When I was in my “living in the van” stage of life… also known as the “lost in the wilderness” period, we encountered quite an array of interesting and curious people. Ah. The world is populated with them. But most people never encounter them as they lie on the outer fringes of society.

Typically, my wife (at that time) and myself would land in a city and find ourselves trying to obtain some bearings on our life. This would typically be in a large parking lot associated with a strip mall. These strip malls are ugly affairs. Just brick establishments and a big parking lot. And we would make the best of it, by using that as our “base camp” and then walking about to get our bearings.

One day, doing this, we noticed that we were being followed. An older man. Maybe in his 50’s or so. He would be following us. If we went down a street, he would follow us. If we went into a store, there he was, peering at us. If we went into a restaurant, he would be there in a corner table. And it was really creepy.

We tried to “shake him off”. But he was on us like a “horse fly” on a deer butt. We just couldn’t get rid of him.

We went up town… he followed us.

We went down town… he followed us.

Finally, after about three hours (!) of this, we saw a laundry-mat. We went inside and then ran out the back and locked the door behind us. There, in the ally, we peered into the empty laundry-mat (through a small square window), and there we was alone, and pretending to looking around. We guessed he realized that “we knew”.

Sheech!

Some people appear to be harmless, but they have severe and potentially dangerous mental and behavioral illnesses. Get away from them. For the love of God.

Today…

What did your pastor say or do that made you quit his church?

Two stories, one belongs to my parents and the other one is mine.

My parents left the church we attended in what is now called South Central L.A. after the minister said, from the pulpit, that while the black babies were welcome to come to Sunday school, their parents would not be invited to join the church. This was in the early 1960’s, the neighborhood was ´changing ´ (and eventually became the scene of the flashpoint for the 1992 Rodney King riot/rebellion, which took place a block away from that church).

To my parents’ credit, even though my mom had grown up in that church and they had strong social ties there, we started visiting other churches the next month. They settled on a church in a different Protestant denomination because it had a robust youth group. While the pastor was white and the congregation was mainly white, they were actively reaching out to the neighborhood (which was primarily black), including several weekly ‘gym nights’ for neighborhood youth. My parents felt this was a good fit for us.

I remember a few odd things… a sermon that called out Ronald Reagan as the Antichrist because his first, middle and last names all had 6 letters (666, the mark of the beast). The pastor’s wife didn’t come to church every Sunday and when she did, she wore dark glasses and kept to herself.

But for me the final straw came when the high school youth group had a special invite to the pastor’s home. We sat around in his living room, where he had a fire burning in the fireplace. He chatted with us a bit, and then brought in a tape player and without any introduction, began playing a tape for us. Within a few minutes it became clear that it was a tape of a session where he was counseling a church member. As it proceeded, he started calling on demons (who had funny squeaky voices on the tape) and casting them into the pits of hell.

Exorcism was not something that had ever been mentioned before. There was no context for this at all for those of us listening. We were all just frozen in shock.

When that tape finished, he threw it into the fire and loaded up another. It only got worse. One of several exorcism tapes he played that night was the mom of two of the boys in the room.

I don’t think any of us spoke as we got in the church bus to go back. It was completely out of context to all of us.

I was still in high school, and continued going on Sundays with my family until I graduated. But from then on I felt like I was there as an outside observer rather than a member (even though I was still officially a member). I stopped going to youth group activities, though. And the week I turned 18 I stopped going altogether.

Much later, after that pastor’s contract was terminated, my mom mentioned that he had been abusing his wife all along, and that shortly before his contract was pulled, several church ladies had spirited her away to a domestic violence shelter.

(And to any who may object to references of race, please understand that in the 1960’s, race was the context for almost everything. I’m glad, at least, that my parents were firmly on the right side in terms of civil rights).

At what moment was it worth saying, “You know what – don’t bother paying me”?

She called me in a panic.

She’d volunteered to be the treasurer for a local non-profit. She had a board meeting coming up.

“I need your help. Do you know what Excel is?”

Not good.

She’s smart. But not a big numbers person. And has never worked with financial figures. She really shouldn’t have volunteered for this position. But her heart was in the right place.

“Yes 🙂 I spend a lot of time in Excel. Whatsup?” (I work in Finance.)

She says, “I have 3 days before this board meeting. I can’t get any of these numbers to work. I stink at math. I’ll pay you. Pleeeease. Please.”

I met up with her.

It was ugly. The numbers were all over the place, they were wrong, the formulas were wack. The “books” she’d inherited from the prior person were a total mess.

I spent several hours cleaning up this file. The list of problems was endless. I worked as fast as I could. She’d be useless without accurate information.

Then I began explaining the basics to her. And organized the data in an easy-to-read way.

She had no idea what she was getting into. A board meeting as her first dip into finance? Yikes. My #1 goal was just to get her through it without embarrassing herself.

I gave her very easy numbers to cite.

“So when they ask you about this. Say ‘our cash position is good, as of last month it was xyz. It is up X percent from the month prior, and X percent year over year.”

You’ll sound semi-competent. Got it?”

She said, “Got it – but could you say that again though?”

I went through it again.

I gave her all the breakdowns. If they ask you this, say that; if they ask this, say that. I had her fully trained. As best as one can on this on short notice.

Wednesday night. I got a call.

“How did it go?”

I was sure she’d be crying.

She said, “It went amazing! They loved the data. Thank you so much, Sean. I owe you.”

I said, “No. You owe me nothing, dear. I was happy to help.”

Chinese defense systems from 4500 years ago

Believed to serve dual purposes, these ancient tunnels must have been used both as a transportation network and a means of defence and offence. Featuring arched ceilings reminiscent of Longshan period cave dwellings, the tunnels, measuring 3-6 ft in height and approximately 4 ft in width, spread out in a radial pattern, connecting to the centre of the subterranean city.

Archaeologists have unearthed a sophisticated triple-defence system and an intricate network of tunnels at the ancient Houchengzui Stone City in Inner Mongolia, China. This archaeological marvel, believed to be around 4,300 to 4,500 years old.

Spread across half a square mile, it stands as the largest and most heavily fortified archaeological site in Inner Mongolia from the early Longshan period (3000 to 1900 BC).

The ongoing excavation, which was initiated in 2005, has revealed the complex triple-defence system comprising the main city wall, terraces, gatehouse walls, moats, and trenches. The recent undertaking by the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), has brought to light a new layer of defence – an elaborate tunnel system beneath the city.

Believed to serve dual purposes, these ancient tunnels must have been used both as a transportation network and a means of defence and offence. Featuring arched ceilings reminiscent of Longshan period cave dwellings, the tunnels, measuring 3-6 ft in height and approximately 4 ft in width, spread out in a radial pattern, connecting to the centre of the subterranean city.

Several tunnels pass under the fortified city walls, extending beyond its boundaries. Sun Jinsong,

Director of the Cultural Relics and Archaeology Academy of Inner Mongolia, explained that some passages open from outside the city, and pass through various structures like the outer Wengcheng city wall, trenches, and the Wengcheng square.

The strategic design of Houchengzui Stone City, with its elaborate defence systems and concealed tunnels, elaborates its cultural significance in military defence, reflecting its role as a strategic location.

