I wasn’t until I was living in China for a spell that I tried turtle.

As a food.

Don’t you know.

It tends to be a tad expensive, but is rather tasty. So I tend to only eat it on business occasions. It is served in a large dish, and the turtle is cut up into chunks.

When you get an opportunity, I suggest you give it a try. It’s sort of like “gator”, but not so chicken-like, rather it has its own unique flavor. I like it.

Goes great with white wine…

Phoenix, we are a problem

The performance gap is massive

Godfree Roberts Aug 29

Taiwanese microchip manufacturer TSMC blames struggle to build the Phoenix plant on skilled labor shortage but workers cite disorganization and safety concerns.

A former Wafertech employee told the Guardian that Wafertech told American employees they were all lazy​ in July 2023.​

“We were in shock – and angry. The man that told us we were lazy during the all-employee meeting was the president of Wafertech at the time, Steve Tso,” they said.

“Anyone in the hi-tech world understands how tightly these processes are run. Nothing is done without a procedure in place. To say that there are no Americans to do this part of the job is nonsense.”

“This was constantly the whole process. Everything was rushed. They weren’t giving us actual blueprints, just engineer drawings. It felt like a design-as-we-go type of deal. The information we were getting was really strange, never complete, and always changing. We would get updates constantly and these were big updates to the point where we would have to start pulling things down.”​

The Guardian.

Gods of Waters, Railroads and DamsEngineers have been China’s most esteemed professionals since in 256 BC, when Governor Li Bing designed and built the mighty Dujiangyan Irrigation Scheme​.

It works as well today as it did in 256 BC, ​and a grateful people deified him so that today, he is known as God of Waters. Xi Jinping is a chemical engineer.

President Hu was a hydrological engineer. Skilled work crews in China – on railroads, skyscrapers, canals, dams or UHV lines – have 3-5 more years of math than their Western counterparts, can read engineer drawings, and can adapt them to local conditions where necessary.

An email from a friend – a director-level employee with an engineering background who has worked with multinational companies primarily based in the US – suggests that TSMC’s Phoenix problems may be symptomatic of a widening gap.

Why American manufacturing really moved to China

Dear Godfree,

Thank for asking. American manufacturing moved to China not because of dumb labor, but because we could hire high IQ people for dirt cheap.

If your machine broke down, no problem; some Chinese guy (with basically a masters in EE) would pull out the circuit boards and using probes and other instrumentation determine what board needed replacing and he would work for a fraction of the annual salary of his equivalent in the US.

Manufacturing in the US is a nightmare: at our US facility our only requirement for an assembler​s was a high school degree, US citizenship, passing a drug and criminal background check and then passing a simple assembly test: looking at an assembly engineering drawing and then putting the components together.

The vast majority of Americans were unable to complete the assembly test, while for our facility in China they completed it in half the time and 100% of the applicants passed. An assembler position in the US would average maybe 30 interviews a day and get 29 rejections, not to mention all the HR hassles of assemblers walking off shift, excessive lateness, stealing from work, slow work speed and poor attitudes.

​O​ur product​s ​are highly specialized equipment, so it makes no sense to fully automate it, most of the components are assembled by hand and for certain steps we use custom engineered jigs. And for those saying that the position wasn’t paying enough, it paid $12 an hour starting in an area with an extremely low cost of living where property taxes for a 2000 sq​ ft house is $800-$1000 a year.

Assemblers don’t make $150K. An assembler takes parts and puts them together. The position starts at $12 an hour in flyover country which is pretty reasonable compared to other jobs that only require a GED and no prior work experience.

Offers medical, dental and annual raises with plenty of opportunity to move up in the company.

The national average salary for a Production Assembler is $33,029 in the United States, which is what you mak​e if you stay 5+ years.

Finding an American worker capable of ​meeting these simple requirements and passing the assembly test is merely impossible, nevermind ​having them be competent, punctual and of good moral character (not stealing from the company or starting conflicts with coworkers).

And these are the main groups that apply for this position.

The same exact product line has the same ​e​quipment in China, and the same positions in China pay the same wages as other positions there with only a high school degree and no work experience.

Yet the applicant quality is much higher, and this applies as well to the white collar professions that support the manufacturing: schedulers, quality inspectors, equipment testers and calibrators, engineers, supply chain managers, account managers, sales etc….their labor quality is simply higher. ​\…

When did you first realize your child was different?

I used to play math games in the car with my kids, son four and daughter, two and a half. I would say, ‘What is 2+3? My son would yell, ‘Five!’ I’d ask, what is 1+1? My daughter would hold up two fingers.

As months passed, the math games became harder and harder as they learned. One day, before my son was in kindergarten I meant to ask, ‘Whats 5–3?’ But it came out backwards, ‘Whats 3–5?’…

My son sat quietly for a moment looking perplexed. Then he yells, ‘Two on the other side of zero!’.

I almost crashed the car. He didn’t know how to say it correctly, but he had the grasp of negative numbers! At five years old! I was shocked and then scared with the reality of raising a kid that bright. He passed me intellectually by age ten or so in mathematical skills.

That was twenty years ago. He now works as an engineer for Tesla in the battery division. I’m a proud mommy!

Driving is ruining our lives

Our dependence on cars is harming us. Why did we give up public transportation for individual cars?

Who do you think best embodies bad luck?

Dylan McWilliams.

At 20, this nature-loving American was attacked by a tiger shark while surfing in Hawaii. He got away with hitting the shark repeatedly and then swimming as fast as he could to the beach. Result: 7 stitches in the thigh.

Probability of being attacked by a shark in the USA: one in 11.5 million chance.

A year later, Dylan is wild camping and, while he is sleeping in his tent, he is attacked by a brown bear which takes his head between its jaws… He gets out of it by digging his fingers into the eyes of the bear. ‘bear. Result: 9 staples to close the wounds on the scalp.

Probability of being attacked by a bear in the USA: one in 2.1 million chance.

A year later, Dylan is hiking in Utah and steps on a rattlesnake that bites him. As he is far from any hospital and he does not suffer too much, he decides to continue his hike. He feels bad for two days, but eventually regains his form.

