Today I visited Quora, and saw a post written by my half-sister. She is my father’s daughter with his second wife. And it was a tribute to my dad.

I hadn’t talked to her since my dad died, and she lives in Erie, and I have long forgotten about her. I left a comment to her… telling thank-you for her tribute to our mutual father. Nine sentences.

I do not want to open up dialog with her, as I have long since given up on my old family back in the states, but I did get something nice out of it. I got a picture of my father when he was in the Air Force in his 20’s.

I will still stay away. I have ZERO interest in any continuing dialog for any reason. But in regards to this, let me show you all my father… handsome man.

Today…

What’s the most outrageous reason you’ve ever seen a customer refuse to pay for a service?

Years ago my son was working as a tow truck driver. He was sound asleep at 2 AM when he got a call. He jumped up finishing getting dressed as he was running out the door. The call was for a car on the freeway so those are a priority. He drove to the car and found the guy had gotten out on the side of the freeway and locked himself out of his car. It was not hard to figure out he’d probably been drinking a little and stopped to urinate. So my son got there and quickly opened up the car and told the man the fee is $185. That is the standard fee for a call to the freeway. The man flipped out and told my son that was ridiculous and he was NOT paying that kind of money. My son explained that was the standard fee of all the towing companies for a call out to a freeway. My son was polite and professional the entire time but this man said: “That took you two seconds and I’m not paying $185 for that!!”. My son finally just looked at him and said “You’re not? Ok then” and my son walked over to the car, tossed the keys on the seat, locked the door and walked to his tow truck and got in and drove away. I guess that man didn’t understand that while it took my son 2 seconds because he’s good that my son had already worked all day and was sound asleep at 2 AM. My son doesn’t make any $185 for that call but instead was making $15 an hr. He could have not answered the phone at all at that hour but he’s a good person. He gets up and goes out. I sure hope that the next car that came by was not a CHP and that guy ended up with a DUI. If he did then he was wishing he paid $185. He had to pay it anyway when the next truck came from some other company.

What is a slap-in-the-face job offer?

My boss asked me to deliver a lamp to a photographer at Condé Nast publications in New York City. They are the publishers of glossy magazines such as Vogue, W, Glamour, Allure, Self, Teen Vogue, Lucky. Their offices and studios are absolutely stuffed with gorgeous women; some for photo-shoots, but also many models who retired into the fashion- magazine business.

I got into an elevator which was immediately packed with a crowd of stunningly beautiful young women headed to various photo studios. I inhaled the intoxicating perfume and slyly whispered to the elevator operator, “Now THIS is the happiest place on Earth.” He chuckled knowingly.

I delivered the lamp, and caught the down elevator. When we got to the main floor, the elevator emptied, and I asked the operator, half-kidding, “How does one get a job like this?”

I was surprised when he responded, “You just apply at the front desk in the lobby. The pay is really great, full benefits, AND since most of the models are lonely and from out-of-town, you can date all the hot supermodels you could possible want. So make sure you pick up an application on your way out…then take the bus to Cleveland.”

“Cleveland?” I asked.

“Well,” he grinned, “That’s where the back of the line is.”

Gulyas (Hungary)

“Gulyas” means cattle- or sheep-herder in Hungarian. This hearty soup has traditional roots in the foods prepared by rustic herders, long ago. Serve the soup in bowls topped with sour cream.

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean boneless stewing beef
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 2 teaspoons Hungarian sweet paprika
• Dash of cayenne pepper
• 3 cups beef stock or broth
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon caraway seed
• 1/2 teaspoon crumbled dry marjoram
• Salt and pepper
• 1 (16 ounce) can tomatoes, broken up
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
• 2 red (or green) bell peppers, cut into chunks
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons water
• Csipetka, if desired
• Sour cream

Instructions

1. Wipe beef with damp cloth; cut into 1-inch cubes. Place oil in Dutch oven. Add beef; brown well on all sides. Remove from pan with slotted spoon; set aside.
2. Add onions and garlic to pan; cook 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add paprika, cayenne, stock, the 2 cups water, caraway, marjoram, salt, pepper and meat. Stir well. Bring to boil over moderate heat. Reduce heat to low; cook, covered, 45 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, and peppers. Stir well; return to boil. Cover; cook 30 minutes.
4. Combine flour and the 2 tablespoons water; stir to form smooth paste. Add slowly to soup, stirring well. Cook over low heat, stirring until thickened. Drop Csipetke (noodle/dumplings) into soup before serving, if desired.

Serves 4 to 6

What is the single most underrated trait a person can have?