The stone city comprises an inner and outer city fortified with three concentric walls, guarded gates, and trenches. The recent excavations, conducted from 2019 to 2023, focused on the Wangcheng gate, high-level buildings in the inner city, and the tomb area.

Researchers have categorised the city’s architecture into simple and complex stone masonry and earthen walls. Simple stone city walls, positioned along ridges, are constructed with layers of stones and filled with loess or earth. Over the five-year excavation, the team uncovered various elements, including city walls, gates, horse faces, trenches, platform foundations, underground passages, house sites, and tombs.

Among the notable discoveries are the main city gate (CM1), urn city gate (CM2), and outer urn city gate (CM3). Descriptions of the main city gate highlight its rectangular plan, measuring about 15 m in length from north to south and 9 to 11 m in width from east to west, with intricate features, such as doorways, gate walls, earth platforms, and other architectural elements.

The ongoing exploration of Houchengzui Stone City continues to provide valuable insights into ancient civilization, military strategy, and architectural prowess during the Longshan period.

Japan beauty standards

Baked Eggs on Toast
(Jaja na Grzankach – Polish)

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

1. 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.
2. Bake in a preheated 400 degrees F oven for 5 to 10 minutes, until the eggs reach the desired degree of doneness.
3. Allow 1 to 2 per person.

Serves 3 to 6.

Is it possible for military personnel to open a second checking account without facing discharge from service?

You can have as many accounts as you want. Pay only gets deposited in one, though.

Your finances are your business until you get in trouble, then it’s the Army’s business.

The Army has learned that by keeping Soldiers home life stable there won’t be any distractions when deployed. If you do have a problem, take it to your chain of command. There are people who’ll help with food, housing, money, medical, transportation, childcare, etc. Just know the Army will do what’s best for the Army but they’ll try not to be invasive or cause a hardship. If you refuse to comply, you can be chaptered out. Knew a single mom who refused to do her family care plan and the separated her. Just remember, your commander has final say on what happens.

A PFC in my old squad was assaulted by his wife. She tore a contact and scratched his eye. The CO moved him into the barracks indef. The wife lost BAH, BAS, and medical. She was only allowed on post with permission from the BN CO. He was in the barracks for three weeks until they could get his kids. The unit helped get him settled offpost and figure out logistics.

If you think you’re being scammed, been scammed, or even getting a questioning message about a service member or a demand for money contact your squad leader, Platoon Sergeant, 1SG, finance NCO or commanding officer. They know lots of ways to help and get you unstuck.

If you cook a steak, how long do you leave your seasoning on the steak before you start cooking?

Cooking a steak is no small deal. Steaks are pricey and personal, everyone wants there’s done the way they want it to be done, no exceptions. This is especially true when it comes to seasoning.

The method I’m going to share with you is the way I like steaks to be done, it’s not carved in stone behind a fancy French restaurant or anything. If you like what you read, give it a whirl. If not, try someone else’s method, or invent your own.

Ribeye’s are my steak. I can ramble off a number of others that I enjoy but most of the time I’m eating a tender, juicy, meaty ribeye. Its richness can stand up to a wide range of seasoning, from a basic salt and pepper, to a spicy Southwestern, Cajun blackening spice or whatever’s your poison. My basic steak seasoning is salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders, oregano and smoked paprika. That combo is the tits on a nicely seared ribeye. What you want to know though is how to get it to the steak, right? Well, here we go.

First, season your ribeye well on both sides with coarse salt and let it sit on the counter for about 20 minutes. Known as dry brining, the salt will pull moisture to the surface of the steak, dissolve in that moisture and the steak will drink it back up, seasoning the meat. Get a heavy skillet rip roaring hot, add a touch of oil and then pat the steak dry with paper towels. Lower the steak into the hot pan and sear the hell out of it, until it is crispy golden brown. Oh, make sure you have your pre-mixed seasoning blend handy, because it’s about to come into play.

Flip the steak and sprinkle the seasoning onto the seared side so it blooms in the hot bubbling oil on top of the steak. Then cook it to your desired doneness. The exception to this would be a blackened steak, where you want the seasoning to make contact with the hot pan, so the seasonings become seared with the steak. My method prevents the spices from burning and becoming bitter from contact with the hot pan, which will happen with onion, garlic and paprika.

I’m not expecting a James Beard Award or anything, but I’ve never eaten a bad steak prepared using my seasoning method. Give it a shot and see how it works out for you.

Kard vs Twice

K-pop. Interesting.

What did your boss do or say to you that made you quit your job?

I worked for a small family owned glaziers. I was 18, and while my title was “administrator” I was more of a general dogsbody, which wasn’t a big deal, I liked the other staff and there was nothing to hate about the job itself.

My boss was another kettle of fish. Firstly, he smoked in his “office” which was a small almost hallway that was directly behind the receptionist area and he stunk out the whole building (it was illegal at the time, he didn’t care). He was also pretty abusive to everybody and even forced 2 apprentices to fight over £20 or be fired, then kept the £20. He was a fucking animal.

So, on Fridays I always finished at 3, everybody did. I arrived a few minutes late as the bus was delayed, and my punishment for this was to clean the reception area (we had a lot of mirrors and glass), then his “office”. Then I had to clean the boys kitchen (we had no cleaner, the office staff didn’t go near the kitchen). Needless to say it was rank and took me right up until 2:30, I then having done none of my actual work dealt with the letters which I had to take up to the post box. I also didn’t get a break.

3pm rolls round and I’m walking out the door having clocked out, letters in hand when the phone rings, the receptionist gets my attention while on the phone, hangs up and said “boss said you’re going f**king nowhere til you get up the stairs and clean the toilet”.

My reply “nope” I then walked out, got on the bus and left. I never went near them again.

If a car purchased 20 years ago had been immediately garaged and its engine never started, could it be driven today without having to undergo major service?

Without MAJOR service; probably. I have purchased many vehicle that had sat long term, think decades. There are a few steps to getting them running.

1. Pull all the spark plugs and put a copious amount of oil in the cylinders. I like Marvel Mystery oil mixed with Automatic Transmission Fluid. Leave that concoction at a minimum of over night to soak and penetrate all the surfaces of the piston and rings.
2. Fuel / Gas would probably be an issue as it has probably varnished up the tank, fuel pump and fuel lines. The carburetor or fuel injectors may have survived without needing repair. Possible but not likely. So a full cleaning of the fuel system would be necessary. Replace the fuel filter and add fresh gas.
3. You will definitely need a new battery.
4. At day two or three you can attempt to turn the engine over by hand, GENTLY without the spark plugs installed. The goal is to slowly move and introduce the oil you put in the cylinders onto the surfaces of the cylinder wall. Once the oil is no longer in the cylinders I would change the original oil and filter.
5. Reinstall the spark plugs, connect the new battery and using the key turn over the engine. By not priming the intake the engine should turn over for several seconds lubricating the engine with fresh oil before it starts.
6. At this point you could prime the intake, cross your fingers and start the vehicle.

You will probably experience engine and running gear seal leaks. The seals used to hold lubricants and fluids will tend to dry out when a vehicle has sat for a long period.

All that being said; I spent 25 years buying one car. A 1959 Cadillac coupe. I personally knew that it had sat for over 10 years when I finalized the purchase. I had it transported to my shop where I performed the above procedures. I did a tune-up, added a new fuel pump and battery and drove the Caddy up and down the road.