Probability of being bitten by a snake in the USA: one in 37,500 chance.

Lifetime probability of being attacked by a shark, bear and snake: one in 894,000 trillion chance…

What has your landlord said that left you completely dumbfounded?

I got a call that my landlord would be coming to the property to take down the tumbleweeds in an area that I didn’t have access to. No problem, it wasn’t going to bother me.

About 15 minutes before they were supposed to arrive, a strange car pulls into my driveway and a man gets out and starts walking around the outside of the house. I had no idea who he was and immediately went out like a bat out of hell demanding to know who he was and why he had the audacity to be going in my backyard without my permission.

To my utter shock, he said he was a real estate agent and he was there to meet my landlord to put the property up for sale! I told him I had JUST renewed my lease for a year and why in the world would the landlord do this if he was going to sell the house???

Well, the landlord comes slinking up the driveway to find me VERY pissed off and tries to tell me that he and his wife were “only seeing what the property was worth” and that since he wanted to retire soon, they wanted to see what the value of the house would be. I told him he could have checked Zillow, but he finally fessed up that he really was planning on selling the house. I asked why he had just signed a one year lease, and come to find out that the landlord had told the property management company to put me on a month to month lease and they had screwed up.

I told him that it wasn’t my problem and that I would not be moving and good luck selling a house with a tenant that had a full year lease!

His wife finally came over and calmed things down between the two of us, and asked if I thought I could get a loan and buy the house myself. I had never thought about buying a home and never thought I would qualify, but I told him that on Monday I would check into it, and come to find out, I COULD buy the house!

We ended up working together without a real estate agent for either of us, and I closed on the house 30 days later! This was just one year ago and I locked in a great rate. He took almost $30,000 off the price so I could afford to buy the house and I am so thankful! Yes, he could have gotten $30,000 more but he knew how much I loved the house (I had lived there for four years and treated it as my home, including adding a beautiful garden) and he and his wife wanted to know that whoever bought it would love it and knew the history too.

I now own my home and couldn’t be happier. Had my landlord not felt so guilty about trying to sneak around to sell the place, he probably would have sold the place for an additional $30,000 to someone else!

Guilt is a wonderful thing sometimes LOL

How US Presidents are selected…

Do Marine Corps drill instructors act like the character in Full Metal Jacket?

Yes. That was not a character.

R. Lee Ermey (1944–2018, RIP), was in the Marines from 1961 to 1972 and was a real drill instructor from 1965 to 1967 at the MCRD, San Diego, CA and his portrayal, most of which was improvised and spontaneous, was very accurate.

He was originally hired as a consultant, but, so impressed the movie’s director that he was given the part of the senior Drill Instructor represented by the black leather belt he wears in the movie.

The only inaccurate thing about the movie was that, as the drill instructor, he was a Gunnery Sgt., E-7.

This was very unusual and mostly unheard of for a GySgt. to be a drill instructor.

Also, we should have seen his two assistant drill instructors at certain point during the training.

The only time I ever saw a Gunnery Sgt., E-7 wearing a campaign cover was as a Series Gunnery Sgt. over a Series of four platoons.

In my 1028 Series, the Chief Drill Instructor was a Master Sgt. over 4 platoons (1028, 1029, 1030, 1031), but neither took any part in the everyday, hands-on training of the platoons under their command.

During Vietnam, the most common ranks for drill instructors were Corporal, E-4 and Sgt., E-5, with the not so common rank of Staff Sgt., E-6.

The second photo is of a young Corporal, E-4

Ermey when he was a drill instructor at MCRD San Diego, circa 1965. While in the Marines, he was sent to Vietnam in 1968 where he served for 14 months. He was medically retired in 1972 due to several injuries he received while in the Marines. In the photo of the medals on his dress blues, I do not see a Purple Heart, so I must assume his injuries were not received in battle. In the below photo of Ermey in his dress blues, the rank on his left shoulder is Gunnery Sgt., E-7. There are 2 hash marks on his left forearm. Each one represents 4 years. If he had made it to 12 years, he would have been authorized to wear three hash marks.

Marine drill instructors only have 12 weeks to mold a sloppy, immature, undisciplined civilian into a disciplined, squared away Marine and in most cases, has to undo 20 years of spoiled, entitled behaviors instilled by the parents that have kept him in perpetual boyhood. This cannot be accomplished with the same coddling treatment that the parents used in raising their son from a little boy to a big boy. The Marine’s first order of the day is to quickly destroy the boy in order to build the man. Everyday of training is important and there is not a moment to lose. A strong impression must be made by the drill instructors and shock and awe is the best way to leave a lasting impression. Fear of being yelled at, insulted or being punished is a very good incentive to learn, learn quick, retain what they learn and do well so as not to suffer the wrath of the drill instructor which has become the center of his world and the authority figure he most wants to please. I can tell you that it works. Semper Fi.

“DeDollarization Is IRREVERSIBLE” – Putin at BRICS Day One

https://youtu.be/RkAHInTEb7o

What is the biggest waste of electricity you’ve seen in a home you visited, were a guest in, or even in your own home?

A co-worker of mine figured out why her electric bill had tripled with the help of their neighbor’s cats. For three months one summer their electric bill suddenly went through the roof. They checked out all their appliances, air conditioning, etc. and couldn’t find the problem. Then one cool evening she looked out the window and noticed there were several neighbor cats lying on her driveway. This was an “Ah Ha!” moment. She had a driveway heater with a switch in the basement that was used very briefly when the driveway was icy in the winter. Turns out a workman who was doing a job in her basement was looking for a light switch and flipped on the driveway heater switch. When no light came on, the guy figured that light was broken and found a different light, The driveway switch wasn’t labeled (at least not then). So her driveway had been continuously drawing electricity all summer. Only the neighbor cats could detect the difference in temperature on the driveway and would “chill out” there on cool evenings. It took her 3 months to notice the abundance of cats lying on her driveway and connect that with the driveway heater and the high electric bill.

What should I do if I have almost no luck (different from bad luck)?

