say, and then they never talked again, because it was just too emotional. He was awarded a Silver Star for his actions that day, but he really doesn’t give a shit about that medal.
I also forgot to mention that he is an amazing father, and one of the kindest people you would ever know. Half of what I’ve done, and do, in my life was/is just a pathetic attempt to impress him.
Now if that ain’t tough, I don’t know WTF is. Also, think about Cleaver, also tough AF.
SO MUCH TRUTH!! | Rapper Reacts to Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond (First Reaction)
Number one: Teenagers wearing khakis and blazers with an embroidered logo. When I lived in Boston, I hung out a lot in Harvard Square, and there were a fair number of kids like this walking around. I don’t know if they dressed this way because they were part of a fraternity, or they were high-school students at a nearby boarding school (Phillips Exeter, Phillips Andover, etc.). But it’s something you don’t see in very many places.
Number two: Dogs in sweaters and matching booties, being led by women in sunglasses. Saw this around Little Italy/Houston St. in New York. It was just so out of the ordinary! I get it that broken glass and such is common in New York, and that some protection can sometimes be a good thing, but there are plenty of _people_ who don’t color-coordinate their shoes to their outfit every day: to do that for both yourself and your dog says something.
Number three: teenagers with Porsches/Maseratis/etc. Ran into a few of these in Boston: there are students there coming from immensely wealthy families, sometimes insensibly so. No way you’re a 19-year-old college student paying for a brand-new sports car/ritzy SUV.\
Number four: Mentioning “my club” in passing conversation, such as “I met her today at my club for lunch.” Or “there’s a ‘function’ (not a _party_, mind 😉 ) at my club tonight.” A lot of people might belong to a book club, or perhaps a bowling team, or even a chess club, but usually they preface it with the activity in question. If you can afford tens of thousands of dollars to belong to a private golf club, country club, racquet club, etc., you’re upper class.
Russian spacecraft crashes into the Moon – BBC News
Something is going on here. I strongly suspect that there is more to this story than what meets the eye.
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.
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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.
Originally Answered: What are the most epic fails in history?
“The Americans should know the character of the men they are dealing with in Singapore and not get themselves further dragged into calumny…..They are not dealing with Ngo Dinh Diem or Syngman Rhee. You do not buy and sell this Government.”
In 1960, a CIA agent was caught attempting to purchase confidential information from Singapore intelligence officers. They offered a $3.3 million bribe (equivalent to $25 million in today’s money) to then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew to keep hush about the matter.
Instead, PM Lee insisted on $33 million in economic aid as Singapore was then a 3rd world country.
A few years later, the US vehemently denied the entire incident. This caused Lee Kuan Yew to go ballistic and threaten to release full reports and recordings to the public. It was only then did the US government admit and make a formal apology.
A long, long time ago… when I was a boy of 14 years old… I started my first job. I was a “tipple loader” at a coal mine in Western Pennsylvania. My job was to operate the rock crusher and then use the conveyor belt to load hopper-cars (a type of train car) with crushed coal.
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Throughout the 1960s, the 70s, and well into the 1990s it was common for the older workers to harass and “break in” the new kid. And during my teen years, I sure as heck got the brunt of it all.
One of the things they would do is order me to “fetch a boom-hoist-clamp” which is just a simple clamp on a drag-line. Now, drag-lines are big enormous machines.
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And so, being young and inexperienced, they would gleefully chuckle and laugh at how stupid I was as I would climb the boom to the top to get this fucking clamp.
Being so young, and ignorant, I really didn’t realize that I was risking my life…
…on a joke, for minimum wage. It never occurred to me. As this was my first experience to the harsh world of much older men who have lived the “hard life” in the hills of Western Pennsylvania. And so I endured the various initiations. And worked hard…
…until I was able to pull myself out of that environment and go to university to study aerospace engineering and leave that Hell-hole.
But…
Let’s get back to the question.
Why are the Oligarchs so easy to start a war with China?
Well, like myself as a young boy and my first experience with the harsh world of rough and scrabble men, I had no idea of what I was going up against. Neither do these oligarchs. They think in terms of what they know, and what they don’t know is something that NEVER crosses their mind.
They believe the funded lies about “Russia collapsing”, “Putin will be disposed any day now”, “Ukraine is winning”, ‘Russian military is a joke”…. and they most certainly believe the massive lies (oh, so much greater and so much more outrageous) concerning China…
China will collapse any day now.
The Chinese dictatorship cannot face the American military might.
China has no weapons able to compete or fight the mighty nations of Rambo soldiers.
China is weak, and helpless.
And so on and so forth.
And so, when I listen to these oligarchs speak, and their proxy figureheads talk to the “news” media, it’s like some kind of warped parody. The ignorance is staggering. And like myself, (as a young boy of 14) I had no idea that I was risking my life for something as trivial as the chuckles and cajoling of the elder men.
These idiots will draw the United States into a war with China, and the United States will lose. Sure as shit. It doesn’t matter if it is conventional, economic, or nuclear. The United States is on the fast-track to “suicide by cop”.
And that is what happens with you are ignorant, stupid, and egotistical and facing a lethal opponent that isn’t.
FIRST TIME LISTEN | Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond | REACTION!!!!
In the 90s, a group of kids were playing football at the local football pitch that was situated near a rocky mountain. One of the kids kick the ball into a pile of rocks at the side of the mountain, and when one of the kids went to retrieve the ball he was left horrified when he discovered the body of a man crushed by a large boulder.
The man had been pinned under the boulder, but what was even more unusual was the fact his pants was down and he was holding a chicken in his hands. When investigators tried to piece together the mans final moments, they came to the conclusion that the man had been trying to tenderise the chicken, so to speak.
They believe the 39-year-old bricklayer named Herminio Rivera Coucerio had abducted a hen in Orsense, in Spain, and brought it to the mountain side to have his way with it. They believed his rigorous trusting had caused the boulder to come lose and rolled on top of him, and killed him instantly.
Against common misconception, quicksand will not drown you as it is denser than your torso. The problem with quicksand is that you can practically get stuck in it and die from hunger, thirst, or extreme temperatures.
The force required to lift your foot out of quicksand at a speed of 1 cm per second is equal to the lift force of a medium-size car. So if you are really stuck in the middle of quicksand, forget about moving your legs out of the sand with just force.
First of all, you need to get rid of excess weight, which will be a huge obstacle to escape. Breathe deeply as your fully filled lungs will allow you to float better.
If you are standing, lean back into a position where you can float. This will allow your feet to return to the surface as your weight is more evenly distributed.
When you move your legs up while in the floating position, let the quicksand under your legs fill for a moment.
Move slowly inch by inch toward the shore.
Try reaching for something outside like a tree branch and try to drag yourself out. Only do this when your feet are on the surface again.
THIS SONG IS AMAZING!!! Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Richmond Reaction
When most women are young, they’re attracted to men with good looks, charm, charisma, confidence, and raw sexual magnetism.
As time passes, people age, and life experiences accumulate, most women start to realize that other things are important. Like a good credit rating. Now the ball’s in my court.
To be clear, I’m not talking about being rich (never was, probably never will be). I’m talking about being responsible, reliable, predictable. The kind of guy who pays all his bills on time, has his tax returns filled out in February, spend his weekends doing yardwork rather than partying, and has never once gotten in a fight with a bouncer.
Being conventional to the point of being boring seems to hold little appeal to women in their teens and twenties.
But…
I’ve found that most women in their thirties have had a lot of bad experiences with ‘exciting’ guys, and are ready to settle down with someone they can count on.
I just had to hang around for enough years that a woman I knew felt the need to settle, and then closed the deal as quick as possible.
Those of us who lack the looks have to deal in patience.
When I was 18 year’s old, my mom submitted my application to a place looking for part-time help. I had no idea she did this.
I didn’t find out until after she already had the interview set up for me.
The interview was in a part of town I had never been in before.
Everything was extremely run down looking. Homeless people were wandering the streets and sidewalks with their shopping carts. Almost every building on the block, including the one I was interviewing in, had some sort of graffiti on the side.
I walked inside the building to find unfinished concrete walls and floors. The desks and tables were dilapidated and covered in dust.
“Are you here for an interview?”
That was my assumption, but this place looked more like it was ready to shut down than it was to hire someone new.
“Paul, Robert is here for your 10:30 interview.”
Tucked in the corner of the building was a make-shift office set up where Paul sat. Behind him was a bookshelf that looked no better than the other furniture in the building. Sitting on top of his bookshelf was an long ivy plant that stretched halfway to the floor.
That stuck out to me because that plant was the only sort of decoration that I could see in the entire place.
Instead of going to his desk, Paul met me at the front door. After exchanging some short introductions, Paul asked –
“Have you ever worked a heat press before?”
I had no idea what a heat press was.
“That’s okay, we’ll teach you. The pay is $9.00/hr but it’s a temporary position. We’ll only need you for about 3 months. If all sounds good, you can start tomorrow.”
The entire interview took less than 5 minutes.
That was 16 years ago. Even though the position was only supposed to last for 3 months, I’m still here, sitting in the space where Paul used to sit. Only now that space has walls around it to form an actual office.
We’ve also painted the building, finished the walls and floors, and replaced all the furniture.
One of the only physical items left from 2007 is that ivy plant, which now sits on top of a shelf behind my desk… along with some other plants that I’ve collected and am trying not to kill.
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El Dorado Casserole
I have been making this casserole for as long as I can remember. It’s very good and exceptionally good warmed up the next day.
l327425905
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
16 ounces tomato sauce
1 cup sliced black olives
8 ounces sour cream
1 cup cottage cheese
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chiles
7 ounces tortilla corn chips, crushed
8 ounces (or more, if desired) Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
Instructions
Cook beef until browned.
Drain. Add onion, garlic powder, tomato sauce and olives. Cook over low heat until the onion is clear.
Combine sour cream, cottage cheese and chiles.
Layer half the chips, meat mixture, sour cream mixture and Monterey Jack cheese in a greased 2 1/2-quart casserole.
Repeat this layering a second time.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.
Why Rolling Stone is TERRIFIED of Oliver Anthony
Country musician Oliver Anthony went from unknown to the top of the iTunes charts after his song, “Rich Men North of Richmond,” went viral overnight.
But music press outlets like Rolling Stone immediately became hostile.
They started churning out headlines trying to tie Anthony to right-wing politics and Q-Anon, and even suggested he was a plant for far-right culture warriors.
But former Mumford & Sons banjoist Winston Marshall, who knows a thing or two about political attacks against musicians, joins Glenn to explain what’s really going on: the former countercultural generation has “become the establishment.”
But is there still a chance that an authentic artist like Oliver Anthony can unite a divided country?
Xi awarded Order of South Africa
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Chinese President Xi Jinping received the Order of South Africa from President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday.
The award ceremony came following Xi’s meeting with Ramaphosa during his state visit to South Africa, where he will also attend the 15th BRICS Summit and co-chair with Ramaphosa the China-Africa Leaders’ Dialogue.
The Order of South Africa is the highest decoration and the highest honor that South Africa awards to an important and friendly head of state.
Speaking at the ceremony, Xi said the China-South Africa comprehensive strategic partnership has entered a “golden era,” as political mutual trust between the two sides continues to deepen, and mutually beneficial and practical cooperation in various fields has yielded fruitful results.
The two countries have maintained close coordination and cooperation in international affairs, which has effectively promoted their respective development and revitalization, and made positive contributions to safeguarding the common interests of developing countries, he noted.
Xi reiterated that no matter how the international situation changes, the two sides will remain committed to deepening bilateral friendly cooperation.
Noting that he will treasure the honor, which symbolizes the friendship between the two peoples, Xi pledged to unswervingly push for the continuous development of China-South Africa relations.
China, because its dominant political party, unlike India’s who worship cows and discriminate against fellow Indians based on caste, has developed China much better.
It is this weird juxtaposition that occurs between this deeply Christian part of our state and a very naughty other half.
It’s not uncommon to see stuff like this:
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This isn’t one of those “never masturbate,” “quit porn,” posts. I actually get annoyed with those posts. Go do your thing. Enjoy you some porn, ladies and gents.
But.
There is this porn DVD store that I pass, yes – DVD, on the way to work.
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Every time I pass this store, typically between 7:45AM and 7:50AM,
There are at least 3–4 cars in the parking lot, and that bitch is open for business.
If any of you catch me shopping for porn DVDs at 7:45 AM on a Tuesday –
This is from a school dance a year or two ago. It was the Valentine’s Day dance and we were all having a lot of fun. All of a sudden there’s a big commotion in the gym. There’s a huge crowd and everyone around has their phones out and seem to be recording something.
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I’m able to see what’s going on my pushing myself through and what I see is literally horrifying.
This girl is breathing crazily and crying with her hands on her head. Two girls are next to her (friends I assume) saying, “GUYS STOP! SHE’S HAVING A PANIC ATTACK!”
Everyone around in that circle is recording.
Recording a 12 year old at a dance having a panic attack.
Soon the teachers help the girl outside to get some fresh air and the teachers tell everyone to delete the video they took. I know they never really deleted it.
But this is absolutely absurd. The fact that everyone didn’t even try to help but recorded her is awful. I didn’t see her since or really ever knew her, but I know I would hate it if someone recorded me at a low moment like this.
While I was in college, I worked as a security guard at a factory that reprocessed scrap cloth into felt.
One of the maintenance workers was notably lacking in common sense. I once found him on the roof of the factory, watching a seized-up motor burn, with six-inch flames coming up to it.
He wasn’t making any attempt to cut the power to the motor, or put the fire out. I commented that I was surprised the circuit breaker hadn’t tripped. He explained that he had bypassed the circuit breaker, “because it was tripping too often”.
As part of my duties, I wrote and submitted a fire report. He was still kept on as a member of the maintenance crew, because he was the plant manager’s son-in-law.
RICH MEN NORTH OF RICHMOND RAP remix By: Black Pegasus – INSPIRED by Oliver Anthony!
I have no interest in being a billionaire, but I would like to be homeless one day.
When the kids are grown and out of the house, I see no point in having one. I’ll pick up one of these, sell the house, and go wherever the wheels take me.
I was working at a company for about a year and a half. It was just another day. I was talking with my co-worker who I shared an office with. I said, “You really don’t want to be called in to speak with H.R. If you do, it’s pretty likely you’re being laid off.”
Right then, as if on cue, my phone rang. It was the head of H.R. She wanted me to come to her office.
My heart sank. I told my co-worker, who I’ll call Greg. He blew it off. “It’s probably nothing. Probably just something with your benefits.”
I didn’t think so, but marched over to her office. My boss’s boss was there. I was invited to take a seat and I did so.
Mrs. H.R. said, “Okay, you’re being terminated, effective immediately.”
“Wait, what?” I said.
“Your employment with us is being terminated. Now.”
I couldn’t believe it. I had just finished a pretty important feature for our project and had just got a “Congrats!” from my boss.
“What…” I said. “What for?”
Boss’s boss answered, “For not doing your work.” His face was flushed and he looked ashamed.
I still couldn’t believe it. Doing my work was all I did, every day. “According to who? Who said that?”
“Your manager.” The one who had just given me the “attaboy!”. Boss’s boss looked even more ashamed.
I had been given no warning that my work was insufficient. In fact, quite the opposite. “Uh, for future reference,” I said, “it might be a good idea to let your employees know when they’re not meeting expectations.”
Mrs. H.R. made me sign some papers. She said signing them was non-voluntary. I was still in a haze and just signed them.
My manager handed me off to a guy who I vaguely recognized from some IT or facilities function. He looked like he could easily be in a body building competition. He escorted me downstairs to someone else, who explained to me I was being fired and made me hand over my badge. She was about to have me escorted out by Mr. Muscles when I asked her if I needed to surrender my CAC as well.
She said, “Oh, yeah, I’ll need that too.” She acted like this was the first time she had done this. She was flustered.
Mr. Muscles took me back up to my office, where he watched me pack what few belongings I had. Greg wasn’t there. I left him a note to call me.
Mr. Muscles escorted me outside, where I walked to my car. I drove home, trying to process what had just happened. I had never been fired before. I’d never even been warned about “insufficient performance”.
Greg got a hold of me later that day. When he saw my note, he noticed a bunch of people were disappearing from the office. He found our manager and asked if his neck was on the chopping block too. He said, “Yes.”
He asked him why. He said he couldn’t tell him.
When it was Greg’s turn for the “You’re Fired” ride, he turned to our boss’s boss and said, “Chase*, what you’re doing is wrong, and you know it.” Wow, guts are one thing Greg didn’t lack.
He said in all, about 40 people were let go that day. All were “fired”.
No one fires 40 people in one day, unless they were all involved in some sort of widespread fraud or something, and of course we weren’t.
Over the course of the next few days, we pieced together something that sort of made sense, but not really. It was a layoff, but they had to call it firing so they wouldn’t have to pay us severance. That kind of made sense, but I’ve been laid off before and never got any severance. Why was this case any different?
It turns out that the company was trying to win a big government/military contract that was up for re-compete. They hired all 40 of us to build a “demo” to bid for the system. They didn’t win it, and thus needed to get rid of us.
The “firing” part really hurt, though.
The company has since been bought out twice. The company has a totally different name now, and different owners.
But they kept their employment records. Over the years, recruiters have tried to place me there again, under the new company. They always reject me, saying they wouldn’t rehire me because they fired me once before.
Yeah, fired. Just call it what it really was, you cowards: a non-severance layoff.
Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North Of Richmond” Is The War Cry The Working Class Has Been Waiting For
This is actually a very good video and connects the Fourth Turning to Oliver Anthony.
All that China has to do is to BE SATISFIED with its present position and be prepared to be Number 2 all it’s life
The West will never target China and it would always be a great country and best friends
The West especially the US emasculates any threat it perceives to it’s dominance with a combination of
Political upheavals or color revolutions or
Propaganda
or
Stoking nationalist sentiments against a specific nation
or
Economic Throttling
That’s how they neutralized the EU or Japan or S Korea to date
Sadly China, India, Russia are three nations that remain defiant
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Of the three – China is the most likely candidate to pip the US in the next two decades and thus the West which is more or less an accepted fiefdom of the USA is targeting China most heavily
Color Revolutions won’t work in China, a 90% Han majority country
Political Upheavals wont work as Xi Jingping is firmly in charge and has consolidated the CPC
Nationalist Sentiments work against USA now
All that is left is Economic Throttling and that’s what the US is doing and forcing it’s allies to do the same
Chinas Defiance , Indias Defiance, Russia’s Defiance is getting a bit worrisome for the West
Especially Chinas, since China has the Economic Clout and a huge stack of money and a massive industry, not to mention a consumer market that is 16% of the World’s Consumption, third highest after US and EU
So the West want to ensure that China can’t end the “Western way of life” Or the “Western Dominance” Or question “US Exceptionalism”
Unfortunately the US has lost the art of diplomacy long ago and has become somewhat of a bully
As a result, it is unable to persuade most nations to toe the line
Left to itself, China could have been happy with imports and never really aspired to do more
Instead by these sanctions, China knows it has to buck up and do a lot of hard work and can’t rely or trust the USA
Thus US and the West scored an Own Goal in this aspect
I caused a young guy to get fired on the spot. It actually wasn’t intentional on my part.
Every Friday a friend and I used to meet to play pool. We found that a local bingo hall had a cafe& lounge area and the table was only 50p a game and the food & snacks were really cheap.
One Friday I ordered my meal, it was only £3. When the usual guy rang it up I was looking at the screen on the top of the register and I saw ‘staff discount’ and the total dropped to £2 but he told me £3, obviously he was pocketing the difference.
I messed around getting cutlery and sauces next to the register and watched him do the same thing to the next few customers.
I went back to the table where my friend was and told him what the cheeky git was up to. No big deal, we both commented it was a bit naughty and that was that.
However there was a woman on the next table who clearly heard our conversation. She stood up, put on a blazer with a badge stating ‘supervisor’, promptly walked over to the cashier, printed something out and escorted him away.
Never saw the young guy again.
Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond | Reaction
The deep sea is perhaps the most terrifying environment on the planet. Not a glimmer of sunlight to be found, only pitch darkness. The water icy cold, and almost devoid of oxygen. The immense and crushing pressure is enough to kill a human instantly. No source of food, other than the slow precipitation of organic debris trickling down from above; “marine snow”.
And yet, against all the odds, if you stare long enough into the abyss, something will stare back.
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In 1966, the crew of a deep sea submarine learned as much. The vessel, dubbed the Deepstar 4000, began its descent not far off the coast of California, on a mission to deploy some hydrographic technology on the seabed, which lay some 1,200 metres below the surface. With the tremendous pressures at this depth, every inch of glass is a threat to the submarine’s structural integrity, so there was only one tiny window for the crew to look outside.
After the Deepstar 4000 touched down on the ocean floor, its pilot Joe Thompson glanced out the diminutive porthole, and saw something extraordinary.
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By Thompson’s account, he found himself gazing into an eye “as big as a dinner plate”, belonging to a fish whose skin was “mottled” and “gray-black”. The fish, he estimated, was at least 25 feet (7.6 metres) long! It kicked up a cloud of silt in its wake, and within a matter of seconds, the encounter was over, and the abyss regained its characteristic eerie stillness.
Shortly thereafter, underwater cameras in the nearby area were triggered by the motion of a massive marine creature. One of them captured this photograph.
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This image is not from a made up spooky story, it depicts a very real creature. A creature which might just be the culprit behind the infamous Deepstar 4000 encounter. To me, this animal is the scariest and most intimidating of all the deep sea horrors we have discovered, but also one of the most fascinating. It is a Pacificsleeper shark.
A close cousin of the much better-known Greenland shark, this species is found in waters across the North Pacific, and even the Arctic Ocean. It spends most of its days deep in the marine void, sometimes thousands of metres below the surface. Because of this strange lifestyle, the Pacific sleeper shark is shrouded in mystery, and to this day we know very very little about it.
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What we do know is that it is one of the largest sharks on the planet. Though we have never scientifically measured a 25 footer like the one possibly sighted by the Deepstar 4000, we know for certain they can grow to four and a half metres in length, which is already gigantic. In 1989, a sleeper estimated to be seven metres was filmed in Tokyo Bay, while in Hawaii one was photographed that was potentially over nine metres long!
If these estimates are true, the Pacific sleeper shark could be the world’s third largest shark species, after the filter-feeding whale shark and basking shark. The claims are very much within the realms of possibility. Other shark species are well known to display a massive range in size, with some individuals being a whole 50% larger than the average specimen. After all, so long as they have enough food, sharks never stop growing.
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And Pacific sleeper sharks sure do have plenty of time to grow. If their almost identical cousins the Greenland sharks are anything to go on, they can live for hundreds of years, perhaps half a millennium. There are likely sleeper sharks alive today that have lived through the entirety of modern history.
How does such gargantuan animals survive so deep in the abyss, where food is so scarce? Their extremely slow metabolism helps, though as a result, they are very sluggish. The aptly named sleeper sharks cruise through the depths at an extraordinarily slow speed of about 1 kilometre per hour – if you saw one in front of you, you’d barely even notice it moving! Being such slowpokes, we long assumed them to be scavengers, as they’d surely be useless predators.
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However, when we dissected sleepers that got caught in fishing nets, the contents of their stomachs told a very different story. Inside, scientists found fresh remains of practically every kind of animal that the sharks share their habitats with. Fish, crustaceans, cephalopods, sea lions, porpoises… these beasts are far from carrion feeders, they are apex predators!
One shocking food item in particular seems more common than any other; the beaks of giant squid! This means that the Pacific sleeper shark is one of only two animals on the planet that can hunt and kill giant squid, the other being the sperm whale. The thought of such a slow-moving creature being able to take down this prey may seem impossible, but the shark’s thick and muscular tail fin indicates that it can produce violent bursts of intense speed when it needs to.
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With a gaping and oddly circular maw, the sleeper shark can effectively “inhale” most of the prey it encounters. Victims too large to be eaten by suction are chomped to death by its massive bite force and sharp, needle-like teeth, pictured below. It also has a truly enormous stomach, which allows it to store food for long periods of time, a lifesaver in the barren deep sea. The stomach of one specimen was found to contain over 135 kilograms of accumulated food!
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Lack of food is but one of the many challenges posed by life at such depths. The extreme pressure and frigid temperatures can wreak damage even at the molecular level, destabilising proteins within organisms’ cells. To protect against this, Pacific sleeper sharks employ a powerful chemical known as trimethylamine oxide (TMAO), which circulates in their bloodstream in incredibly high concentrations.
As it turns out, TMAO also has psychoactive properties – it is in fact a potent nerve agent. Because of that, if you eat sleeper shark meat, you’ll soon start to show symptoms of severe drunkenness, which may last for days. This is known as being “shark drunk”. The flesh of the (again, very closely related) Greenland shark is a delicacy in Iceland, called hákarl, but it is left to ferment for months before being safe to eat. It smells and tastes like urine, due to the vast quantities of urea in sleeper sharks’ blood.
2023 08 23 16 28
Yet another fascinating thing about Pacific sleeper sharks is that almost all of them are blind. This is not a condition they have at birth, however. At some point in their lives, sleepers will invariably fall victim to a rather horrifying parasite called Ommatokoita elongata. This tiny worm-like creature is actually a crustacean, though it doesn’t look the part.
Ommatokoita attaches itself to the cornea of its unfortunate host, and remains there permanently, slowly eating away at the poor shark’s eyeball. It’s seemingly not fatal, as virtually all sleeper sharks have them and they can live for hundreds of years, but it does make them go blind. To be fair, eyesight isn’t of much use in a pitch black void, anyway.
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That is absolutely everything you need to know about the Pacific sleeper shark, because it’s just about everything we do know about the Pacific sleeper shark. What I find even more interesting is everything we don’t know, all the mysteries that science shall hopefully solve in the coming decades, as we learn more about these incredible real-life sea monsters.
In 2012 I was in Germany on business when I was invited to the home of the managing director for dinner. The house was beautiful and located on a hillside with a spectacular view over a sheltered valley. After dinner we were sitting on the varanda drinking coffee when my host explained that not only did he own the valley but it was an additional source of income.
He stated that he was very grateful to the wartime RAF who had bombed the valley. There had been a small stream flowing through the valley until a bomber had jettisoned it’s bombs, probably after being attacked by a night fighter. The resulting bomb craters had filled up with water and were now a very profitable trout farm.
We leaned over the varanda balustrade and he pointed out the seven deep pools strung along the valley bottom. It was the number seven that worried me. Looking down from above you could clearly see the pools were grouped in a string of three with a short gap followed by a string of four pools. I am no bomber expert but I had to point out to my host that I would have expected any bomber to carry a balanced load. That and the gap in the regular positioning of the bomb craters made me wonder if perhaps one of the bombs had failed to explode.
A couple of weeks later, back in Aberdeen, I received a very nice email letting me know that following our conversation he had notified the authorities who had indeed found an unexploded bomb burrowed deep in the ground.
Visitor from a Parallel Universe | Who Was The Man from Taured?
Welcome to my life.
This is fun. Who knows what the real truth is? But, you know, powerful interests will generate cover stories to hide reality.
It’s why the US is panicking, because China is a competitor which the US has never seen.
Un like countries such as India, China has the ability and determination to advance;
on the other hand, unlike countries such as EU countries and Japan, China has a huge internal market to protect its companies from being sanctioned.
In a test video on Bilibili, they confirmed that the Mate 60 Pro is powered by the New Kirin 9000S, which was made in week 35 of 2020, in mainland China.
image
But the CPU is not the main character in Mate 60 Pro, since Kirin 9000S is only about the same as Snapdragon 888, the top performance 2 years ago.
It’s the BAW filter, or Bulk Acoustic Wave Filter. It was the key component for 5G communication, and the only part which the US could sanction Huawei’s cellphones. For a while, all Huawei cellphones used to have only 4G.
Silex Microsystems made a breakthough in BAW filter, and finally found the last piece of the puzzle.
Designed by Huawei, Silex, and other Chinese companies, made by SMIC.
U.S. Department of Commerce must be disappointed.
I guess it’s why Mate 60 Pro made a sudden appearence even without a press conference or any other event. It just quietly appeared in Huawei Stores and Huawei Online Shop.
2023 09 01 14 21
The one who being the main drive of this sanction against Chinese companies is in China. Gina Raimondo is one of the most aggressive person in Biden administration to push a harder stance against China. She’s one of the most extreme eagles, if not the most extreme one.
2023 09 01 14 22s
Just like how Robert Gates was so sure that China wouldn’t be able to have a stealth fighter, China did the first test-flight during his visit in China in 2011.
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It’s been 1041 days since Huawei released its last Kirin 9000.
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It’s been 1566 days since Huawei being included into the entity list of US government.
With the massive domestic market, China was able to maintain Huawei’s operation. Now Chinese government and state-owned companies should choose only domestic computers, preferablly Huawei.
The US sanctions Huawei not because of its cellphones, but communication equipments.
2023 09 01 14 23
The world was going to choose Huawei to deploy their 5G networks, and this would be a problem for the US government to spy other countries.
Therefore, even with no backdoor found, the UK eventually banned Huawei for security reasons and choose US companies which does have backdoors in their products.
The UK cannot say no to the US, because any British politician would want to stay longer in the politics club.
I see from your profile that you’re American. I am from Singapore.
I think it’s funny how an American is calling Singapore “dictatorial”, when the USA is the place where cops use equipment designed for military warfare; where cops regularly shoot people, especially black people, to death for minor offences; and which has one of the world’s highest incarceration rates (the USA comprises 4% of the world population, but holds 25% of its prisoners) and exploits prison labour in a way that the ACLU and Chicago Law School has described as a “fundamental abuse of human rights”; and models itself after Afghanistan when it comes to women’s rights to contraceptives and abortion. The USA treats gun ownership as a kind of human right, but not universal healthcare. Meanwhile, its leaders talk openly in Congress about invading its southern neighbour Mexico …
Well, maybe that is not so strange. After all, Kansas, Colorado, California, Utah, Arizona etc were all part of Mexico, before the USA brutally invaded it and took all that land away. “Dictatorial” is also not an inappropriate adjective to describe the genocidal acts which the white Americans inflicted on the Native Americans. Let’s not even go into the USA’s history of black slavery.