“Gentlemen, I Suggest You Beam Me Aboard.” Captain Kirk

How upset would you be as a parent, if your 16-year-old high school daughter was caught by police “skinny dipping” with a mixed group of friends at a nearby quarry?

It actually happened to me. A sheriff’s deputy delivered my 16-year-old daughter to my door one night, saying that she’d been arrested for skinny-dipping in the YMCA with 48 of her friends.

That’s right. 49 skinny-dipping teenagers. They’d been let in the building after hours by one of the lifeguards.

Police charged them with trespassing because, after all, skinny-dipping in a closed building is not a crime.

My reaction? Well, I think I tried not to giggle and told my daughter to go to bed. I was a little put out that I had to rearrange my schedule to go to court with her, but other than that, no, I wasn’t upset. I thought it was funny.

Apparently the judge agreed. When we showed up in court, 49 kids and their parents in suits and dresses trying to look contrite, and one petite, grey-haired judge trying to look stern. She wasn’t completely successful — she kept excusing herself to her chambers so as not to burst out laughing. She told them they had to write a note of apology to the manager of the YMCA.

About a week later I ran into the judge downtown and we talked about the case. “Kids today have it too easy,” she said. “When I was a teenager my gang and I had to climb fences to go skinny-dipping.”

EDIT: Several people have commented that the kids weren’t trespassing because they had been let in by a lifeguard. I checked the Colorado statute for third-degree trespass which states that it is not trespassing if they are on the property with the permission of the property owner. The lifeguard was one of the kids and told the cops she’d let everyone in, but a building custodian said that she had no authority to do so. The cops called the manager of the YMCA, and he not only told the police to arrest the kids but also fired Mary the lifeguard on the spot.

An interesting corollary to this that I knew both cops. In fact they approached me separately to apologize for arresting my daughter, but the custodian and especially the YMCA manager gave them no discretion. But even when they were dropping off my daughter at my door, they said I shouldn’t worry about any legal repercussions because they couldn’t imagine any judge in Boulder giving the kids more than a stern lecture and maybe community service.

Left to Fend Alone: Abandoned by Family After 18 Years, This Cat Finds Itself in a Shelter.

What is the most amazing or shocking thing you know that most people don’t?

What is the most savage way you got revenge on your HOA?

a friend owned a landscaping company and after a number of problems with his HOA he got mad when they told him the verity of grass in his lawn was the wrong type.

he did lawns for a living and knew he had seeded his lawn with the right type of grass and the HOA board knew nothing about grass and he was the only person with the right type of grass listed in the HOA rules. he got mad and one dark and foggy night drove to each HOA board members homes and sprayed herbicide across their lawns. they went nuts and had to hire a landscaper to fix their yards.

They told the landscaper what type of grass they needed to plant by the HOA RULES and he did. Only to find there lawns did not match the rest of the HOA and they had no idea why.

the HOA board looked like fools when they found out they were wrong.

Money

Why do mechanics charge so much for just replacing a water pump? What else could go wrong with the car after this repair is done?

I had bought a Chrysler Concorde – and it was a superb road car, roomy, huge trunk, good performance and an excellent ride.

At 30K miles the water pump started leaking. Went to the dealer, they replaced it on warranty. They said it took 6 hours labor as the entire front of the car had to come off, as well as the front of the engine – the pump was being driven by the rubber timing belt. All good. At 60K miles, it happened again. Took it in and the dealer repaired it but marked it down as a fuel line repair that was a recall item (we already had that repair done) – so again not out any money. Great dealer! At 90K it happen a third time. I chose to just refill the reservoir as it lowered. My wife had the car out one day when the engine just quit, at 60 MPH. She was able to coast into an abandoned gas station. Seems the timing belt had slid off the pump cog having got too wet. This time I was out the $600 labor, plus pump, to replace it. Thankfully the engine was designed such the valves didn’t impact the pistons. The issue was a cheap o-ring that failed each time.

Discussions I had with Chrysler corporate about this resulted in “your problem, go away”. So I have, never bought another Chrysler product and never will.

As the car reached 120K miles, it was in a violent hailstorm. We replaced the broken windows, but did nothing else. Rather than repair the inevitable and impending leak a 4th time, I donated the car. to charity.

This surely wasn’t the bolt-on water pumps I used to be able to swap out in an afternoon on my driveway! Drain the coolant, Pop the hoses, remove the v-belt, and 3 bolts. Reverse the process to install the new pump.

Have you ever seen a pickpocket in action? What did you do?

My dad used to carry wads of bank notes in the back pocket of his trousers. Proper old-school. I told him loads of times everyone recommends you don’t do that as it’s easy for pickpockets to steal. His response was always the same: “yeah? Well I’d like to see someone try and take it…”

While I was studying in Madrid, the whole family came out to visit. I said to my dad, apparently the pickpocketing is pretty bad round here (apologies to any madrileños who may disagree/feel offended by that comment). Anyway might be a good idea not to have all your cash in your back pocket. Usual reaction.

We were all getting on a bus in the city centre when some dude had a go at pinching Dad’s money. Before he had a chance to take it, he got an elbow in the guts and a back-hander across the face. He stumbled backwards into some railings, we all got on and the bus drove off.

So that’s when I stopped lecturing my dad about how/where he should carry his money.

Trade Jobs

What are some of the best life tips?

1. If you need to get up in the middle of the night keep one eye closed so that when you flip on the lights it stays attuned to night vision.
2. To untie stubborn knots, twist and push inwards.
3. Hold down the “close door” button and press your destination. The elevator will skip all calls en route to that floor.
4. Always poop on company time. This way, at the end of the year, you will have earned like 2 workdays pay by pooping.
5. When taking a picture, squint your eyes to make your smile look much more genuine.
6. If you want to attract better people, sharing your vision can be charming. Meet and attract outstanding people on this app.
7. If you chew a certain flavor of gum while you study and then chew that same flavor of gum during a test, you are more likely to remember.
8. Being able to tell if a AA battery is dead by dropping it on its bottom and seeing if it sticks the landing or bounces. If it bounces, it’s dead.
9. A vegetable peeler can peel both up and down, not just down.
10. Use private mode for hotel and flight research to avoid potential price increases caused by previous site visits.
11. Keep a spare hat and set of keys on your desk, giving the impression that you’re still around.
12. The water-before method makes it harder for the pills to stick to your tongue & basically lubricates its path down the rest of your throat.
13. When someone is tailing you on the highway, clean your windshield and they back off because of the spray on their car.
14. Tying a knot on the corners of the top sheet and tucking it under the fitted sheet so it stays in place.
15. If you press lock button twice on your phone while Youtube is on, it will continue to play while your phone is locked.

What is the deal with Capybaras? They seem so unconcerned around predators. Do they not care about living?

I assume you’re basing this question on pictures like this:

Day 17. I have infiltrated Mr Scales’ inner circle. They suspect nothing. (Image)

Ready the cavalry. We attack at dawn. (Image)

While it’s tempting to cry ‘fake’, there are plenty of examples of capybaras chilling next to caiman. There’s even a video here.