Alfred Nobel created the Nobel Prize near the end of his life as a public relations move. He’d invented dynamite for mining and construction. But people used it as a weapon, killing thousands, and earning him the label, “The Merchant of Death”.

There was Alfred Binet, who invented the IQ test, with the intention of classifying children who need assistance. His test unintentionally fueled the eugenics movement and was a key tool for discrimination.

There was Alfred Vanderbilt, who was one of the world’s wealthiest young men and most eligible bachelor. He narrowly avoided boarding the Titanic, canceling his trip at the last moment. Unfortunately, three years later, he boarded the Lusitania, which was sunk by German U-boats.

And then there is my friend, Al.

Al was a fellow swimmer. He was 6’3, easygoing, and per my female friend “handsome enough”. He had a good sense of humor and straw-like brown hair that was ravaged by chlorine. Al had squeaked through high school and landed an athletic scholarship at our university.

His father was a volatile alcoholic, the type who sings karaoke and is everyone’s best friend in the first hour of drinking, and a belligerent monster for the remaining six.

I saw it firsthand when he came to town for a swim meet, which he overslept and missed. Al invited me to dinner, which was a bit unusual for “parent’s weekend”. I suspect he didn’t want to endure it alone. Sure enough, his dad showed up at Applebees at 6 PM and was already blitzed, full of stupid ideas, and making inane, brutally awkward attempts to flirt with our waitress.

He was a walking meme, stopping just short of wearing a varsity jacket and bragging about his high school touchdowns.

It was a long two-hour dinner. I walked through the parking lot, exhausted, and immediately knew why Al had never touched alcohol. Then I winced, remembering the scene of me holding a cup of beer up to his face, playfully saying, “Just one sip … c’mon.”

As we walked to the car, I asked, with a bit of hesitation, “So is your mom…more…normal?”

“She was. Yes.”

“Was?” I instinctively asked, thinking she’d become an alcoholic too.

“She died when I was 9. Ovarian cancer.”

I nodded and got quiet, realizing this ridiculously nice guy had probably endured a terrible childhood. I knew his sister had left home at 12 to live with his grandmother for reasons unnamed.

Al noticed me looking bummed out and gave me a half smile, “Dude. It’s OK. I’m all good.” I suppose he didn’t want my pity. He’d probably gotten enough of that already.

One month later

Our college swim team was doing a mixer party with the women’s lacrosse team. It was fun — your typical party scene, with lots of laughing, talking, and loud music. It looked just like those American parties you’ve seen in movies.

A few girls were walking around in lacrosse pads. One teammate was shamelessly walking around in a speedo and goggles, with a beer bong poised at the ready.

Eventually, the night turned south as it often does with so much drinking. A couple of the lacrosse girls’ boyfriends had become jealous of this mixer. They showed up to start trouble, trying to push through the front door. There was a bunch of shouting. No fists were thrown thankfully. But a few girls began crying and fighting with their partners. It was a total vibe kill.

We decided to get out of there before things got worse. Two of us left with Al around midnight, who was the DD as always. He dropped us both off that night and I thought nothing of it.

The next morning, I got an ominous text, “Did, you hear about Al?”

Al had been hit by a drunk driver on the way back to his house. He’d been T-boned at high speed on his driver-side door. He was in the hospital with a broken leg, collar bone, shoulder, and two broken ribs.

He was alive. He’d walk fine. But his shoulder was never right again and his swimming career was over. I stopped by to see him and he looked like a shell of himself on the hospital bed.

His eyes were sunken, hair disheveled, and hanging over his swollen face. We hung out and talked for a bit. He was out of it from the pain meds and fell asleep mid-conversation. I saw his dad at the hospital, sober for once.

The good news is that life went on as normal. He eventually returned to class and hung out with us. But not without great cost to him.

Al didn’t have the prestigious accolades of history’s famous Alfreds. In fact, his background was mostly the opposite: absent of wealth, stability, and the type of love a kid needs. He inherited and then endured great misfortune.

In fact, there was a time when I thought Al was the most unlucky guy I’d ever met. I was sure he’d break at any moment. How couldn’t he?

He’s gone on to be quite successful, have kids, and a loving wife. And despite all the hardship, he’s always had a great attitude. He has lived in defiance of the groundwork for so much sorrow.

I know many others, who are born into relative privilege and spared of major tragedies, myself included, who have struggled to appreciate their life at times.

My father-in-law is one of the happiest men I know, despite having a troubled and turbulent childhood. He is a big storyteller and relays everything interesting from his life. Yet he has a DMZ line drawn on his childhood. We know nothing. That’s how bad it was.

People forget that luck, good or bad, is all a construct. It isn’t actually a proven thing — in the sense of a mystical universe choosing favorites among us. Luck is just probability playing out in real time. For us, it’s more accurately defined as how humans choose to describe their lives.

It’s also a decent proxy for how people frame their problems. For example, those who believe in good or bad luck tend to be more cynical and less happy.

The name Alfred isn’t intrinsically unlucky. I just looked up a bunch of Alfreds from history and cherry-picked those who’d had the most bad luck. It was a whimsical way of framing a trajectory. Because each person has a narrative they tell themselves of their life story.

I’ve heard from many readers and people over the years, who had horrible childhoods and lives — on paper — yet have gone on to be quite happy.

I’ve tended to downgrade my definition of problems as life has improved (another pesky byproduct of hedonic adaptation). Yesterday, I caught myself cursing up a storm while setting up a new soundbar. You’d have thought I just caught someone cheating on me. I’d lost sight of how first-world, and truly spoiled I sounded.

It is in the quieter moments, when sleep is evasive, that the mind can wander and wallow in misery and egregious mistakes. I am reminded that happiness and contentment requires intent. Life is messy and complicated, and one cannot feel better simply by comparing themselves to those less fortunate. It takes more work.

It is a sense of presence in the moment, gratitude, perspective, lifestyle, community, and purpose that I have found the most happiness, as my unlucky friend Al did.

But he’ll be the first to tell you how lucky he is.

Saudi Arabia Joins BRICS (The New Global Order & Silver)

A Realistic View of BRICS and BRICISSTAN

Roger Boyd Aug 24

The true core of BRICS will consist of China, Russia and Iran, with elites that are nationalist and in the case of China and Iran also heavily socialist.