Meanwhile, Singapore is “dictatorial” because it bans commercial imports of chewing gum except for therapeutic purposes. LOL …
Gabon just SHOCKED the world with a coup, Africa breaking from Western rule
One of the elements of life is to get bad news, suffer though crimes, or be misunderstood. Many times people will place blame on you, and expect you to apologize for your evil. Then they will punish you in all sorts of ways relative to their degree of power and authority.
Once you start your affirmation campaigns, you start to realize (often after years) that what you experience (good and bad) are but manifestations. These manifestations (often parts of larger constructions) that present (relative) bad or uncomfortable to you as part of moving forward to achieve your goals.
You are stuck in traffic, and you miss your plane. (Bad + Bad) You miss an important meeting. (Bad) Where decisions that affect you are made without your consent. (Bad) But when you start working you notice that your life takes a dramatic change in the direction your have been affirming. (Very Good).
Certainly there are other influences (such as fate) that will either enhance or hinder your manifestations, but no matter what remember…
…what ever you experience is part of the system that supports the manifestation of your reality.
So “Bad” just seems that way. In reality, it is a “shedding of old skin” to start a new direction, lifestyle and beginning.
Ha ha. Yep. It was a real Pretty Woman moment too!
I had started with this really wealthy client and they expected me to dress the part when dealing with their customers.
So I was given a $2k clothing allowance and went out shopping. I went to a Neiman Marcus store and went to the high end section. I was ignored. Then I was told they didn’t have anything that would look good on me. (I’m a size 6 for crying out loud…) I wasn’t dressed to the 9’s —I was in my usual nice jeans, nice shirt and boots.
So I ended up in a White House, Black Market store. The ladies were awesome. I told them what I had just been through and the manager was totally horrified at my treatment. She told me not to worry and to literally ‘get ready to have some fun!’
They kept bringing me shirts and skirts and pants and dresses, all while telling me what looked good and what didn’t. And not everything that was on clearance was what looked horrible on me. It was actually a mix between the clearance and regular clothing.
By the time I was done, I had gotten $5k of clothing for about $1700. A great day!
Depending on the degree of the decoupling, it would suffer a slowdown, but the Chinese government is preparing for that scenario by expanding trade ties with other developing economies.
Formed about 450 million years ago, it’s found under a good portion of Manhattan, but is not common in the rest of the New York metro area. It’s thick and hard, which means it has an incredible bearing capacity. Stick a massive skyscraper on top of it and it won’t move a millimeter in geologic time. Putting a skyscraper on it is like putting an ant on a horse. It hasn’t been subject to any tectonic forces in hundreds of millions of years – it essentially rides on top of a stable part of the North American plate.
Unfortunately, it is deep, deep beneath the surface sometimes. In Greenwich Village, it’s about 260 feet below the surface, so it’s not practical to dig down that far to lay a foundation. However, in many parts of Manhattan, it’s less than 20 feet below the surface – trivially easy to dig that deep and put the foundation on top of it.
I had a ‘hometown’ bank (The walk-in, mail in, drive -in, FLY-IN- bank had its own landing strip behind the property) ; I used it for almost 30 years. Everyone knew you, your family and even the pets names.
The founder/owner retired and sold out to Wells Fargo.
Gone were the friendly faces and wide open spaces.
No one knew my name. Partitions went up to block off the ‘important’ offices, the break room was closed to customers, where we used to sit and nibble homemade tea cookies while sipping free Dr. Pepper and coffee, conducting business there instead of an office. (I once bought a car for my son as I was leaving to work a disaster. My loan officer told me ‘When you’re back in town come by and sign the papers. Tell _____to drive careful’.)
I won’t say I hated Wells Fargo. I like the word DETEST. Maybe LOATHE. I remember being charged $5.00 (in the 90’s) to talk to an actual person instead of their ‘robot’.
The straw that broke the camels back occurred when one of my sons graduated high school with a 4.0, 4 year average. That netted him $5,000. I went to get the cash, fifty $100.00 bills. The teller asked why I wanted it. I told her it wasn’t any of her concern and asked for the money a second time. She went to get her manager. Same question. Same reply. He said he would have to make a phone call. I stopped him and asked him to give me all my money from my 2 accounts. He tried to talk me out of it. I suggested maybe it was time to call the police to help get my money.
I closed the accounts. The manager put the cash in a locked bank envelope. I drove a half mile to the newest bank in town, one founded by the employees of my old bank (who were all fired – every one of them). I opened the door and immediately heard, ‘ Ron, What took you so long?’
I was home. The bank offered me those tea cookies. And an iced cold Dr. Pepper.
I will never use Wells Fargo bank again.
Xi Jinping avoids Biden meeting. BRICS more important than G20
Xi Jinping avoids Biden meeting. BRICS more important than G20 The Duran: Episode 1688.
It hurts me to say and then write: Next few centuries or more belong to China. That is the way China and the Chinese wrote their fate.
For nearly fifty years, I worked with Canadians, Overseas, and Mainland Chinese at different levels.
(I have been in Canada for close to fifty years) and besides visiting several other countries, living next to the USA. I believe I can say a few words on this topic.
I was born/grew up in Punjab/India; therefore, I knew India from birth and then went to India at frequent time gaps.
Once reasonably recently, before COVID, I went there to get my ancestral house repaired, and one severe issue was the property. I was there for an extended period. And this trip was immediately after visiting China.
I confirmed in my mind:
Productivity/Super Safety/Shallow crime society/State of the art infrastructure/one of the best mass transportation safe and reasonably priced reliable/almost wiped out hunger/very high literacy rate and going up consistently/relatively very low corruption/drug-free society/heightened civic sense/now controlled in check population growth/for women participation in the workforce/women are very respected and cared and safe/the Chinese Government is made of very devoted and qualified people/Chinese Government does not leave anyone behind/law enforcement agencies are deemed to be friends not corrupted overweight harassers/very frugal and high saving society/
Chinese people are one of the most hardworking races on the earth.
Now I know it hurts: The hard reality is that Indian efficiency/productivity was about thirty percent of the Chinese efficiency/productivity.
India is one of the most corrupt countries. China may not be washed in holy water, but it is relatively clean from this evil.
India has a useless/failed/borrowed system from the former rulers. There is NO WORKING DEMOCRACY IN THE WORLD. It is wishful thinking, which is why The West is sinking with crime/clogged courts/lawless lands/ and the Sun is setting faster than you think.
India still has 200 million people who do not have three meals a day. China has almost wiped out the hunger.
India is a land with corrupt style regimes, super clogged courts, zero justice, appeals appeals appeals, and more appeals and no justice.
Go to YOUTUBE/Google/and read about the Ajmer Sex Scandal, the Nirbhay Case(Seven-year delay in delivering justice)/Kids killing their parents for money/spouses hiring hit people to get rid of the spouse/and similar gut-wrenching a piece of daily news.
India is no match and never will be in INFRA-STRUCTURE with China; please visit China as I did and open your eyes.
Women can walk alone in the middle of the night in Shanghai/Beijing. Try to do something stupid, and you will find out. Just compare this thing with India.
Chinese people are highly disciplined, have great civic sense, and are true Karam Yogi/Yoginis(Good deed philosophy and working diligently).
Chinese universities are far ahead of India: Look at the world list of top universities and find where India stands, including IIT and IIM.
My kids went to school/university with Chinese kids. They will eat the competition alive(which means no match for their hard work; it was great for us because our kids were now equally successful as their completion or even more).
A Chinese woman is a killer(In a good sense); I have seen her multitasking and giving a new horizon to the MOST hardworking human in the modern world.
She has NOT only claimed half of the sky her fair share but also took half the burden of hard work.
In my view, at present times, Chinese/Japanese/Singaporean women are the luckiest of women to gain their proper place in society and job opportunities.
India is the crime capital of the world, where even the MUG in the toilet of the rail compartment is chained to the wall because people steal. Try these things in China and find out the consequences.
China is almost free from drugs now compared to India.
This is a myth that Chinese people are NOT happy: That is utter nonsense. Most of the Chinese people I met in China/Canada and during the travel in Asia, except in HK/Taiwan, are very satisfied and know the future is bright for them.
China is light years ahead of India in literacy rate.
China’s mass-scale public transportation is becoming a world model.
China has now controlled population growth, but India is still going strong.
China has no caste system, and India is still pickling in the caste system.
The best is to go to China and come back and measure: China has surpassed some of the past highest standards set by Japan/Europe/North America.
China’s growth and being the ULTIMATE superpower is a reality, and in the next few centuries, China will be the ULTIMATE power.
Here is the conclusion:
“India is inferior to China in every way.”
My observations/conclusions/: India will NEVER MATCH or EVEN COME CLOSER TO CHINA: India has a failed governing system, And it is ONLY big ra ra in the eyes of the West to counterbalance Chinese Might. The West is a setting sun: It is over for them. And so-called “Democracy” failed miserably.
And
India has lost direction: Nudity/Vulgarity/skyrocketing drug/alcohol/consumption/shallow productivity/zero civic sense/corruption top to bottom/uncontrolled population growth/mafia style regimes/deplorable work ethics/wrong and massive use of modern gadgets/inferior infrastructure/massive hunger/slavery/caste system/low literacy rate/destitute personal safety/assets/and women in specific. Trolls will be significant nails in the coffin in starting the next war with neighboring countries. This list is a never-ending list.
In a country where people do not hesitate to script fixtures such as an inexpensive MUG to clean the user after defecating, What do you expect more?
China has a free battlefield to walk to the crown, and no one can stop her. She is already the real Queen or Chairperson of the board.
Learn to work with her: No use in fighting this might. For over 70 years, she worked extremely hard to clean the house behind closed doors.
I hope it helps.
I JUST CRIED!! OLIVER ANTHONY – RICH MEN NORTH OF RICHMOND
2023 08 20 17 12
Boogie Woogie Beef
OvbIP
Ingredients
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup red wine
1 envelope Lipton beefy onion soup mix
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 pounds stew beef
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
8 ounces baby carrots
Instructions
Mix cream of mushroom soup, wine, beefy onion soup mix and dried thyme in slow cooker.
Add meat, carrots, and mushrooms; and stir.
Cook on HIGH for 4 hours, then on LOW for 4 hours, or just cook on LOW for about 8 to 10 hours.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland’s visit in post-coup Niger has incensed Washington’s NATO ally France, according to a weekend report by French news outlet Le Figaro, quoting a source within the French Foreign Ministry.
The United States “did the exact opposite of what we thought they would do,” the French daily wrote, according to the diplomat’s remarks. “With allies like these, we do not need enemies,” it elaborated. Paris has been demanding the reinstatement of ousted President Mohamed Bazoum ever since a new military government emerged in wake of a coup in late July.
Moreover, the French government was prepared to militarily back West African nations to assist with Bazoum’s reinstatement, as it upheld the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in its move to deploy reserve forces after the coup.
By dispatching Nuland to Niger, the United States showed that it was prepared to talk with the coup leaders instead, Le Figaro complained. “For [French President] Emmanuel Macron, the credibility of France, particularly in terms of discourse on democracy, was at stake. For the Americans, even if they are also concerned about a rapid return to constitutional order, the priority is the stability of the region,” the paper’s source within the foreign ministry declared.
Americans merely hope to “to keep their bases” in the region above all else, the diplomat said, elaborating that Washington “will not hesitate” to drop a demand for what he termed as “constitutional legality” to attain that aim.
At the moment, Paris’ worry is that Washington could ink a deal with Niger’s military government without France’s participation.
The United States has a considerable ground presence in Niger, amounting to around 1,300 soldiers and almost rivaling that of France, which has about 1,500 servicemen in the country. Furthermore, American troops are separated between two bases, situated in the Nigerien capital of Niamey and the northern city of Agadez.
Agadez is supposedly of notable significance for the United States, as it is home to a landing strip for drones and functions as a surveillance hub for a large area encompassing the area between West Africa to Libya in the north.
The Le Figaro article continued that Paris is riled by the fact that, notwithstanding that both America and France have troops in Niger, the French presence is the only one that incites unhappiness among the locals. “The United States, like our other allies for that matter, has a habit of letting us take the hits,” the French diplomat complained to the paper.
The coup in Niger happened on July 26, when the presidential guard led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani detained Bazoum and his family, quoting a “deteriorating security situation and bad governance.” The move led to harsh criticism from global powers, while ECOWAS enforced stringent sanctions on Niger and gave an ultimatum to the coup leaders to free Bazoum or be prepared for military intervention.
On Monday, Niger’s military government agreed to hold talks with ECOWAS in an attempt to lower hostilities.
Last week, Nuland visited Niger and cautioned the new military government against having any deals with the Russian private military company Wagner, apart from encouraging them to reinstate the Washington-friendly status quo.
Earlier in August, Niger’s military leaders insisted that the French forces depart the country by early September. Based on media reports last week, the commander of the French forces in Niger told Niger’s military leadership’s chief of general staff about Paris’ plans to transfer “nearly 40 soldiers” who were originally located in Niger to Chad.
“The French forces, which are present in Niger, are there, just like others, at the request of the country’s legitimate authorities, on the basis of agreements signed with the legitimate authorities to help fight against terrorism. We have suspended our military cooperation, as well as civil interaction since the [military takeover],” the ministry replied in written form to the question of whether the French troops would back out from Niger.
“We only recognize the decisions of the legitimate Nigerien authorities.”
A total of 1,500 French soldiers are presently stationed in Niger, and 1,000 are now in Chad after they were forced to withdraw from Burkina Faso and Mali after coups in those countries.
Additionally, Paris did not disclose any details pertaining to the potential withdrawal of French troops from Niger to an airbase in Chad in the future.
French troops deployed in rebel-run Niger have been limited to a military base in the national capital of Niamey, according to Russian-based news outlet Sputnik on August 12.
The troops have not left the base or explored streets of the western African city for days, according to Sputnik’s correspondent. Rebel military convoys have been regularly going around the facility without incident.
Thousands of anti-French protestors gathered outside the base on Friday to demand that Niger’s former colonial master cease its military presence in the country.
An advisor to the ousted Nigerien president told Sputnik News that France had rejected the option of withdrawing troops from Niger after the military demands.
On August 9, Niger’s military leadership raised the threat level in the country before claiming that the actions of French troops led to an assault on the Nigerien national guard. The military also posited that a French warplane entered the African nation’s airspace.
“The National Council for the Safeguard of the Fatherland informs the local and international community about the events of extreme seriousness that are taking place in Niger, about the facts of the behavior of the French forces on our territory
.… Today, August 9, 2023 at 6.30 am [5:30 am GMT], the positions of the Niger National Guard … were attacked.… The actions of the French forces were condemned for unilaterally releasing detained terrorists,” Amadou Adramane, Niger’s military’s spokesman, proclaimed.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “very concerned” about the living conditions and safety of detained Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum and his family and again urged for his immediate and unconditional release, a spokesperson declared in a statement.
The establishment starts to downplay what is going on…
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Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond (Reaction) WOW!
So some backstory.. My house was broken into in 2015. I was about 18–19 at the time and my dog attacked the perpetrators, and ended up taking a bullet for me in the process. At the time I did not own any firearms, at least not at my house. With that being said, she saved my life that night. The first shot was aimed at me, missing by mere inches. The other 2 were aimed at her, although only 1 hit her. Vet said it missed her heart by less than 2 inches, clean entry and exit wound. I ended up vacating the house after that, letting my pup (half GSD, half DSD, Sam) stay with my parents and moving to Jacksonville with my best friend.
When I came back into town, I didn’t have much to my name, forcing me to move back in with my parents, siblings, and my grandfather. My older brother had addiction problems and was on probation because he had gotten caught with a Xanax. His P.O would come to the house some nights to ensure he was following the straight and narrow, and that he was in by curfew. They were random visits with no notice.
One night, at about 9:00 pm or later, my grandfather was stepping out to smoke. Sam would often follow him out to do her business and patrol the yard looking for any threats. She had become very protective of the entire family, and she knows where our property line ends so we never leash her when going out. She never leaves the yard and a simple call or whistle brings her running back inside. It just so happens that this night my brothers P.O. was stopping by to check on him. Sam followed my grandfather out as the cop was rounding the corner, and without hesitation she attacked, grabbing his dominant arm preventing him from drawing his weapon.
I was still dealing with PTSD from nearly being killed, so my gun never left my side. I was licensed to carry, and it was never out of arms reach. Also, I know my dog. I know her sounds, her body language, everything. When I heard her from the living room, my first thought was “She’s in trouble and she needs my help”. I drew my weapon and out the door I went, brushing past my grandfather on the way. The floodlight had the entire situation lit up, so as soon as I exited I realized that she was attacking a county officer. I immediately lowered my weapon and recalled Sam. She let go and went straight inside as I holstered my pistol. The officer stood there looking at me in complete and utter shock, blood running down his arm. I apologized profusely as I tried to help him render aid to his injured arm. He calls for an ambulance, and within minutes there are 2 more units, an ambulance, and a fire truck blocking the road at our driveway.
By the end of it, he was also apologizing, saying that Sam was just doing her job. She was up to date on all of her immunizations, and does not have a history of violence. He chose not to take any legal action against us or our pup, and from that night on, he called when he pulled in the driveway before exiting his patrol vehicle. Sam is now very attached to my mother. Despite me now being moved out with a family of my own, I decided it was best for her to stay with my mother and father. I have included pictures of Sam for good measure. Best dog I’ve ever had. She is now living her days out in luxury, and never wants for anything.
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Heartbreaking Truth!!! Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond | REACTION *TEARS*
In 1972, the Army had learned serious lessons in Vietnam about how durable a helicopter had to be to survive in a combat environment. They needed an aircraft that would not be brought down by a small arms bullet in the right place.
To that end, the Army started the UTTAS (Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System) program to develop the replacement for the Huey. All of the major helicopter manufacturers submitted preliminary designs that complied with the UTTAS specifications, including Bell. The Army selected the Sikorsky YUH-60 and the Boeing Vertol YUH-61 as competitors for the production contract. Once both companies had working de-bugged models flying, the Army conducted its own flyoff.
An incident during this flyoff influenced the final decision. One of the Army crews attempted to land one of the H-60s in what they thought was an open field, only to find out too late that it was a grove of pine tree saplings. The H-60 weed whacked the saplings around the aircraft, and the fuselage bent or broke those immediately underneath with little damage. The main rotor blades took a bit of a beating, though, and some thought Sikorsky was in trouble.
Company and Army personnel cleared their way to, and around the aircraft. They brought in the portable maintenance crane and a new set of main rotor blades and did a removal and replacement in situ. They then flew the aircraft out of there and back to the base.
In 1976 the Army selected the UH-60A as the winner of the UTTAS contract, and named it the Black Hawk.
Since then over 5000 H-60s have been produced over several models. The aircraft is a brick outhouse that, while not invulnerable, is extremely hard to bring down. It was my honor and privilege to work on all but the earliest ones as a Flight Mechanic, and, later, a Crew Chief, all in the Sikorsky Flight Hangar in Stratford.
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Top picture is a brand new UH-60M. The bottom picture is that of a Turkish Jandarma UH-60L that flew home after taking a hit from an RPG7. As you can see, the damage was extensive, but the airframe was strong enough to fly home, even with the tailcone to cabin bulkhead broken by the blast.
If I was a soldier on the ground needing extraction from a hot LZ, I would want Black Hawks to be coming for me.
SHOCKS the WEST! Europe in Panic as China Cancels $100 Billion Car Order from Germany.
Yes, my ex-wife took me to court for contempt 20 times. She won zero times. I filed once and won once.
My ex-wife filed for contempt for taking my sons to the doctor. They were having trouble hearing. My elder son was talking like a deaf person. I had sent her letters, faxes, and certified letters. She was acting as their pediatrician without keeping a medical record. One child had 19 scripts for antibiotics in the last year, the other 9. These were the only records I could get.
So I took them over the Easter week to an ENT. They were seen by an audiologist and the ENT. The older son was down 30 dB in hearing and the younger one was down 15 dB. There was chronic fluid in their ears. He prescribed medication and said the older son needed tubes/adenoids.
So I filled the script on my dime (the doctor did the entire eval professional courtesy). She called the ENT doctor and chewed him out. SHE WAS A PEDIATRICIAN! She filed contempt against me for taking my own kids (I had joint custody) to the doctor.
When the judge heard what this was about he asked “Did he have surgery done?” “No sir”, her attorney answered. “What did he do?” “He took them to the doctor and got medication.”
The judge looked at her and said “If these are the facts you need to drop this. If not you will pay his court costs, lawyer fees you and your attorney will be sanctioned.”
The ex demanded her attorney proceed. The judge did exactly what he said. In the future I could take them to any doctor, but just needed to notify her. She could no longer be their pediatrician.
Pretty good dressing-down of the ex who had filed the contempt.
ETA: The ex took them to three different ENT’s trying to get a different opinion. 4–0 my son got the surgery he needed and could hear. She would never admit she was wrong.
OLIVER ANTHONY “Rich Man North of Richmond” REACTION! First Time Hearing!
I’m not sure what sort of food falls under “poor person food”.
But I do know that my family wasn’t very well off when I was a kid. We weren’t exactly dirt poor – it was more like we were just struggling to get by.
I remember, early on, come meal time, we would use these carboard boxes as a makeshift dining table.
Eventually, one of my uncles – a carpenter by trade – built us this small but sturdy dining table, and the accompanying four stools.
It was a very small dining table, but given that we had all our meals there, it was a table that witnessed a lot of happy family time centered around food.
We ate mostly tofu and vegetables, with a bit of rice/noodles, a bit of egg, and bits of meat. Every now and again, we would have fish.
Sometimes we went to bed still feeling a little hungry, but we were definitely not starving.
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Then, HK and the Mainland’s economic fortunes and interdependency really started to pick up and my parents enjoyed a significant improvement in their job prospects and investments.
We made the transition to middle class, but we never stopped eating any of the food we were already used to eating.
We still ate the same vegetable, egg, and tofu dishes we had always eaten. No quantity drop there at all.
But there was a huge uptick in meat and seafood consumption. And baked products.
Now we could afford meat and seafood at every meal. And maybe once every week, or once every two weeks, we would go out for dinner at a nice restaurant. If I felt like it, I could eat an egg tart at 4pm.
Today, of course I’m a lot more well off than when I was a kid.
But I don’t feel like I’ve stopped eating any of the “poor person food” I used to eat as a kid – they remain everyday dishes for me.
The difference is now I have a lot more options when it comes to food choices.
I can eat meat and seafood at every meal. I can buy sourdough egg tarts from Bakehouse for my family and niece. I can enjoy dimsum every weekend if I were so inclined.
So, in the unlikely event that I become “mega rich”, I’ll probably just continue eating the same things I always have, just that maybe I can eat more of it – if I wanted to.
I’m not one for Michelin-starrred fine-dining restaurants. I’ve probably never been to one – I say probably here because I might have been to one without realizing it as some of my friends consider themselves foodies and like to drag me along to all these fine-dining food establishments.
Me? I’m more fascinated by what my parents, or my friends, or even myself, whip up at home. Because for me, home cooked food is where the magic is at.
That little wooden dining table, with its unique array of scratches and stains, is now long gone.
But the memories associated with it, of family meals filled with delicious food, contentment, and happiness – well, except for when my sister and I were literally fighting over who got to eat the fish eyes, which saw the unleashing of lightning fists and heaven-splitting kicks – are still here, cuddling each other affectionately in the amphitheater of my mind.
The Science of Ancient Acoustic Levitation | How The Pyramids Were Built?
LEVITATION. The ruins of several ancient civilizations – like the pyramids of Giza, Stonehenge in the UK, and many others – are monuments constructed of massive stones.
How the great pyramids of Egypt were built has been the subject of debate for a long time.
The fact is, no one really knows for certain exactly how some of these megaliths were constructed.
Some researchers think ancient cultures may have mastered levitation through sound which allowed them to easily manipulate massive objects.
Unfortunately, anyone suggesting the use of this kind of technology is attacked and labeled a “pseudoscientist”.
Abul Hasan Ali Al-Masudi is known as the Herodotus of the Arabs. Like everyone, he was awestruck by the pyramids.
He wrote a very intriguing passage about how the giant stone blocks were transported — through levitation.
The Great Pyramid of Giza does possess some extraordinary acoustic properties, and can dramatically amplify sounds at certain frequencies.
The Egyptians clearly knew a lot about sound science. Let’s explore the Coral Castle in Florida, built by Edward Leedskalnin, who cut, transported and sculpted over 1,000 tons of rock into a sprawling complex — alone, without heavy machinery.
We’ll visit The Temple of Jupiter at Baalbek in Lebanon which boasts the largest stones ever carved by human hands.
Nan Madol is an archaeological site in Micronesia.
It’s been called the Machu Picchu of the Pacific.
The engineering of Nan Madol is so complex, no one can figure out how it was built.
Let’s hear the story told by Dr. Jarl about Tibetan monks who lifted stones by chanting and playing instruments — which Jarl put on film.
There is science behind all these stories, yet “mainstream” academia dismisses each and every one as pseudoscience.
Why is it wrong to want to explore ancient knowledge that contradicts modern beliefs?
In a true post apocalyptic scenario, every kind of ammo that needs modern day machining will be way too valuable to be used for hunting or fighting. Modern ammo will be the new currency, more precious than gold and diamonds. Even percussion caps are way too valuable, in a society with no electricity it would be almost impossible to make them from scratch.
This pistol here is different. All you need is a good stack of flints and you are all set. Black powder CAN be made with primitive technology, basically from human urine (matured in a heap) and charcoal. You can load pretty much anything into the gun. Steel or lead balls, with a patch if the size is too small. Nails, even stones.
Erasing Android Code, Chinese Tech Giant Surging Where Apple and Google Wouldn’t Dare!
“When they cut off our food supply, won’t we be left helpless?” This was the shocking statement made by Ren Zhengfei when Huawei’s mobile phone business first entered the international market.
https://youtu.be/2NcZyqvYBk4
Russian Transport Jet Arrives in Mali; Wagner PMC Forces Deploying to Niger
A Russian plane has landed in Bamako airport, Mali carrying hundreds of Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) fighters it allegedly picked up from Syria. Wagner is on its way to Niger to protect that country from “outside forces.”
Wagner PMC has recruited thousands of veterans of the Syrian civil war, mostly men who fought on behalf of the Syrian government and defeated ISIS, Al-Qaeda and the FSA. These men have incredible combat experience against terrorists.
Syria is one of the first places where Wagner PMC proved its combat superiority to the whole world. Without their efforts, the Syrian president would’ve gotten the Gaddafi treatment from the west a long time ago. But he prevailed, thanks to RUSSIA and its elite fighting force, Wagner PMC.
Upon arriving Niger, Wagner reportedly told the new Niger administration never to worry about any foreign army on Niger soil and specifically assured the leadership that Wagner will take on the Americans head on, if they ever dare to get involved in the conflict with ECOWAS, or try to deploy their drones.
At the moment, there are about 5,000 RUSSIAN funded volunteer fighters in AFRICA: They are mainly active in Mali, Libya, Sudan, Central African Republic, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Wagner will undertake the protection of Niger’s presidential palace in its capital city of Niamey, and the main infrastructures of the country potentially threatened by the impending Nigerian-led military action.
With a personnel capacity of about 230,000 men, neighboring Nigeria is expected to contribute far more soldiers to the operation against Niger than any other country in the bloc. However the two countries with the strongest armies in AFRICA, Egypt and Algeria have warned against any military intervention in Niger, and vowed they’ll not stand idly and let that happen.
Reportedly, the morale of Niger’s military personnel is at an all time high right now, given that nearly the entire population of Niger are in support of the military and thousands have signed up to fight with the Russian volunteer force, Wagner, in defense of their homeland.
I was a beach boy. Forests, hiking, mountains and campfires were not my thing, but my parents (certainly with immense reservations from my mother) thought it would be good to expose us (3 girls and 2 boys aged 13-8) to the other side of nature.
My godfather worked for the US Forest Service and had access to a no-electric, outside-water-pump, outhouse-equipped, cabin deep the Maine woods. He and his wife had four intrepid sons aged 7 to 13 or so.
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So that’s how six young boys ended up trekking through the hot, sticky woods on a late July afternoon.
I was miserable. I hated washing in freezing water, smelling of smoke, sleeping on hard floors and eating beans and hot dogs.
Even worse I hated my trek mates. As is perfectly normal for that age, they spent all their efforts trying to out-curse and out-dare each other. I was a toothpick-thin, half-blind kid who read at least a book a day. This was not my scene.
Heading back to the cabin alone crossed my mind, but I was sure I would lose my way.
But fate and book-knowledge ended up leaving me no choice.
Dennis, the oldest, spotted a wasp’s nest hanging from a branch about 10 meters away. He announced a contest to see who could hit it with a rock.
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He picked one up and let it fly.
I didn’t wait to see if his aim was true. I flew like the wind. Running was about the only thing other than reading that I was good at.
The first rock missed, but the second hit home and the nest hit the ground. I was a good hundred meters away when the screaming started.
My brother escaped with six stings. Two of the others required a trip to the doctors and medication.
In 1971, Waco representative Tom Moore Jr passed a resolution honouring Albert Desalvo, also known as the Boston Strangler. It was to honour the serial killer for his dedication and devotion to population control.
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The resolution was unanimously passed by Congress, but the whole thing was an April’s fool’s joke. It was also Moore’s intent to show that resolutions were passed in Congress without anyone looking at them or researching the issue presented to Congress.