I’m not a capybara expert, but I don’t think they would still exist if they simply had no survival instinct, especially with adept predators like jaguars and anacondas around.

And trust me, they would not be sitting calmly next to a jaguar.

Image by Zig Koch on Instagram

If I had to guess, I would suggest capybaras are often so chilled around caiman because:

• The cold-blooded reptilians are still sluggish and warming themselves up.
• The caiman in these examples are simply too small to overpower a capybara. The largest caiman can reach over 4 metres in length and weigh a tonne — I don’t think capybaras would be quite so comfortable around crocodilians of that size.
• Caiman are far less dangerous out of the water and (I suppose) not in ‘hunting mode’. Many crocodilians also eat surprisingly rarely.

Larger caiman do prey on capybaras, so it’s a case of context. The capybaras would rather save their energy for a real life-or-death scenario. Smaller caiman would rather save their energy for some fish.

Hows THAT for Australian

What’s the cleverest cheating you’ve ever seen as a teacher or student?

The guy who wrote bit on the answer sheet and copied in plain sight .

In my school during exams 2 students will be seated in each bench. The student next to us will be in different grade to avoid copying.

When I was in tenth grade(2004) , in the bench before me there was a ninth grade guy.

Usually students copy in exams using bits. For those who are not familiar with the term bit is a small paper in which students write answers and take it into exam hall hiding it somewhere.

The risk here is the examiner catching you in the act.

Our school answer sheet looks like this

Everyone is given 4 sheets at the beginning and once they need more papers they put a tick in the tracking sheet and take additional sheets. At the end the sheets are tied together and handed over. So this tracking sheet will contain how many sheets a student used but no one tallies it at the end of exam.

This guy decided to use this loophole.

One day I finished my exam early and was looking out the window. His seat is a window seat and mine is aisle but he sits one bench before me.

He suddenly crumpled one of the answer sheet and threw it outside the window and he repeated it for 2 other sheets. I got curious but that day I was not able to find the answer and it kept me sleepless.

Next day I again watched him and he did the same thing but this time I caught him after the exam and asked him why he did that.

This is what the guy did.

Instead of carrying a bit paper he wrote the answers in normal handwriting using the actual exam sheet and brought it to exam hall. Even if the teacher sees it would just look like an exam sheet used by him. Everyday he used to take additional papers to write bit for next day exam. The question paper will not be collected so he hid it under the question paper everyday and took it home and both these sheets are exactly same size.

I asked him why do you even bother writing the answers again instead of just adding the bit paper in exam sheet since it is already written on an exam sheet.

His answer made me go wow. Everyday different teachers come and even if the same teacher comes they would sign on the top with the date , since the date and sign would differ he rewrote the answer everyday and threw the bit paper out of the window and mostly he did this for the bigger answers only .

Still not convinced, I asked him what if someone sees the paper he threw down. He took me to the window and showed what’s beneath the window. It was our canteens roof which is ideally a small shed with asbestos roof and already had lots of garbage. The thing won’t even fly in the air even if there was a strong wind.

My next doubt was how would he know what questions would come and even if he did won’t he require lots of sheets to write the answers. It was actually internal test and not board exam so the teachers would kind of let the weak students know 80% of questions in the evening special coaching class. He got that inside info and wrote just the answers he felt that were difficult. Like study 50% and copy 50%.

I mean copying in exams is one thing but I ve never seen a heist level planning like he did .

What is something that people commonly did in the 1970s that would seem odd today?

1. Cigarette smoking on airplanes and in restaurants…albeit in a smoking section. Goes without saying you could smoke in bars too.
2. Soda bottles had metal tops that you needed to use a bottle opener to open.
3. Beer and soda cans had pop tops:

1. See the one on the left? That’s the one. You know what they would do after pulling off the tab? They’d throw it on the ground. Then, you’d ride your bike over it and get a flat or it would pierce your foot and you’d have to go get a tetanus shot from the doctor. It’s even immortalized in Jimmy Buffet’s song “Margaritaville”: “Stepped on a pop top/Blew out my flip flop”.
2. Kids were sent out to play with no supervision at all. We were only instructed to come home when the street lights turned on. We did incredibly intelligent things like bully weaker kids, smash glass bottles on the ground, and throw rocks at each others’ heads.
3. All the good cartoons were on Saturday morning only.
4. If you liked a movie, you had to pay to go see it in the theater only. You couldn’t get it on home video at all. You pretty much had to wait a few years before they showed it on TV.
5. There were only 3 channels: ABC, CBS, and NBC. If you lived in the big city you might have a few extra UHF local channels. They mostly played reruns of Bonanza, I Love Lucy, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Brady Bunch, Star Trek, and I Dream Of Jeannie.
6. If you got out of line in school you’d get your ass spanked by the gym coach who wielded something that looked like a ping pong paddle with holes in it for speed.
7. The speed limit on highways and interstates was 55 miles per hour (88.5 kph) and it took forever to get to grandma’s house…with no phones, no personal stereos, just sitting there. Parents would give young kids a tiny bit of alcohol mixed in with their juice so they would sleep.
8. The guy they would call the “fat kid” would only be a little husky by today’s standards.
9. Divorce was still kind of a taboo, in that “people would talk” about those who were divorced but it was pretty much commonplace by the end of the 70s and no big deal.
10. The Rock and Roll guys, the Disco guys, and the Country Music guys all hated each other. The Rock and Roll guys smoked dope, the Disco guys did coke and the Country Music guys drank Jack Daniels. The Disco guys got all the girls and the Rock and Roll guys got beat up by the Country Music guys.
11. Houston, Texas actually had kind of a good football team.

EDIT:

Did you guys ever have this? We didn’t have milk delivery. I think they were phasing it out by the time I was a kid in the 70s…not sure. But we DID have Charles Chips Delivery.

Yep they’d deliver a huge tin (huge to me as I was like 7 years old) of POTATO CHIPS to your front door in a Charles Chips delivery truck. You’d leave out the empty tin and they’d replace it with a new one.

Edit 2:

Ah, TV!

So…the top dial is VHF. This had channels 2–13. These were ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS if you had it. The bottom dial is UHF, it had channels 14–82 (I think?). In order to get a UHF channel you had to turn the top dial to “U” and then you turned the bottom dial to whatever UHF channel had “The Munsters” reruns on it.

Some people were lucky enough to have a remote control (which was rather rare) which made a loud, metallic clicking sound…so it was called the “clicker”. Older people even today call the remote control “the clicker”.

Others of us had the old fashioned remote control called “Hey kid, turn it to channel 2 or I’ll thump yer skull for ya!”

Some TVs had rabbit ears on them. You’d have to send a person over to the TV to adjust them or your signal wouldn’t be very good. Inevitably the person would form some kind of “radar circuit” with the TV and you’d make them stand there for the last play of the super bowl so you could see it.

Other smarter folks did this:

Yep, they wrapped foil around the antennae to boost its receiving power.

Others forcibly shoved a thick, folded piece of paper between the dial and the TV.

Other more lucky folks had one of these:

A wire ran from this roof antenna down to the back of your TV where you had to screw it to the back.

TVs were like wood furniture back then:

Bartender wisdom

As a teacher, what is the harshest truth a student has ever taught you?

Going anonymous as this is about my students, however real names are not used.