Russia still operates with much of the neoliberal inheritance of the 1990s, even within the minds of many of its ruling elite. The Ukraine conflict, and the resultant Western sanctions, has facilitated a significant decolonization of the Russian mind and a rebalancing of state-oligarch relations in favour of the latter. These three nations have the potential to dominate Central Asia (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan), Belarus, Iraq, and Syria; with the aid of the overlapping Shanghai Cooperation Council (SCO) security alliance. Linking together a huge landmass that contains the greatest global manufacturing power, the second greatest global military power, and colossal natural resource deposits. This is the true core of the challenge to the West, perhaps we can call it BRICISSTAN. Mongolia represents an independent variable, but simple geography and trade flows will mean that it never becomes an enemy.

For this challenge to be successful it requires at the least the non-alignment of the rest of the non-West, and their usage of the new multi-polar world to rebalance they economic relations with the West to their advantage. Such non-alignment was shown with respect to the Western sanctions upon Russia, where the Rest of the World (ROW) refused to be part of the Western attempt to subjugate Russia. In ASEAN (the Association of South East Asian Nations) plus Bangladesh and Pakistan, China has a grouping that will be at least non-aligned, with some nations such as Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia being much closer to China. The underlying dynamic of Chinese demand and respect for sovereignty will continue to pull ASEAN toward China, no matter what the West does. The latter is doing as much as possible to disrupt this process, with widespread interference in the elections in Malaysia and Thailand and support for Western-comprador forces in Myanmar (greatly aided by India), but its efforts will come to nought; with Chinese patience and restraint paying dividends.

India, the “I” in BRICS will never be a truly anti-imperial force as its ruling class are fully neoliberal, with many educated in the West. This elite treats China as a regional competitor that must be resisted, and with a mindset that protects its national rentier profit-making. This combination has repeatedly led India to cut off its nose to spite its face, with Chinese (and other foreign) companies treated in highly arbitrary ways that stifle the ability of India to utilize Chinese (and other nation’s) help for national development. India will remain as a developing nation, never to repeat the Chinese (and South Korean, and Taiwanese, and ongoing Vietnamese) growth and development miracle. India’s long-term alliance with Russia will mitigate its relationship with BRICISSTAN, but India will always be a prickly neighbour that will look to work with the US against China when it sees advantage. In many ways, India’s geopolitical role resembles that of Turkey under Erdogan.

South Africa, the “S” in BRICS is a neoliberal fun house run by an ANC traitorous elite that turned its back on the masses of the Black population to massively enrich itself in cahoots with the white national capitalists and Western capital. If any nation has truly implemented the story of Animal Farm it is South Africa. “All [black people] are equal, but some [black people] are more equal than others” and “[socialists] good, [capitalists even white ones] better” seems befitting of current South Africa. The Black elite may very well exercise a level of nationalism, but they will never be socialist brothers. This is where the RIC respect for national sovereignty and political non-interference becomes such a weapon to wield against the neo-colonial ever-interfering West. To stretch a saying of Deng, the RIC must make friends with socialist, capitalist, and even medieval theocratic monarchic cats to overcome the West; but it must also be wary of the non-socialist cats.

Brazil, the “B” in BRICS, is a nation dominated by the elites that it was bequeathed at the time of independence. A poisoned chalice that, as I have written here, here and here, provides a disabling legacy for Latin America. There are a few nations that have fully or partially escaped that legacy, mainly Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Bolivia, but for the vast majority the comprador landed, and financial domestic elites dominate. As I have covered here, the very best of Lula was “neoliberalism with crumbs” and the most recent reincarnation is certainly not the best version. He will tread very carefully with respect to the West, being seen more to hold the coat of the RIC than directly engage in the duel. The Latin American comprador elites are simply looking for improved prices for their exports, and a bit more leeway in their exploitation of their populations, by working with the RIC. Argentina, which is swaying back to the right from a mildly progressive government very much reflects that reality.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are medieval-style monarchies that claim their nation’s wealth for themselves, but they have smelt the wind and notice the new way that it is blowing. Together with the cooperation with Russia and Iran within OPEC+, they are more forcefully pivoting to the RIC (with Saudi Arabia and Qatar becoming an observer of the SCO); reflecting their interests with their fellow OPEC+ members and the biggest market for the fossil fuel exports, while turning away from Western divide and conquer tactics. Due to the Western inability to stop interfering in the domestic politics of its “allies”, Egypt has started to drift away from the Western sphere (including observer status at the SCO) ; but again, we must remember the nature of its leadership. Ethiopia does seem to be a state that under its new leadership is attempting to turn away from the West and gain the alternative financing and help that it needs to do so. Given its location in the Horn of Africa opposite Saudi Arabia, its geopolitical positioning will affect the whole region.

The West is utterly dependent on its ability to source raw materials from the Rest at knockdown prices, keep them underdeveloped so that they provide a good market for Western exports, and steal the value added produced by the Rest through unequal trading and legal relationships backed up by technology controls. This avenue has already been shut down in Russia and Iran (mostly be the West’s own self-harming sanctions), and China is increasingly moving up the technology curve and gaining a greater share of its own value added; the real reason for Western aggression. As especially China expands its increasingly sophisticated exports around the world, imports more and more from the Rest, and funds development projects, the flow of cheap resources and value-added to the West is reduced. In the Middle East, China and Russia are working with Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States to remove their dependence upon the US dollar and Western financial system. The capitalist centre is slowly strangled. In the Middle East and Africa, Russia also provides hired military muscle to facilitate the success of nations such as Niger in rebalancing their economic relations with the West.

RIC and BRICISSTAN do not need Brazil, India or South Africa as full allies against the West, they simply need them (as with the rest of the ROW) to not be enemies and to utilize multipolarity to rebalance their economic and financial relations with the West. Without the neo-colonial flows of plunder to the West, the capitalist centre will be strangled into a slow collapse with no need for war. The over-sized Western elite response to the coup in Niger shows that they are very cognizant of this possibility, but they may also be becoming more conscious of their inability to stop it happening. The failure of the Western comprador ECOWAS to mount a military campaign against Niger in the face of popular resistance in their own nations is a marker to which way the wind is blowing.