OLIVER ANTHONY | Rich Men North Of Richmond Reaction
The US, along with the UK, are what we call in China as “shit stirring stick”.
They stir the shit to disgust everyone around, therefore they don’t stir shit near them.
Of course, they call it as “off-shore balancing”.
Both of them are good at one thing: first creating problems, then jumping out to “solve” it.
After WWI, the US fully supported Nazi Germany, because:
it must ensure that Germany is able to pay the war reparations;
both the US and UK wanted to “balance” the European continent and were afraid of France being too outstanding.
And the result was the WWII.
Germany became super nationalist and racist, and France was much weaker than expected to stop Germany.
Essentially, they need people whom living away from them to constantly fight each other, so that they could stay out enjoying peace and intervine from time to time.
It also what the Belgians did in Rwanda. They created 2 ethnic groups based on wealth, and appointed the minority as the ruling class, so that once they left, the majority group would for sure want a revenge.
President Paul Kagame banned the 2 ethnic groups and made everyone just Rwandan, and the west is not happy about him.
Right now, the US is in deep shit.
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The interest rate of 10 year treasury is already 4.3%, which is already suppressing the real economy.
The US will also face very high interest expenditure in the next few years. In 2022, the interest expense was 718 billion USD, not very far from the military expense, and it will breakthrough 1 trillion soon.
Therefore, it needs other places in chaos, to squeeze more USD out and back to the US to support its treasury. After all, even with AA+ rating, the US and its treasury are still safe to invest, just don’t know for how long.
Immortal Joe only needs 500 billion USD more till 2024 election. Even if something bad happened after the election, it would either be the problem of another POTUS, or the voters could not do anything about it.
So what we can see is that the US has been stirring shit around the world, to cause more chaos.
Ukraine is a success, since Europe is already in technical recession due to high energy price and escaping capital.
However, China is not about to bite, nor DPP authority in Taiwan. Xi Jinping is not going to attack Taiwan this year, and Tsai Ing-wen is not Zelensky.
The US couldn’t possibily care more, but focuses on gaining money by selling outdated and futures weapons to Taiwan.
Veteran Reacts To Oliver Anthony – I Want To Go Home
What fascinates me the most is how he’s able to put so MUCH in so few words. It’s astounding to hear.
However if they keep denying China their most advanced chips or GPUs, it’s very likely that in the next 5–7 years they wil
China is on a surge when it comes to Robotics and AI
AI is used in Agriculture, Drones, Administration, System Operations etc
They have to keep evolving every day and for that THEY NEED ADVANCED CHIPS AND WILL PAY TOP DOLLAR FOR THE SAME
In 2010, you can see that China had a very small size of the pie.
US and EU were the largest markets for advanced technology with nearly 78% sales in these two entities
Take out China and nobody would care in the least
Today things are drastically different
China and HK combined account for almost 36% of the sales for Advanced Technology and Equipment
In fact China and HK have become a larger market for advanced technology than the entire EU combined
Take out China and that’s 33% market share gone and that’s a HUGE HIT
Chinas demand for advanced chips is INSATIABLE
They will do anything it takes to get chips performing to the same level of those advanced chips sold by Intel or Qualcomm or GPUs sold by NVDIA
Today China uses either
Inventory Chips which means chips and GPUs already purchased before restrictions enhancing their performance through ingenuity and skillMade to order GPUs designed exclusively to dodge US Sanctions which are maybe 90% as efficient as the sanctioned GPUs and use skill and ingenuity to enhance their efficiency to 98%Modified Chips that are less advanced chips that perform as advanced chips through technological skill which consume far more power and are less cost effective
China can keep growing it’s AI and Robotics and Advanced Computing for the next 10 years using the above three combinations
Yet by 2033, they have to crack the key to making domestic commercial effective chips and GPUs that are on par with Intel and Qualcomm
Going by the Mate 60, it’s clear they have a roadmap and are doing EXACTLY what they should be doing
The Mate 60 is the first completely domestic 5G phone made with Technology entirely from China including the breakthrough BAW 5G Filter designed and made wholly in China
That the Chip is made using Western DUV Equipment , is the only small detail that prevents it from being a 100% Indigenous Chinese Manufactured Phone
Even so, China today has made a phone with a level of performance similar to the Iphone 14 whilst almost completely under US Sanctions
That indicates that China will eventually make it’s own hub in advanced technology and scale it to a commercial level to make it cost effective as well
This means new players in the market who can outprice Intel and Qualcomm and NVDIA
This means losing 40% market share plus also losing more market share among other countries especially newly emerging nations like Saudi Arabia, India, Russia, Iran, Malaysia and Indonesia
In China, every land is owned by China. You have only the land usage rights. Even the farmers don’t own the land they use as they only have the tilling rights. If you don’t build any property on the land provided to you, it goes back to the government. Individuals can privately own residential houses and apartments on the land, although not the land on which the buildings are situated.
It helps in avoiding a separate class of people called as landlords. It helped China create infrastructure projects really fast.
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China started these reforms in the 1970s which not only made the country strong but the government as well.
China’s Response To Evergrande Is Angering The West
Evergrande has filed for bankruptcy but does this mean China’s economy is about to collapse? China always had a real estate problem and instead of stimulating, they are actually trying to ride the wave towards a stronger economy.
While this is bad for the global economy in the short term, it’s actually good for China long run.
One dish that probably every Chinese can cook is scrambled eggs with tomatoes, the de facto national homecooked dish.
There have been many times when I’ve been at home and just want a quick meal without spending a lot of time slaving over the stove.
When those times hit, one of my go-to’s is to prepare scrambled eggs with tomatoes – the very, very juicy & wet version – then just add some cooked noodles (whichever type I have lying around, really).
I’ll also blanch some greens and add them on top or as a side dish.
It’s very simple, unglamarous, and not sexy in the least, and probably a nightmare for people who MUST eat meat at every meal, but it’s cheap, easy to make, quick, and filling.
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HUGE SETBACK! China smashes USA and Mongolia’s 100,000 Tons of Rare Earth Cooperation
China and Russia can close their ports to Mongolia so that Mongolia cannot transport the rare earth to the usa. Secondly, China can restrict the export of knowledge and equipment for the refinement process of rare earth to Mongolia and the west. Thirdly Russia and China can restrict their air space for flights to and fro Mongolia in order to block any transportation of rare earth through the air.
The US plays the short game and looks for media impact and immediate results.
China is slower to act and does not show its hand until the right moment. China is playing the long game.
In history, when you have two powers of roughly equal strength confronting each other, the side which plays the long game wins.
Oliver Anthony – I Want To Go Home “Official Video” 2LM Reacts
As if “Rich Men North Of Richmond” didnt cut deep enough here’s another dagger to intake and im not going to spoil this reaction. Get in here, grab a tissue and enjoy!
Military takeover in Gabon brings fresh headaches for France in Africa
TEHRAN – In another blow to France this week, Gabon’s military overthrew the very wealthy President Ali Bongo soon after he was declared the winner in elections that had been roundly condemned as fraudulent.
Over the past three years, military officers have thrown the presidents of Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Chad, more recently Niger, and now Gabon.
All six African states have one thing in common.
They are all former colonies of France and have seen a sharp rise in anti-French sentiment, with the former colonial power standing accused of using its military presence in the region, in particular the Sahel, to increase instability.
France is clearly seeing how its military presence in Africa is slowly diminishing.
This is while the local population in these countries that had or continue to have French military presence on their territory have been living in poverty, seeing no financial benefits of the natural resources on their land.
France’s strong ties with the former West African presidents also saw close economic ties to those natural resources.
In Mali, two coups took place, the first in August 2020 and the second nine months later; President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was overthrown by the military who accused the president of the worsening security situation. Similar accusations were directed at France.
In September 2021, Guinea’s Special Forces overthrew President Alpha Conde.
In April 2021, Chad’s military took power after President Idriss Deby was killed on the battlefield while visiting troops fighting militants.
In January 2022, the military in Burkina Faso overthrew President Roch Kabore, accusing him and France of doing little to tackle the militancy.
In late July, the military in Niger overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum, accusing him of forging closer ties close with France as the security situation in the country deteriorated.
This week military officers in Gabon led by General Brice Nguema seized power. The officers have placed Bongo under house arrest and installed Nguema as head of state, ending the Bongo family’s 56-year grip on power.
The coup saw large crowds flooding the streets of the capital Libreville in support of the military’s move.
About a third of Gabon’s 2.3 million population are living under the poverty line.
In a televised address Nguema said that the military would proceed “quickly but surely” to return civilian rule, but that it would avoid elections that “repeat the same mistakes” by keeping the same individuals in power.
“Going as quickly as possible does not mean organizing ad hoc elections, where we will end up with the same errors,” he said.
Bongo was first elected in 2009, taking over from his late father, who came to power in 1967. Opponents say the ruling family did little to share Gabon’s oil and mining wealth.
For years, the Bongo family resided at a luxurious palace overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. According to a 2020 investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a global network of investigative journalists, the family owns expensive cars and properties in France and the United States, often paid for in cash.
Military leaders ordered the arrest of one of Bongo’s sons, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, and several members of Bongo’s cabinet on accusations ranging from embezzlement to narcotics trafficking.
State broadcaster Gabon 24 said on Thursday that duffel bags stuffed with cash wrapped in plastic had been confiscated from the homes of various officials. Footage from the broadcaster shows a raid on the house of a former cabinet director.
Standing next to Bongo Valentin, the new military ruler told the channel that the money was part of Bongo’s election fund. Money that the military rulers say was used in a corrupt election campaign.
The news emerging from the African country will be seen as yet another headache for France, on the backdrop of military coups in other regional countries where Paris had military ties signed by its former presidents.
France has hundreds of troops permanently stationed in Gabon, including at a military base in the capital, Libreville.
Paris also has a wide range of economic interests linked to Gabon’s mining and oil sectors.
Meanwhile, tensions are peaking in Niger amid mass weekend anti-French rallies as the strained relations mount between the country’s new military government and its former colonial power.
An organization set up after the coup named the Patriotic Front for Niger Sovereignty has led the public’s demands for military officers to take a hard line against France.
The protests, organized by the M62 grouping, have been taking place in central Niamey to demand the departure of the French contingent. “We don’t need these people (French troops) here, we’re ready to die to get them out,” one demonstrator said.
France has around 1,500 troops in Niger, many of them stationed at an airbase near the capital.
Niger’s pro-military civilian organizations had called for a massive march on Saturday on the French base, followed by a sit-in until the troops leave.
The new rulers have been engaged in a political battle with Paris, stripped France’s ambassador of diplomatic immunity and ordered police to expel him, according to a letter seen by news outlets.
Last Friday, authorities gave the French envoy, Sylvain Itte, 48 hours to leave Nigerian soil.
The envoy “no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities attached to his status as a member of the diplomatic personnel in the French embassy,” according to the letter sent to the French foreign ministry.
France refused the demand, saying the military rulers had no right to carry out such an order.
Relations with France spiraled downwards after the July coup as Paris continues to stand by the ousted president Mohamed Bazoum and refuses to recognize Niger’s new rulers.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that he spoke on a daily basis with his former ally, Bazoum.
“I speak every day to President Bazoum. We support him. We do not recognize those who carried out the putsch. The decisions we will take, whatever they may be, will be based upon exchanges with Bazoum,” said Macron.
Niger’s military government, which seized power on July 26, has accused Macron of using divisive rhetoric in his comments about Bazoum and of seeking to perpetrate France’s neo-colonial relationship with its former colony.
The new rulers accuse France of fueling instability on their territory. They also accuse France of using its purported military presence in Niger to battle militants as a pretext for tapping into the country’s uranium and oil reserves.
On August 3, Niger’s new rulers denounced military agreements signed between Bazoum and France.
French military spokesman Colonel Pierre Gaudilliere has warned that “the French military forces are ready to respond to any upturn in tension that could harm French diplomatic and military premises in Niger”.
Algeria, Niger’s influential northern neighbor, has held talks with West African leaders in a bid to avoid any military intervention in Niger and has proposed a six-month transition.
Amid threats of a military intervention in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have been quick to offer support, saying any operation would be deemed a “declaration of war” against them.
Recently, all three states have publicly condemned France for fuelling regional instability.
Burkina Faso has approved a draft law authorizing the dispatch of troops to Niger, according to a government statement in Ouagadougou.
Niger’s military government, which seized power on July 26, has accused Macron of using divisive rhetoric in his comments about Bazoum and of seeking to perpetrate France’s neo-colonial relationship with its former colony.
The new rulers accuse France of fueling instability on their territory. They also accuse France of using its purported military presence in Niger to battle militants as a pretext for tapping into the country’s uranium and oil reserves.
On August 3, Niger’s new rulers denounced military agreements signed between Bazoum and France.
French military spokesman Colonel Pierre Gaudilliere has warned that “the French military forces are ready to respond to any upturn in tension that could harm French diplomatic and military premises in Niger”.
Algeria, Niger’s influential northern neighbor, has held talks with West African leaders in a bid to avoid any military intervention in Niger and has proposed a six-month transition.
Amid threats of a military intervention in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have been quick to offer support, saying any operation would be deemed a “declaration of war” against them.
Recently, all three states have publicly condemned France for fuelling regional instability.
Burkina Faso has approved a draft law authorizing the dispatch of troops to Niger, according to a government statement in Ouagadougou.
Niger’s new leaders say they are seeking a three-year transition period to restore constitutional order.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, head of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has suggested a nine-month transition back to democracy for Niger’s new rulers in the bloc’s first apparent timeline since the July coup.
It was the first time an ECOWAS official has publicly discussed a possible transition period for Niger’s military rulers.
However, France and the United States have demanded a swift return to Bazoum’s presidency.
Putin: “RUSSIA Is INVINCIBLE,” Niger STORMS French Military Base
I’ve read the history of France in Africa. You could not make up a horror movie more chilling than what they have done to those poor Africans. Even today, the hutzpah of them lecturing Africans and smugly telling them they would not exist but without France is an insult.
The big news is Huawei’s launch of the Mate 60 Pro phone at 6,999 yuan during US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s visit to China. Early reports suggest that this model has already sold out, which is a strong sign of support for Huawei after standing up against US sanctions for nearly five years.
The US Commerce Department placed a ban on Huawei supplies for everything in 2019 under the Trump administration, and this has continued under the Biden administration. The sale of 5G chips to Huawei were cut off under Biden. This means that Huawei’s launch of a high-end 5G phone while Secretary Raimondo is visiting China is a direct and very strong pushback to the US.
The question now is how did Huawei get the Kirin 5G chips which are made in China? There is a lot of debate and discussion, ranging from the US gave special permission, to it being a special secret Chinese project complete with a secret 5G chip production line. Obviously, this is not good news for TSMC, since TSMC makes the 5G chips for Qualcomm.
For the US, it means that the Commerce Department sanctions have not worked, and that the Chinese not only will not stop research and development as the US wants, but are going to move much more aggressively into multiple fields, and directly challenging the US and US brands. Signs are that the Chinese will do as they have in other industries: they will move so fast and iterate new products so quickly so that others will not be able to compete unless they move their research and production into China. Then the Chinese will drop prices of their products so that they pick up market share all over the world. Early signs of this are already showing: RISC-V architecture is becoming popular in China, and the Chinese companies have agreed to cross-license their designs, so that RISC-V will compete directly with Intel and ARM.
This poses a problem for Western decoupling: What will they do when China cuts back or completely cuts off rare earth sales to chip manufacturers outside China? And how will they protect their own products in their own markets when the Chinese products have more features and are cheaper? Western policymakers do not seem to have thought this through when they placed their sanctions on Huawei and other Chinese technology companies.
Lots of interesting discussion in Putonghua on the Matepro 60 launch and what it means in China.
Reaction – I Want To Go Home by Oliver Anthony
Be the Rufus!
“Just spent 2 hrs with a elderly man at Kroger. It started with me just smiling at him, making eye contact…. As I walked past him he looked like he needed something.
I went back and asked him if I could help him. Tears welled up in his eyes and he said, “I have colon cancer and I have had a really bad accident, if I get up out of this cart everyone will know…
What should I do?”.
The look of his dignity lost left me with a lump in my throat.
From that moment on, Kroger staff quickly fetched us wipes, undergarments and discreetly took him to their employer bathroom Area where he was given clothes.
He cried and apologized.
He said he had to hurry his wife was at home alone.
When we walked to the register we found his groceries all bagged and somehow paid for.
He cried harder.
He said he fought in Vietnam and Korean War and loved his country, but up until day he said he thought his country forgot about him.
We both cried and I shared with him my own struggles and fears… He gave me words of wisdom and encouraged me that maybe after all, humanity still does care about one another.”
The voting in the USA was rigged. No doubt about it.'
And not only at the last election, it has most likely gone on for two or three elections before that.
There is only one cure. Paper votes, hand counting and representatives for all interested parties as observers.
And it would be nice if you had a working judicial system as well.
I cannot see how this is not going to end in bloodshed.
It is just a matter of time, before people revolt.
In a way I'm surprised it has not already happened.
Posted by: g wiltek | Aug 15 2023 16:07 utc | 4
When I was in training for my MAJ role at NAS China Lake, I had my first experiences with world-line travel. It wasn’t until later that I start to notice that my journeys would “stick”. I would find myself on a new world-line with new things, and old things that never existed.
One of the things that I miss is the breakfasts with beans. In this present world-line it is with potatoes. Of course, to youse guys, it’s always been that way.
One of the things that seem to be forever changed for me is the soft-drink Razzmatazz. It never existed on this world line. But back in the day, prior to me joining the Navy, it was THE soda that you all would drink. And while there were coke and Pepsi drinks, I always loved my icy-cold Razzmatazz.
My favorite was a malted cherry soda that they made. It had a kind of cherry-butterscotch like feel to it. There was also a birch beer & vanilla, and a malted root beer. Sigh. But none of it exists on this world-line.
France fears that the interim military-led government is willing to explore a deal whereby they’ll agree to keep Russia/Wagner at bay and retain the US’ bases in their country in exchange for Washington ensuring that ECOWAS doesn’t invade like it threatened to do. In that event, the full fury of the Nigerien people would be directed against France, which could either go it alone in trying to forcibly reverse last month’s coup in vain or chalk up the strategic loss and withdraw.
Le Figaro cited an unnamed diplomatic source over the weekend who alleged that the US backstabbed France during Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland’s trip to Niger. The piece is paywalled but was summarized here
. France reportedly fears that the US might tacitly recognize Niger’s interim military-led government in exchange for being allowed to retain its bases. Should that happen, then the US would proactively replace France’s security role in the Sahel before Russia/Wagner has a chance to.
This concern is predicated on rational calculations. From the US’ strategic perspective, the anti-French sentiment that’s sweeping the Sahel will inevitably result in ousting that country’s military from this part of Africa, which could lead to a security void that would likely be filled by Russia/Wagner. Even if France resorts to force for clinging to its last regional bastion in Niger, whether directly and/or via Nigerian-led
ECOWAS, then it’ll only exacerbate the hatred that locals feel for their former colonizer.
A swift victory is doomed to be pyrrhic since another round of anti-French unrest would follow sooner or later to complete the decolonization process that the prior one couldn’t, while the outbreak of a larger regional war risks Russia accelerating its envisaged replacement of France’s security role in the Sahel. Both outcomes are contrary to America’s long-term interests, though some policymakers might find their potential short-term benefits to be alluring.
It’s in this context that Nuland visited the Nigerien capital last week to “push for a negotiated solution” according to what she informed the press during a special briefing after her meetings there. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin reacted to this development by boasting that “the US has recognized a government that it did not recognize yesterday just to avoid meeting the Wagner PMC in the country.” While some might have dismissed his remarks as trolling, they actually convey a stark truth.
Nuland’s trip was likely driven by her government’s desire to determine post-coup Niger’s intended relations with Russia/Wagner. She made contradictory statements about this during her briefing that were analyzed here , but the point is that this was probably the real reason behind her visit. If she assessed that no clear commitment had yet been made to solicit that group’s services, then it would be possible to make progress on the vague “negotiated solution” that she claimed to have in mind.
Judging by Le Figaro’s report, France fears that the interim military-led government is willing to explore a deal whereby they’ll agree to keep Russia/Wagner at bay and retain the US’ bases in their country in exchange for Washington ensuring that ECOWAS doesn’t invade like it threatened to do. In that event, the full fury of the Nigerien people would be directed against France, which could either go it alone in trying to forcibly reverse last month’s coup in vain or chalk up the strategic loss and withdraw.
The US already backstabbed France a few years back by stealing its nuclear submarine deal with Australia via the surprise unveiling of AUKUS so the precedent exists for it to backstab that country again in the Sahel by stealing its “sphere of influence” there through these means. In this particular case, American policymakers might have concluded that France’s military ouster from the region is inevitable so it’s better to proactively replace it with their own forces than risk Russia/Wagner filling the void.
To that end, it makes sense to opportunistically exploit the latest events in pursuit of a pragmatic deal with Niger’s interim military-led government despite being at France’s expense. There’s no guarantee that it’ll succeed, but it’s strategicallysound from the perspective of the US’ New Cold War interests in Africa. America could present itself as a peacemaker that averted the wider war that France wanted to spark all while stopping the spread of Russian military-strategic influence on the EU’s Sahelian doorstep.
The aforesaid reframing of Nuland’s trip in light of Le Figaro’s report compellingly explains France’s alleged fears of her country’s real intentions in wanting to diplomatically resolve the West African Crisis. The ulterior motive behind its latest “push for a negotiated solution” is to proactively replace France’s security role in the Sahel before Russia/Wagner has a chance to. In this way, the US could mitigate the strategic damage from the Nigerien Coup and arguably benefit from it to an extent.
the GIRLS REACT to *Terminator (1984)* THIS IS TERRIFYING!! (First Time Watching) Sci-fi Movies
Since the Second World War most Britons have unquestioningly accepted the premise that Britain should continue to rank as a first order world Power while, on the other, insisting that living standards should continue rising and social services be protected from taxes to finance foreign policy commitments. The question is not whether Britain can continue to think and behave as a Great Power, but whether it can afford to. – F. S. Northedge, 1970.
The good news is that there will be no war.
The rather sad news is that America can’t afford one.
1980s neoconservative policies – downsize government and privatize everything – have left the US a second-tier power, uncompetitive economically, industrially, scientifically and even militarily, as this STEM ranking suggests:
2023 08 16 20 04
Why we fail
There are at least seven reasons why the US failed in Ukraine. Says Correlli Barnett, “The power of a nation-state by no means consists only in its armed forces, but also in its economic and technological resources; in the dexterity, foresight and resolution with which its foreign policy is conducted; in the efficiency of its social and political organization. It consists most of all in the nation itself: the people; their skills, energy, ambition, discipline, initiative; their beliefs, myths and illusions. And it consists, further, in the way all these factors are related to one another. Moreover, national power has to be considered not only in itself, in its absolute extent, but relative to the state’s foreign or imperial obligations; it has to be considered relative to the power of other states”. Let’s break that down.
The Power of Other States
Armed forces. No serious military scholar imagines the US Army could challenge the Russian Army in Europe, nor the PLA in Asia – after being humiliated in Korea in 1951. Next year the PLAN will have 400 new warships armed with hypersonic missiles – which the US Navy’s 293 older boats neither possess nor can defend against.
Economic and technological resources. Russia’s economy is the world’s fourth largest, its military sector is 800% more productive than America’s, its military technology is a generation ahead, and its generalship is the world’s best. China’s productive economy is 300% bigger and leads the US in almost all sciences and technologies.
The dexterity, foresight and resolution with which its foreign policy is conducted. Ninety percent of the world’s people do business and sympathize with Russia or China, and their leaders are rock stars wherever they go. Ten percent of the world’s people support America, whose leader is pitied, even insulted to his face.
The efficiency of its social and political organization. 80% of Russians support their government’s policies and 96% of Chinese support theirs. Barely 34% of Americans trust their government or support its policies.
Skills, energy, ambition, discipline, initiative, beliefs, myths and illusions of the people. China’s and Russia’s recoveries reflect their people’s resilience, skills, energy, ambition, discipline, initiative and collective self-belief. The US has yet to recover from the GFC, struggles to staff a chip fab, and hasn’t given its workers a raise since 1974.
Foreign or imperial obligations. Ukraine, on the heels of the Afghanistan imbroglio, suggests that the US is incapable of sustaining its obligations towards its allies. Its withdrawal from the Iran nuclear pact suggests that it is incapable of making agreements.
National power relative to the power of other states. If America wants to match Russia or China militarily, Washington must double real defense spendingthrough 2034just to match the 2023 capabilities of either, not both, of them.
America is overextended abroad, overinflated at home and its State competence is deteriorating in almost every way – from governance to justice to military to infant mortality – while it ignores its decline.
Next Stop: Failed State?
A failed state’s institutions are feeble and flawed. Often, the executive barely functions while the legislature, judiciary, bureaucracy, and armed forces have lost their capacity and professional independence. A failed state suffers from crumbling infrastructure, faltering utility supplies, educational and health facilities, and deteriorating human-development indicators like infant mortality and literacy. Failed states create an environment of flourishing corruption and negative growth rates, where honest economic activity cannot flourish. Encyclopedia Britannica.
Even before Covid, there were more hungry children, drug addicts, suicides and executions, illiterate, incarcerated, poor, homeless people in America than in China. How long can post-Covid America, riven by factionalism and distrust, weakened by disease, and dying younger each year, compete with dozens of initiatives like this?
The only real barrier to China’s bid to capture Eurasia’s vast Middle Space was the US occupation of Afghanistan. The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline, TAPI, joining Central Asia’s gas fields to South Asia, was announced in 2018 but progress through the critical Afghan sector was slowed by the war. Since then, the scheme has been revived, opening the way for Chinese investment that could complete its capture of Central Asia. Alfred McCoy
Did you know this was exactly the same stuff published in the Soviet papers and East German papers and Czech papers and Polish papers in the 1970s?
That the US Economy was exaggerated and 60% smaller that it really was
main qimg 663ac1209b28add3bd7458db8a8939e5
Man , this is bad
Back then in the 1960s to 1990s, Americans won by Competition, Ability and Achievement
Back then the Soviets claimed victories in paper by publishing lies, lies and more lies and used brute force and twisting of data to claim a superior system (US)was collapsing all the time
Today the opposite is happening
US and the West are Soviet Russia and East Germany today
They hate competition, They hate tolerance in any area other than Transgenders and Homosexuals, They are losing ability by the millisecond
They claim victories by publishing lie after lie, most of which are bizzare and illogical and use the same brute force to claim a superior system is collapsing.
Meanwhile China is becoming exactly what the US was in the 1960s – 1990s
Critically truthful, Exploring Solutions openly, Admitting Problems openly, Keeping Victories as subtle as possible, Fostering Competition in every sphere, Tolerant of every race and religion provided they identify as Chinese first, Focus on Ability and Merit only.
Russia too is following the same road now
The Democracies are collapsing due to their fatal flaws
The Meritocracies and carefully planned one party systems are flourishing
So this Chinas Economy is 60% smaller is basically History going around in Propaganda and Lies
A Testament to the theory that eventually all Democracies decline into a Mediocracy
You Won’t Believe What China Have Done | American CEO’s Protest !
A tiny microchip smaller than a fingernail is at the heart of a high-stakes technology war between superpowers.
Advanced semiconductors form the brains powering everything from AI to hypersonic missiles.
Now a global battle is unfolding between the US and China over who controls the future of these foundational chips.
With national dominance at stake, the US has imposed sweeping sanctions to blockade China from cutting-edge semiconductor designs and manufacturing.
But China is marshaling its vast resources to achieve self-reliance and circumvent restrictions.
The race is on to shape mastery over the electronics underpinning 21st century innovation.
Join us as we uncover the events, technologies, companies, and strategies fueling this multifront semiconductor conflict.
2023 08 16 10 05
The trajectory of global scientific progress and economic power hangs in the balance.
I’m from Indonesia, a country with the largest Muslim population in the world.
When the Uyghur topic arised a few years ago, it was also a trending topic here.
Many people started to curse China because of this issue.
But Indonesia is a neutral & non block country, which means we’re friends with many countries, including China, even North Korea.
Indonesia, as well as many other Muslim countries has been sending alot of Imams (priests), delegations, and even students to China, including Xinjiang regularly.
Guess what? None of Muslim countries condemn China on their acts, because later we realize that it’s only propaganda made by Western countries to weaken China & to create destabilization.
As for me myself, I’ve visited Xinjiang 2 times before the Covid pandemic, I know that there were terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, which the members were mostly from Uyghur ethnic.
The terror movement is called the East Turkestan (Islamic) Movement. It’s backed up by Al Qaeda & Taliban.
The United Nations on their website also listed the Movements as a terrorist Movement, also they list most of the attacks on their website too.
The US already know this issue, and they also bombed Uyghurs, who ran to Afghanistan after Chinese Central Government took control of Anti-Terror acts (because the local government failed to control them and the situation became worse)
Note: This is an American news media, not Chinese media.
So the US also bombed Uyghurs, but later accusing China for their treatments against the Uyghur, don’t you think that it’s hypocrisy?
Nowadays Taliban is close to China, and they promised not to help Uyghur militants anymore, they even sending back the militants who ran and hide in Afghanistan.
I can read a little bit of Mandarin, I use some Chinese social media and make friends with Uyghurs, so I know what happened and what’s happening from the Uyghur themselves.
They said that those terrorists use Turkestan name because they want support from Turkic countries nearby, while those terrorists also killed their own Uyghurs who don’t wanna support them, as well as Uzbek, Kazakh & other Turkic people, also Tajik Muslim, Hui Muslim & Han people in China
And they use “Islamic” name, obviously for supports from Islamic countries.
On the early morning of Wednesday, 30 July 2014, an Uyghur Imam, named Juma Tahir, the imam of China’s largest mosque, (Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar), was stabbed to death by three young male Uyghur terrorists because he was strongly against the terrorists.