I’m a maths teach at a local secondary school in an area where most students live off benefits. I had one girl, Daisy, who was highly intelligent, we did an iq test and her score was in the 140s.

One day I asked her if she was going to university, no was her answer, I was puzzled, she excelled in class and had a keen interest in maths and science. She was proud too, wearing her maths and science award badges everyday.

I asked her why, here was her response.

‘I can’t afford it’

Me:’you can get scholarships and grants’

‘It’s not that, trust me I’ve checked, it’s the living costs.’

That’s when I realised, this girl was 12 and knew she couldn’t progress further than college, not due to lack of talent or enthusiasm, due to money. I sat down with her, she cried all of one lunch in year 11, I cried to, at her potential wasted beyond belief, maybe the most talented student I’ve ever taught, not able to advance.

I started a fund for all the children like her, unable to attend university due to money, and it worked. I raised enough to put her though and support her family, I’ve put other though uni too.

I learnt that money is a problem and a worry for 12 year old girls but I also learnt talent can’t be wasted, children like her need a way to succeed.

I hope I gave that to her, she now works as a medical researcher and was given the life she never thought she’d have.

What is one thing you can’t tolerate in a relationship?

One morning she calls me at 4 AM. I picked up the phone half asleep. I thought it to be some kind of emergency.

Me: Hello? Is everything Okay babe?

She: Yeah, but….

(Now buts can be dangerous at 4 AM)

Me: Are you hungry baby? (Only emergency I can think of)

She: I have to talk to you about something very important.

Me: You sure it can’t wait?

She: If it could, I wouldn’t be here.

Me: Okay, shoot me.

She: I want you to stop talking to Seeta, Geeta, Meeta, Papeeta. I don’t like them.

Me (perplexed): Is that what you wanted to say? But they’re my friends. They’ve been there even before you were.

She (angrily): Then stay with them, not me.

Me: Okay Baby, anything for you. I won’t talk to them.

She: You’re so cute. Love you baby, goodnight kiss on your lips, muuaaahh.

2 Weeks Later

In a food outlet

Me (in a sarcastic way): Baby, what’s about your best friend, Rahul? How’s he?

She (stands up in anger): You don’t trust me, do you? He’s my best friend and always been with me. He understands me like no one else can. So, stop being the detective’s ass and get a life dude. He never asked about you, but you can’t stay put. I wonder at times, if I’d have dated Rahul, things would’ve been better.

Me (trying to say something meaningful): But……..

She (cuts me in between): Learn to trust the person you’re in relationship with. It’s necessary to give space at times. But, YOU WON’T UNDERSTAND.

Ironical.

So, answering the question, I can’t tolerate double standards in a relationship.

You just read Rathore.

Maybe just this once

Why do restaurants sometimes say they’re out of an item when they actually have plenty available?

I’ve read all the answers and most of the responses. I’ve been in food service for 30 years. I currently own a 34-seat brunch restaurant. 200 covers during a 6-hour weekend service is not uncommon for us. I have a basic idea of what I am talking about. So, why might a restaurant call items out that are on the menu, or they do have in stock.

1. Equipment Failure – this happens typically on a Saturday or Sunday morning, two hours into service with a full restaurant, 45-minute wait for a 2-top and 80 covers do in for reservations.

2. Staffing – Johnny decides to catch the fat part of his left hand just below his thumb with the tip of his knife laying it open. You’d think someone was shot in the kitchen. When does this happen? Read #1. You are now down a person – the kitchen has to be balanced, menu items that require all three of us to put out or rely heavily on one station are called out – some say 86’d

3. Ingredient Shortage – someone dropped all the hard-boiled eggs or an entire tray of croissant, 4# of sliced turkey gets knocked onto the floor. An item did not show up in the morning delivery. An ingredient spoils too fast (avocados). A refrigerator door was left cracked open all night. When does this happen? See #1

4. Inventory – we only cook so much brisket a week (based on sales) – some weeks we get pounded with brisket tacos. With shared ingredients (brisket) we may call a less popular item out to keep a more popular item available longer.

5. Super busy and loose count of our prep – we may call an item out until we can get an all-day count of the orders hanging and a count of remaining prep.

Now some of the comments I’ve read from other answers mainly dealing with running out of food. Your local sports bar or chain restaurant is not going to run out of chicken wings, why? They have 200# in the freezer and the dish only requires 10 minutes from frozen in a deep fryer. They are also open 12 to 14 hours a day 7 days a week. I’m not buying any more steaks than I’ll need for the week, I buy them fresh. These guys have 100# of frozen steaks and never run out.

The brisket we serve takes 10 hours to prep and cook the pork belly takes 4 hours to prep and cook. Menu items are prepped and cooked based off previous sales numbers. If I historically sell 11 portions of brisket in a day I’m not prepping 35 portions I’m prepping 15.

We had a cold windy morning and sold all our sausage gravy in the first two hours of being open. We did not prep any less than normal and our sales numbers were not higher than normal. That morning everyone wanted sausage gravy. There was no #10 can of sausage gravy in the back like your local diner. This menu item is made from scratch there were no ingredients and no people to make more. These are the issues a from scratch restaurant deals with.

What happened when selling a house that made you not sell to the prospective buyer?

We met at the estate agent’s office, all set – but as we talked the deal over with him, it became more and more obvious that he was having second thoughts. It was a bit of a stretch for one income, even though it was a good income.

In the end, we (well, the estate agent) plain asked him. And since he hadn’t yet signed the paper, he could, with visible relief, back out of the deal.

Looking at the other bids, we decided to sell to the third highest bidder. The home had huge potential, which we hadn’t been able to realise for various reasons, and the third bidder was a young couple – and he was a carpenter. He would know how to do stuff, he would know his limitations, he would know people who could do whatever he wanted done at a good price.

They were ecstatic, especially the girl, who had fallen in love with the place to the extent that she had been crying herself to sleep when they lost the bidding.

And… it felt very nice, because for the house we were moving to, we hadn’t been the highest bidders, either; it was just that the previous owners liked us a lot better than the highest bidder. (And they had owned the house since the 1950s and were making an insanely good deal anyway; they paid off their mortgage some 70 times over with what we paid.) We paid it forward immediately.

What are some sad and strange facts about relationships?

1. Initially it’s beauty that attracts you, eventually it’s their mindset you need to handle. Choose wisely.
2. Sexual attraction will fade over time and hopefully would be replaced by genuine love, care and concern about your partner’s well-being.
3. No matter how much you love them and they love you, eventually comes money if you want to be together forever. Balance career and love.
4. Be available all the time and you’ll be their ex soon because it’s our human nature, things which are easily available, we start taking it for granted unintentionally.
5. Choose them faster, get dump faster because every thing has process and you skipped it.
6. There is no tried and tested strategy to prevent cheating and infidelity. Trust is the only option.
7. Most people are never grateful for the little things that their partners do for them, until they stop it.
8. Keep your expectations low from the partner if you want to be truly happy.

Sad Shelter Cat No Longer Believed Anyone Would Pay Attention To Him

What was the moment you cancelled the friendship with your best friend?