So, we do not need to be disappointed when Brazil, India and South Africa and others show their unwillingness to become true partners of BRICISSTAN. All we need of them is to stand aside from the duel and use it to rebalance their relations with the West to their advantage. This by itself will help bring the Western house down.

Pepe Escobar: The Prigozhin Era Is GONE | MOATS with George Galloway Ep 267

How rich do you have to be to not carry cash or a credit card?

Choosing to be debt free and being able to walk around without spending money isn’t a lifestyle reserved for the wealthy — it’s for people who make a conscious decision to live within their means.

Some friends of mine are a young couple in their early 30’s with a combined income of $65,000 per year, and own their home outright (no mortgage), have no car payments or credit cards, have money in their savings account, and are building up for retirement.

How? By being smart with their money and avoiding things like credit cards and walking around with cash. Almost half of their income goes straight to their savings every month.

Instead of buying new cars and having a car payment, they saved for a few months and bought used cars they could write a check for. Instead of getting a 30 year mortgage on the biggest house they could afford, they rented a small apartment for the first four years they were together so they could save up to buy some land. They paid cash for their land, set up a well, power, and septic, and then bought an RV trailer and parked it there to live in while they saved up to build their dream house.

By doing this, they eliminated the monthly cost of their apartment and were literally living for free in that RV on land they owned outright. And they were smart about the next step too – every month, whatever money was to go in their savings went toward a step in the build process of their home. One month it was a concrete foundation, a couple months later it was buying some of the timbers, framing, plumbing, electrical, etc. One step at a time, as they could afford to do it.

Eventually the house was ready to move into – still not “finished”, the interior walls and flooring weren’t done, but the roof was up, the windows and doors were in, and it was livable. So they sold the RV, almost for what they paid for it, and spent the cash from that to finish the interior and did most of the work themselves. I chipped in a little myself — woodworking is a hobby of mine and I helped them build their cabinets.

The whole build process took almost five years from start to finish. But in that five years of sacrifice, they built their dream home and will never have a monthly house payment. They’re in their early 30’s and are further ahead financially than most people making three times their income.

Imagine being their age and never having a house payment again, ever. Imagine being able to write a check when it’s time for a new car instead of having to finance it. Imagine having half or more of your paycheck going straight to your savings account instead of going out the door to monthly payments on debt.

You don’t have to be rich to live that way. You just have to plan for it, and be disciplined enough not to buy things you can’t afford with money you don’t have.

Scott Ritter: “The CIA is working directly with Ukraine” | Redacted News

Scott Ritter is a former UN Weapons Inspector who exposed the lies in Iraq. He told the world that Saddam Hussein didn’t have weapons of mass destruction. Powerful people in Washington didn’t want to hear it and he resigned in protest. The War in Iraq cost millions of lives and trillions of dollars. Now Ritter is revealing the truth about the latest U.S. military incursions in Ukraine, Syria, and beyond.

Biden Greeted With Extremely HOSTILE Response In Maui

President Joe Biden took a few hours away from his vacation in Lake Tahoe to visit the fire-devastated island of Maui, and the reception was, well, let’s say lukewarm. Chants of “Fuck you!” greeted the presidential motorcade before Biden attended a few events to acknowledge the suffering Hawaiians at which he made his typically tone-deaf or otherwise insensitive comments.

Every store is CLOSED in Oakland

440,000 people call Oakland home ,but their stores are rapidly closing We are walking downtown Oakland to witness the city through a camera’s lens Market street

What person became famous for an absurd reason?

It was the year 1931, Plennie L. Wingo was discussing with his friends ways to make money, his friends told him that everything had already been done, that the one who made money did and the one who didn’t should settle, to which he after thinking about it for a few seconds, he replied:

“Not everything is done, nobody has gone around the world…”

His friends interrupted him and laughed in unison, telling him that this was very hackneyed, that many people had tried it and to forget it.

To which he replied:

“I repeat, no one has gone around the world… walking backwards”

That idea, as silly as it was, for some reason stuck with him.

That is how in that same year, on April 15, he bought some glasses with mirrors to see in reverse and began his journey. While doing his feat, he lived off the generosity of the people he met along the way, getting paid to sign newspapers in which he appeared and occasionally stopping in a town to work for a few weeks and continue on his way.

Although he could not achieve his mission, since in Turkey they told him that he could not pass and would have to return to North America, he ended up traveling 13 thousand kilometers, became internationally famous, appearing in shows and even publishing his own book.

Plennie L. Wingo, the man who became famous for walking eight thousand miles on his back, which was completely absurd, but in the end it worked for him.

Rich Men North of Richmond (Oliver Anthony Cover)

What do the nonpoor not realize about being poor?

Being poor is not determined by education, mental health, some status of “deserving it” or what have you.

I am a top writer on Quora a couple years running now, and I live under the poverty line.

I was rear ended by a drunk driver some years back. The subsequent series of health crises drained my bank accounts, savings and 401K, because that’s how our health system is designed.

It was only after my assets were reduced under $2000 that I was eligible for public health benefits. I will never be allowed to have over $2000 in assets again, so it’s highly unlikely I will ever escape poverty. I was at one point the VP of Marketing and Business Development of the 3rd fastest growing private company in Oregon, listed on a couple Inc. indices. I was, at the time of the accident, the founding executive director of The Tor Project.

My then boyfriend — who was scrambling to keep me, my elderly mom with Parkinson’s and Lewy body dementia, and my teenage son afloat, with me as primary breadwinner out of commission — didn’t know to look at Quicken to see how much of the bank account was sequestered to pay taxes when I got taken out on April Fool’s Day. So I will never be able to pay off my tax debt, and never be able to have a bank account again.

Living in this country without a bank account is hell.

I have all kinds of illness and mobility disabilities, and live in subsidized elder/disability housing. But these people don’t take the stored value card I get my social security on, as payment for rent.