Alot of Western Media covered this, but it seems that they forget it easily (or intentionally).
These videos are the example of Muslim Scholars visiting Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region recently, there are Indonesian Scholars too in that event
Beside of those videos, there are still alot of informal visits from Islamic Scholars & imams to China.
In fact, tour to Xinjiang is available in Indonesia and it’s always fully booked, as I work at the one of the biggest Tour & Travel agency in Indonesia.
Latest Xinjiang Muslim Festival in Indonesia, featuring tribes in Xinjiang especially the Uyghurs, and Indonesian ustadz (Islamic preacher), leaders, government, etc
From 19 July – 10 August 2023 to celebrate the Islamic New Year, this is the re-stream from 2 August:
As for now, there are some people who are still condemning China in Indonesia, but most of them are either from extremist groups (we call them kadrun), or just ignorant & uneducated people. Which later we found to have links (directly or indirectly) to the US’ Anti Chinese founding
U.S Boeing Near Suspension in China as Tensions Between US China Escalate!
2023 08 16 20 50
https://youtu.be/pZAhDLwkp9c
“Most Unsafe Site Ever” – Shocking Truths About TSMC Arizona Revealed!
The TSMC Arizona project is one of the biggest FDI deals in United States history with Taiwan investing over $40 billion. It’s all part of the $52 billion dollar CHIPS Act to bring Taiwan’s flagship company to the US, but there are a plethora of problems amounting the question the entire legitimacy of this project. In today’s video we examine the top 5 biggest problems TSMC is currently facing and if this project will be a success.
Beef Chili Cheese Fries
2023 08 16 10 25
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups chopped yellow onions
Salt and cayenne to taste
2 pounds ground beef
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
Crushed red pepper to taste
2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
3 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped fresh or canned tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cups beefsteak or beef broth
2 tablespoons Masa Harina
Vegetable oil for deep frying
2 large Idaho potatoes, peeled and cut into shoestrings, rinsed in cool water and patted dry
1/2 pound grated Cheddar cheese
1/2 pound grated Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sliced pickled jalapenos
Instructions
Heat the vegetable oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onions, season with salt and cayenne, and cook, stirring, until they begin to wilt, about 2 minutes.
Add the beef, chili powder, cumin, crushed red pepper and oregano. Season with salt and cayenne, and cook until all the pink in the meat disappears, 5 to 6 minutes.
Add the garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste and 2 1/2 cups beef stock; bring to boil, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer, uncovered, until the meat is tender, about 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Skim off any fat that rises to the surface.
Combine the Masa Harina with the remaining 1/2 cup stock and mix to blend. Slowly add to the pot, stirring to blend. The mixture will thicken. Cook for 30 minutes, then season again with salt and cayenne. It should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
In a heavy, deep pot or an electric fryer, heat 4 inches of vegetable oil to 360 degrees F. Fry the shoestring potatoes in batches until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per batch. Drain on paper towels, then season with salt and cayenne.
Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Cover the bottom of a large, glass rectangular baking pan with the shoestring potatoes.
Combine the Cheddar and jack cheeses. Sprinkle the cheese over the fries.
Bake just until the cheese melts, 3 to 4 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven and spoon the chili over the top of the fries.
Garnish with the sour cream and jalapenos.
Serve immediately.
“U.S. bullying ends now!” – Putin issues stunning military plan
Yeah. Give nuclear weapons to Iran, Mexico, and a host of other nations that are sick and tired of the USA.
Ukraine’s Grifter Wars Through Gonzalo Lira’s Eyes
Former Glasgow MP George Galloway said it best about Gonzalo Lira, whose re-arrest by Zelensky’s Gestapo was announced by American transsexual grifter Sarah Ashton Cirillo, who is now a staff sergeant in Zelensky’s Wehrmacht even though, as we previously pointed out, Sgt Sarah has not yet completed basic military training.
In wishing Lira well, no matter what Lira’s motives were for staying in Zelensky’s Fourth Reich, Galloway spoke for most of us, who don’t take our marching orders from a transgender American who left his wife and children back in Yankee land to play act at being a girly spokesperson for the homophobic Ukrainian Wehrmacht.
In acknowledging Lira’s chequered history, Galloway said that was not a massive problem for him or for his listeners, who were more interested in Lira’s bird’s eye view on the conflict, rather than on tips on how to pick up hot Ukrainian chicks or, indeed, chicks with dicks like Sgt Sarah. Galloway, with his excellent command of the English language, also doubted that Lira “inflicted strategic damage on Zelensky’s regime”, thereby implicitly agreeing with my earlier analysis that Lira should have got a kick up the transom and be booted across the Hungarian border.
Leaving aside that Sergeant Sarah was a Federal informant, an agent provocateur, a gambler, a sexual deviant, a complete sociopath, and a terminal narcissist who pals around with terrorists, I, amongst others, have seen this D grade Hollywood plot play out a hundred times before.
Ukraine has an unhealthy sprinkling of such grifters on both sides of the lines. Former USMC officer Scott Ritter, who previously defended Lira, now believes Lira is a liar and SBU asset as does Eva Bartlett for the same reasons she objected to the family of Syrian President Assad bringing competition for her begging bowl to Damascus.
Brian Berletic, who posts informative videos under the New Atlas name, believes Lira is more fool than knave and, like Galloway, he admits he found Lira’s input helpful in his own analysis. To counter Berletic, there are a stream of twitter threads like these “exposing Lira” and all ‘kinds of “Putin shills,” some of whom, like Bartlett, Galloway was reduced to calling “flat earth fucks” because of their grifting, much of which, such as lying they were in Syria when they were not and stealing over $1 million of Iranian aid for Syria I have witnessed firsthand.
To get a feel for some of the whack jobs MI6 and the CIA support in Kiev, consider this MintPress article which reports on Cormac Smith, MI6’s hired Irish field hand who tells us that ““Russians are fucking animals” and that the Russkies have committed genocide by admitting that they forcibly transferred “700,000 Ukrainian children” to Russkie land, a figure Smith obviously plucked from Sgt Sarah’s more than ample ass.
MintPress goes on to discuss some of the usual suspects, such as MI6 asset Michael Weiss, the Henry Jackson Society, The Interpreter, the Atlantic Council, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Bellingcat, the 77th Brigade, MI6 contractors Torchlight, and NATO fixer Chris Donnelly, all of whom are grifting in Ukraine.
To me, all of those grifters are just noise. I go back to first principles, to the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and South Tyrone where the British fought a successful 40-year intelligence campaign against the Provisional IRA. As part of their war effort, MI5 bankrolled supposed former PIRA member Vincent McKenna’s Families Against Intimidation and Terror (FAIT),who gave the IRA a series of very black eyes until grifter McKenna was jailed for raping his own daughter.
When I asked two members of the IRA’s Army Council, their governing body, why did MI5 hire such a boomerang, they replied that MI5 were so hell bent on beating the IRA that they turned a blind eye to everything, child rape included. Using that and similar examples as my compass, it is, to me, beyond doubt that MI6 and the CIA have exotic and unhinged operatives working behind the lines in Syria, Ukraine and everywhere else; however, I doubt Lira is one of them. Rather, I believe he is one of those well-meaning fools I have come across who have paid either with their lives or by serving very long prison sentences for their folly in the killing fields of Ireland and Syria.
The problem is that it can be hard to differentiate the wheat from the chaff, the fool from the knave. Jamal Daoud, a Jordanian living in Australia, complains here about an alleged former Hindu extremist terrorist, planning to bump him off. But they, in turn, reported Daoud to Syrian Military Intelligence for bringing Jonathan Spyer, an Israeli spy, into Syria. Because of all that, I bought Spyer’s book, which is published by Routledge, which more or less specialises in academic vanity publishing. Chapter 14, Undercover in Damascus, the relevant chapter of the book, is as forgettable as bland bread and served no benefit to Israel or its allies.
And then we have the Sydney based Anglican priest, who is on an Israeli naughty list because of his long-standing friendship with nuclear missile whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu Barrett tried to manipulate for one of her $40,000 scams and whose face another “street artist” scammer plastered on murals all over Sydney when the priest was already in very hot water with his archbishop for bringing the church into disrepute with his activism. The end result of their “humanitarian intervention” was that the priest became homeless.
That is not to say Israel does not want their legions of little helpers in Syria. It does and I have blocked some of them and observed some others of them up close. But they, like Lira and his critics, are not the main game and they are hardly even a sideshow. As Syria’s best secret service agents joined the colours, it was often the dross that stayed behind to mop up the bribes, often in cahoots with the grifters.
When I told two former senior members of the IRA, whose brothers were murdered by the SAS that Assad had, despite Bartlett’s keening, invited Major General John Holmes, the former commanding officer of the SAS to Damascus, one of them thought it a good idea as, to him, bridges have to be built and the other thought it a bad idea as, to him, the only good SAS officer is a dead SAS officer.
Schooled by such experiences, my own prognosis is quite simple and to the point. The main vectors in the Ukrainian shemozzle are the Armed Forces of Russia and their military allies on the one hand, and NATO and their lemmings on the other. All else is tinsel.
Allied and perhaps even integral to the Russian Armed Forces are a number of spokespeople, the best known of whom are Russian President Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and Russian Foreign Affairs spokesperson Zakharova, all of whom tend to tell it as it is, not as Tinseltown’ transexuals would like it to be. Opposed to those spokespeople are Hollywood circus clowns like Zelensky and Sgt Sarah, as well as a bunch of supporting clowns in Washington, London, Paris and Brussels.
The Syrian situation is slightly different as Syrian civil society and, indeed, Syrian military intelligence, have left far too many holes for domestic and foreign grifters to exploit. I have met many of these grifters and, not to put too fine a point on it but far better people were found in the back roads of Fermanagh and South Tyrone with bin bags over their heads and bullets through their brains.
Lira, as my previous article described him, is simply a middle-aged Chilean Ukraine will try to trade at a premium, just like they have done with previous civilians they kidnapped. Though Lira is only an irrelevant sideshow, I wish him and his family the best.
That said, this Ukrainian war will end with a resounding Russian victory that is already resonating across Africa and throughout Asia, from Syria in its West to China in its East. Cold comfort for Lira if he gets an OBE (one behind the ear) but, whether he lives or dies, his torture at the hands of Zelensky and transexual nut job Sergeant Sarah is one more score that has to be settled, one more vendetta that must, if necessary, be avenged in blood by the Russian Armed Forces.
ATLANTA — Former president Donald Trump and 18 others were criminally charged in Georgia in connection with efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the state, according to an indictment made public late Monday night.
Trump was charged with 13 counts, including violating the state’s racketeering act, soliciting a public officer to violate their oath, conspiring to impersonate a public officer, conspiring to commit forgery in the first degree and conspiring to file false documents.
With so much alleged conspiring should we call all these indictments a conspiracy theory?
This indictment is again too wide and borders on, like the others against Trump, criminalizing the retelling of rumors and free speech.
Just consider this part:
COUNT 29 of 41
And the Grand Jurors aforesaid, in the name and behalf of the citizens of Georgia, do charge and accuse DONALD JOHN TRUMP with the offense of FALSE STATEMENTS AND WRITINGS, O.C.G.A. § 16-10-20, for the said accused, in the County of Fulton and State of Georgia, on or about the 2nd day of January 2021, knowingly, willfully, and unlawfully made at least one of the following false statements and representations to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs, and Georgia Secretary of State General Counsel Ryan Germany:
That anywhere from 250,000 to 300,000 ballots were dropped mysteriously into the rolls in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia;
That thousands of people attempted to vote in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia and were told they could not because a ballot had already been cast in their name;
That 4,502 people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia who were not on the voter registration list;
That 904 people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia who were registered at an address that was a post ofiice box;
That Ruby Freeman was a professional vote scammer and a known political operative;
That Ruby Freeman, her daughter, and others were responsible for fraudulently awarding at least 18,000 ballots to Joseph R. Biden at State Farm Arena in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia;
That close to 5,000 dead people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia;
That 139% of people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Detroit;
That 200,000 more votes were recorded than the number of people who voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Pennsylvania;
That thousands of dead people voted in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Michigan;
That Ruby Freeman stuffed the ballot boxes;
That hundreds of thousands of ballots had been “dumped” into Fulton County and another county adjacent to Fulton County in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia;
That he won the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia by 400,000 votes;
said statements being within the jurisdiction of the Office of the Georgia Secretary of State and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, departments and agencies of state government, contrary to the laws of said State, the good order, peace and dignity thereof;
The indictment takes an expansive view of the behaviors it alleges were acts “in furtherance of the conspiracy” — including, as an example, at least a dozen instances of Trump’s tweets alleging fraud and other claims. Such details from the indictment quickly drew criticism as potential violations of the defendants’ free speech protections.
Trials over these indictments, if any, will likely start only next year and will take quite a long time. Any judgment in them will be appealed.
Yet most Americans made up their minds about Mr. Trump long before prosecutors like Fani T. Willis or Jack Smith weighed in, polls have shown. He is, depending on the perspective, a serial lawbreaker finally being brought to justice or a victim of persecution by partisans intent on keeping him out of office. The Georgia indictment, powerful as it is in its language, has been priced into the market, as the Wall Street types would put it.
“The accumulated indictments are kind of a white noise for voters,” said Sarah Longwell, a Republican political consultant who has organized opposition to Mr. Trump and conducts weekly focus groups with voters. “They can’t tell the difference between Georgia and Jack Smith because it all blurs together in one long news cycle of Trump’s-in-trouble.”
I believe, like Trump, that the indictment will help him. First in the primary and then in the general election:
Speaking to supporters in Alabama a couple of days after his last arraignment, [Trump] claimed he was looking forward to the next one. “We need one more indictment to close out this election,” he boasted.
That is bravado — the sort of bring-it-on bluster that electrifies a Trump rally.
Contrast that with the case and against the Bidens which will be laid out by a special prosecutor to the same public. As I wrote when the last bits about the Bidens-Burisma saga came to light:
On the one side we have a case which shows the deep corruption of ‘the big guy’ and his family who are supported by the deep state they control.
On the other side we have the underdog who thought he was doing the right thing but is now indicted by the deep state for, at that time, saying so.
The media will shine the light on both cases. Each time they will mention Trump it will, independent of what they write about him, be positive for him by making the case of the lone guy who gets unfairly prosecuted by the deep state.
Each time the Biden case will be mentioned it will remind the public of Biden’s corrupt dealings.
Proceed through that for sixteen month and the outcome is assured.
Now add to that the possible quirks of the Democratic primary. RFK junior has entered that race:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has raised eyebrows as the first right-sympathetic populist to run as a Democrat since William Jennings Bryan. Launching with twenty paid staff and functioning now with seventy, Kennedy’s campaign has latched on to several issues important to mainstream Republicans—Covid tyranny, censorship, government surveillance—as well as to the dissident right: public health threats posed by chemicals in food and water, ending forever wars. The difference is the right frames these issues as matters of social cohesion and public order, while Kennedy uses the language of democracy and freedom.
In the currant fashion RJK Jr. is not really a Democrat:
When discussing the issues that animate him most—the environment, censorship, state and corporate collusion—he brightens. His hopeless intellectual humility and his hesitation to emphasize the most divisive ideological commitments of his own party while regularly taking up the language of his partisan opponents are setting up a general election that could divide populist voters almost entirely on the basis of aesthetics.
During the primaries the Democratic Party mafia will do their best to eliminate him even when he is unlikely to be a real danger to Joe Biden’s candidacy.
Should Trump then consider to run for president with RFK Jr. as his future vice-president he could form a quasi bi-partisan populist ticket that might well attract a larger majority.
Posted by b on August 15, 2023 at 15:47 UTC | Permalink
Taiwan is in BIG TROUBLE as China Vows Retaliation for DPP Visit to US
China has rebuked the U.S. for its latest escalations on Taiwan, from a growing economic war to the DPP’s latest visit to the United States. Here’s what we know thus far about the potential consequences.
The Perpetual Wars You Aren’t Supposed to Notice
By William J. ASTORE
In his message to the troops prior to the July 4th weekend, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin offered high praise indeed. “We have the greatest fighting force in human history,” he tweeted, connecting that claim to the U.S. having patriots of all colors, creeds, and backgrounds “who bravely volunteer to defend our country and our values.”
As a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel from a working-class background who volunteered to serve more than four decades ago, who am I to argue with Austin? Shouldn’t I just bask in the glow of his praise for today’s troops, reflecting on my own honorable service near the end of what now must be thought of as the First Cold War?
Yet I confess to having doubts. I’ve heard it all before. The hype. The hyperbole. I still remember how, soon after the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush boasted that this country had “the greatest force for human liberation the world has ever known.” I also remember how, in a pep talk given to U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2010, President Barack Obama declared them “the finest fighting force that the world has ever known.” And yet, 15 years ago at TomDispatch, I was already wondering when Americans had first become so proud of, and insistent upon, declaring our military the world’s absolute best, a force beyond compare, and what that meant for a republic that once had viewed large standing armies and constant warfare as anathemas to freedom.
In retrospect, the answer is all too straightforward: we need something to boast about, don’t we? In the once-upon-a-time “exceptional nation,” what else is there to praise to the skies or consider our pride and joy these days except our heroes? After all, this country can no longer boast of having anything like the world’s best educational outcomes, or healthcare system, or the most advanced and safest infrastructure, or the best democratic politics, so we better damn well be able to boast about having “the greatest fighting force” ever.
Leaving that boast aside, Americans could certainly brag about one thing this country has beyond compare: the most expensive military around and possibly ever. No country even comes close to our commitment of funds to wars, weapons (including nuclear ones at the Department of Energy), and global dominance. Indeed, the Pentagon’s budget for “defense” in 2023 exceeds that of the next 10 countries (mostly allies!) combined.
And from all of this, it seems to me, two questions arise: Are we truly getting what we pay so dearly for — the bestest, finest, most exceptional military ever? And even if we are, should a self-proclaimed democracy really want such a thing?
The answer to both those questions is, of course, no. After all, America hasn’t won a war in a convincing fashion since 1945. If this country keeps losing wars routinely and often enough catastrophically, as it has in places like Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, how can we honestly say that we possess the world’s greatest fighting force? And if we nevertheless persist in such a boast, doesn’t that echo the rhetoric of militaristic empires of the past? (Remember when we used to think that only unhinged dictators like Adolf Hitler boasted of having peerless warriors in a megalomaniacal pursuit of global domination?)
Actually, I do believe the United States has the most exceptional military, just not in the way its boosters and cheerleaders like Austin, Bush, and Obama claimed. How is the U.S. military truly “exceptional”? Let me count the ways.
The Pentagon as a Budgetary Black Hole
In so many ways, the U.S. military is indeed exceptional. Let’s begin with its budget. At this very moment, Congress is debating a colossal “defense” budget of $886 billion for FY2024 (and all the debate is about issues that have little to do with the military). That defense spending bill, you may recall, was “only” $740 billion when President Joe Biden took office three years ago. In 2021, Biden withdrew U.S. forces from the disastrous war in Afghanistan, theoretically saving the taxpayer nearly $50 billion a year. Yet, in place of any sort of peace dividend, American taxpayers simply got an even higher bill as the Pentagon budget continued to soar.
Recall that, in his four years in office, Donald Trump increased military spending by 20%. Biden is now poised to achieve a similar 20% increase in just three years in office. And that increase largely doesn’t even include the cost of supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia — so far, somewhere between $120 billion and $200 billion and still rising.
Colossal budgets for weapons and war enjoy broad bipartisan support in Washington. It’s almost as if there were a military-industrial-congressional complex at work here! Where, in fact, did I ever hear a president warning us about that? Oh, perhaps I’m thinking of a certain farewell address by Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1961.
In all seriousness, there’s now a huge pentagonal-shaped black hole on the Potomac that’s devouring more than half of the federal discretionary budget annually. Even when Congress and the Pentagon allegedly try to enforce fiscal discipline, if not austerity elsewhere, the crushing gravitational pull of that hole just continues to suck in more money. Bet on that continuing as the Pentagon issues ever more warnings about a new cold war with China and Russia.
Given its money-sucking nature, perhaps you won’t be surprised to learn that the Pentagon is remarkably exceptional when it comes to failing fiscal audits — five of them in a row (the fifth failure being a “teachable moment,” according to its chief financial officer) — as its budget only continued to soar. Whether you’re talking about lost wars or failed audits, the Pentagon is eternally rewarded for its failures. Try running a “Mom and Pop” store on that basis and see how long you last.
Speaking of all those failed wars, perhaps you won’t be surprised to learn that they haven’t come cheaply. According to the Costs of War Project at Brown University, roughly 937,000 people have died since 9/11/2001 thanks to direct violence in this country’s “Global War on Terror” in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and elsewhere. (And the deaths of another 3.6 to 3.7 million people may be indirectly attributable to those same post-9/11 conflicts.) The financial cost to the American taxpayer has been roughly $8 trillion and rising even as the U.S. military continues its counterterror preparations and activities in 85 countries.
No other nation in the world sees its military as (to borrow from a short-lived Navy slogan) “a global force for good.” No other nation divides the whole world into military commands like AFRICOM for Africa and CENTCOM for the Middle East and parts of Central and South Asia, headed up by four-star generals and admirals. No other nation has a network of 750 foreign bases scattered across the globe. No other nation strives for full-spectrum dominance through “all-domain operations,” meaning not only the control of traditional “domains” of combat — the land, sea, and air — but also of space and cyberspace. While other countries are focused mainly on national defense (or regional aggressions of one sort or another), the U.S. military strives for total global and spatial dominance. Truly exceptional!
Strangely, in this never-ending, unbounded pursuit of dominance, results simply don’t matter. The Afghan War? Bungled, botched, and lost. The Iraq War? Built on lies and lost. Libya? We came, we saw, Libya’s leader (and so many innocents) died. Yet no one at the Pentagon was punished for any of those failures. In fact, to this day, it remains an accountability-free zone, exempt from meaningful oversight. If you’re a “modern major general,” why not pursue wars when you know you’ll never be punished for losing them?
Indeed, the few “exceptions” within the military-industrial-congressional complex who stood up for accountability, people of principle like Daniel Hale, Chelsea Manning, and Edward Snowden, were imprisoned or exiled. In fact, the U.S. government has even conspired to imprison a foreign publisher and transparency activist, Julian Assange, who published the truth about the American war on terror, by using a World War I-era espionage clause that only applies to American citizens.
And the record is even grimmer than that. In our post-9/11 years at war, as President Barack Obama admitted, “We tortured some folks” — and the only person punished for that was another whistleblower, John Kiriakou, who did his best to bring those war crimes to our attention.
And speaking of war crimes, isn’t it “exceptional” that the U.S. military plans to spend upwards of $2 trillion in the coming decades on a new generation of genocidal nuclear weapons? Those include new stealth bombers and new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) for the Air Force, as well as new nuclear-missile-firing submarines for the Navy. Worse yet, the U.S. continues to reserve the right to use nuclear weapons first, presumably in the name of protecting life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And of course, despite the countries — nine! — that now possess nukes, the U.S. remains the only one to have used them in wartime, in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Finally, it turns out that the military is even immune from Supreme Court decisions! When SCOTUS recently overturned affirmative action for college admission, it carved out an exception for the military academies. Schools like West Point and Annapolis can still consider the race of their applicants, presumably to promote unit cohesion through proportional representation of minorities within the officer ranks, but our society at large apparently does not require racial equity for its cohesion.
A Most Exceptional Military Makes Its Wars and Their Ugliness Disappear
Here’s one of my favorite lines from the movie The Usual Suspects: “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist.” The greatest trick the U.S. military ever pulled was essentially convincing us that its wars never existed. As Norman Solomon notes in his revealing book, War Made Invisible, the military-industrial-congressional complex has excelled at camouflaging the atrocious realities of war, rendering them almost entirely invisible to the American people. Call it the new American isolationism, only this time we’re isolated from the harrowing and horrific costs of war itself.
America is a nation perpetually at war, yet most of us live our lives with little or no perception of this. There is no longer a military draft. There are no war bond drives. You aren’t asked to make direct and personal sacrifices. You aren’t even asked to pay attention, let alone pay (except for those nearly trillion-dollar-a-year budgets and interest payments on a ballooning national debt, of course). You certainly aren’t asked for your permission for this country to fight its wars, as the Constitution demands. As President George W. Bush suggested after the 9/11 attacks, go visit Disneyworld! Enjoy life! Let America’s “best and brightest” handle the brutality, the degradation, and the ugliness of war, bright minds like former Vice President Dick (“So?”) Cheney and former Secretary of Defense Donald (“I don’t do quagmires”) Rumsfeld.
Did you hear something about the U.S. military being in Syria? In Somalia? Did you hear about the U.S. military supporting the Saudis in a brutal war of repression in Yemen? Did you notice how this country’s military interventions around the world kill, wound, and displace so many people of color, so much so that observers speak of the systemic racism of America’s wars? Is it truly progress that a more diverse military in terms of “color, creed, and background,” to use Secretary of Defense Austin’s words, has killed and is killing so many non-white peoples around the globe?
Praising the all-female-crewed flyover at the last Super Bowl or painting rainbow flags of inclusivity (or even blue and yellow flags for Ukraine) on cluster munitions won’t soften the blows or quiet the screams. As one reader of my blog Bracing Views so aptly put it: “The diversity the war parties [Democrats and Republicans] will not tolerate is diversity of thought.”
Of course, the U.S. military isn’t solely to blame here. Senior officers will claim their duty is not to make policy at all but to salute smartly as the president and Congress order them about. The reality, however, is different. The military is, in fact, at the core of America’s shadow government with enormous influence over policymaking. It’s not merely an instrument of power; it is power — and exceptionally powerful at that. And that form of power simply isn’t conducive to liberty and freedom, whether inside America’s borders or beyond them.
Wait! What am I saying? Stop thinking about all that! America is, after all, the exceptional nation and its military, a band of freedom fighters. In Iraq, where war and sanctions killed untold numbers of Iraqi children in the 1990s, the sacrifice was “worth it,” as former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright once reassured Americans on 60 Minutes.
Even when government actions kill children, lots of children, it’s for the greater good. If this troubles you, go to Disney and take your kids with you. You don’t like Disney? Then, hark back to that old marching song of World War I and “pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag, and smile, smile, smile.” Remember, America’s troops are freedom-delivering heroes and your job is to smile and support them without question.
Have I made my point? I hope so. And yes, the U.S. military is indeed exceptional and being so, being #1 (or claiming you are anyway) means never having to say you’re sorry, no matter how many innocents you kill or maim, how many lives you disrupt and destroy, how many lies you tell.
I must admit, though, that, despite the endless celebration of our military’s exceptionalism and “greatness,” a fragment of scripture from my Catholic upbringing haunts me still: Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Why I’m Raising My Children in CHINA – NOT The UK.
2023 08 16 10 09
What I Wish My Dad Taught Me When I Was Little, According To 11 Me
It’s impossible to teach everything. But it’s helpful to know what untaught lessons might be felt the most.
A father’s influence on their sons is profound. As young men, we look first to our fathers to help lay the foundation for our own future growth and development. In an ideal world, they show us what to do, and what not to do. They help us distinguish between right and wrong. They encourage our strengths and nurture our struggles to prepare us for the future.
But, as well all know, fathers aren’t perfect. Sometimes opportunities to teach life lessons, impart simple skills, or prepare for hard-to-swallow truths get lost in the chaos of life. It happens. And it’s easy to look back with longing and regret at those moments. No, the point here is to not dwell on mistakes. Rather, it is to learn about what you might want to prioritize. We asked a dozen men what they wish their dads taught them when they were still kids. Whether learning how to problem solve, develop confidence, or rock and roll, they all had something to say. Here’s what they told us.
1. How To Be Present
“I grew up in a relatively low-income family with my mother on disability and my father always working hard to put food on the table and clothes on our backs. At one time my family had to file for bankruptcy because of debt. But my father still managed a way to get us what we needed.
My dad was a hard worker and taught me the meaning of hard work and perseverance.
But the one thing I wish I had learned sooner from my father was the importance of experiencing life, moments, and relationships over working for the dollar. Make your living doing what you do, but be present and don’t live life stuck in the past or even the future. Learn from past mistakes, but be in the present and cherish experiences and family because time is the one thing you can’t get back.” – Adrian, 31, Missouri
2. How To Know My Worth
“My father never taught me to be confident in myself. Instead, he forced me, as a little boy, to be timid, weak, and feel inferior to others, especially my peers. He was abusive and manipulative, and as a result, I would doubt whether any actions or decisions I took were the right ones.
Later on, colleagues would insult, hurt, and bully me, and I didn’t have the strength to defend myself.
I did learn lessons from my upbringing, though. The one that stands out in my mind all the time is that I must cherish and value my own children. I should never mistreat them or allow anybody to make them feel inferior. I’m traumatized by what my father did, and I wish he would’ve taught me differently. But what I have learned are essential lessons that I will never forget for the rest of my life.” – Phillip, 37, Colorado
3. How To Play Guitar
“My father was a musician, and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. I begged him to teach me how to play the guitar like him, but I wasn’t very good, and he wasn’t very patient. He got frustrated easily and nudged me toward other interests.
As a father myself, I certainly understand frustration. But I also know how wonderful it feels when your kids finally learn how to do something new.
I did eventually learn to play guitar. I’m still not good, but I’m better than I was when I was younger. My dad passed away before I had any skills worthy of sharing, and I always wonder what it would’ve been like if he were my teacher and we actually got to rock out together at least once.” – Jim, 45, New York
I begged him to teach me how to play the guitar like him, but I wasn’t very good, and he wasn’t very patient. He got frustrated easily and nudged me toward other interests.
4. How To Fix Things
“My dad was one of those guys who was very mechanically inclined. He had a blue collar trade for a career, worked on cars in his spare time, and fixed anything and everything that needed fixing around the house.