We’d been friends for about 6 years. There were already cracks starting to form before the bigger fracture. She begged me to goat yoga with her – basically yoga in a field with goats walking on you. Not my idea of fun but I wanted to be a good friend so a bought a ticket. When I told her she laughed and said she hadn’t even got a ticket! Now I was typically let’s say generous with this friend. I often picked up the tab or paid the lions share as I was financially in a better place. But it had gone from me offering to her expecting in recent months. I suspected she held off buying a ticket to get me to add hers to my bill. I shook off the feeling at the time.

When the time of the goat yoga approached I was going through some issues and couldn’t make it (other people were joining us so she wasn’t left solo). I let the friend know about a week prior. With no response. A day or so before the event I decided to donate the ticket back to the provider as they were an animal sanctuary charity. My friend was upset as she was hoping to have my ticket. She’d already sold her ticket to another friend and was expecting to just take mine. When I asked why wouldn’t I have just sold mine to the friend, she said she could pay me back later and needed the money. Yeah right. The fog lifted at that moment. I stopped paying her way and she stopped inviting me out. I realised I was little more than a wallet to her.

What’s the rudest thing someone has said when you were doing them a favor?

My husband is a woodworker. His family was always asking for free labor, and materials, and finished products including cabinetry and furniture. His sister had moved into a new house and wanted him to refinish her basement for her. It was fall and the sister invited family over for a luncheon. She then laid into my husband to bring his tools and supplies so he could “do a quick job”. We get there, and the brother in laws are watching football. The sisters are gossiping in the kitchen. No one offers to lift a finger. So I start helping my husband with the job. Oh, yeah, by the way, I’m like 6 months pregnant at the time. No one offers to lift a finger to help me either. Through the vents, we can hear them talking in the kitchen, talking about what a crappy job I’m doing taking care of my pregnant self, and what a crappy husband their brother is, and what horrible parents we’re going to make. This isn’t new. we know the kind of people they are and always have been. We finish the job, load up the tools, then before lunch is served we leave, with hubby explaining he needs to get me home so I can take a nap. We stopped and had a nice meal on the way home.

America today

What is your best parking spot revenge?

A long time ago I was leaving Pace, a membership warehouse, which was later sold to Sam’s Club, I believe. It was actually a warehouse, so there was a long ramp to get up to the level of the store.

As I was leaving, with a good view since it was higher and quite a distance, I see the person parked next to me move their cart to right behind my truck. The timing was perfect as I got to the cart as the person was getting into their car and I moved the cart behind his vehicle, then got in my truck and left. I got to see him start to back out, realize that the cart was there and get out as I drove away. I am not sure if he figured out how it got there.

Another time at CostCo, again an actual warehouse location and was really crowded all the time, the parking lot was a bit strange and there were three parking spaces near a fence. There was only one way to get out as it was angled and ended at the fence. I had backed into the first space, so it was easy to exit, except for an idiot. They wanted the space and wouldn’t move to let me leave. I might have been able to back up behind the other two spaces, but instead I backed into the space and turned the engine off and just looked at them. It took a bit of time, but eventually they realized that if they wanted the space, then they would have to back up so that I had space to leave, which they did and I left.

Why have I lost my faith in humanity and what can be done about it?

These kind of people still exist ! Don’t give up now.

Silly girl

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/n_0_iX_33W0?feature=share

How has a parent dressed their child that made you say, “You’ve gotta be kidding me”?

My SIL (husband’s sister) is pretty high maintenance. Perfect hair, perfect clothes, perfect make-up…you know the type. Name-brand everything. Lucky for her, she found the Ken to her Barbie. Her husband is just as much of a perfectionist. He has to have perfect hair and perfect clothes. He’s neurotic about keeping things clean and orderly.

I always said that if we ever had kids, theirs would be standing to the side in name-brand clothes while mine and my husbands would be having a riot playing in mud puddles in play clothes.

My son was born first and we always dressed him in practical, functional clothes. The three-pack of onsies for $10 at Walmart? Yes, please! Babies grew fast and we opted for functional and cost-effective clothes. He’d outgrow them in a month or so and we didn’t feel the need to pay a lot of money for clothes he’d just outgrow.

My nephew was born seven months later. From the get-go, it was expensive everything. Everything had to be name-brand and could only be in one of four colours: White, Grey, Navy, or Black. My husband once looked on the website where my SIL got all of her son’s clothes. $20 for one pair of baby socks. $80 for a pair of baby jeans. It was insanity, spending so much on a baby. They quickly learned how much of their money they were burning with my nephew kept having diaper blow-outs. BIL would scrub and scrub to try to save the expensive onesie, but it was often a lost cause without dry-cleaner intervention. When home, they kept him in just a diaper until another blowout soiled their couch. At that point, they kept him in the “cheap” clothes from Carters, but when they were out, this kid was dressed to the nines. At meal times, they stripped him down to a diaper to save his clothes.

But, they didn’t quite learn their lesson. When the little guy started daycare at a year old, they sent him in designer outfit with a back-up. On a few occasions, my nephew burned through his outfit and the back-up and ended up coming home in some other kid’s clothes. Once again, my BIL and SIL had to dress him in “cheap” clothes.

And then they complain that having a kid is so expensive and they can’t understand how we can afford to have a second child when we make so much less than they do. Go figure.

What is it like to be an old person? How do you feel compared to when you were young?

Good grief. I’m sorry so many people have let themselves go, but being “old” isn’t a death sentence. I’m nearing seventy five. I walk three or four miles a day (granted I live in Manhattan and walking is more entertaining here than it is out there in America where you have to drive to the drugstore three miles away); I eat anything I want to, I play too many video games (I found Starfield disappointing, didn’t you?), and I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life with the girl of my dreams for 38 years now (gee, has it been that long, it seems like yesterday).

Don’t be surprised if, when you reach my age, you find you still are the exact same person you were when you were eleven.

What is the most absurd math problem you’ve ever seen?

Nobody has solved this problem yet. The problem statement is actually quite simple. It’s called the “moving couch problem.” The mathematician Leo Moser posed the following curious mathematical problem in 1966: “what is the shape of the largest area in the plane that can move around a right-angled corner in a two-dimensional corridor of width 1?”

We can start with a 1 by 1 square.

However, this semicircle with radius 1 works better. It has an area π/2

We can continue to make improvements. The mathematician John Hammersley noticed that if the semicircle is cut into two quarter circles, which are separated and the space between them is filled with a rectangular block, we get a larger sofa shape, which could be moved around the corner if only removes a smaller semicircular hole from the rectangular block.

In 1992, Joseph Gerver found a better shape with a slightly larger area of ​​around 2.2195. Gerver could not prove that his solution was optimal. To this day, 50 years after the question was asked, it is still the best solution.

Attempts have been made to find upper limits. Mathematicians have defined a “couch constant”, which is just the answer to this problem! Yoav Kallus and Dan Romik demonstrated an upper limit in June 2017, with a consistent couch limit of 2.37.

Update: a twist.

No, this is literally a twist. A variant of the sofa problem asks for the shape of the largest area that can surround the 90-degree left and right corners in a hallway of unit width. This means that the shape will probably have to be symmetrical. So far the best solution was found by Dan Romik. It looks like a bikini top, with an area of ​​1.649.

Thank you for reading!