So I have to physically get myself to the post office, and pay to have a money order cut and mailed to them. When I am too ill to get myself there by the 5th, I can pay an extra $50 in rent on my tiny studio apartment. That’s a 20% surcharge on my rent, because I’m ill. And I’m in this place, because I’m ill. I’ve asked my social worker if I can get assistance with this, and I’ve been told that I can not unless I sign all of my financial affairs over to a representative of the State. I frankly feel uncomfortable with that.

I can still write, but not consistently enough for people to pay me. I have a Patreon. Social Security makes it hard for people who don’t get a consistent paycheck, who work when they are on SSI, who don’t fit a cookie cutter “work in a bakery on night shift” disability job.

I spend about half my days in bed, immobile and in pain. I would love more than anything to be working again at a job that I loved. But my body won’t allow it. They even put me on opioids for a bit before the epidemic became a known thing, and I weaned myself off of them and live with the pain, because on the drugs, I could not read and write and my life was one continual useless meaningless fog.

Most of my neighbors here in subsidized housing are lovely people who have to deal with a small minority of terrible people who end up here and make things hard for all of us. Those people are the only ones that you probably think of when you think of poor people, just as when one might think of persons of a particular religion many people think only of religious extremists.

Similarly, the greatest harm done by the bad actors among the poor is done to other poor people, statistically. We have checks stolen, packages stolen, assaults, rapes in poor neighborhoods, but most often among people who know each other. In proportion, mugging of strangers and other things that people who are not poor fear are incredibly rare.

But what the priority that police provide is not enforcement, but containment, because they know who is paying their salaries, and their time is limited.

When I grew up poor and rural in central Vermont, there was no shame in being poor, and to a certain extent there is still far less stigma in rural areas. So long as you are neatly put together and clean, and respectful, there’s nothing to set you below any other American.

In the cities, however, being poor seems to be treated as though it were a contagion, and a shame, like leprosy in the Bible, like a venereal disease, like AIDS is, undeservedly, shunned.

This is a shame on our country as a whole, and makes us less able to create a resilient culture in hard times. And, in case you hadn’t noticed — not being poor — these are hard times.

Empathy is a virtue.

Saudi Accept China Bid for Nuclear Plant | U.S. Is Worried

Explore the intriguing dynamics between Saudi Arabia and China as they contemplate a joint venture in nuclear technology. This deep dive analyzes the geopolitical implications for the United States, India, and the broader West Asian region. Join us for a comprehensive breakdown of these unfolding events.

Children who have had to clean out your parents’ house after they passed, did you find anything that completely changed how you viewed them?

Yes, my father. He went into a nursing home after a fall and brain beed. I had to handle selling his house and cleaning it out.

I found a file labeled “dirt”. Inside was paperwork related to his response to my mom’s request in 1973 for an increase in child support. Now I found copies of his letter to a friend where he bragged about how his income had tripled since their divorce in ‘68, when his support was set at $150 total for 3 kids. So he was prosperous 5 years later.

Mom’s 2nd husband committed suicide Jan ’73 and times were tough. She lost her job 2 months after. Bad recession. She was wrecked. We were on food stamps and she was picking up temp work when she could get it. Food was rationed. AC wasn’t turned on until June, in Florida. No luxuries. Oldest sister married and moved out so support was cut to $100 for 2. Then it was 1974 and this support request was being dragged out.

Dad wrote Mom a letter saying how her situation was unfortunate but not his problem, and that he had a new wife, and she and her 4 kids from 1st marriage and deadbeat ex husband were his first priority now. And he added that I and my sister could help support ourselves. He made a lot of accusations against Mom and threatened to report her to the government for some kind of fraud, which I think was bogus. Mom had no money for a lawyer so the issue was dropped.

Sis and I were underage teenagers and the same ages as 2 of his step kids. He wasn’t confiscating their pay from any pt jobs they had, and later some of them got private college education at least partially funded by him.

Bless my mom, she didn’t ever tell us anything and never asked us to turn over our meager earnings. She found better work and we got off food stamps. We did have to fully fund our cars we eventually bought, and any luxuries. She was teaching us how to adult. She totally took the high road.

So now I have to dutifully take care of my father’s needs and handle his finances and paperwork and visit occasionally, knowing how little he cared about us. We had sensed the discard and how little he cared, but it sucked reading confirmation of it. My oldest sister wants nothing to do with him for other reasons.

Oh, and he’s on Medicaid because he blew through his retirement savings too soon and that now ex wife with the 4 kids went to court and got almost all the equity from his house to cover unpaid alimony. He actually tried to order me to move him from the nursing home into my home, but nfw. I’m not going to live with his alcoholic ass and disrupt my life when he didn’t give a shit about us when we were going through a terribly hard time.

Rich Men North of Richmond – Fiddle Version – Oliver Anthony and Philip Bowen

If I win 8 million at the casino and leave immediately, what will be the consequences?

As someone who’s been the duty manager in a casino where people have won a similar amount to that referred to by the question setter, I’ll tell you exactly what does happen.

This person won’t be a stranger to us. UK casinos don’t function like that. So we’ll know this person. Chances are they’ve lost several million with us over the years. So we won’t be surly. We’ll be professionally happy for the winning player. Handshakes all round. I’ll ask if they fancy having dinner with me in the casino restaurant, or perhaps share a bottle of something suitably lovely.

We want you to come back to us next time. That sentence is the most important factor in the whole process. If you win and there’s people around you being happy for you, then you’re more likely to return. The table staff also want you to tip, or continue tipping. They’ll be very happy for you too.

So after the handshakes and pleasant meal, I’ll sign the cheque made up by the cashier. More likely nowadays is the BACS transfer back to their account. But not all 8 million. Maybe only 5 or 6. The other 2 million they’ll leave on deposit with us. (Always their choice. Never suggested. Never needs to be suggested). I mean, after all, they’re in town for a few more days and may want to play again. We can always BACS that 2 million whenever they ask us to.

Once all the financials are done, I will personally escort Mr/Ms. Big Winner up to one of our waiting chauffeured cars, where they will be taken to wherever they so desire. They may even hold onto our car and driver, in case they fancy popping back our way in the next couple of hours. Of course sir, no problem at all.