I’m not wired the way he was, unfortunately. Fixing broken things and working on cars is not a skill of mine. If I could go back in time to being a kid again, I would have asked my dad to take time to bring me in on some of his repair jobs.
To give me a shot at turning the wrench, so to speak. Not only would it have given me much needed knowledge, but it also would have given me much needed confidence when working with my hands, which happens a lot as a dad.” – Scott, 36, North Carolina
5. How To Set Goals
“When I was younger, I wish my dad had taught me about setting realistic goals. It’s a really important skill that could have helped me grow and become better. It would have made me more disciplined, determined, and adaptable from a young age.
Breaking big goals into smaller tasks can make a big difference in how kids deal with challenges.
If I knew this earlier, I would have been more motivated and faced difficulties with more confidence. Also, understanding the importance of setting timelines would have made me feel more urgent to get things done and not procrastinate. If my dad had taught me to celebrate even the small achievements, I would’ve felt better about myself and been more encouraged.” – Erik, 40, Texas
6. How To Care
“I wish my dad had taught me how to develop emotional intelligence. My dad wasn’t very present during my childhood. He was a traveling jeweler and usually out for two to three weeks, then back home for one or two.
He didn’t show me how to play sports, read, or any of the ‘normal’ stuff.
But the biggest thing he never showed me was how to care for the people I love.
I didn’t need him to be constantly checking up on me, but to be involved in how I felt, what I thought, or even what actually interested me outside of buying me whatever game I wanted. I now know this was something that he just didn’t know how to do, which is why I’ve made it a priority.
My kids will know that I’m interested in what they like, how they think, and the people they are going to become. And my wife will know I support her in whatever she does. Ultimately, their happiness and emotional health are priorities for me as a husband and father.” – Joshua, 33, Arizona
7. How To Connect With People
“Being a dad to two cool boys, 9 and 11, often makes me think a lot about what my own dad taught me growing up. One big thing I wish he’d shown me is how to connect with people.
I’m an introvert and striking up a conversation with someone new feels like trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube blindfolded.
It’s tough, and I see the same thing in one of my boys. I realized a few years back that I had a small group of friends and didn’t stay in touch as much as I should. This hit me hard and got me thinking about the importance of connecting and building relationships.
I’m learning to get better at this, and I’m taking my boys on the journey with me. I want them to understand that making friends and keeping them close is just as important as acing a test or scoring a goal. It’s something I’m still figuring out, but hey, that’s part of being a dad, right? We learn, and we teach.” – John, 31, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
My dad was very much a ‘Let me do it’ kind of guy. He wanted to fix the problem, whether it was a broken appliance or hurt feelings, rather than explore it.
8. How To Let Certain Things Roll Off Me
“I wish my father had known about and been able to teach me about the mind, and not letting what others say and do get to me so much. Sometimes the things other people say and do make us change how we do something or what we think about something, which has interfered with my life quite a bit.
Had I have been taught how to manage those types of thoughts, I’m sure some of life’s worst moments wouldn’t have weighed upon me so heavily, for so long, and I would have been able to move on from them sooner.” – Michael, 40, Michigan
9. How To Problem Solve
“Getting older has made me learn to appreciate the ability to understand how and why things work. I’ve taught myself a lot by taking things apart and putting them back together, and I realize now that I’ve been conditioning my problem-solving abilities.
My dad was very much a ‘Let me do it’ kind of guy.
He wanted to fix the problem, whether it was a broken appliance or hurt feelings, rather than explore it. Or help us learn about it. I appreciate what he was trying to do, but I think it hindered my ability to think for myself and really figure things out while I was growing up.” – Trevor, 40, Pennsylvania
10. How To Nurture My Inner Child
“I wish my father had taught me that most adults, even parents, still feel like kids themselves deep down inside. That the feeling of not being ready for adulthood never really goes away, and most grown-ups are still trying to learn how to do stuff the right way.
Since becoming a dad myself, I’ve realized that the feelings I have, like not always knowing the right answers, or trying my best but still making mistakes with my kids, must have been there for my dad, too.
I’ve realized that they must have occasionally felt like a child with adult responsibilities sometimes, just like I do. I also think that lesson would have helped me be a bit more calm and understanding with other people throughout my life.
When I stop and think of other adults as basically kids on the inside, with the same insecurities and fears that I have, it’s a lot easier for me to have patience and compassion for them.” – Phil, 45, Ohio
11. How To Manage Money
“I wish my dad had taught me about stocks and investing when I was young. He rarely talked about money or his work as a director at a large financial institution. His passing in December 2001 left a void in my life and financial knowledge.
As I grew older, my interest in finance intensified, and I felt unprepared to manage money.
I took it upon myself to learn about investing through self-education and seeking advice from others. Now, as a father, I understand the importance of sharing knowledge with my boy. I aim to be open and communicative about finances, empowering him to make informed decisions.
Though my journey to financial knowledge was self-driven, I hope to create an environment for my son where he feels supported and encouraged to learn about finance and investing, just as I wish I had been in my youth.” – Patrick, 45, Korea
How China Space Program Is BIGGER, BETTER & ADVANCED Than NASA
Armed with aggressive timelines, strategic investments, and an insatiable appetite for innovation, China’s space endeavors have propelled it into the forefront of the race to space. The nations remarkable successes, like landing rovers on the hidden part of the moon and building a growing space station, have caught the world’s attention and clearly show that China wants to be a leader in space exploration, challenging the long reign of the US. In today’s episode, we will cover how China space program is better than NASA in several aspects.
Black Wall Street in Tulsa Oklahoma, was one of the richest black community in all of America. Then in 1921, a group of white supremacists attacked the community with the help from the National Guard.
Known today as the Black Wall Street massacre, where 35 square blocks were decimated. The community was home to 10,000 African American residents. It was a thriving community, with brick and wood frame houses, and a bustling place of commerce, with shops, night clubs and theatres. It was a vibrant place, and full of promise which is why it became known as Americas Black Wallstreet.
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Thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed wiping out years of generational wealth. Hundreds had been killed and buried in mass graves as a heavily armed gang of looters and arsonists destroyed everything in there wake. One of the factors in the destruction of the community was resentment over the financial prosperity of the black community.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, a Lawyer bought a really expensive box of Cigars and then insured them against fire. Within a month he had smoked all 24 of these rather fine Cigars, without even paying his first premium payment on the insurance policy.
The Lawyer then filed a claim against the insurance company. In the claim the Lawyer claimed the Cigars were lost in a series of small fires.
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The insurance company out-right refused to pay, stating the obvious reasons for not paying out the insurance claim, and that the man has consumed the Cigars in the normal way. The Lawyer filed a lawsuit against the insurance company and won.
The Judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous, but the judge stated that the lawyer had a policy from the insurance company, which it had warranted that the Cigars were insurable and guaranteed that they would insure them against fire, without defining what was considered to acceptable fire.
Instead of having to go through a lengthy legal battle and costly appeals process they accepted the Judges ruling and paid the lawyer 15,000 dollars for the smoked Cigars.
The Russo – Sino combination would produce an Economic Giant with :-
Combined Real GDP of almost $ 25 Trillion
Combined Food Per Capita of 575 Kg per Year (400 Kg per year being minimum desirable)
Combined Gold Reserves of 5000 Tonnes officially and around 6500 Tonnes unofficially
Around 4 Million Soldiers including Reservists
Capable of outproducing NATO at 17:1 in Ammo, 9:1 in Missiles, 6:1 in Ships and 6:1 in Choppers and Tanks
Oil and Gas Reserves
However this isn’t just adding numbers
China isn’t ready to split the world into camps
China wants a multipolar world and wants both the East and West
No matter what the West does, China is not burning bridges with the West because China still gets a lot of stuff from the West
My guess is China will wait and if Taiwan becomes a major issue then China may finally formally cut off the West and form a major alliance with Russia
Russia is ready even today
It’s tired and sick of the West
Putin and Shoigu are moderates but Medvedev, Lavrov, Surovikin, Prighozin are all extremists and tough hawks who want the West beaten and crushed
So it all depends on Taiwan
That would be the red line for China
If US supports Taiwanese Independence, China will formally get into a United Nuclear Alliance (If anyone nukes China, Russia nukes him back and vice versa) and a United Military Alliance (Anyone attacks Russia or it’s friends and China supplies everything including soldiers )
US politician Robert Kennedy Jr. has confirmed the existence of American biological laboratories in Ukraine which are used to produce banned biological weapons.
Tuesday, 15 August 2023 2:40 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 15 August 2023 9:37 PM ]
US politician Robert Kennedy Jr. (File photo by AFP)US politician Robert Kennedy Jr. has confirmed the existence of American biological laboratories in Ukraine which are used to produce banned biological weapons.
"We have bio-labs in Ukraine because we are developing bioweapons," the Democratic Party presidential candidate told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in a video interview posted on the X social network (formerly known as Twitter) on Tuesday.
"Those bioweapons are using all kinds of new synthetic biology and CRISPR (an acronym for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats in DNA) technology and genetic engineering techniques that were not available to a previous generation," the US politician, also known by his initials RFK Jr., said in the interview.
"When the Patriot Act reopened the biolabs arms race in 2001, the Pentagon began putting a lot of money into bioweapons," Kennedy Jr. added. "But they were nervous at that time because if you violate the Geneva Convention, it’s a hanging offense," he explained. "So they were nervous about actually going full force into bioweapons development.
So they transferred the authority for biosecurity to one agency in the HHS [the US Department of Health and Human Services]," the politician added. "But now, when you do bioweapons development, every bioweapon, it needs vaccine so you develop them side by side because in 100 percent of the cases when you deploy a bioweapon, there’s blowback.
Your side also gets sick," he concluded. The Russian Defense Ministry revealed the existence of US military biolabs in Ukraine working on producing bioweapons as early as February 2022.
In mid-April, a Russian parliamentary commission presented its final report on the investigations into the activities of the US-run bio-labs in Ukraine.
The report concluded that the Pentagon’s military biological program had grown large in scale, being implemented under the guise of anti-terrorist projects and activities that were permitted by the Biological Weapons Convention.
The parliamentary commission also pointed out that the activities of all the US-controlled laboratories involved Pentagon experts.
However, the results of their work were confidential and government agencies in the host countries only had access to secondary research results. Russian Ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, revealed that the secret US labs in Ukraine were producing biological warfare.
As a result of the illegal activities that were being carried out at US bio-labs in Ukraine, Russia last year asked the United Nations Security Council to establish a commission to investigate the reports that Washington and Kiev were in violation of the Convention prohibiting the use of biological weapons.
In the meantime, Moscow believes that the US bio-labs in Ukraine are only a fraction of a global network of 300 similar facilities. However, the US government has now denied the existence of such military bio-labs.
Instead, the US government has admitted to what it calls US-funded biological research facilities.
Earlier this year, Russia said it had obtained documents in Lisichansk, in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic (LPR), that revealed the US military-funded labs in Ukraine had been creating biological weapons components and testing them on the population of the country.
"Russian troops have secured over 20,000 documents, reference and analytical materials, and interviewed eyewitnesses and participants in American military-biological programs" since the start of the war in February last year, said the commander of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov.
The general said that the documents "confirm... the focus of the Pentagon on creating biological weapons components and testing them on the population of Ukraine and other states along [Russia's] borders."
I am 67 years old. These are among the best things I have ever learned:
You spend your first 20 years worrying what people think about you. You spend your next 20 years swearing that you don’t care what people think about you. You spend the next 20 years realizing that they aren’t thinking about you. A liberation!
Any day on this side of the dirt is a good day. Some people didn’t make the cut last night. I was hit by a speeding taxi as I was walking to a bus stop. I spent a month in rehab with two broken legs, a brain injury, multiple back injuries and other fractures. The night before I was hit, a young, married couple was also hit. They both died. Practice gratitude.
A woman I know spends most of her time thinking about how much she hates her thighs. She can give you a detailed report on what is wrong with them. She forgets all the places those legs have taken her, all the miles they have walked for her. It doesn’t occur to her that when she gets up in the middle of the night to pee, those very thighs walk her to the toilet. Spend more time appreciating what you’ve got— a heart that beats, a way to pick up your cup of coffee, the eyes that see that cup and know what color it is. Blessings abound.
There are two kinds of people in this world – those who believe there is enough to go around, and those who don’t. Here is an example: If Margo is leaning up against the car kissing her boyfriend, and I think how nice that must feel, do I try to steal Margo’s boyfriend or do I go out and get my own boyfriend? I go out and get myself a boyfriend. I don’t need to steal Margo’s. I know that there is enough to go around.
An old Native American woman was asked why she was always so happy. She said that she has two wolves in her heart and they are both hungry— one wolf is angry and evil, the other wolf is filled with love, and that’s the only one she feeds.
India Just BURIED The Dollar, Saudi Arabia Is Next
Yes. It is happening.
A truth
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Diver Dan – Riddle of the Hermit Crab – Episode 20
About 30 years ago, I lived in an apartment complex where the owner paid the heat, hot water and cooking gas. The owner was one of the cheapest people I knew and she refused to fix anything or hire a decent Super. Btw, she had paid off the complex 15 years prior so she was making good $$$ off the complex
The boiler breaks and she has an old, used one, that she found in the newspapers, installed during the summer. By state law she was required to provide heat by November 15th. By the 23rd, it is brutal cold and we still didn’t have heat. I called her up to find out what is going on. Her response was that she was out of $$$ and for me to buy some electric heaters. Btw, that meant my expenses would up, since tenants paid for their electricity.
I go to town hall, met with the appropriate officials, let them know what is going and file a complaint. I also let them know that there was a large elderly group of tenants in the complex.
The official calls her, tells her that she is in violation and that she needs to get the heat on ASAP. She tells him off and refuses saying that she knows people. (She didn’t) He tells her that he will fine her $1000/day for each unit or $48,000 a day starting with that day. She tells him that he can’t do that and called him some choice names. What she didn’t realize that the town’s lawyer heard the entire phone call.
The next day she was delivered a notarized invoice for $48,000 along with a legal document stating that this daily fine will continue until the heat goes on. Now she is in a panic since she now owes the town $48,000.
But the best part of the revenge is that this happened on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Do now she had to scramble to find someone who could get the system working which she eventually did. But he charged her double claiming that it was interfering with him going away for the holiday.
One last thing, the town official told her if she tried to harass me for reporting her, the town would go after her and would pay my legal bills if I had to sue her
Couldn’t Be Easier Brisket
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Prep: 5 min | Bake: 2 to 3 hr | Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
3-4 pounds boneless beef brisket
1 bottle chili sauce
1 can Coca-Cola
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
Instructions
Heat oven to 300 degrees F.
Combine chili sauce, Coca-Cola and soup mix.
Place brisket in a foil-lined baking pan*. Pour sauce mixture over brisket and cover with another sheet of foil sealing edges.
Bake at 300 degrees F for 3 to 3 1/2 hours until tender.
Carve brisket against the grain and serve the pan juices as a sauce.
Notes
* or use a cooking bag for really easy clean-up.
Now CHINA Missile Force Can Destroy US Asia Pacific Command in Just 7 minutes
This audacious assertion unveils a stark reminder that in the realm of modern warfare, the boundaries of possibility are continually pushed, leaving the world to grapple with the implications of China’s missile might and its potential to reshape the geopolitical landscape in a matter of minutes. Today’s episode will cover China’s missile force power.
Today’s treat. Full movie with James Stewart. Please enjoy!
Out of the blue, the grizzled farmhand, John O'Hanlan, receives an unexpected letter from an unknown solicitor in the far-off town of Cheyenne, Wyoming, informing him that he is the proud owner of the Cheyenne Social Club, now that his estranged brother, D.J., has passed away. Intrigued and eager to trade in the dusty landscapes of 1867 Texas for an easy life as a businessman, without delay, John sets out on a long trip with his best friend, Harley Sullivan, to create a better future for himself. But somehow, John's newest and only acquisition has both a good and a bad reputation. Either way, the establishment's inexperienced manager now holds the fates of its loyal staff in his hands: a beautiful sextet of dedicated, and above all, famous female employees. However, is John cut out to run this type of business?
Gosh. It’s a really crazy world right now, eh? I’ve really been shaken by some of the writings by the United States neocons. They are advocating limited nuclear strikes to “put China in line, and in its place”. Jesus. H. Christ. They have absolutely no idea of what they advocating. It’s horrific.
I’m convinced, now more than ever, that these people have NEVER actually ever been in a situation where they had to deal with blood-thirsty, dead-ass serious, lethal, killers with their back to the wall…
…they are fixing to discover what it is like.
‘Ghost of Kyiv’ hero fighter pilot was myth, Ukraine admits
Of course.
But, it’s nice to know that some one in the many thousands of writers for the big mainsteam media has dusted off their journalistic diplomas and doing some actual “reporting”, for a change.
Vladimir Putin has officially declared a state of emergency in the Belgorod region for 60 days. Reason: The Russian Federation is “under attack” from either foreign military, mercenaries of that foreign military, or terrorists.” Key point: Russia is “under attack.”
Machine auto-translated from image, so font size and scaling is “off.”
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It isn’t hard to see where this is leading. If Russia is “under attack” they have a right to defend themselves, right? A formal declaration of war, perhaps?
Two days after Russia attacked Ukraine and the day before Vladimir Putin put Russia on nuclear alert, I wrote a little article whose first sentence was: “Not wanting to sound hyperbolic, but I am starting to conclude that the nuclear madmen running the U.S./NATO New Cold War they started decades ago are itching to start a nuclear war with Russia.”
It was an intuition based on my knowledge of U.S./Russia history, including the U.S engineered coup in Ukraine in 2014, and a reading of current events. I refer to it as intuition, yet it is based on a lifetime’s study and teaching of political sociology and writing against war. I am not a Russian scholar, simply a writer with a sociological, historical, and artistic imagination, although my first graduate academic study in the late 1960s was a thesis on nuclear weapons and why they might be someday used again.
It no longer sounds hyperbolic to me that madmen in the declining U.S. Empire might resort, like rats in a sinking ship, to first strike use of nuclear weapons, which is official U.S. policy. My stomach is churning at the thought, despite what most experts say: that the chances of a nuclear war are slight. And despite what others say about the Ukraine war: that it is an intentional diversion from the Covid propaganda and the Great Reset (although I agree it achieves that goal).
My gut tells me no; it is very real, sui generis, and very, very dangerous now.
The eminent scholar Michel Chossudovsky of Global Research agrees that we are very close to the unthinkable. In a recent historical analysis of U.S.-Russia relations and nuclear weapons, he writes the following before quoting Vladimir Putin’s recent statement on the matter. “Vladimir Putin’s statement on February 21st, 2022 was a response to U.S. threats to use nuclear weapons on a preemptive basis against Russia, despite Joe Biden’s “reassurance” that the U.S. would not be resorting to ‘A first strike’ nuclear attack against an enemy of America”:
Let me [Putin] explain that U.S. strategic planning documents contain the possibility of a so-called preemptive strike against enemy missile systems. And who is the main enemy for the U.S. and NATO? We know that too. It’s Russia. In NATO documents, our country is officially and directly declared the main threat to North Atlantic security. And Ukraine will serve as a forward springboard for the strike.” (Putin Speech, February 21, 2022, emphasis added)
Putin is absolutely correct. It is why he put Russia’s nuclear forces on full alert. Only those ignorant of history, which sadly includes most U.S. Americans, don’t know this.
I believe that today we are in the greatest danger of a nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, something I vividly remember as a teenager. The same feelings return. Dread. Anxiety. Breathlessness. I do not think these feelings are misplaced nor they are simply an emotional response. I try to continue writing on other projects that I have started but feel stymied. The possibility of nuclear war, whether intentional or accidental, obsesses me.
In order to grasp this stomach-churning possibility within the context of Ukraine, we need to put aside all talk of morality, rights, international law, and think in terms of great power politics, as John Mearsheimer has so clearly articulated. As he says, when a great power feels its existence is threatened, might makes right. You simply can’t understand world politics without thinking at this level. Doing so does not mean justifying the use of might; it is a means of clarifying the causes of wars, which start long before the first shots are fired.
In the present crisis over Ukraine, Russia clearly feels existentially threatened by U.S./NATO military moves in Ukraine and in eastern Europe where they have positioned missiles that can be very quickly converted to nuclear and are within a few minutes range of Russia. (And of course there are U.S./NATO nuclear missiles throughout western and southern Europe.) Vladimir Putin has been talking about this for many years and is factually correct. He has reiterated that this is unacceptable to Russia and must stop. He has pushed for negotiations to end this situation.
The United States, despite its own Monroe Doctrine that prohibits another great power from putting weapons or military forces close to its borders, has blocked its ears and kept upping the ante, provoking Russian fears. This fact is not in dispute but is shrugged off by U.S./NATO as of little consequence. Such an attitude is pure provocation as anyone with a smidgeon of historical awareness knows.
The world was very lucky sixty years ago this October when JFK and Nikita Khrushchev negotiated the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis before the world was incinerated. Kennedy, of course, was intensely pressured by the military and CIA to bomb Cuba, but he resisted. He also rejected the insane military desire to nuke the Soviet Union, calling such people crazy; at a National Security Council meeting on September 12, 1963, when the Joint Chiefs of Staff presented a report about a nuclear first strike against the Soviet Union which they wanted for that fall, he said, “Preemption is not possible for us.”
Such leadership, together with the nuclear test ban treaty he negotiated with the USSR that month, inter alia (such treaties have now been abrogated by the U.S. government), assured his assassination organized by the CIA. These days, the U.S. is led by deluded men who espouse a nuclear first strike policy, which tells one all one needs to know about the danger the world is in. The U.S. has been very sick with Russia hatred for a long time.
After the terror of the Cuban Missile Crisis, many more people took the threat of nuclear war seriously. Today very few do. It has receded into the ”unimaginable.” In 1962, however, as James W. Douglass writes in JFK and the Unspeakable:
Kennedy saw that, at least outside Washington, D.C., people were living with a deeper awareness of the ultimate choice they faced. Nuclear weapons were real. So, too, was the prospect of peace. Shocked by the Cuban Missile Crisis into recognizing a real choice, people preferred peace to annihilation.
Today the reality of nuclear annihilation has receded into unconsciousness. This despite the recent statements by U.S. generals and the U.S. Ukrainian puppet Zelensky about nuclear weapons and their use that have extremely inflamed Russia’s fears, which clearly is intentional. The game is to have some officials say it and then deny it while having a policy that contradicts your denial. Keep pushing the envelope is U.S. policy. Obama-Biden reigned over the U.S. 2014 coup in Ukraine, Trump increased weapon sales to Ukraine in 2017, and Biden has picked up the baton from his partner (not his enemy) in this most deadly game. It is a bi-partisan Cold War 2, getting very hot. And it is the reason why Russia, its back to the wall, attacked Ukraine. It is obvious that this is exactly what the U.S. wanted or it would have acted very differently in the leadup to this tragedy. All the current ringing of hands is pure hypocrisy, the nihilism of a nuclear power never for one moment threatened but whose designs were calculated to threaten Russia at its borders.
The media propaganda against Russia and Putin is the most extreme and extensive propaganda in my lifetime. Patrick Lawrence has astutely examined this in a recent essay, where he writes the same is true for him:
Many people of many different ages have remarked in recent days that they cannot recall in their lifetimes a more pervasive, suffocating barrage of propaganda than what has engulfed us since the months that preceded Russia’s intervention. In my case it has come to supersede the worst of what I remember from the Cold War decades.
Engulfed is an appropriate word. Lawrence rightly points to this propaganda as cognitive warfare directed at the U.S. population (and the rest of the world) and notes its connection to the January 2021 final draft of a “diabolic” NATO study called “Cognitive Warfare.” He quotes it thus: “The brain will be the battlefield of the 21st century,” . . . “Humans are the contested domain. Cognitive warfare’s objective is to make everyone a weapon.”
This cognitive warfare, however, has a longer history in cutting edge science. For each successive decade beginning with the 1990s and a declaration from President (and ex-Director of the CIA) George H. W. Bush that the 1990s would be the Decade of Brain Research, presidents have announced additional decades long projects involving the brain, with 2000-2010 being the Decade of Behavior Project, followed by mapping of the brain, artificial intelligence, etc. all organized and funded through the Office of Science and Technology Project (OSTP) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). This medical, military, and scientific research has been part of a long range plan to extend MK-Ultra’s mind control to the population at large under the cover of medical science, and it has been simultaneously connected to the development and funding of the pharmaceutical industries research and development of new brain-altering drugs. RFK, Jr. has documented the CIA’s extensive connection to germ and mind research and promotion in his book, The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health. It is why his book is banned from the mainstream media, who do the prime work of cognitive warfare for the government. To put it clearly: these media are the CIA. And the issue of U.S. bio-weapons research and development is central to these many matters, including in Ukraine.
In other words, the cognitive warfare we are now being subjected to has many tentacles connected to much more than today’s fanatical anti-Russian propaganda over Ukraine. All the U.S. wars of aggression have been promoted under its aegis, as have the lies about the attacks of September 11, 2001, the economic warfare by the elites, the COVID crisis, etc. It’s one piece.
Take, for example, a book written in 2010 by David Ray Griffin, a renown theologian who has written more than a dozen books about 9/11. The book is Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama Appointee’s Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory. It is a critique of law professor Cass Sunstein, appointed by Obama to be the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Sunstein had written an article with a plan for the government to prevent the spread of anti-government “conspiracy theories” in which he promoted the use of anonymous government agents to use secret “cognitive infiltration” of these groups in order to break them up; to use media plants to disparage their arguments. He was particularly referring to those who questioned the official 9/11 narrative but his point obviously extended much further. He was working in the tradition of the great propagandists. Griffin took a scalpel to this call for cognitive warfare and was of course a victim of it as well. Sunstein has since worked for the World Health Organization (WHO) on COVID psychological responses and other COVID committees. It’s all one piece.
Sunstein’s wife is Samantha Power, Obama’s Ambassador to the United Nations and war hawk extraordinaire. She gleefully promoted the U.S. destruction of Libya under the appellation of the “responsibility to protect,” a “humane” cover for imperialism. Now she is Biden’s Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), an arm of the CIA throughout the world. It’s all one piece.
The merry-go-round goes round and round.
I have gone off on this slight tangent to emphasize how vast and interconnected are the players and groups on Team Cognitive Warfare. They have been leading the league for quite some time and are hoping their game plan against Team Russia will keep them there. So far they are winning, as Patrick Lawrence says:
Look at what has become of us. Most Americans seem to approve of these things, or at least are unstirred to object. We have lost all sense of decency, of ordinary morality, of proportion. Can anyone listen to the din of the past couple of weeks without wondering if we have made of ourselves a nation of grotesques?It is common to observe that in war the enemy is always dehumanized. We are now face to face with another reality: Those who dehumanize others dehumanize themselves more profoundly.
Perhaps people are too ignorant to see through the propaganda. To have some group to hate is always “uplifting.” But we are all responsible for the consequences of our actions, even when those actions are just buying the propaganda and hating those one is told to hate. It is very hard to accept that the leaders of your own country commit and contemplate unspeakable evil deeds and that they wish to control your mind. To contemplate that they might once again use nuclear weapons is unspeakable but necessary if we are to prevent it.
I hope my fears are unfounded. I agree with Gilbert Doctorow that the Ukraine-Russia war separates the sheep from the goats, that there is no middle ground. This is not to celebrate war and the death of innocent people, but it does demand placing the blame squarely where it belongs and not trying to have it both ways. People like him, John Mearsheimer, the late badly missed Stephen Cohen, Ray McGovern, Scott Ritter, Pepe Escobar, Patrick Lawrence, Jack Matlock, Ted Postol, et al. are all cutting through the propaganda and delivering truth in opposition to all the lies. They go gentile with fears of nuclear war, however, as if it is somewhat possible but highly unlikely, as if their deepest thoughts are unspeakable, for to utter them would be an act of despondency.
The consensus of the experts tends to be that the U.S. wishes to draw the Russians into a long protracted guerrilla war along the lines of its secret use of mujahideen in Afghanistan in 1979 and after. There is evidence that this is already happening. But I think the U.S. strategists know that the Russians are too smart for that; that they have learned their lesson; and that they will withdraw once they feel they have accomplished their goals. Therefore, from the U.S./NATO perspective, time is reasonably short and they must act quickly, perhaps by doing a false flag operation that will justify a drastic response, or upping the tempo in some other way that would seem to justify the use of nuclear weapons, perhaps tactical at first.
I appreciate the input of the Russia experts I mentioned above. Their expertise dwarfs mine, but I disagree. Perhaps I am an excitable sort; perhaps I am one of those Patrick Lawrence refers to, quoting Carl Jung, as too emotional and therefore incapable of clear thinking. (I will leave the issue of this long held but erroneous western philosophical belief in the division of emotions and thoughts for another day.) Perhaps I can’t see the obvious that a nuclear war will profit no one and therefore it cannot happen. Yet Ted Postol, MIT professor of technology and international security, while perhaps agreeing that an intentional nuclear war is very unlikely, has been warning of an accidental one for many years. He is surely right on that score and well worth listening to.
But either way, I am sorry to say, perhaps because my perspective is that of a generalist, not an expert, and my thinking is informed by art as much as social science and history, my antennae pick up a very disturbing message. A voice tells me that the danger is very, very real today. It says:
The Axis powers, including Germany and Japan, were the foes of the United States and other Allied powers in World War II. Decades later, President George W. Bush chose to term some other nations — Iraq, Iran, and North Korea — as a new “axis of evil.” That was followed by a US invasion and overthrow in Iraq. Decades later, US troops remain in Iraq, and US sanctions and hostility directed at the other two nations continue.
This week, the United States House of Representatives is set to bring the Axis designation back to the big time — seeking to lump China in with Russia as the new Axis powers the US should be devoted to opposing. The movement toward a new world war — the first one with nuclear powers on both sides — grows stronger.