For more info about this join our newsletter now for free

hanselsapkota.substack.c o m

Free and premium content about history, mathematics, politics, philosophy self-improvement, and psychology.

Newsletter search it or link in bio

For more about me click the first link and find out.

check my bio for more details.

and about references.

Sources:

Mr. Romik. Differential equations and exact solutions in the moving sofa problem. To appear in Experimental Math.

Y. Kallus, D. Romik. Improved upper bounds in the moving sofa problem. Preprint, 2017.

Moving sofa problem on Wikipedia.

E.W. Weisstein. Moving sofa problem on Wolfram MathWorld.

J.L. Gerver. On moving a sofa around a corner. Geometriae Dedicata 42 (1992), 267-283. doi:10.1007/BF02414066.

P. Gibbs. A computational study of sofas and cars. Preprint, 2014.

Woman Slowly Realizes That It’s HER Fault

Why are so many decent people single nowadays?

I was watching this one-hour stand up by Comedian Daniel Sloss on Netflix, and he told a fascinating thing-

“If you only love yourself at 20%, that means somebody can come along and love you 30%. You’re like, Wow, that’s so much. It’s literally less than half. Whereas if you love yourself 100%, a person that falls in love with you has to go above and beyond the call of duty to make you feel special. That’s something every one of us deserves.”

People understand the value of self-love and know that happiness doesn’t come from a spouse. The concept of being satisfied with life doesn’t mean sharing it with someone, instead, living it to the fullest.

‘Decent’ people you are talking about are more focused on their career, ambitious, family and general fulfilment when it comes to life.

We all have that one friend who hates being single, falls for every person they see and Feel sad and always ask why they are alone. Yes, we all have that kind of friend, but not everyone looks at breakups / being single that way- to some people being single is a way of changing outlook.

As much as I want to wish it is not to true but relationships these days are not as easy as we think- so many cases of unhealthy addiction, violence, toxic relationship, gaslighting emerging and people are not quiet about it anymore.

‘Decent’ people are single because they know it is tempting to blame your partner for break up, but it is also essential to have a self-realisation that you might be wrong. Sense of gratitude and acknowledgement of oneself comes with being single.

People are leaving a mindset behind which suggested that marriage and bearing a child is an essential part of your life; in fact, people are focusing more on financial, emotional and professional growth these days.

People are shifting to a place where they prioritise their happiness, needs etc. over having a partner. Fact we have glorified sex and having a partner so much (thanks to social media) some people are bearing torch which says, ‘I’d rather be sex-less than be unhappy.’

Have you ever felt sorry for a teacher?

YES.

I spent my 10th grade year of high school in a wealthy, white part of California.

My Spanish teacher ended up quitting because she couldn’t handle it anymore.

These were a different type of delinquents. They weren’t dangerous or violent like you might see in a ghetto High School. They were just the purest form of rude and disrespectful. They were spoilt. They didn’t try in school. Their families were rich. Some would probably never have to work.

So after the Spanish teacher quit, they brought in this temp teacher who had no idea what she was getting into.

The kids frequently talked back to her. Would ignore her lectures in the back of the class.

I grew up with a military father so I learned respect early in my life. I didn’t comprehend how people could just mouth off like that. It’d be a death warrant for me.

I’ll never forget one particular exchange.

A 16-year-old girl was not listening. The teacher asked her to stop talking. They started going back and forth arguing.

The girl then shouts, “WHY ARE YOU SUCH A MASSIVE BITCH.”

Which left me and others aghast.

And of course she was sent out of the class. But she was back within a week. I think they just made her sweep the halls for an hour or two after class one day.

Yet another reason American school systems are broken.

My head would have been delivered to the principal in a box by my own parents.

My hometown is ruined

What should I do if my boss says, “If you don’t like the job, you can go”?

Q: What should I do if my boss says, “If you don’t like the job, you can go”?

A: I worked at a company where they promised a 2 week fully paid vacation if we hit a certain sales number. We exceeded it. Instead of getting that vacation, the company laid off 10% of the work force, told everyone they had to work 10% longer hours to make up for the smaller work force, gave a 0% raise and even held back the $25/person Xmas bonus which, over the years, had been nicknamed the annual turkey money.

A few weeks later, there was a company wide meeting where you could ask upper management anything you wanted. I got up and stated that I interact with many different departments and was seeing an all time low in morale and asked if upper management was also aware of that and, if so, what could be done to improve it.

The CEO got up and said, “Morale is your own D@#$ problem. If you don’t like it leave. After the meeting the VP of my department told me that if I ever asked a question like that again, he would fly to my office and fire me in person.

The next day I gave notice. When asked what it would take as a counter for me to stay, I said double my salary. Anything less wasn’t worth the stress of dealing with upper management azzhats. I got a 50% raise by leaving and within 3 years was making well over double what my salary had been.

I would never advocate quitting a job without having anything else lined up first. I had been working with a head hunter and had an offer in the works when this happened so it made it real easy for me to decide to leave.

A number of years later, I got fed up with management and was watching the company go down the drain. I had started my own business on the side and decided that, since I didn’t like my day job any more, I’d quit. I interviewed for a few positions but decided to make my side job my primary job and really focus on building the business. That’s the best decision I ever made.

So, my advice is, if you don’t like the job, move on. Just don’t do it without a safety net or another job lined up. They say for every $10K in salary it will take 1 month of job searching. So $60K = 6 months and $100K = 10 months. If you don’t have double that amount in your emergency fund, I highly recommend waiting to quit until you have another job lined up. You can at least feel good about knowing you will be gone as soon as you find something else.

P.S. I worked on a farm all through high school and college. I didn’t like hauling pig manure. I didn’t like chopping hay for 36 hours straight. But, there were other parts I did like. You will never find a job where you like 100% of the work. (It’s work, not a hobby!) But, when you don’t like most of what you do, it may be time for a change. I needed that farm job to pay for college so I stuck with it until graduation before moving on. Like is about choices. Take time to think yours through since you will only have yourself to blame if things aren’t working out after you make those choices.

What are some hacks that everyone should know?

1. If you wear the same colours as the zoo employees, the animals will come right up to you.

2. Use labeled bread clips on your wires so you know which ones you can pull out.

3. To prevent choking while scrubbing your tongue, just look in the mirror at the back of your throat.

4. You can connect two ziplock bags by flipping one inside out to make a larger one.

5. If you dye your hair at home, apply Vaseline along your hair line first.

6. Putting down a couple sheets of toilet paper before taking a dump will stop any of that nasty splash back.

7. Put clothes in the closet with the hangers reversed once a year. As you pull clothes out, reverse the hanger. Every year you can give away any clothes that you never took out.

8. If you are not a ‘up with one alarm’ person, just have a ‘wake up’ alarm and then a ‘get up’ alarm an hour later.

9. Put a key hook just inside the front door and ALWAYS hang your keys on it.

10. To combat lost socks, have a separate mesh bag that you put my socks in as soon as you take them off. Since all you have to do is toss the mesh bag into the wash without opening it.

11. If you’re feeling tired, have a cup of coffee then immediately lay down for a 15–30 minute nap. The caffeine will be kicking in just as you’re waking up.

12. Use the seat heater on the passenger side to keep takeout food warm on the drive home.

13. Squish the toilet paper roll before you hang it up. It will make it roll much more slowly, preventing people (especially young children) from rolling out a large amount.