And all this time, at every interaction I have with the player, we’ll be discussing how their particular business is doing – did their daughter’s recent wedding go well – how’s their son finding business school – we have some tickets to the sporting / cultural event they’re interested in. All this is in their file.

So that’s what happens. It may sound a little oily and rehearsed, but it’s just business.

Elon Musk: “Oumuamua Has Suddenly Returned and It’s Not Alone!”

Yeah. They have been talking about this is China too.

Why couldn’t Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other regions within China that resist CCP’s rule form a coalition with US, and Japan and other anti-China nations to fight against China and declare independence?

Let me share a perspective that might be controversial in China. Many of us, especially among the Han Chinese, feel that it was the people of Tibetans and Uyghurs who wanted to be with us more than we wanted to be with them. We contribute with our taxes to support those people, and some feel that we don’t receive equivalent benefits in return.

If you ever consider supporting them, please understand that it may involve significant financial commitments. Without it, Tibetans and Uyghurs might not be industrious or eager for independence. If you want to pour your money as much as we do, nobody will stop you, You are more than welcome. Remember saying something is always cheap, show them your wallet.

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And Japan?

It is really funny. You know the US doesn’t want Japan to be strong, and neither does the whole world. You can ask the people of Hong Kong and Taiwan. They want to be a little bit far away from China, but it doesn’t mean that they want to be with you. Even if people in China, disagree with the CCP, they will communicate with the CCP, instead of standing with you.

You know your situation, don’t you?

You Japan is the enemy of the US, China, Russia, Korea… Almost all of the big and strong countries in the world.

You Japan did so many bad things during WWII, You don’t apologize for it, you don’t regret it. And now you are trying to isolate China? How could you be so stupid? And where does your confidence come from?

Ask the people to betray China to be with you Japan? A dirty country like Japan? Are you out of your mind?

This Is How Xi Jinping Is Kicking The US Out And Making China A Global Superpower And Peace-Make

https://youtu.be/go2ttilRU8k

How effective is a shield wall against a cavalry charge?

The shield wall isn’t that effective in and of itself. Shield walls are not very maneuverable, and smart riders can still get up close to them and try to find a weak point (or flank.)

A man and his full war gear might weigh 200 pounds. You know what weighs a lot more? A horse. Horses will trample people. Even killing the horse in front of you doesn’t stop the momentum.

That sheer momentum is part of why cavalry charges can be so devastating.

No, the part about shield walls that does anything to cavalry is the pikes:

Horses are not machines; they have a brain in their head. They will not willingly skewer themselves on pikes. The reason pikes are so effective if they stay in formation is because the horses won’t charge into that. If you break formation, different story. Then you get a one way ticket to trample town.

It was extremely common for a line of Pikemen in the Middle Ages, upon facing charging knights, to soil themselves and run away, not necessarily in that order. Against fleeing or disorganized enemies, cavalry is lethal. That’s where all the casualties happen. (And it’s why they often come from the flanks.)

What stops the charge once they’ve made contact is the guys behind the front ranks. The men up front can’t go anywhere. The guys in the back can choose to push back or flee. A warhorse, for all its mass, can’t do much in a solid crowd of human bodies resisting them. It’s when they break and flee, and thus loosen up the center and then front of the formation, that everything goes down hill.

It sounds easy- just stand firm and the horses can’t rout you! But it wasn’t until professional armies, particularly professional infantry, became common that the hyper dominance of knights faded. Because I promise you, when faced with incoming knights – trained murder machines – you would start getting real freaking nervous. Shields themselves won’t stop cavalry: formation and discipline does.

(And then the professional infantry realized they could just charge each other with their pikes. Eventually, guns developed enough to put a stop to that insanity.)

Should Westerners adopt some Asian culture like addressing your husband or wife as father, mother, dad, and mom like in Chinese culture, Japanese culture, and other oriental culture, etc.?

I don’t think Westerners would EVER want to adopt the family tree naming convention based on “Chinese culture”.

Why?

Well the obvious reason is because it isn’t their culture 🙂

And secondly, nobody, NOBODY would want to add a galaxy’s worth of complexity into their lives.

The Chinese family tree doesn’t just take generation and biological sex into account.

It also takes into account:

• Maternal and Paternal Lineage
• Marriage
• Relative Age
• Consanguinity (the fact of being descended from the same ancestor)
• etc.

See the “Complicated Chinese Family Tree” below.

So, how would you address your mother’s older brother?
He’s not just your “Uncle”.
He is your 舅舅 (Jiùjiu).

And his oldest son who’s older than you?
He’s not just your “Cousin”.
He is your 表哥 (Biǎo gē).

Okay, then how about your father’s younger brother?
He’s not just your “Uncle”.
He is your 叔叔 (Shūshu).

And his youngest daugher who is younger than you?
She’s not just your “Cousin”.
She is your 堂妹 (Táng Mèi).

If you look at all this and you think it is hard – well, yes, that is because it is hard.
As a kid, my dad would GRILL me before any extended family gathering.

If I got the appellation for any family member during this Grilling Session wrong, his face would be a mask of disappointment.
If I got it wrong when actually addressing family members – he would correct me on the spot, in front of EVERYONE, while shaking his head in disappointment.

As a kid, being corrected in front of ALL your extended family members, with your dad looking on at you in disappointment, while some of your extended family members perhaps laughing and chuckling at your mistake… it’s not a fun thing, I can assure you.

Mortifying. That’s the word.
Absolutely, completely, totally mortifying.

Who would want to willingly add this much complexity into their lives?

It must be so, so, so refreshing just to be able to say “Uncle” or “Aunt” or “Cousin” without having to worry about which side of the family they’re on, whether they’re your mom or dad’s older or younger sibling, whether this person is older or younger than you, who they’re married to, etc.

As a kid, I was like – “Why can’t I just call him Uncle?”

My dad – “Because you’re Chinese.”

AMERICA IS WORRIED! China Will Build 8 Overseas Military Bases in The Future

https://youtu.be/ErLOXUdjcbc

Saving Momma

15 floors, in this case.

This guy

scaled a 19-storey building just to save his mother.