The House is scheduled to consider the AXIS Act (HR 7314) this week. “AXIS” in the title is the kind of ridiculous acronym that has become common in US legislation. It stands for “Assessing Xi’s Interference and Subversion.” “Xi” is Xi Jinping, the leader of China’s government.
The AXIS Act is being considered under suspension of the rules. Legislation deemed noncontroversial by House leadership can be considered under suspension of the rules in which there is usually a relatively brief House floor debate. Suspension legislation is also often passed by voice vote on a nearly empty house floor. Pressing forward toward World War III is not controversial? For many oblivious House members that probably is the case.
The AXIS Act starts off with a series of findings attempting to paint China as an aider of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The accusations included are underwhelming: China and Russia made a strategic partnership announcement a few weeks before the invasion; China abstained from voting on resolutions condemning the invasion in the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly; China has not publicly condemned the invasion.
That’s it. The resolution implicitly admits its backers cannot really tie China to supporting the invasion of Ukraine. Still the resolution proceeds, in what it states is the “sense of Congress,” to bluster that …
“the People’s Republic of China’s disinformation efforts relating to the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine make it culpable in whitewashing Russia’s war crimes, which include the indiscriminate killing of countless Ukrainian men, women, and children.”
It is the second and final listed “sense of Congress” that is the heart of the resolution and that holds the threat of increased animosity toward China and the potential eruption of World War III. It states that it is the sense of Congress that,
“if China is found to be materially supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine, there should be swift and stringent consequences for China.”
Swift and stringent consequences have already been imposed against Russia. They amount to nearly everything short of US troops fighting against the Russian military, though, with US history as a guide, it should be suspected that US troops are engaged covertly in some military actions against Russians. The US has established expansive sanctions on Russia, extensively blocked investment in and commerce with Russia, and excluded Russia from financial systems including SWIFT that facilitate participation in international trade. The US has also been funding, supplying, and training Ukraine military forces that are fighting against Russians.
In an apparent effort to justify the US treating China similarly, the AXIS Act requires the real experts at depicting other nations as enemies — the Department of State — to…
“submit to the appropriate congressional committees” within 30 days and then every 90 days thereafter “a report on whether and how the People’s Republic of China, including the Government of the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese Communist Party, any Chinese state-owned enterprise, and any other Chinese entity, has provided support to the Russian Federation with respect to its unprovoked invasion of and full-scale war against Ukraine.”
These reports will provide House members keen on ramping up hostilities against China with the steady stream of pro-war propaganda they desire. And have no doubt that the executive branch will be happy to provide such. The Biden administration’s interests are in the same direction as the House members raging at China. President Joe Biden has already been out using the Ukraine War as a reason for threatening China. Indeed, the AXIS Act notes one example of this:
“In his call with Xi Jinping on March 18, 25 2022, President Joe Biden communicated that there would be ‘implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia as it conducts brutal attacks against Ukrainian cities and civilians’.”
The AXIS Act is a significant step in the effort by Congress members and the Biden administration, using the Ukraine War as an excuse, to direct against China hostilities already directed against Russia, and maybe more.
Most of the backers of this effort probably expect that such actions will not lead to World War III. Hopefully, they are correct in that assessment.
Even if they are correct that the most dire consequences will be avoided, the toll of expanding hostilities against China will still be harsh for people across the world.
For what gain? None is clear.
What is clear is that there is much potential danger ahead and that US politicians are propelling Americans and the world toward it.
Chinese brainstorming…
Think about the implications of this, big picture. The stock market and economy are shaky. China may have to dump everything they own in the US, along with Treasuries. All triggered by the sanctions on Russia from Ukraine.
Chinese state regulators held an emergency conference with major domestic and foreign banks to discuss means to protect the People’s Republic’s assets should the US impose sanctions similar to those it slapped on Russia in February, the Financial Times reports, citing people said to be familiar with the situation.
The meeting, said to have taken place on 22 April, reportedly involved officials from the People’s Bank of China, the country’s powerful central bank, as well as the Finance Ministry. Representatives from every major national bank took part, as did major foreign lenders operating in the Asian nation, such as HSBC, according to the paper’s sources.
An unnamed "senior finance ministry official" was said to have kicked off the meeting by saying Beijing had been "put on alert" of the West’s ability to seize foreign assets by observing what the US and its allies did to Russia.
In March, officials from the Russian Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance reported that the United States and its allies had seized "about $300 billion" of the country’s estimated $642 billion reserve cushion, with the US alone accounting for roughly $100 billion of that. In recent weeks, officials and lawmakers in Washington and Brussels have threatened to confiscate these assets, or transfer them to Ukraine.
Yes. If China disengages from US, the US is without a prayer.
We need them far more than they need us.
For decades they sent us manufactured goods, we gave them pieces of paper called Treasury Bills. That is over.
Then they started taking businesses and land. If they can’t operate a business or make use of the land there is no reason for them to play with us.In theory US could do what it used to do and make stuff.
Before such an adjustment is made the largest part of the population would be dead.
Only reason for China or Russia to engage with US at all is to preserve stability.
When US policy amounts to throwing all the cards in the air and kicking over the table they can’t much help us with stability.-oldhippie
So the Chinese have received a wake up call- they watched as the US/UK walked away with Afghani bank assets, with Venezuelan Gold (Guido seems happy), with Libyan, and Serbian Gold, with Iranian Assets, and of late with Russian bank assets to the tune of $300 Billion.So what can be a rational game plan for the Chinese who have ? $1.5 Trillion in Assets/T bills tied up in the US.
How does one back out of this predicament, and reclaim their value, before the US preys on them???
-AParadiseLost
Caught RED-HANDED!
China recently introduced a new law and policy that discloses the IP address of all Internet users.
Now, as a result of this, many people claiming to be inside of Shanghai and upset about the Coronavirus restrictions have been unmasked.
This policy resulted in the discovery of “Shanghai residents” who have been vocally complaining about their dissatisfaction with China, actually being outside of China, and constructing narratives that paints China in a horrible light.
There are many, many “Chinese accounts” originating out of Taiwan, a handful out of Australia and Japan, and a large group from both the UK, and Canada. All of which pretend to be Chinese residents inside of Shanghai.
This has forced Chinese social media, as well as foreign social media (operating inside of China) to suspend many of these fake accounts. As a result, many of these individuals are suddenly stopping their Internet activities using China social media.
So anyone on wechat etc, will now notice that there are suddenly less rubbish materials and postings critical of China.
One such “caught” faux-Shanghai “resident”…
An Dong, an IT support staffer for the EU delegation, often expressed candid political takes and spoke in favor of democratic principles on WeChat. His account has previously been suspended “likely as a result of his political views,”per the Wall Street Journal.
Ten countries open accounts to pay for gas from Russia, Hungary says – The Frontier Post
MOSCOW (RIA Novosti): In addition to Hungary, nine European countries have opened Russian bank accounts to pay for natural gas under the scheme proposed by Moscow, Gergely Gouyash, head of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s office, told Rádió Kossuth.
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“Hungary has opened a euro account, to which the price of gas in euros is credited, and then the bank converts it into rubles… In addition to us, nine other countries do this, but they do not say that they do the same, simply because in Europe now “being good for Europe” means that the leadership of the country does not speak honestly with its people and in international life,” he said.
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The politician once again reminded that the European Union has not adopted any sanctions that make it impossible to pay for Russian gas in rubles, this is regulated by a civil law agreement between states and companies.
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Earlier, Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjarto also emphasized that some European companies importing natural gas from Russia agreed to the payment scheme proposed by Russia, but they do not talk about it honestly and spread false information about the position of Hungary with the help of Western media.
In turn, Orban noted that the country is ready to pay for Russian gas in rubles, and Szijjártó pointed out that the cessation of supplies to Bulgaria will not affect transit to Hungary.
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On March 23, Russian President Putin announced the transfer of payment for natural gas supplies to the EU countries and other states that have introduced restrictive measures against Russia into rubles in order to abandon the use of dollars and euros in calculations. Then the president si-gned a corresponding dec-ree and said that if unfriendly countries did not pay in rubles from April 1, then Russia would consider this a default on gas contracts.
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According to the new scheme, Gazprombank will open special currency and ruble accounts for foreign buyers to pay for gas. The buyer will be able to transfer funds to the first acc-ount in the currency specified in the contract for the supply of “blue fuel”, the b-ank will sell it on the Mos-cow Exchange, after which it will credit rubles to the account of the buyer of gas and from this account settlements will be made with gas supplier – Gazprom”.ARTICLE
German energy firm Uniper ready to meet Russian pay demand – BBC News
Question: What do you think is at the root of the Ukrainian crisis? What can the international community do to solve this problem?
Sergey Lavrov: When we talk about the Ukrainian crisis, first of all we need to look at the destructive policy of the Western states conducted over many years and led by the United States, which set a course to knock together a unipolar world order after the end of the Cold War. NATO’s reckless expansion to the East was a key component of those actions, despite the political obligations to the Soviet leadership on the non-expansion of the Alliance. As you know, those promises were just empty words. All these years, NATO infrastructure has been moving closer and closer to the Russian borders.
The West was never concerned about the fact that their actions grossly violated their international obligations not to strengthen their own security at the expense of the security of others. In particular, Washington and Brussels arrogantly rejected the initiatives put forward by Russia in December 2021 to ensure our country’s security guarantees in the west: to stop the expansion of NATO, not to deploy armaments that pose a threat to Russia in Ukraine and to return the Alliance’s military infrastructure to the 1997 configuration, when the NATO-Russia Founding Act was signed.
It is well-known that the United States and NATO member states have always viewed Ukraine as a tool to contain Russia. Over the years, they have actively fuelled anti-Russia sentiments there, forcing Kiev to make an artificial and false choice: to be either with the West or with Moscow.
It was the collective West that first provoked and then supported the anti-constitutional coup d’etat in Kiev in February 2014. Nationalists came to power in Ukraine and immediately unleashed a bloody massacre in Donbass, and set the course on the destruction of everything Russian in the rest of the country. Let me remind you that it was precisely because of this threat that the people of Crimea voted in a referendum for the reunification with Russia in 2014.
Over these past years, the United States and its allies have done nothing to stop the intra-Ukrainian conflict. Instead of encouraging Kiev to settle it politically based on the Minsk Complex of Measures, they sent weapons, trained and armed the Ukrainian army and nationalist battalions, and generally carried out the military-political development of Ukraine’s territory. They encouraged the aggressive anti-Russia course pursued by the Kiev authorities. In fact, they pushed the Ukrainian nationalists to undermine the negotiating process and resolve the Donbass issue by force.
We were deeply concerned about the undeclared biological programmes implemented in Ukraine with Pentagon’s support in close proximity to the Russian borders. And, of course, we could not disregard the Kiev leadership’s undisguised intentions to acquire a military nuclear potential, which would create an unacceptable threat to Russia’s national security.
In these conditions, we had no other choice but to recognise the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and launch the special military operation. Its aim is to protect people from genocide by the neo-Nazis, as well as to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine. I would like to stress that Russia is acting to fulfil its obligations under bilateral agreements on cooperation and mutual assistance with the DPR and LPR, at the official request of Donetsk and Lugansk under Article 51 of the UN Charter on the right to self-defence.
The special military operation launched on February 24 is progressing strictly in accordance with the plan. All its goals will be achieved in spite of our opponents’ counteractions. At the moment we are witnessing a classic case of double standards and hypocrisy of the Western establishment. By publicly supporting the Kiev regime, NATO member states are doing everything in their power to prevent the completion of the operation by reaching political agreements. Various weapons are flowing endlessly into Ukraine through Poland and other NATO countries. All of this is being done under the pretext of “fighting the invasion”, but in fact the United States and the European Union intend to fight Russia “to the last Ukrainian.” They do not care at all about the fate of Ukraine as an independent subject of international relations.
The West is ready to jeopardise the energy and food security of entire regions of the globe to satisfy its own geopolitical ambitions.What ither explanation is there for the unrestrained flywheel of anti-Russian sanctions launched by the West with the start of the operation and which they aren’t thinking of stopping?
If the United States and NATO are truly interested in settling the Ukrainian crisis, then, first, they must come to their senses and stop supplying weapons and ammunition to Kiev. The Ukrainian people do not need Stingers and Javelins; what they need is a solution to urgent humanitarian issues.Russia has been doing this since 2014. During this time, tens of thousands of tonnes of humanitarian cargo have been delivered to Donbass, and about 15,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid have already arrived in the part of Ukraine liberated from the Kiev regime, the DPR and the LPR, since the launch of the special military operation.
Second, it is essential that the Kiev regime stops cynical provocations, including in the information space. Ukrainian armed formations are barbarically shelling cities using civilians as living shields. We saw examples of this in Donetsk and Kramatorsk. Captured Russian servicemen are being abused with animal cruelty, and these atrocities are being posted online. At the same time, they use their Western patrons and global media controlled by the West to accuse the Russian army of war crimes. As they say, laying the blame at somebody else’s door.
It is high time for the West to stop unconditionally whitewashing and covering up for Kiev. Otherwise, … Washington, Brussels and other Western capitals should consider their responsibility for complicity in the bloody crimes perpetrated by the Ukrainian nationalists.
Question: What measures has Russia taken to protect the lives and property of civilians? What efforts has it made to establish humanitarian corridors?
Sergey Lavrov: As I mentioned earlier, the special military operation is proceeding according to plan. Under this plan, the Russian military personnel are doing everything in their power to avoid victims among civilians. Blows are carried out with high-precision weapons, first of all at military infrastructure facilities and places where armoured vehicles are concentrated. Unlike the Ukrainian army and nationalist armed groups that use people as living shields, the Russian army provides the locals with all kinds of assistance and support.
Humanitarian corridors open daily from Kharkov and Mariupol to evacuate people from dangerous districts, but the Kiev regime demands that the “national battalions” in control of those areas do not release the civilians. Nevertheless, many are able to leave with the assistance of Russian, DPR and LPR servicemen. During the special military operation, the hotline of the Interdepartmental Coordination Headquarters of the Russian Federation for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine has received requests for assistance in evacuating 2.8 million people to Russia, including 16,000 foreign citizens and employees of UN and OSCE international missions. In total, 1.02 million people have been evacuated from Ukraine, the DPR and LPR, of which over 120,000 are citizens of third countries, including over 300 Chinese nationals. There are over 9,500 temporary accommodation facilities operating in Russian regions. They have space for rest and hot meals, and everything that may be necessary. Newly arrived refugees are provided with qualified medical and psychological assistance.
Russia is taking measures to ensure civilian navigation in the Black and Azov seas. A humanitarian corridor opens daily, a safe lane for ships. However, Ukraine continues to block foreign ships, creating a threat of shelling in its internal waters and territorial sea. Moreover, Ukrainian naval units have mined the shore, the ports and territorial waters. These explosive devices disconnect from their anchor lines and drift into the open sea, so they pose a serious danger to both the fleets and the port infrastructure of the Black Sea countries.
Question: Since the special military operation was launched in Ukraine, Western counties have adopted a large number of unprecedented sanctions against Moscow. How do you think these sanctions will affect Russia? What are the main countermeasures taken by Russia? Some say that a new Cold War has begun. How would you comment on that?
Sergey Lavrov: It is true that the special military operation was used by the collective West as a pretext to unleash numerous restrictions against Russia, as well as its legal entities and individuals. The United States, Great Britain, Canada and EU countries do not conceal that their goal is to strangle our economy by undermining its competitiveness and blocking Russia’s progressive development. At the same time, the Western ruling circles are not embarrassed by the fact that anti-Russian sanctions are already beginning to harm ordinary people in their own countries. I mean the declining economic trends in the United States and many European countries, including growing inflation and unemployment.
It is clear that there can be no excuse for this anti-Russian line and it has no future. As President Vladimir Putin said, Russia has withstood this unprecedented pressure. Now the situation is stabilising, though, of course, not all risks are behind us.
In any case, they will not succeed in weakening us. I am confident that we will restructure the economy and protect ourselves from our opponents’ possible illegitimate and hostile actions in the future. We will continue to give a fitting and adequate response to the imposed restrictions, guided by the goal of maintaining the stability of the Russian economy and its financial system, as well as the interests of domestic businesses and the entire nation. We will focus our efforts on de-dollarisation, de-offshorisation, import substitution, and promotion of technological independence.We will continue to adapt to external challenges and step up development programmes for promising and competitive industries.
During the period of turbulence, our retaliatory special economic measures needed to ensure the normal functioning of the Russian economy will be continued and expanded. As a responsible player on the international market, Russia intends to continue scrupulously fulfilling its obligations under international contracts on export deliveries of agricultural products, fertilisers, energy carriers and other critical products. We are deeply concerned about a possible food crisis provoked by the anti-Russian sanctions, and we are well aware how important the deliveries of essential goods, such as food, are for the socioeconomic development of Asian, African, Latin American, and Middle Eastern countries.
I will be brief as regards the second part of your question. Today we are not talking about a new “cold war,” but, as I said earlier, about the persistent desire to impose a US-centric model of the world order coming from Washington and its satellites, who imagine themselves to be “arbiters of humankind’s fate.” It has reached the point where the … Western minority is trying to replace the UN-centric architecture and international law formed after World War II with their own “rule-based order.” These rules are written by Washington and its allies and then imposed on the international community as binding.
We must realise that the United States has been carrying out this destructive policy for several decades now. It is enough to recall NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia, attacks on Iraq and Libya, attempts to destroy Syria, as well as the colour revolutions that Western capitals staged in a number of countries, including Ukraine. All of this came at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and resulted in chaos in various regions of the planet.
The West tries to crudely suppress those who carry out an independent course in their domestic and foreign policy. Not just Russia. We can see how bloc thinking is being imposed in the Asian-Pacific Region. We can recall the Indo-Pacific strategy promoted by the United States, which has a pronounced anti-China tendency. The US seeks to dictate the standards according to which Latin America should live, in the spirit of the outdated Monroe Doctrine. This explains many years of the illegal trade embargo on Cuba, sanctions against Venezuela, as well as attempts to undermine stability in Nicaragua and other countries. The pressure on Belarus continues in the same context. This list can go on.
It is clear that the collective West’s efforts to oppose the natural course of history and solve its problems at the expense of others are doomed. Today the world has several decision-making centres; it is multipolar. We can see how quickly Asian, African, and Latin American countries are developing. Everyone is getting a real freedom of choice, including where it comes to choosing their development models and participation in integration projects. Our special military operation in Ukraine also contributes to the process of freeing the world from the West’s neocolonial oppression heavily mixed with racism and a complex of exceptionalism.
The faster the West accepts the new geopolitical situation, the better it will be for the West itself and for the entire international community.
As President Xi Jinping said at the Boao Forum for Asia, “We need to uphold the principle of indivisible security, build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture, and oppose the pursuit of one’s own security at the cost of others’ security.”
Question: Russian-Ukrainian talks have attracted close attention of the international community. What are the main obstacles to the talks today? How do you regard the prospects of a peace treaty between the two parties? What kind of bilateral relations does Russia intend to have with Ukraine in the future?
Sergey Lavrov: At present the Russian and Ukrainian delegations are holding discussions on the possible draft almost daily, via videoconference. This document should contain such elements of the post-conflict situation as permanent neutrality, the non-nuclear, non-bloc and demilitarised status of Ukraine, as well as guarantees of its security. The agenda of the talks also includes denazification, recognition of the new geopolitical reality, the lifting of sanctions and the status of the Russian language, among other things. Settling the situation in Ukraine will make a significant contribution to the de-escalation of the military and political tensions in Europe and the world in general. The establishment of an institution of guarantor states is envisaged as a possible option. First of all, they will be the permanent members of the UN Security Council, including Russia and China. We share information on the progress in the talks with Chinese diplomats. We are grateful to Beijing and other BRICS partners for their balanced position on the Ukrainian issue.
We are in favour of continuing the talks, although the process is difficult.
You are right to ask about the obstacles. For example, they include the militant rhetoric and incendiary actions of Kiev’s Western patrons. They are actually encouraging Kiev to “fight to the last Ukrainian,” pumping the country with weapons and sending mercenaries there. Let me note that the Ukrainian security services staged a crude bloody provocation in Bucha with the help of the West, to complicate the negotiation process among other things.
I am confident that agreements can only be reached when Kiev starts to be guided by the interests of the Ukrainian people, and not the advisors from far away.
Speaking about Russian-Ukrainian relations, Russia is interested in a peaceful, free, neutral, prosperous and friendly Ukraine. Despite the current administration’s anti-Russian course, we remember the many centuries of all-embracing cultural, spiritual, economic and family ties between Russians and Ukrainians. We will definitely restore these ties.
Simple Cajun Seasoning
Here is a simple way to make Cajun seasoning using normal kitchen spices.
seasoning mix
Ingredients
Original recipe yields 20 servings
Directions
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Poland and NATO: Sneaking Troops Around; Forbids Public Photos/Videos!
The Polish Government has announced that Large-Scale Military Exercises will be taking place across the Country beginning today involving the Polish Military and multiple NATO Member States. Heavy Military Equipment is expected to be seen on Highways and roads around the Country.
This, the world already knew about. What’s very different this time is as follows:
The Polish State Security Service has requested that people refrain from Photographing or Posting about Military Movements including Aircraft landings and take-offs, people who do continue to publicly document Allied Military Movements are subject to prosecution.
The Polish State Security Ministry has threatened Fines and Jail Time for posting pictures and announcing Force Movements over Social Media since the Russian Invasion of Ukraine began, though so far no Polish Citizens have been prosecuted.
There has been covert intelligence coming out of Poland which CLAIMS (not yet confirmed) that Poland and perhaps other nations are planning to put armed troops into western Ukraine as “peace keepers.” HOWEVER, along with such rumors are other CLAIMS (also not verified) that Poland intends a land grab f western Ukraine; to reincorporate what was once actual Polish territory before World War 2, back into Poland. These claims are Furiously DENIED by the Poland government.
Yet, given the announcement by Polish security services, that the public must not take photos, video or make troop movement postings on social media, one has to wonder why all the secrecy? If Poland is not going to send troops into Ukraine, why the secrecy?
It is widely believed by many seasoned observers that if Poland tries to insert troops into Ukraine, they would be immediately engaged by Russian armed forces, regardless of Poland’s stated purposes.
American Georgetown professor advocates doubling the United States defense spending so as to have a war with both China and Russia simultaneously
Current spending; United States budget is…
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So it’s not enough. More military spending must occur! Double the spending. Is this even possible?
Ok. I knew that the United States was run by idiots, but this is over the top.
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Russia’s chip technology is backward, why is its weaponry advanced?
2022-05-02 13:08 HKT
As we all know, chips are the soul of information-based weapons and equipment. A country’s chip level directly determines the advanced level of weapons and equipment. If the ranking is based on revenue, in 2020, the United States will account for 6 of the world’s top ten semiconductor manufacturers. , South Korea accounted for 2, Japan accounted for 1, Xiaowan accounted for 1.
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If the ranking is based on R&D expenditure, personnel size, etc., the ranking is different, but without exception, no Russian company can make the list.
From the current point of view, Russia’s chip research capabilities are not strong. Compared with the United States and Europe, its chip level is at least 10 years different.
Due to this, you can’t see any popular mobile phones, cars and household appliances in Russia. Many civilian products in Russia are subject to chip technology, and there are almost no sales in the world, and of course there is no sense of existence.
Although Russia’s chip technology is not strong, its weapons and equipment are extremely advanced. This is also an important reason why Russia’s arms trade has been ranked second in the world for many years.
According to Western media reports, in 2019, the GPS system of the United States covering the Middle East was suppressed by the interference of mysterious electromagnetic waves, and it was completely paralyzed in a period of time, which interrupted civil and military communications in Israel and other countries. reached thousands of square kilometers.
The U.S. military immediately analyzed it and believed that the electronic interference was carried out by Russia, because Russia has a Khomeimim air base in Syria, which contains the Russian electronic warfare system. The U.S. military judged the distance and believed that the interference signal was the Khomemim airbase. Sent from Memim Air Force Base.
The Russian army was able to use the electronic warfare system to effectively interfere with the GPS of the US military, causing many of the US military’s precision-guided weapons to fail under the interference of the Russian army. This also shows that the Russian military’s electronic warfare equipment is still extremely advanced.
Russian weapons and equipment have always given people the impression of being stupid and clumsy, and it is difficult to create very small and delicate electronic warfare equipment.
Chip technology is listed as a key technology by the United States. The United States and other Western countries not only block chip technology from Russia, but also impose embargoes on high-performance chips. Russia’s chip technology is backward, and Russia, which does not have high-performance chips, why is its weaponry so advanced?
To figure this out, we have to figure out why Russia’s chip technology lags behind?
Russia’s chip technology and foundation were inherited from the Soviet Union, which implemented a planned economic system, and the Soviet Union divided labor among countries and regions, such as East Germany producing precision instruments, Vietnam planting rice, Ukraine farming and raising cattle, and Kazakhstan picking cotton. Belarus-made trucks, etc.
At that time, microelectronics was an absolute high-tech, and all the republics wanted to develop. In order to balance the interests of the various republics, the Soviet Union split and distributed the production of microelectronics to the republics. This led to the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The electronics industry is very fragmented in various republics and cannot form a complete industrial chain.
Because the Soviet Union implemented a planned economic system, all microelectronics units and enterprises belong to the state, and of course they all eat financially, so it doesn’t matter if they make money or not. The key microelectronics products must be able to ensure national defense and security, because there is no market competition. , so the efficiency is not high.
At the beginning of the Cold War, integrated circuit technology was just emerging, and integrated circuits had two development routes, namely the transistor route and the electron tube route.
As far as electronic tubes and transistors are concerned, transistors are small in size, low in power consumption and long in service life, and have obvious advantages over electronic tubes. It can be said that transistors are a more advanced form of electronic tubes.
2022 05 02 14 40
But also because transistors are small and advanced, there are many failures, and the anti-interference and anti-radiation capabilities are weak. Under the conditions of nuclear war, the anti-radiation capabilities of electron tubes are much stronger than that of transistors. At that time, in terms of volume, transistors were smaller than electron tubes, but The technology back then was not much smaller.
Although the technology of electron tubes and transistors has developed, the development of transistor technology is faster, especially the miniaturization of transistors, and later it has developed to the nanometer level, which is probably not expected by the Russians.
The disintegration of the Soviet Union has left Russia with a mess. The development of light and heavy industries is uneven, and the semiconductor industry is lagging behind, especially in chip technology. Russia wants to catch up, but it has more than enough energy.
Compared with other industries, the semiconductor industry requires continuous technological iteration. It is not only a technology-intensive industry, but also a capital-intensive industry. It not only requires a large amount of investment, but also requires a certain market scale, and requires a long period of accumulation.
When Russia was first established, shock therapy was implemented. As a result, the economy was seriously regressed, and private enterprises were even more backward. In addition to the troubles in Chechnya, Russia was forced to launch two Chechnya wars in 1994 and 1999. Although Chechnya was eventually conquered by Russia, it also cost a fortune. Russia’s treasury is empty.
After 2000, Russia’s economy began to recover, but in 2008, it fought a war in Georgia. In 2011, the economy just turned a few years ago. In 2014, the Crimea crisis occurred again. emptied the treasury.
Coupled with the constant sanctions by the United States, a large number of scientific and technological talents have been lost, and without capital injection, most of the budding private enterprises have died prematurely.
For example, there is a Yoga Devices mobile phone company in Russia, which produces the YotaPhone series of smartphones, and its YotaPhone 3 mobile phone also won the 2018 German iF Design Award.
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But the company went bankrupt in 2019. Because the Russian domestic market is limited, mobile phones from China, the United States and South Korea are very competitive, and there is not much capital injection, the Russian mobile phone company eventually went bankrupt.
The premature death of this Russian mobile phone company is just a microcosm of the development of the Russian electronics industry.
Because Russia does not have many civilian electronic products, there is not much demand for chips. Today’s Russian civilian consumer electronics market only accounts for less than 2% of the global share.
The American Semiconductor Industry Association released a research report in which Americans estimated that Russia’s semiconductor purchases accounted for less than one thousandth of the global total.
Most of today’s consumer goods require chips, such as mobile phones, automobiles, home appliances, computers, etc. It is precisely because Russia’s chip technology is backward and the United States has imposed a strict blockade on high-performance chips, which has led to the development of civilian products that require chips in Russia. If it fails, Russia’s economy can only be supported by energy and military industries.
This creates a vicious circle, and it is expected that Russia’s economy will become increasingly difficult due to chip technology.
Russia’s chip technology is backward, but why is the military industry developed? This is related to Russia’s anti-sky system engineering capabilities.
What is systems engineering capability? To use an analogy, with the same stack of wood, ordinary people can build houses, but experts can build warships, planes, and cannons. This is the ability of systems engineering.
Anyone who has watched Romance of the Three Kingdoms knows that Zhuge Liang can use ordinary wood to create a wooden cow and a horse. This wooden cow and horse can be used to transport military rations and is a means of transportation that surpasses the level of technology at the same time. Zhuge Liang’s ability to create a wooden cow and a horse depends on the system engineering ability.
We can compare the phased array radars of the United States and Russia. The signal processing part of the American Patriot phased array radar uses advanced digital chips, so the flight speed of the detection target can be quickly calculated.
Russia does not have high-end chips at all, so it replaced the chip with an “other-excited crystal oscillator”. This “other-excited crystal oscillator” is an outdated analog circuit design. Integrated circuits are smaller.
Therefore, Russia’s air defense missile phased array radar is larger than that of the United States, and it looks a bit stupid and bulky, but from the perspective of core indicators, it is at the same level as the United States, and its anti-jamming performance is stronger than that of the United States.
Americans have specially studied the Russian S300 radar, and they are full of praise for the performance of this radar. They believe that this radar is “high-performance, low-cost, and low-power consumption”, and they evaluate the Russians’ ability to innovate independently.