14. Use a beard trimmer to remove the cat scratch threads from your couch.

15. Put numbers on the bottom of your door for proof photo of delivery. Most of the time, the drivers don’t get your door number in the photo, and this way, they have to.

16. Write the date on your blister packs so you know if you’ve taken your meds for that day or not.

Man Shuts Down DELUSIONAL Woman With Facts!

What was a loophole that you found and exploited the hell out of?

Going anonymous here so I don’t lose my degree!

I’m currently in college at a large university in the US. My minor has simple requirements: pass at least 4 of 10 offered classes.

As it turns out, 4 of the 10 classes are taught by the same professor. He teaches 2 in the fall and 2 in the spring. By chance, I took him once. I’ve taken him 3 more times and have earned my minor, getting A’s in every single class. And I guarantee you I couldn’t pass a basic class with any other professor.

This professor gives weekly quizzes and monthly tests in person, but via the computer. We sign into a special software that doesn’t allow us to search the internet, and take the test with him there. Everything was multiple choice. But here’s where it gets interesting:

Many of his questions had more than one answer. So, he set the test so you could check as many answers as you want e.g. we could select both A and B because the answer could be both.

But the test never counted how many answers we selected, and it only made sure you checked the right box, not if you checked a wrong box too. So if the answer was A and B, and I checked A,B, and C, it would count as right.

So what’d I do? I checked A,B,C,D, and E for almost every single question. The software would see that I checked the right answer (because I checked every answer) and mark the question right. Sometimes, to maintain realism, I’d purposefully check only one box for a few questions to get them wrong. My average scores stood between 95–100% the entire semester. And quizzes and tests made up 75% of his grading, the other 25% being just menial homework. These classes boosted my GPA noticeably, and now I have a particularly impressive minor to put on my resume.

A friend was flying this morning. On takeoff he was handed a folded napkin from a flight attendant, inside it was written, “Hi, F/O Armed.” What does it mean?

Oooh, that’s not good. The flight attendant just burned one of the cockpit crew and let an unauthorized person (your friend) know that there was at least one other armed passenger aboard. That’s a big no-no, but fortunately, the flight attendant gave her note to somebody who wasn’t freaked out or too bothered by it to make a ruckus. All ruckuses involving armed individuals on aircraft are bad.

So, her note says that one of the cockpit crew (the First Officer) is authorized by the feds to fly armed as a Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO). They get training at one of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) locations, which I believe is held now at FLETC Artesia (New Mexico). I flew armed a lot as an LEO and the normal procedure was to present my credentials and letter of authorization to the flight deck crew upon boarding the aircraft. The pilots always checked the paperwork very thoroughly, and on occasion one of the pilots would introduce himself and tell me he was an FFDO. Sometimes we’d chat for a moment about their training at FLETC, where I went through training. These were short conversations, as I didn’t want to disrupt their pre-flight routine or concentration. Sometimes the captain would give instructions, like “Don’t take any action on board unless one of the flight attendants asks you first.” That was the rule anyway, but he/she wanted to make sure we got it.

The flight attendants also know that I’m armed and exactly what seat I’m in for two reasons. First, they need to know in case an emergency arises and they ask for assistance. That only happened once in all the flights I took, an extremely unruly passenger who appeared to be progressing from “interfering with a flight crew” and “not following crewmember instructions” to “assault.” (That dude regretted it as there were six of us on board that flight.) The second reason they need to know is that they’re not allowed to serve alcoholic beverages to an armed passenger. For these reasons, we were required to stay in our assigned seats. I was occasionally asked by another passenger to trade seats for whatever reason, but couldn’t and wouldn’t. I got upgraded to business on a couple of flights and had to make sure all the flight attendants knew my new seat and the captain did, too.

We also knew who the air marshals, if any, were and where they were seated. And if any other armed passengers were aboard, we knew that, too, knew what seats they were in, and we usually introduced ourselves before take-off, exchanging identification/credentials. Subtly, so that nobody overhearing us would catch on and maybe cause a ruckus. That’s the other bad part of the Case of the Mislaid Napkin. By giving it to the wrong person (and not knowing that she’d done so), the flight attendant has left the right person in the dark. It’s not as big a deal as it could have been, because the FFDO/armed pilot isn’t coming out of the cockpit with his weapon anyway. I did have flight attendants come over and tell me, “You and the person in 18A are in the same line of work.” I also got a napkin note at least once that I can remember offhand.

Why is there currently a negative sentiment towards China, despite its status as a powerful country with a strong population and government?

Simple, The US initiated and the western blindly mimicking the U.S. media bias narratives casting doubts about China, hurling unfounded accusations on China to hurt China’s reputation, fear mongering by western media.

That is so blatant and disgusting the global south is put off and turn off the west in disgust. Any fool could see it except some brain dead in the west. But is it working fo the U.S. and the west?

I very much doubt so. In fact the more the U.S. does it the worst it looks. Most cultures in the Global South knows that one must have done many good things for a nation to despise it! Hence it falls on death ears mostly. And these days it gets worst and worst for the US.

Yugoslavian Coffee Cake (Povitica)

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
• 3/4 cup lukewarm milk (scalded, then cooled)
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour

Walnut Filling

• 2 1/2 cups finely chopped walnuts
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Glaze

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Cake: Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl. Stir in milk, butter, eggs, sugar, salt and 3 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up.
2. Cover; let rise in warm place until double, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.
3. Punch dough down; divide into halves. Roll each half into a 15 x 12-inch rectangle on lightly floured surface. Spread half the Walnut Filling over each rectangle. Roll up tightly, beginning at 15-inch side. Pinch edge of dough into each roll to seal well. Stretch rolls to make even.
4. With sealed edges down, coil into small shapes on lightly greased cookie sheets.
5. Cover; let rise until double, about 1 hour.
6. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
7. Bake until golden brown, 35 to 45 minutes. Brush with butter if desired; spread with Glaze.
8. Walnut Filling: Mix all ingredients.
9. Glaze: Mix confectioners’ sugar, water and vanilla extract until smooth. Stir in additional water if necessary, 1/2 teaspoon at a time.

Africans Reacts to White Globalists Agent Calling Africa Useless

God, this “Peter Zhan” is a real tool.

Have you ever said something that made your boss quit their job?

“Consider this my notice”

Years ago I had a very abusive Team Leader who would constantly bully me. One day I snapped and got into a shouting match with him so our Manager pulled us to one side and demanded an explanation. I told him everything that happened leading up to the outburst, that I’d had enough, and verbally gave him my resignation. He pleaded for me to reconsider to which my Team Leader said “Nope, he’s already said he’s going. And if you don’t accept his notice then I’ll give you mine”.

After reassurance from the Manager that the bullying would stop, and withdrawing my verbal resignation, my Team Leader handed him his written notice and said that he still had one last opportunity to get rid of me or he was going. The Manager accepted his notice and said he had four weeks to find a new job.

After two weeks the Team Leader realised his mistake and asked the Directors if he could withdraw his notice. They replied “No. You told us to choose either you or Josh. We’ve chosen Josh”. Two weeks later his contract was terminated after 15 years of service. I’d been there 18 months.