And he did that with an injured hip.

West Philadelphia. 2019.

His mother was at the hospital, unwell and bedridden. A fire breaks out on the lower floors. He gets a call from his sister telling him their Momma’s stuck in the hospital and it’s on fire.

He races to that building’s entrance, only to be told by police officers who were on the scene, barring the entrance, that it was too dangerous to let anybody in.

He didn’t let that stop him, he climbed up.

On the 15th floor he found her safe on a balcony. She told him she was told by police over the phone not to move from there as the fire was being contained.

Appeased, at ease that she was okay, he climbed back down. The fire was taken care of and eventually his mother and others were able to leave the building.

“I took it upon myself because that’s my mother. There’s no limits. That’s my mother.”

Footnotes

The man who scaled a 19-story building like Spider-Man did it to save his bedridden mother | CNN

Do you realize if Trump goes to prison, America is truly not a free country anymore?

Oh! One guy might go to prison and all of a sudden you’re worried that America isn’t “free” anymore?

Well, I’ve got some news for you.

America currently incarcerates 664 of every 100,000 people living in the country. Millions more are on probation or are suffering some sort of civil disability because of having a criminal record. For example, in New York State, people with a felony conviction aren’t allowed to become barbers.

If you want to say “America sends too many people to jail” I would heartily agree with you. However, if you’re complaining that some idiot who tried a harebrained scheme to overturn an election he lost by a wide margin proves America isn’t “free”, you’re about 40 years too late.

John Dean spent more time in prison than any other person involved in Watergate, and he was the guy who first blew the whistle on the operation.

What are some ways to live a stress-free life?

Personally, at age 66 , I’ve eliminated stress by making three major changes in my life. Firstly, eliminating all friends and family members who were unnecessarily stressed, and unfairly imposing that stress into my life. Secondly, I stopped earning money in a manner which was extremely stressful, and resulted in an unhealthy lifestyle. Thirdly, I started going to the gym, and began lowering my Resting Heart Rate, through a vigorous training program.

Ultimately, for myself, it was all about changing three major components of my lifestyle. My social life, my employment, and my health.

Can you think of something that needs to be fixed in our education system, but no one talks about it?

I can think of a lot of things, but I’ll just focus on one: a lopsided allocation of resources away from advanced/gifted, middle-or-upper income, able-bodied students with stable home lives.

That is, the more academic, mental, social, economic, or familial challenges a student has, the more resources school districts will allocate towards them. But, in a world of finite resources, that means that the students who don’t have those challenges have resources taken from them.

For example: In the early 2000s, a paraprofessional at a public high school in the Chicago suburbs. I was hired to help exactly one student. That student had cerebral palsy and was quadriplegic. He was of average intelligence, but he had no realistic chance of ever living alone. He had a very slight chance of finding some sort of job that would pay him enough to where he could be taxed on it. But, in all likelihood, he would spend his entire life relying on others to do everything for him.

It wasn’t his fault, of course. And yes, he still deserved an education. He was a cool guy. We got along great. I just checked, and I can’t find anything online about him from the last 13 years. His parents would be well into their 70s by now, so I’m guess that, if he’s still alive, he’s living in a group home somewhere.

Anyway, back then, I made $36k annually helping that one single student. That’s the equivalent of about $63k today.

And I was one of over a dozen paraprofessionals at that one school, each working with one student with similar struggles. I know for a fact that at least three of those students didn’t live past 25, due to their conditions.

Now imagine if schools spent equivalent resources on the students on the opposite end of the challenge spectrum. Imagine if, for every student who needed a 1:1 paraprofessional just to get through the day, the school hired a gifted education tutor to help challenge the academically advanced students. Imagine if, in addition to a special education resource room for students with challenges, each school also had a gifted education resource room, for students for whom the regular education options were too easy.

That could apply to areas outside of academics as well. Have a student who is an athletic or artistic or musical prodigy? Why shouldn’t the school hire someone to help them reach their full potential, the way they hire people to help students with challenges?

“Child prodigies” aren’t all that rare. They’re just advanced students whose parents had the resources to help them succeed. If schools started providing those resources to all advanced students, we’d see a lot more “child prodigies.” And, ultimately, a lot more adults whose contributions to society went beyond “making those around them feel better about themselves for being empathetic and inclusive.”

Oliver Anthony – I Want To Go Home (REACTION!!!)

How could soldiers live with themselves after invading another country and slaughtering their women and children?

Americans, Australian, Canadians and a few of the so called alliances were willing to slaughtering and being hypocritical and pretentious. But more than that for me it is a tinge of racism. They the soldiers are slaughtering coloured people that they don’t have affiliation or affinity to.

Let us call a spade a spade. The world knows the U.S. lead in slaughter of 2 million in Korea, 3 million in Vietnam, 1 million in Manila and 1 million Muslims in Mindanao Philippines, 2 million in Iraq and 1 million in Afghanistan and it is not over yet… the U.S. will kill and kill and kill. They will justify some shit like pretentious democracy or freedom.

But the culling will continue till one day they pick in the wrong nation like China and their world go up in nuclear dust!

What’s something your cat has done that you’re going to talk about forever?

Almost 20 years ago, my then husband (now ex-), who was verbally and emotionally quite abusive, was ripping my face off with an enraged tirade. I was sitting on the sofa, with my face leaning on the palms of my hand, waiting for the tirade to be over.

Then I heard a pitty-pat of paws and I looked up to see my Skittles came from the bedroom into the living room, where we were.

She sat down in front of me and my ex (who had not noticed her and kept screaming his rage). Skittles looked first at me, then at him, then at me, then at him again. And then she let out a VERY angry meow/hiss/growl AT MY EX, all without leaving her spot.

It was a very, very clear message: “Knock off being so verbally violent to mom!”

My ex jumped from the sofa completely startled, looked at the cat and said, “OK!”

He then resumed his tirade in much, much milder tones, finished off very soon after and then left.

That cat had defended me like a dog.

Then and there, in my mind, I promised her I would always take care of her. And I did. Skittles was with me for 13 years and she was my best friend. Could not have had a better cat.

Here is a picture of Skittles.