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That is to say, Americans use the most advanced components and advanced assembly technology to create advanced equipment, while Russian components are not advanced, but relying on the system engineering capabilities against the sky, they can also create advanced equipment.
Russian equipment can be said to be cheap and not beautiful, but it is very easy to use.
Some people say that if you give the Russians a pile of scrap metal, the Americans can only sell it as scrap iron, but the Russians can become a big killer that sweeps away thousands of troops.
On September 6, 1976, Belenko, a pilot of the Soviet Air Defense Air Force, flew a MiG-25 fighter through Japan’s tight air defense network and stopped at Hakodate Airport in Japan, which surprised Japan and the United States. In front of 25 fighters, Japan’s air defense system is useless.
After the Americans got the news, they immediately sent technicians to Japan to study the MiG-25 fighter plane. The plane was disassembled and transported to the Baili Air Force Base in central Japan.
As a result, the American technicians were very surprised that the material of this fighter was very common, mainly made of stainless steel, only a little titanium alloy was used for the key parts, and the welding was done by hand, and the workmanship was relatively rough.
The radar of the aircraft has a huge power of 600 kilowatts, but the main components are outdated vacuum tube components, not advanced solid-state electronic components, so the radar volume is large, but it is more suitable for extreme high temperature, and also reduces the avionics equipment compartment. cooling requirements.
Americans looked at these backward technology and rough parts, but they couldn’t figure out how the Soviets turned it into a fighter with excellent performance. The Americans adjusted the performance parameters of the next-generation heavy fighter based on the performance of the MiG-25, and finally gave birth to the F-15 fighter.
2022 05 02 14 42
There are two main reasons why the Russians have such incredible systems engineering capabilities:
One is that Russia’s high-end manufacturing industry is underdeveloped, and it cannot make the most advanced weapons with the most advanced chips like the Americans. Instead, it can only use less advanced chips to make weapons and equipment that can compete with the West.
This dilemma of “smart women can’t cook without rice” made the Russians have to improve their systems engineering capabilities to solve the problems, and the Russians’ systems engineering capabilities were also forced out.
Today’s Russia can make low-end chips, mainly to meet the needs of the military, because the military’s demand is small and cannot be produced on a large scale, and of course it cannot be industrialized.
Practice has proved that it is feasible to solve a specific problem with super system engineering capabilities, but after all, this is not a long-term solution. For any industry, the return on investment must be considered. Can not increase R & D investment, is not conducive to long-term development.
China’s early chip development also encountered this problem. To solve this problem, marketization can only be implemented under the guidance of the state.
Second, Russia’s super-strong systems engineering capabilities benefit from Russia’s solid level of basic theoretical research, because only by mastering basic theoretical knowledge can we support the ideas and assumptions of systems engineering.
For example, the Italian painter Leonardo da Vinci, the teacher always asked him to repeat the painting of eggs. In fact, the teacher asked him to do basic skills, and Da Vinci felt very tired at first.
The teacher told Da Vinci that eggs in the world are not absolutely the same. Even if it is the same egg, standing at different angles, the projected light is different, and the drawing is also different. Therefore, painting eggs is a basic skill. Once you have mastered it, you can draw anything.
Da Vinci, who was very intelligent, listened to the teacher’s words, and began to paint eggs carefully and patiently. Eventually, he laid a good foundation for painting and became a world-renowned painter.
The author is an engineering graduate. The author has a feeling that if you want to find a paper with a certain degree of mathematical foundation, then you can find references in the paper, and then find the references in the paper. Within five steps of iteration, it must be Russian. Literature.
Don’t look at American higher education, but when it comes to basic education, especially basic mathematics education, Russia is stronger, and basic education in the United States cannot even (?) keep up with China.
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If the basic theory is regarded as the starting point and the product is regarded as the end point, only by thoroughly understanding the basic theory can we design the best route from the starting point to the end point of the product.
Russia has its own unique features in this regard, which are worthy of our study and reference, and also worthy of our deep reflection.
America Wants War with China – Why This American is Saying No!
Pretty damn good.
Cheeseburger Buns
My mom stuffs soft homemade yeast rolls with ground beef, tomato sauce and cheese to make these tasty sandwiches. They’re great leftovers, too. My son takes them in his lunch the next day. —Nancy Holland, Morgan Hill, California
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Ingredients
2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
3/4 cup warm whole milk (110° to 115°)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup shortening
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
3-1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 pounds ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
8 slices process American cheese, quartered
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Directions
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, sugar, shortening, egg, salt and 2 cups flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 4-6 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes.
In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in tomato sauce. Remove from the heat; set aside.
Punch dough down; divide into 16 pieces. On a lightly floured surface, gently roll out and stretch each piece into a 5-in. circle. Top each circle with two pieces of cheese and about 3 tablespoons beef mixture. Bring dough over filling to center; pinch edges to seal.
Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 20 minutes. Bake at 400° for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm. Refrigerate leftovers.
American neocon leadership advocate nuclear war with China to “put them in their place”
That will trigger a MASSIVE bludgeoning of the United States by both Russia and China simultaneously.
2022 05 02 14 19
An e-mail from You-Tube explaining things…
2022 05 02 20 14
RUSSIAN TV
Tonight (Sunday) Russian television broadcast a simulation of Russia launching a SARMAT missile, with its fifteen nuclear warheads, against Britain! The TV commentator says the UK – their little island – will be wiped out. Here, look:
Not only did the Russian Television network show this to the entire country, but they went even farther . . . finally admitting what has long been rumored about Russia having developed a 100 MEGA-ton nuclear drone torpedo. Look at what the Russian people were told on their TV’s tonight: Plunge Britain into the sea by Tsunami from a nuclear torpedo drone!
In the U.S., perhaps one of the most useful idiots in Congress, Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, a complete political moron the best part of whom likely dripped down his father’s leg, has introduced a Joint Resolution in Congress authorizing the Use of military force (AUMF) inside Ukraine “if Russia uses chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons.”
In my opinion, that Joint Resolution would _really_ be a US declaration of war on Russia. Let’s not fool ourselves with the diplomatic language.
By the time that law is passed, the USA will likely already be at war with Russia, everything else is diplomatic trifles.
A Giant Statue From Old Trash Movies Is Now Rests In Someone’s Backyard
According to a Tumblr user trulyunpleasant:
“This statue is a couple miles from where I live, just sitting in someones backyard. It was in two crappy Atlantis sword-and-sandal movies back in the 50′s/60′s. Then it sat on top of a bar (or club) for a few years, and then someone bought it for their house.”
It’s a Hell of a thing to have lying around.
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Video: Col. Richard Black: U.S. Leading World to Nuclear War
Mike Billington of the Schiller Institute interviewed (former) Senator and Col. (ret) Richard Black, who served 31 years in the US Marines and Army.
Sen. Black talked about his military service in Syria, how and why Russia got involved in the war militarily, and how such involvement contrasts with the US’ and NATO’s justification for military intervention in the said war.
Sen. Black also addresses the recent Russian military invasion of Ukraine and the failure to dissolve NATO.
40.12: Colonel Black focusses on the risk of World War III.
“The decision of Peace or War is made in Washington DC,
As long as we [US government] want the war to continue, we will fight using the Ukrainians as proxies, and we will fight it to last Urainian death”
*
Good New Orleans Creole Gumbo
This is a fine Creole gumbo recipe.
"I learned to cook from my mother and grandmother who were born and raised in New Orleans and really knew how to cook. Most of the time, you could not get them to write down their recipes because they used a 'pinch' of this and 'just enough of that' and 'two fingers of water,' and so on. This recipe is a combination of both of their recipes which I have added to over the years. Serve over hot cooked rice. The gumbo can be frozen or refrigerated and many people like it better the next day. Bon appetit!"
A delicious gumbo.
New Orleans-style gumbo is a true taste of Southern tradition. This boldly flavored stew is bursting with fresh, filling ingredients like bell pepper, sausage, stewed tomatoes, and crabmeat. Hot sauce ad Cajun seasonings add a kick that makes this Lousiana dish a favorite amongst our community of home cooks. Learn how to make the best homestyle gumbo right here.
What Is Gumbo?
Gumbo is one of the most famous dishes to result from Louisiana’s shared Creole-Cajun heritage. Gumbo falls somewhere between a thick stew and a hearty soup and can contain ingredients such as chicken, sausage, ham, seafood, okra, tomatoes, and greens.
As varied as the recipes can be, there are a few ingredients that all gumbos have in common: homemade stock; the “holy trinity” of celery, onions, and green peppers; and roux.
New Orleans Creole Gumbo
How to Make Gumbo
Boldly delicious New Orleans-style gumbo is surprisingly easy to make at home. You’ll find the full recipe below with step-by-step instructions, but here’s what you can expect when you make this top-rated recipe:
Great gumbo starts with roux, a flavorful thickening agent made from equal parts fat and flour. Once the roux is a deep golden color, add diced veggies and sausage to the mix. Then, incorporate beef bouillon, hot sauce, tomatoes, and seasonings to intensify the flavor.
Let the gumbo simmer for 45 minutes before adding file powder, okra, and seafood. The result will be a lusciously hearty stew packed with Creole spice.
What Is Gumbo File?
Gumbo file, or file powder, is made from dried sassafras leaves. This ingredient was first used by Choctaw Indians and was later adopted by Acadians (Cajuns) when they arrived in the American South.
Gumbo file has a deep, earthy flavor similar to thyme and should be added to gumbo in the last minutes of cooking — it helps to thicken and enrich the stew for an authentic taste of New Orleans.
Serving suggestions
You serve it with rice.
New Orleans Creole Gumbo.
How to Store Leftover Gumbo
Leftover gumbo can be stored safely in the refrigerator for three to four days. Let the dish come to room temperature before placing it in an airtight container to enjoy later. Gently reheat on the stovetop for best results.
Community Tips and Praise
“This is one of the best gumbos I’ve ever had and my family is from the South so that is saying a lot — just don’t tell my mother or grandmother,” shares reviewer mellie18_99. “I added shrimp, sausage, chicken, and crab meat.”
“This recipe is the real deal,” raves home cook Pat. “Don’t forget the file gumbo at the very end, it makes a big difference. You will know when the roux is done when it has the color of a Hershey’s milk chocolate bar.”
“This was my very first time making gumbo and my guests who had come over for a King Party loved it!” says Shaw Kitty. “Some of these guests were born and raised Louisianans and they gave their approval as well!”
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Serve with rice!
Ingredients
Original recipe yields 20 servings
Directions
German gas contract with Russia
Even if German stop buying from Russia, German has the contracted obligation to pay $140b through to 2030 independent of Force Majure.
Apparently, the United States neocons have targeted Russia in the belief that she is an easy target to defeat. Then, once “suppressed”, the full weight of combined efforts can then move on to China…
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That is my thought also.
Russia without China is endangered and vice versa.
I heard a saying on The Duran Channel on YouTube which has the knowledgeable and wise Alexander Mercouris as main speaker.
"Russia and China do not stand so much shoulder to shoulder but back to back."
p.s. My piece on CounterPunch and Asia Times today has drawn a lot of commentary. Many said that they felt alone and isolated in their opinion on the US proxy war on Russia in Ukraine. They felt better on reading the piece, because they did not feel alone. I think these people are a little bit more likely to speak their opinions and spread them. I feel good about the essay for that reason.
-John V. Walsh
Russian TV Is Talking Very Frankly About Nuclear War (While America Stands with Ukranus)
The Americans will push until there is a disaster.
-Leander
There are two popular clips going around on social media this week of Russians talking about the inevitability of nuclear war. They are both from Russia 1, which is state television.
Remember that RT is also Russian state media, and not really very well-edited, in terms of promoting a consistent agenda, so given the “shrug” mentality of Russians when it comes to narrative control, I don’t think it’s fair to assume that every talking point is overseen directly by the Kremlin. It seems to be more of a “just follow along with what we’re saying” situation. I am not certain of the situation, as my Russian is not good enough to just sit and watch Russian political talk shows, but I imagine there is quite a bit of leeway in terms of the editorial control of the producers and the commentariat. Certainly, they are much less restrained than analogous Western state propaganda – the BBC or CDC (or for that matter NPR, or for that matter CNN).
However, the fact that “we’re probably going to have a nuclear war lol” is now a major talking point probably means that the Russian government told them to start talking about this. Both clips do it in a sort of “lol ok” manner, which was probably also an idea from the state.
In the first clip, a Russian Duma member starts talking about the time it takes for nukes to hit different targets, and jokes about how there is nothing that Berlin, Paris, or London could do to stop a strike from Kaliningrad. As that bitch Julia Davis notes, the host does kind of push back and say that everyone would die in such a war, but the Senator goes into physical comedy and the host chuckles sensibly.
Again, it is just this kind of “hahahaha – LOL” attitude.
I don’t really know why Westerners are spamming these clips – “look – Russia doesn’t even care about nuclear war and they think it’s funny” does not seem like a good argument in support of pressing for war with Russia.
It’s like if you were trying to get someone to fight someone else and you were like “just go start shit talking that guy – he’s got a gun and he’s not at all afraid of dying or going to prison.”
That’s probably the purpose of these segments – to have them disseminated in the West and show that Russians are really blasé about nuclear war. Julia Davis and many others can’t help but do the thing.
Domestically, telling people “nuclear war is lolz” is just hilarious and intelligent. Having a population that responds to “we’re all going to die in a massive war” with “ikr, roflmao” is extremely advantageous. While the US is talking about “our values of who we are in a democracy rules based order of stolen yachts,” Russia is saying “well, we’re all going to die some day anyway.”
For the record, there is zero evidence or reason to believe that a nuclear war would “kill everyone on earth.” Primarily, this is because of the gibberish surrounding the idea of “nuclear fallout,” and even more goofy stuff like “nuclear winter.”
I like the Fallout video games series, but this isn’t real life. As the Russians say – and this is true – there is not even any evidence that if Russia started firing nukes, the West would even respond. They would more likely just start crying and looking for a safe space for their snowflakes.
American B61 Mini-nukes Deployed in Western Europe
The latest B61-12 “mini nuke” is slated to be deployed in Western Europe, aimed at Russia and the Middle East (replacing the existing of B61 nuclear bombs).
B-61-12 is portrayed as a “more usable” “low yield” “humanitarian bomb” “‘harmless to civilians”. That’s the ideology. The reality is “Mutual Assured Destruction” (MAD).
The B61-12 has a maximum yield of 50 kilotons which is more than three times that of a Hiroshima bomb (15 kilotons) which resulted in excess of 100,000 deaths in matter of minutes.
If a preemptive attack using a so-called mini nuke were to succeed, targeted against Russia or Iran, this could potentially lead humanity into a WW III scenario. Of course these details are not highlighted in mainstream media reports.
F-15E Eagle Strike Eagle Fighter for the Delivery of the B-61-12
Low Yield Nukes: Humanitarian Warfare Goes Live
And when the characteristics of this “harmless” low yield nuclear bomb are inserted into the military manuals, “humanitarian warfare” goes live: “It’s low yield and safe for civilians, let’s use it” [paraphrase].
The US arsenal of B61 nuclear bombs directed against the Russian Federation are currently under the national command of 5 non-nuclear states (Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey). The command structure pertaining to the B61-12 is yet to be confirmed. The situation with regard to Turkey’s Incirlik base is unclear.
2022 05 02 14 26
The Prodigal.
Yeah. This is the name of the movie that the statue comes from.
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This movie’s title is The Prodigal.
The Prodigal is a 1955 Biblical epic film made by MGM starring Edmund Purdom and Lana Turner. It was based on the New Testament parable about a selfish son who leaves his family to pursue a life of pleasure. The film also features James Mitchell, Louis Calhern, Joseph Wiseman, Cecil Kellaway and Walter Hampden. The dancer Taina Elg made her film debut.
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The story is loosely based on Jesus Christ’s parable of the prodigal son, from the Biblical New Testament Gospels, although considerable liberties are taken with the source material, chief among them being the addition of a female lead in the form of the high priestess of Astarte, Samarra.
With the start of World War III by the United States “declaring” war against Russia by its actions in Ukraine, we have entered a time when the end of time has become very possible. I am speaking of nuclear annihilation.
I look down at my great-uncle’s gold Elgin pocket watch from the 19th century. His name was John Patrick Whalen, an Irish immigrant to the U.S. who fled England’s colonialist created famine in Ireland. It tells me it is 5:15 PM on April 21, 2022, a date, coincidentally, with a history. No doubt John looked at his watch on this date in 1898 when the United States, after the USS Maine exploded from within in Havana harbor (a possible false flag attack), declared war on Spain in order to confiscate Spanish territories – Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. One colonial power replaced another and then proceeded over the long decades to wage war and slaughter these island peoples. Imperialism never dies. It is timeless.
One hundred-and twenty-four years go by in a flash and it’s still the same old story. In 1898 the yellow press screamed Spanish devils and today it screams Russian devils. Then and now the press called for war. If the human race is still here in another 124 years, time and the corporate media will no doubt have told the same story – war and propaganda’s lies to an insouciant and ignorant population too hypnotized by propaganda to oppose them. This despite the apocalyptic sense that permeates our lives because of demonic technology and its use to transform humans into machines who can’t think clearly enough to perceive reality and realize the threat posed by that quintessential technological invention – nuclear weapons.
This is not uplifting, but it’s true. The nuclear weapons are primed and ready to fly. The U.S. insists on its first-strike right to launch them. It openly declares it is seeking the overthrow of the Russian government. Russia says it will use nuclear weapons only if its existence is threatened, which has become increasingly so because of U.S. provocations over a long time period and its current expanding arming of Ukraine’s government and its neo-Nazi forces.
The Russian President Vladimir Putin and its Foreign Secretary Sergei Lavrov have just warned the U.S. that such involvement has made nuclear war a “serious” and “real” risk, in Lavrov’s words “we must not underestimate it,” which is a mild form of diplomatic speech. Putin said that Russia has made all the preparations to respond if it senses a strategic threat to Russia and that response will be “instant, it will be quick.” The U.S. response is to shrug these statements off, just as it has done so for many years with Putin’s complaints about NATO forces moving up to its border. Incredibly, Biden has said, “For God’s sake, this man (Putin) cannot remain in power.”
Despite endless media/intelligence anti-Russian propaganda – “a vast tapestry of lies,” to use Harold Pinter’s phrase – many fine writers have provided the historical details to confirm the truth that the U.S. has purposely provoked the Russian war in Ukraine by its actions there and throughout Eastern Europe, which the mainstream media avoid completely. This U.S. aggressive history against Russia is part of a much larger history of imperial hubris extending back to the 19th century. I will therefore here follow Thoreau’s advice – “If you are acquainted with the principle, what do you care for a myriad instances and applications?” – since how many times do people need to hear lies such as “Iraq has weapons of mass destruction” in order to justify wars of aggression around the world. The historical facts are very clear, but facts and history don’t seem to matter to many people. Pinter again, in his Nobel Address, bluntly told the truth about the U.S.’s history of systematic and remorseless war crimes: “Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn’t happening. It didn’t matter. It was of no interest.” Which is still the case.
So time is my focus, for the last days have arrived unless there occurs a radical awakening to the obvious truth that the U.S. government is pushing the world to the brink of disaster in full awareness of the consequences. Its actions are insane, yet insanity has become the norm. Insane leaders and a catatonic, hypnotized public lead to disaster.
I write these words with an old fountain pen, a high school graduation gift, to somehow comfort and remind myself that when we were this close once before in October 1962, Kennedy and Khrushchev miraculously found a solution to the Cuban Missile Crisis; and to find hope now, and that when my time is up and I join John Patrick in the other world, things will have changed for my children and grand-children. It is admittedly the hope of a desperado.
The last few years of the Covid-19 propaganda have served to further distort people’s sense of time, a distortion years in the making through the introduction of digital technology with its accompanying numerical time clicks and its severing of our natural sense of time that is tied to the rising and falling of the tides and the turning of the days and seasons, a feeling that is being lost. Such felt sense of time’s texture could be slow or faster, but it had limits. We now live in a world without limits, which, as the ancient Greeks knew, demands payback.
For years before Covid-19, the sense of speed time was dominant, supported by the politically-introduced state of a constant emergency after September 11, 2001 with the urgency to hurry and keep up or one would fall behind. Keep up with what was never explained. Hurry why? Fast and faster was the rule with constant busyness that served the very useful social function of leaving no time for thinking, which was the point, but it made many feel as though they were engaged. And constantly alert for “terrorists” to come knocking. Thus the long wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, etc., all of which continue via various subterfuges.
Then, presto, all this frenzied time sense came to a stop with the 2020 lockdowns, when time got very slow, but not slow in the natural sense but an enforced slowness. People were locked up. Not only was it stupefying but stultifying and an existential drag. This went on for two years with the prisoners allowed short respites only to be rounded back up and locked down again. Jabbed and jolted was the plan. When will it ever end? was the common cry, as despair and depression spread and scrambled minds led to suicides and mindless screen entertainment. This was planned education for a trans-human future in which the cell phone will be central to totalitarian control if people do not rebel.
Those behind the Covid-19 and war propaganda are fanatical technocrats who seek total control of the world’s population through digital technology. Now they have temporarily let the people out of one type of cell and dramatically sped up time with frantic war propaganda against Russia. The great English writer John Berger said it perfectly:
Every ruling minority needs to numb, and, if possible, to kill the time-sense of those whom it exploits. This is the authoritarian secret of all methods of imprisonment.
Everyone is now doing time while scrolling messages on the walls of their cell phones. A twisted, convoluted, distorted, mechanical time in which it seems that there is no history and the future is an endless road of more of the same.
Some say we have all the time in the world. I say no, that we have entered a new time, perhaps the end-time, when the world’s end is a very real possibility. Hypnotized people can agree to anything, even mass-suicide, unless they snap out of it. This can only happen with a return to slowness in the old sense, when people once felt time in their hearts’ rhythms attuned to the rising and falling of nature’s reality. Time to think and contemplate the fate of the earth when nuclear war is contemplated. Yes, “We must not underestimate it.”
It’s about time.
Isn’t it always?
Chinese Style Meat Buns
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If you’ve ever been to a Chinese bakery, you have seen this type of meat buns among many other delicious goodies. These buns are also called pork buns, or Char Siu Bao which basically is a barbecued pork filled bun. They can be either steamed or baked, as in this write-up.
I love both versions, and here in Southern China the steamed buns are the most common. Up North and to the West, the baked buns are very common.
These buns are pretty easy to make. You should love them and they will turn out amazing, and they were gone in no time.
The dough is quite a simple dough with simple ingredients.
In a small bowl, mix the warm water, sugar and yeast and let it sit until it starts foaming, for about 15 minutes. In a large bowl add the flour and to it add the egg, oil, salt and the yeast mixture.
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Mix it all together using your hands, if you find the dough too sticky just add more flour. Knead the dough on a floured surface for a few more minutes, until it becomes elastic. Â Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and let it rise until doubled in size, in a warm spot.
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While the dough is resting we can make the filling. I used one pork loin that was about 1 1/2 lb in weight. To make the marinade, is simple as well. Cut up the pork loin in small pieces and set aside. In a medium sized bowl, add the garlic and ginger paste, vegetable oil, honey, Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, wine, pepper, salt, five spice powder, and sesame oil. Whisk everything all together and add the pork to it. Let the pork marinate for about 1 hour, or until the dough is almost ready.
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Heat a skillet, over medium heat and add a tablespoon of vegetable oil to it. When the oil is hot add the pork mixture including the marinade to it and cook until the pork is cooked thoroughly, for about 5 minutes. Before removing it from heat, add the green onions to it and mix well.
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After all this is said and done the dough should have doubled in size nicely.
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Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball.
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Using a rolling pin, roll out each ball into a disc, so that it’s about 4 or 5 inches in diameter. Place heaping tablespoon of the meat mixture in the middle of it.
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Seal the bun by gathering up the edges of the disc.
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Place the sealed side down bun, on an ungreased baking sheet. Repeat with remaining balls and meat mixture.
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Brush the buns with egg wash and bake in a preheated oven at 350 F degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the buns are nice and golden brown.
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They look so good and are so delicious, you will love them.
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These Chinese Style Meat Buns also known as Char Siu Bao are delicious pork filled buns, made incredibly easy and so delicious!
In a small bowl, mix the warm water, sugar and yeast and let it sit until it starts foaming, for about 15 minutes. In a large bowl add the flour and to it add the egg, oil, salt and the yeast mixture.
Mix it all together using your hands, if you find the dough too sticky just add more flour. Knead the dough on a floured surface for a few more minutes, until it becomes elastic. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and let it rise until doubled in size, in a warm spot.
Cut up the pork loin in small pieces and set aside. In a medium sized bowl, add the garlic and ginger paste, vegetable oil, honey, Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, wine, pepper, salt, five spice powder, and sesame oil. Whisk everything all together and add the pork to it. Let the pork marinate for about 1 hour, or until the dough is almost ready.
eat a skillet, over medium heat and add a tablespoon of vegetable oil to it. When the oil is hot add the pork mixture including the marinade to it and cook until the pork is cooked thoroughly, for about 5 minutes. Before removing it from heat, add the green onions to it and mix well.
Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.
Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball.
Using a rolling pin, roll out each ball into a disc, so that it’s about 4 or 5 inches in diameter. Place heaping tablespoon of the meat mixture in the middle of it.
Seal the bun by gathering up the edges of the disc.
Place the sealed side down bun, on an ungreased baking sheet. Repeat with remaining balls and meat mixture.
Brush the buns with egg wash and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the buns are nice and golden brown.
These were FANTASTIC and I only used ground beef, onion, red pepper flakes, salt and extra monterey jack and mozzarella cheese. The roll is very light and not heavy on the bread like other recipes I've seen. These could be stuffed with pretty much anything. Next time I'm trying chicken and mushroom. I baked an extra 5 minutes to get the right golden color. HIGHLY recommended! YUM.
- Kristi
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Clash of Christianities: Why Europe cannot understand Russia
By Pepe Escobar, posted with the Author’s permission and cross-posted with The Cradle
Under an ubiquitous, toxic atmosphere of cognitive dissonance drenched in Russophobia, it’s absolutely impossible to have a meaningful discussion on finer points of Russian history and culture across the NATO space – a phenomenon I’m experiencing back in Paris right now, fresh from a long stint in Istanbul.
At best, in a semblance of civilized dialogue, Russia is pigeonholed in the reductionist view of a threatening, irrational, ever-expanding empire – a way more wicked version of Ancient Rome, Achaemenid Persia, Ottoman Turkey or Mughal India.
The fall of the USSR a little over three decades ago did hurl Russia back three centuries – to its borders in the 17th century. Russia, historically, had been interpreted as a secular empire – immense, multiple and multinational. This is all informed by history, very much alive even today in the Russian collective unconscious.
When Operation Z started I was in Istanbul – the Second Rome. I spent a considerable time of my late night walks around Hagia Sophia reflecting on the historical correlations of the Second Rome with the Third Rome – which happens to be Moscow, since the concept was first enounced at the start of the 16th century.
Later, back in Paris, banishment to soliloquy territory seemed inevitable until an academic pointed me to some substance, although heavily distorted by political correctness, available in the French magazine Historia.
There’s at least an attempt to discuss the Third Rome. The significance of the concept was initially religious before becoming political – encapsulating the Russian drive to become the leader of the Orthodox world in contrast with Catholicism. This has to be understood also in the context of pan-Slavic theories springing up under the first Romanov and then reaching their apogee in the 19th century.
Eurasianism – and its several declinations – treats the complex Russian identity as double-faced, between east and west. Western liberal democracies simply can’t understand that these ideas – infusing varied brands of Russian nationalism – do not imply hostility to “enlightened” Europe, but an affirmation of Difference (they could learn a bit from reading more Gilles Deleuze for that matter). Eurasianism also weighs on closer relations with Central Asia and necessary alliances, in various degrees, with China and Turkey.
A perplexed liberal west remains hostage to a vortex of Russian images which it can’t properly decode – from the two-headed eagle, which is the symbol of the Russian state since Peter the Great, to the Kremlin cathedrals, the St. Petersburg citadel, the Red Army entering Berlin in 1945, the May 9 parades (the next one will be particularly meaningful), and historical figures from Ivan the Terrible to Peter the Great. At best – and we’re talking academic level ‘experts’ – they identify all of the above as “flamboyant and confused” imagery.
The Christian/Orthodox divide
The apparently monolithic liberal west itself also cannot be understood if we forget how, historically, Europe is also a two-headed beast: one head may be tracked from Charlemagne all the way to the awful Brussels Eurocrat machine; and the other one comes from Athens and Rome, and via Byzantium/Constantinople (the Second Rome) reaches all the way to Moscow (the Third Rome).
Latin Europe, for the Orthodox, is seen as a hybrid usurper, preaching a distorted Christianity which only refers to St. Augustine, practicing absurd rites and neglecting the very important Holy Ghost. The Europe of Christian Popes invented what is considered a historical hydra – Byzantium – where Byzantines were actually Greeks living under the Roman Empire.
Western Europeans for their part see the Orthodox and the Christians from the East (see how they were abandoned by the west in Syria under ISIS and Al Qaeda) as satraps and a bunch of smugglers – while the Orthodox regard the Crusaders, the Teutonic chevaliers and the Jesuits – correctly, we must say – as barbarian usurpers bent on world conquest.
In the Orthodox canon, a major trauma is the fourth Crusade in 1204 which utterly destroyed Constantinople. The Frankish chevaliers happened to eviscerate the most dazzling metropolis in the world, which congregated at the time all the riches from Asia.
That was the definition of cultural genocide. The Frankish also happened to be aligned with some notorious serial plunderers: the Venetians. No wonder, from that historical juncture onwards, a slogan was born: “Better the Sultan’s turban than the Pope’s tiara.”