I have a friend from my graduate days. A quiet, gentle, unassuming guy, with a permanent smile on his face. I never saw him agitated. Or elated. He took everything as it came – the good and the bad.

Being academically average, the both of us started our MBA prep in the third year. Attended the same classes in our fourth. During the mid of the year, I relocated to Bangalore for a 6 month internship, he stayed back at campus. He always aced his mock tests, but, unfortunately, just a few months prior to D-Day, his father passed away. He didn’t do as well in the actual exam as he could have. Consequently, he couldn’t make it to a good college.

Now being the sole earner in the family, he took up the best offer at hand. A mass recruiter paying around 3–3.25 lpa and resumed prep for the next year’s exam. He didn’t make it this time either. Not one to get disheartened, he tried again the following year. They say “third time’s a charm”, and it was for him.

He got into one of the best MBA colleges in the country, worked hard for another 2 years, and graduated with honors (top 5% of the batch). Landed himself a cushy job with a boutique trading firm making 10x of what he was.

During all of these years, I never heard him rant about his rotten luck. Or bitch about his problems. Or complain about the unfair advantage that the rich and powerful have. He just kept his head down and kept working with what he had (talent) and what was handed to him (luck).

So, “what is the single most underrated trait a person can have”?

Perseverance.

What are common mistakes made by college students?

Freshman year I was living in the dorms. I was living in the cheapest dorms on campus, so it was me and a roommate living with 30 other girls with two communal bathrooms on the 11th floor.

I was on that unlimited meal plan flow, and the freshman 15 had become a reality. I decided it was time to go on a health kick.

I had an (illegal) crockpot in my dorm. One of these bad boys.

I bought myself some fish (I think it was tilapia), rice, and broccoli.

I threw it all in that crockpot with some vegetable broth, turned it on, and went to the gym.

I stayed at the gym for 3 hours, then got some food afterwards for a total of four hours.

I returned to my dorm and got on the elevator.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, a stench of fish attacked my nostrils. It permeated every corner of the 11th floor.

I knew immediately I had made a big mistake.

My RA was searching every inch of our floor for the source of the smell. Girls were out in the halls spraying Febreze. People were speculating that some girl on our floor was having major lady problems.

I waited until my RA was no longer in sight of my room. I opened my door. The stench of fish almost made me pass out, it was so strong.

I ran and turned my crockpot off and bagged all the fish up and put it in my refrigerator. No one could know it was me.

I was lucky that my roommate went out of town that weekend so she didn’t have to know about it.

Since I didn’t have a sink in my room, I’d have to wash the Crockpot out in the public bathroom, which was a high risk situation of me getting caught.

I first decided to soak it with dish soap and water which I carried in a water bottle from the sink to my room.

Then, when it had soaked, I took it to the shower so I could wash it behind a curtain to lower the risk of anyone seeing me.

I disposed of all of the evidence before my roommate came back.

Our entire floor smelled like fish for four days. It was bad.

By the time my roommate came back, I had done my best to air out our room and febreze everything.

However, every fabric held a slight smell of fish. All of her and my clothes, our bedspreads, and our carpet had a small stench.

She would notice that her clothes smelled like fish every once in a while and she’d say “How did this happen? Do your clothes smell like fish too?”

I’d be like “Yeah, that is so weird. It’s probably the water here.”

I was successful, no one ever found out that the source of the fish stench was me and my crockpot until years later, when I willingly told some of my friends. (Which they now never let me forget)

But I learned an important lesson that day, one that all college freshman should follow:

NEVER CROCKPOT YOUR FISH AT YOUR DORM.

What school rule had to be put in place because of you?

My first husband passed away in January, 2001. My daughter was 16 at the time, in 10th grade. I permitted her to take a week and a half off to grieve, but getting homework assignments from her teachers.. When she returned to school, her history teacher told her that she had a report due that day. She had not been made aware of the assignment, as the teacher had only given it a week prior. The teacher told her. “ Well, you should have been here when it was assigned. “ She told her that her father’s death was not a good enough excuse for missing class. She came home in tears. I called the school the next day and spoke with the principal. He agreed that the teacher had been out of line. The teacher was made to apologise to her in front of the class, and was written up for being insensitive. I asked the principal if I could schedule a grief instructional seminar for the staff, and he agreed. The seminars still happen every year. I also spearheaded a grief counseling group, headed by a wonderful hospice nurse. It still exists today in that school. Not really policy changes, but changes nevertheless.

The Best Passports for a World War

As a surgeon, what is the strangest thing you have found inside someone while performing a surgery?