So since the 8th century, Carolingian and Byzantine Europe were de facto at war across an Iron Curtain from the Baltics to the Mediterranean (compare it with the emerging New Iron Curtain of Cold War 2.0). After the barbarian invasions, they neither spoke the same language nor practiced the same writing, rites or theology.
This fracture, significantly, also trespassed Kiev. The west was Catholic – 15% of Greek catholics and 3% of Latins – and in the center and the east, 70% Orthodox, who became hegemonic in the 20th century after the elimination of Jewish minorities by mainly the Waffen-SS of the Galicia division, the precursors of Ukraine’s Azov batallion.
Constantinople, even in decline, managed to pull off a sophisticated geo-strategic game to seduce the Slavs, betting on Muscovy against the Catholic Polish-Lithuanian combo. The fall of Constantinople in 1453 allowed Muscovy to denounce the treason of Greeks and Byzantine Armenians who rallied around the Roman Pope, who badly wanted a reunified Christianity.
Afterward, Russia ends up constituting itself as the only Orthodox nation that did not fall under Ottoman domination. Moscow regards itself – as Byzantium – as a unique symphony between spiritual and temporal powers.
Third Rome becomes a political concept only in the 19th century – after Peter the Great and Catherine the Great had vastly expanded Russian power. The key concepts of Russia, Empire and Orthodoxy are fused. That always implies Russia needs a ‘near abroad’ – and that bears similarities with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s vision (which, significantly, is not imperial, but cultural).
As the vast Russian space has been in constant flow for centuries, that also implies the central role of the concept of encirclement. Every Russian is very much aware of territorial vulnerability (remember, for starters, Napoleon and Hitler). Once the western borderland is trespassed, it’s an easy ride all the way to Moscow. Thus, this very unstable line must be protected; the current correlation is the real threat of Ukraine made to host NATO bases.
Onward to Odessa
With the fall of the USSR, Russia found itself in a geopolitical situation last encountered in the 17th century. The slow and painful reconstruction was spearheaded from two fronts: the KGB – later FSB – and the Orthodox church. The highest-level interaction between the Orthodox clergy and the Kremlin was conducted by Patriarch Kirill – who later became Putin’s minister of religious affairs.
Ukraine for its part had become a de facto Moscow protectorate way back in 1654 under the Treaty of Pereyaslav: much more than a strategic alliance, it was a natural fusion, in progress for ages by two Orthodox Slav nations.
Ukraine then falls under the Russian orbit. Russian domination expands until 1764, when the last Ukrainian hetman (commander-in-chief) is officially deposed by Catherine the Great: that’s when Ukraine becomes a province of the Russian empire.
As Putin made it quite clear this week: “Russia cannot allow the creation of anti-Russian territories around the country.” Operation Z will inevitably encompass Odessa, founded in 1794 by Catherine the Great.
The Russians at the time had just expelled the Ottomans from the northwest of the Black Sea, which had been successively run by Goths, Bulgars, Hungarians and then Turkish peoples – all the way to the Tatars. Odessa at the start was peopled, believe it or not, by Romanians who were encouraged to settle there after the 16th century by the Ottoman sultans.
Catherine chose a Greek name for the city – which at the start was not Slav at all. And very much like St. Petersburg, founded a century earlier by Peter the Great, Odessa never stopped flirting with the west.
Tsar Alexander I, in the early 19th century, decides to turn Odessa into a great trading port – developed by a Frenchman, the Duke of Richelieu. It was from the port of Odessa that Ukrainian wheat started to reach Europe. By the turn of the 20th century, Odessa is truly multinational – after having attracted, among others, the genius of Pushkin.
Odessa is not Ukrainian: it’s an intrinsic part of the Russian soul. And soon the trials and tribulations of history will make it so again: as an independent republic; as part of a Novorossiya confederation; or attached to the Russian Federation. The people of Odessa will decide.
Louisiana Crawfish Étouffée
In Louisiana, there’s nothing better than this classic during crawfish season. This recipe is easy and can be substituted with shrimp when crawfish are out of season. Even better when served with hot garlic French bread! Start cooking the rice first since this is a quick and easy dish.
Louisiana Crawfish Étouffée.
Ingredients
Original recipe yields 6 servings
Directions
Pretty Chinese Girl
She’s advertising clothes on a a treadmill. video 3MB
America is Preparing for Something Bigger than Russia Ukraine…
Yes. It is VERY disturbing. Especially, as I know how China will react.
Do you want more?
I have more articles like this one in my Art Index here…
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.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
We continue our stroll though this very strange and surreal period of time. Here we cover various “buried” news items, and mix it up with various other subjects used to shake off the troll armies, the robo-‘bots, and the SJW shrills. It works.
We start with some delicious food…
Beef & Rice Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
Just like your parents, and grandparents made. All completely awesome! It’s a fine taste of home. And it fills the house up with a most wonderful aroma.
Beef & Rice Stuffed Cabbage Rolls.
2022 04 22 17 57
Directions
In batches, cook cabbage in boiling water 3-5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain; cool slightly. Trim the thick vein from the bottom of each cabbage leaf, making a V-shaped cut.
In a large bowl, combine rice, onion, egg, milk, salt and pepper. Add beef; mix lightly but thoroughly. Place about 1/4 cup beef mixture on each cabbage leaf. Pull together cut edges of leaf to overlap; fold over filling. Fold in sides and roll up.
Place 6 rolls in a 4- or 5-qt. slow cooker, seam side down. In a bowl, mix sauce ingredients; pour half of the sauce over cabbage rolls. Top with remaining rolls and sauce. Cook, covered, on low 6-8 hours or until a thermometer inserted in beef reads 160° and cabbage is tender.
Life as an American
If you are an American, you will understand this. However, if you are Chinese, where there are laws against this sort of thing, it NEVER happens, and so you will remain clueless…
2022 04 22 15 03 1
China is almost ready with Fusion Energy
China has finished researching and developing more than 80 percent of the key technology in fusion energy, and is expected to use the fusion power in 30 to 50 years, a Chinese scientist told the Global Times in an exclusive interview.China is constructing a new grand research facility for fusion technology, the Comprehensive Research Facility for Fusion Technology (CRAFT), which is expected to be completed by 2025. Based on the CRAFT and experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST), or the Chinese "artificial sun," we are planning to build a compact fusion energy experimental reactor to realize the burning of plasma and produce fusion energy, laying a solid foundation for future fusion reactor construction, Hu Jiansheng, deputy director of Institute of Plasma Physics at Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, told the Global Times.After the compact experimental reactor, Hu said he hopes the construction of Chinese Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR) could be started as soon as possible aiming at future fusion development and application."With all these years of development all over the world, the scientific feasibility of fusion power has been proved. So far China has finished more than 80 percent of the key technology research and development. If the construction of CFETR gets a 'green light,' it's expected that we could achieve the application of fusion energy in about 30 to 50 years," Hu said.
Yes, I know. The cat-callers will say “That’s what they’ve been saying about fusion for the last 50 years, that it will become available 30-50 years hence.” And while that’s true, there was never the experimental successes to back that prognosis; now there are. Just imagine the materials breakthroughs required that weren’t at all possible 10-30 years ago. And with CRAFT, their pace will increase.
With Russian, Chinese and South Korean scientists and engineers doing the primary work on the project, I know it will continue moving forward as the bankrupt and corrupt West can’t afford it nor does it have the technical expertise anymore.
Notice how everything is planned, and then China goes in with force. This is how the Chinese operates. There is no gradual build up of hostilities. They plan. Then they come in in FORCE…This is how it is done!
Information is leaking out of the United Kingdom that the US Navy used its new marine surveillance aircraft to provide accurate targeting data to Ukrainian forces to sink the Russian Black Sea flag ship Moskva on April 13.
Ukraine claimed it fired two Neptune missiles at the Russian warship which was patrolling south of Odesa.
Russia initially claimed the vessel, which had more than 500 crew on board had blown up after a fire onboard.
Later, the Kremlin was forced to admit the vessel – named in honour of the Russian capital – had been taken out by hostile action.
According to information coming out through the British press, a US surveillance P-8 “Poseidon” aircraft, was tracking Moskva in the hours before it was attacked before supplying its location to the Ukrainian military.
The Boeing-made aircraft is based upon the Boeing 737-800 jet – which is widely used by airlines such as Ryanair.
However, instead of passengers, the Poseidon is packed with state-of-the-art surveillance equipment which can track surface vessels and submarines at ranges of more than 100 miles.
According to the claims in British media outlets, the P-8 took off from Italy and took up station on the Romanian Black Sea coast where it attempted to locate the position of the Russian Black Sea fleet.
The P-8 left US Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily on April 13, hours before the attack.
Before reaching the Black Sea coastline, the Poseidon turned off its trackers, so it could no longer be followed online.
The aircraft was ‘hidden’ for almost three hours before it returned to Flight Radar 24.
Aviation data analysis Amelia Smith says there were slightly more US aircraft covering the Black Sea coast on the day of the attack.
However, the US Navy refused to confirm if they assisted Ukraine with the attack by providing intelligence data.
A Defense source added: ‘In keeping with our support to NATO’s eastern flank, we have been conducting some limited air patrols off the coast of Romania. But we will not speak to the details of operational matters.’
A fine watch
I really do like this wrist watch.
A fine watch.
If You Can’t Take the Heat, Get Out of the Shower
Taking a shower together can be a very romantic end to the evening, but not everyone has the same water temperature preference. Women tend to prefer hotter showers or baths, and Maya is no exception. She invited Yehuda to join her for a romantic shower, but he didn’t find it as seductive as she did.
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image 71Qle4vEIkIxJ73d
He felt like he was being boiled alive while Maya basked in the scorching water. It seems like women tend to have a higher threshold for pain.
Know your hand signals
9706aad3a8aca4715b17ec604402efd0
Hallstatt, Austria
It certainly looks like a fine place to visit. Don’t you think?
After a preamble dealing with the Covid pandemic, Xi digs into the interrelated issues of security, peace and development:
We need to work together to maintain peace and stability in the world. An ancient Chinese philosopher observed, "Stability brings a country prosperity while instability leads a country to poverty." Security is the precondition for development. We humanity are living in an indivisible security community. It has been proven time and again that the Cold War mentality would only wreck the global peace framework, that hegemonism and power politics would only endanger world peace and that bloc confrontation would only exacerbate security challenges in the 21st century. To promote security for all in the world, China would like to propose a Global Security Initiative as follows:It is important that we stay committed to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and work together to maintain world peace and security; stay committed to respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, uphold non-interference in internal affairs, and respect the independent choices of development paths and social systems made by people in different countries; stay committed to abiding by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, reject the Cold War mentality, oppose unilateralism, and say no to group politics and bloc confrontation; stay committed to taking the legitimate security concerns of all countries seriously, uphold the principle of indivisible security, build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture, and oppose the pursuit of one's own security at the cost of others' security; stay committed to peacefully resolving differences and disputes between countries through dialogue and consultation, support all efforts conducive to the peaceful settlement of crises, reject double standards, and oppose the wanton use of unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction; stay committed to maintaining security in both traditional and non-traditional domains, and work together on regional disputes and global challenges such as terrorism, climate change, cybersecurity and biosecurity.We need to work together to tackle global governance challenges. Countries around the world are like passengers aboard the same ship who share the same destiny. For the ship to navigate the storm and sail toward a bright future, all passengers must pull together. The thought of throwing anyone overboard is simply not acceptable. In this day and age, the international community has evolved so much that it has become a sophisticated and integrated apparatus. Acts to remove any single part will cause serious problems to its operation. When that happens, both the victims and the initiators of such acts will stand to lose. In today's world, unilateralism and excessive pursuit of self-interest are doomed to fail, so are the practices of decoupling, supply disruption and maximum pressure and the attempts to forge "small circles" or to stoke conflict and confrontation along ideological lines. Instead, we need to embrace a global governance philosophy that emphasizes extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, promotes the common values of humanity, and advocates exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations. We need to uphold true multilateralism and firmly safeguard the international system with the UN at its core and the international order underpinned by international law. It is particularly important for major countries to lead by example in honoring equality, cooperation, good faith and the rule of law and act in a way befitting their status.
The rest of the speech is tailored to his audience and speaks of China’s development and how China will contribute to humanity’s progress. It’s only seven more paragraphs after the above passage, so it’s not nearly as long as the Joint Declaration.
IMO, the speech is very timely and needed, and ought to soothe the Global South and Eurasia’s mind. Of course, the Outlaw US Empire and its NATO vassals won’t like it since they’re called out as the main problem facing humanity–which of course is 100% correct.
I didn’t give it emphasis, but do take note that China’s security proposal for the world is based on Russia’s security proposal for Europe. And that global governance must be based on the primacy of the equal sovereignty of all nations, which is the primary UN Charter principle and foundation for International Law.
“Cancel culture is inbuilt in the techno-feudalist project: conform to the hegemonic narrative, or else. Journalism that does not conform must be taken down.”
He asks that it be made viral. Just this portion ought to be reason enough:
Every silicon fragment in the valley connects Facebook as a direct extension of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)’s LifeLog project, a Pentagon attempt to “build a database tracking a person’s entire existence.” Facebook launched its website exactly on the same day – Feb. 4, 2004 – that DARPA and the Pentagon shuttered LifeLog.No explanation by DARPA was ever provided. The MIT’s David Karger, at the time, remarked, “I am sure that such research will continue to be funded under some other title. I can’t imagine DARPA ‘dropping out’ of such a key research area.”Of course a smokin’ gun directly connecting Facebook to DARPA will never be allowed to surface. But occasionally some key players speak out, such as Douglas Gage, none other than LifeLog’s conceptualizer: “Facebook is the real face of pseudo-LifeLog at this point (…) We have ended up providing the same kind of detailed personal information to advertisers and data brokers and without arousing the kind of opposition that LifeLog provoked.”So Facebook has absolutely nothing to do with journalism. Not to mention pontificating over a journalist’s work, or assuming it’s entitled to cancel him or her. Facebook is an “ecosystem” built to sell private data at a huge profit, offering a public service as a private enterprise, but most of all sharing the accumulated data of its billions of users with the U.S. national security state.
IMO it’s safe to assume Twitter has similar genetics. And of course, there’s more. I don’t plug VK as much as I might, but I’ve found it helpful in my pursuit. Telegram now seems essential as Twitter’s usefulness implodes. Fear of other nations doing the same as the Outlaw US Empire used as reasons to not drop Meta or Twitter are stupifidic.
Secrets of various ketchups
Make your own.
USA targeting of Moskva ship is Russia’s “Pearl Harbor”, retaliation is next
It has now been revealed that the US military ran the entire operation to sink the Moskva, including running the tracking of the ship via a P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft, which then handed off fire solutions to the Ukrainians who were all trained by the US military as well. Thus, the United States provided the weapons, the training, the tracking and the fire solution to sink the Moskva.
By sinking the Moskva, the US just handed Putin something akin to “Russia’s Pearl Harbor moment,” in which Putin can claim to his people that the USA initiated an attack on the Russian Navy, sinking one of their ships and killing hundreds of their people. This news has, of course, been paraded all across Russian media, driving domestic support for Putin even higher than before.
Just like with Pearl Harbor in the United States, the people of Russia are now demanding “payback” from the aggressors, whom they see as the United States. In effect, the USA just handed Putin the final piece of the puzzle that he needs to launch retaliatory nuclear strikes against the West.
I remember watching this movie back in the 1960s. Now as a much older adult, it just is curiously charming. Check out these few minutes of colorful dialog.
Catalan
A view from a BnB. Everything shown is local and under $10 combined.
Catalan
Meanwhile in Hong Kong
Hong Kong is electing new Chief of SAR on May 8, 2022 and there is only one candidate on the ballot. He is viewed as being pro-China. Sure enough his Twitter account was sanctioned right after he was nominated as a candidate.
The Empire acts in ways very petty these days. It reflects on the quality of their leadership.
Chinese-Australians and their influence
An excellent article that sums up the feelings of Chinese Australians, the China/Australia relationship and the current Australian elections. By Teow Loon Ti . (Teow Loon Ti was a researcher in aquaculture; and a teacher. Teow Loon Ti has a BSc.(Hon) in Zoology, an MA(Lit. & Comm.) and a PhD in Education. )
I noticed the many Asian and Chinese – Australian people at the massive anti Iraq war demonstrations in 2003. One really had to be there to appreciate the broad cross section of society represented and its size and scope. A member of parliament’s spouse told me the demonstrations were, “the largest gathering of people ever in Sydney, including the 2000 Sydney olympic games”. Of course the numbers were downplayed by the MSM.
People are sick of cynical and endless wars of choice then and more so now. Political parties ignore this at their peril.
There was a large Kaliber missile strike on Lyvov and we are now seeing confirmations from several places of what was struck:
“A stockpile of American, German and British anti-tank missiles was destroyed at a military depot in Lvov. According to our source in the SBU, the attack on the logistics base in Lvov was a complete surprise. Several tens of tons of various anti-tank weapons were destroyed at the facility, including German PanzerFausts, British NLAWs and American Javelins. It was expected that these funds should be enough for a month of active hostilities against Russian troops. According to our source, the plant was carried out secretly on commercial and civilian vehicles. Therefore, an investigation is now underway as to how the Russians were able to figure out all three storage sites.”
Poland
“Poland is secretly preparing a “liberation campaign” against Ukraine. For this purpose, a set of measures is being carried out – the supply of weapons, equipment and mercenaries across the Polish-Ukrainian border. Several formations of the Polish Army – the 18th motorized rifle division and the 6th airborne brigade – are preparing for a “peacekeeping mission”
BULLETIN — Russia Informs Citizens to Prepare for NATO Retaliatory Nuclear Attack, THIS SUNDAY
This content was previously for Subscribers only but is now UNLOCKED for the general public.
As of 7:00 AM Moscow time TODAY (Thursday), the Russian Ministry of Emergencies published information on their web site instructing Russian citizens to prepare for a NATO Retaliatory NUCLEAR Attack this Sunday, 24 April 2022.
As any thinking person is aware, the only way NATO would make a “RETALIATORY” nuclear strike, is if Russia launched a First Strike. So what does that tell you about this coming weekend?
The official notice placed on the Russian Ministry of Emergencies web site.
What it is like to be arrested in China
This is the real deal and what it is actually like. video 10MB
3-Ingredient Chocolate Cherry Dump Cake
“I have made this several times for potlucks or family dinners. It is always a hit. Like eating a brownie with cherries. Tastes almost like the cherry chocolates you buy around Christmas.”
3-Ingredient Chocolate Cherry Dump Cake
From Betty Crocker, and so easy to make and so VERY delicious.
Our Chocolate Cherry Dump Cake brings together the dream team – sweet cherries and rich chocolate. This cherry dump cake recipe calls for only three ingredients and is best served warm with a scoop (or two!) of vanilla ice cream. While this cake is easy to make, the flavor is out-of-this-world and sure to become a family favorite. Whip up this cherry dump cake recipe for an ooey, gooey weekday dessert or for a special occasion!
Migratory birds of mass destruction and US bio labs around the globe, some nuggets:
“The UN Security Council held an extraordinary event on April 6 under the rubric Arria Formula Meeting on Biological Security regarding the biological activities in countries including Ukraine. Predictably, the US and UK representatives didn’t show up at the event and the western media also blacked out the proceeding.”“A mind-boggling “discovery” that Russian forces in Ukraine stumbled upon is the use of numbered birds by the Pentagon-funded labs. This almost falls out of science fiction and Sir Alfred Hitchcock could have made an epic movie out of it where deception mixes with innocence and man’s cruelty to nature becomes unbearably grotesque. The project works like this…”“…the US has so far point-blank refused to accept any supervision and verification of such incriminatory evidences and has stonewalled the demand for a verification mechanism. It is unlikely that the US will permit an international verification process that holds the potential to expose it as indulging in crimes against humanity…”
It would be a grand place to visit. But you know, it’s terribly expensive.
Norway
Volodimir Zelensky nominated for the Nobel Prize
The European Parliament has nominated the president for his heroic bravery in the face of unleashed evil agression.
Although we are aware that this is a break with procedure, we believe that this break is justified by the current unprecedented situation. It is our democratic duty to confront authoritarianism and support a people fighting for democracy and their right to self-government.The veneer of civilization is paper thin, we are its guardians and we can never rest."
Thirty year US treasury bond reached today the highest yield in last fifty years, indicating a huge sell off ahead of expected FEDs three quarter point increase. For me, this by itself is the most important news today.
What’s gonna happen with tens of trillions of printed fiat money?
Only applies to women
I suppose that men can try this technique as well.
2022 04 22 15 10
Europe to deepen military ties with the US.
Duh.
“The pact would allow routine interactions between American and EU institutions on defense issues and open the door for U.S. defense contractors to participate in the bloc’s growing defense spending under certain conditions.”
Can anyone explain why absolutely massive fires just keep erupting again and again at critical facilities all over America? The tragic destruction by fire of the headquarters of Azure Standard in Oregon shocked millions of people, and since that news broke quite a few readers have been reaching out to me about the long string of unusual blazes that we have been witnessing from coast to coast in recent months.
I decided to look into this phenomenon for myself, and I am sharing what I have discovered so far in this article. Dr. Benjamin Braddock and others had already been digging into this, and their research proved quite valuable as I began my investigation. Some of the incidents that people have reported I was not able to independently verify, and others I felt were too minor to be put on this list. With all that being said, the following is a list of 16 major fires that have occurred at key food industry facilities in the U.S. since the start of 2022…
As the smoke settles near Taylor Farms, questions remain on the future of the business and the roughly 1,000 people employed at the Abbott Street facility.There is little to nothing left of the processing facility due to fire and smoke damages caused by Wednesday night’s blaze, according to Deputy Fire Chief Sam Klemek.“About 85% to 95% of the building is a total loss,” he said.
Multiple workers are hospitalized following an explosion at a food processing facility that has nearby residents on alert for possible evacuation.The explosion occurred Tuesday evening at Shearer’s Foods in Hermiston, a city in agriculturally rich eastern Oregon. No deaths have been reported from the blast, but the extent of the damage to the plant and its future were not clear. City officials are concerned what the fire could mean for the community and local economy.
Neighbors banded together to support crews as they battled a fire in Conway for about 16 hours Monday night.More than 12 departments and agencies worked together to put out the fire at East Conway Beef and Pork.
“The situation at our Jonesboro factory is under control and we are looking into the cause of the fire,” a Nestle spokesperson said. “Thankfully, no employees were injured and all are safe. We appreciate the quick response of the Jonesboro Fire Department and emergency response teams. The factory will remain closed as we assess the damage and return the factory to full operation. We plan to continue to support our employees financially during this time.”Nestle opened the plant in 2002 and in December 2020 the company unveiled plans to invest more than $100 million to expand the frozen foods plant, including the addition of 90,000 square feet and a new production line for Hot Pockets frozen sandwiches. In addition to Hot Pockets, Nestle makes products under the Stouffer’s, Lean Cuisine, DiGiorno, Tombstone and Sweet Earth brands at the plant.
A portion of Mauston’s Wisconsin River Meats burnt down during an overnight fire Feb. 2-3, with the cause of the fire still under investigation.“The old portion of the plant is a total loss,” Wisconsin River Meats said in a Facebook post about the fire. “We humbly ask that you be patient and please give us some time to sort out the cause of the fire and for us to transition some of our business and invoicing to our warehouse.”
Operating from what company officials referred to as the command center at Deli Star Corp.’s St. Louis Innovation Center, the Siegel family-led operations and executive team have spent the week scrambling to fulfill customers’ orders and work with local officials investigating a Jan. 11 fire that destroyed its 75,000-square-foot processing plant in Fayetteville, about 40 miles southeast of them.
Fire crews from several towns have been battling a fire at the Penobscot McCrum potato processing plant in Belfast. Crews were called to the scene at 28 Pierce Street around 3:30 a.m., according to Maine Department of Public Safety spokesperson Shannon Moss.
A fire at a fertilizer company in western Kansas prompted evacuations Tuesday afternoon because hazardous materials were involved, officials said.The Ford County Regional Hazardous Materials Team deployed to Leoti for the fire and was fighting the blaze and removing hazardous material, Wichita County Clerk Lynda Goodrich said.
Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) said on Wednesday a fire had broken out in a bag house at its Claypool, Indiana, soybean processing and biodiesel plant on Tuesday and the affected systems had been suspended.No employees were injured and the fire was put out by 9:15 p.m. central time on Tuesday, LDC said in a statement. LDC’s website said soybean deliveries were suspended at the plant on Wednesday. LDC says Claypool is the largest fully integrated soybean processing and biodiesel plant in the United States.
An uncontrolled fire at a fertilizer plant in North Carolina forced thousands of people to evacuate as firefighters stood back Tuesday because of the danger of a large explosion.Authorities drove through neighborhoods and knocked on doors asking residents to leave within a one-mile radius (1.6 km) of the Winston Weaver Company fertilizer plant on the north side of Winston-Salem, where the fire started Monday night. Overnight, bright orange flames and thick plumes of smoke could be seen shooting into the sky. No injuries were reported.
A smoldering pile of sulfur quickly became a raging chemical fire just after 1 p.m. Monday at Nutrien Ag Solutions, 1101 Midvale Road, Sunnyside Fire Chief Ken Anderson said.The fire destroyed one storage building on the southeast corner of the fertilizer storage facility in the Port of Sunnyside and damaged others, but adjacent Nutrien buildings and storage tanks containing hazardous chemicals were spared, Anderson said Monday evening.
A fire started at the Cargill-Nutrena feed mill in Lecompte, LA in the early hours of Thursday morning and burned for 12 hours, coverage by local television news station KALB said. An explosion reportedly occurred as firefighters were working the scene.
It’s a long road to recovery for Maricopa Food Pantry after a fire destroyed around 50,000 lb of food. The fire happened just 15 minutes after their food bank closed on Monday morning. Smoke was still coming from the rubble 24 hours later. “It had to be 40-50 feet in the air, just pure black smoke. It engulfed the entire neighborhood,” said Maricopa Food Pantry President Mike Connelly. “The heat we could feel down at the corner.”
The headquarters of Azure Standard, the nation’s premier independent distributor of organic and healthy food, was destroyed by fire overnight. There were no injuries. The cause of the fire is unknown and under investigation. The loss of the facility and the impact on companywide operations is being assessed and expected to be limited and temporary. No other Azure Standard facilities were affected.
Investigators from the ATF’s National Response Team began its on-scene investigation on Friday into the massive fire at a Walmart facility in Plainfield.The team, led by Supervisor Christopher Forkner, is working with the Plainfield Fire Territory, Indiana State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Plainfield Police Department, according to a press release. ATF special agents from the Indianapolis Offices of the Columbus Field Division will also be assisting.
Of course it is not unusual for there to be fires at food industry facilities, and fire departments are accustomed to responding to such fires and putting them out.
But in many of these cases, we are talking about absolutely uncontrollable fires that seemed to erupt very suddenly.
And in many of these cases the firefighters that responded were not able to save the structures because the fires were so enormous.
Needless to say, the collective loss of all of these facilities will make the coming food shortages that I have extensively written about quite a bit worse.
MM Comment
Remember that the Trump administration, under the direction of John Bolton, was active in trying to create mind-numbing famine inside of China from 2017 through 2019. That is a full two to three years.
Chinese always respond “tit for tat”.
China different boxing technique
The Chinese have many differnt ways to box and fight. Here’s one. video 3MB
I like this picture. You got a cat, good food, pouring coffee and a killer view. I hardly think life could be any better than this.
Appreciate what you have.
Record-setting cold snap hits Europe, France
A historically intense April cold snap has descended on Europe, with temperatures plummeting to 20 to 30 degrees (11 to 18 degrees Celsius) below normal. The record-breaking cold has triggered harsh frosts, shocking early-blooming plants and crops in several countries.
Slovak minister says paying in roubles an option, country needs gas
PRAGUE, April 3 (Reuters) – The economy minister of Slovakia, which relies on Russian gas for around 85% of its demand, said the country could not be cut off from Russian gas flows and if it had to pay in roubles it would, although it backed taking a common European Union stance.
“That’s what makes mornings so tricky. Getting out of bed and ready for work is already a challenging task, but having to leave your significant other behind is much worse. So trying to squeeze in just 5 more minutes is totally worth being a little late for work.”
Waking up…
Blueberry Cobbler
“I love this recipe! I made a few changes such as using triple berry’s and so I had to add a little more auger over the top but Oh My God it’s delicious!”
Blueberry Cobbler.
Make the most of summer's fresh fruit and mix up an easy Blueberry Cobbler. With a tender topping and a berry filling, this easy Blueberry Cobbler with Bisquick™ Original Pancake & Baking Mix is a dessert you'll be asked to make again and again. If you don't have fresh blueberries on hand, frozen blueberries achieve the same, great taste. For this Blueberry Cobbler recipe, just make sure the total volume of fruit remains the same if using frozen blueberries. Spoons up and enjoy.
Pour melted butter into 8 or 9-inch square baking dish.
In medium bowl, whisk together Bisquick™ mix, sugar, and milk; pour over melted butter.
Sprinkle blueberries evenly over Bisquick™ batter.
Bake 42 to 47 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm.
Tips
Kitty playing with an HO scale railroad
Kitty at play.
Kung Fu Clowns
Enjoy this old television commerical. It’s a hoot!
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
This video was posted on you-tube on Wednesday 13th April 2022. I later found out that a number of nations banned viewing of this video. I guess the content is too dangerous for you all to view.
That’s really strange, as the following videos about China were allowed…
Never, the less, this article is a workaround to the video that was selectively blocked in certain nations.
The Original video on You-Tube
We start off with the video. See if you can access it. Here is the direct link to the You-Tube video.
For those who are denied the You-Tube video…
But for those of you who are denied watching this video, do not worry. I have the video here in three parts. Please download the parts and watch it in the privacy of your own home.