I am not a surgeon but a Trauma Nurse. But I did have an interesting case.

One night shift an elderly man, 80’s, comes in complaining of abdominal pain. We started an IV, sent blood to the lab to see if he had an elevated white cell count which would point to appendicitis.

On physical examination he had a scar from a previous appendectomy, a soft abdomen, no reflex on palpitation, but a hard, firm mass about the level of his navel to pubis. So we sent him off for an X-Ray of his abdomen.

On return from X-Ray the tech put the films on the viewer and left without a word. When I looked up there, as big as life was a 1 liter Thermos sitting just past his rectum in his large intestine.

I informed him that he was going to be admitted for removal of a foreign object when the OR opened the next day. He asked if I would call his wife to tell her he was being admitted.

When I informed her that we needed to keep him overnight she stated, “Not that thermose again is it? Well you tell him he can take a taxi home because I ain’t picking him up again.”

Have you ever been ignored by the staff in a store because you didn’t look wealthy enough?

I had always worn el cheapo suits, just something to look professional at work. But my girlfriend thought I should get a once in a life time, show off suit, as I was in the fittest shape of my life. So we went to Holt Renfrew to buy a suit, I was thinking Armani because it sounds impressive, but really I just wanted a suit that made me look good. No one was rude or anything, but no one approached me as I was browsing. I just got the vibe, that I wasn’t welcome.

I went next door to Harry Rosen, and as soon as I started browsing, I was approached, and asked if I would like a cappuccino while we picked out a suit. I was hooked, it might be a gimmick, but it made me feel special. They showed me that a Canali looked better on me, than the Armani, and suited my physique better. They asked if I wanted the name, or the look. Because no one would know that it was an Armani if I didn’t name drop.

I took the Canali. After it was fitted and adjusted, I went back to Holt Renfrew to compare prices, while wearing my new suit, shirt, tie and shoes.

I had someone asking if they could help me in seconds.

Maybe the first time everyone was busy at Holt Renfrew, but after that I bought a lot at Harry Rosens. Nothing as expensive as that suit, but nice clothes.

What will be the effect if Trump imposes a new China tax on most imported goods bar Americans from investing, restrict Chinese ownership of U.S. assets and a complete ban on imports of Chinese-made goods, like electronics, steel and pharmaceuticals?

It will speed up China’s ascendency and swiftly destroy the U.S. economy. Over time the U.S. will implode and break up into 5–6 different nation. It will start a class war in the U.S. and polarise the U.S. as never before.

But heck, ignore my advise and do it anyway! Trump is very smart he will say all what you and for, but do 1% and fool all of you while he enjoys popularity! Biden is not too clever he will do 10% and screwed up the U.S. and spend the rest of his term negotiating with China! He get screwed from left and right.

Chinese will do precisely what the U.S. do but it hurts you ten times harder!

What is a slap-in-the-face job offer?

This happened to my wife. She interviewed for a position, she nailed a software testing interview to a point where some interviewers in the interview panel said after the interview, it would be a crime if this company did not pick her.

She was obviously over joyed and waiting for the offer. The offer did come 2 days later; she stated her current compensation and they agreed they would give at least 5 K more.

2 days later the company came back with close to 20K less than her current compensation saying that the company’s CEO said that the job and the person who interviewed for the job did not deserve such a high compensation and that since the office locality was already closer to her place the company was doing her a huge favor already.

My wife politely declined the offer saying she was happy with her current job( which she was except for the commute) and she said she would join the company if they offer her the same compensation. The recruiter went back to the CEO and after 2 days of serious discussions with CEO, the recruiter came back excitedly and said the company was willing to offer 5 K more than their previous offer( which was still 15K lesser than the previous offer ). My wife was amused by the recruiter’s excitement and said it was lesser than her current compensation and declined the offer.

At this moment the recruiter should have left it like that and moved on. But she suggested that my wife was lying about her total compensation and that the position did not entail such an high pay in the current job market. This came after the recruiter accepted my wife’s initial proposition and after one of the interview panelist stated that my wife had done the interview really well.

Till this moment we were actually in a dilemma because the commute was really frustrating( 2 hours one way commute), after this discussion my wife made her mind to stick with her current job and try for a different job later.

My wife got a better paying job 1 month later within 5 mile radius. One of the panelist in that interview became family friend and said they were still looking for someone to fill that position( after close to two months) and that the CEO suggested that he would actually reach out to my wife again with a better TC.

What were the main reasons for the South’s defeat in the US Civil War? Was it due to a lack of preparation and resources, or were there other factors at play?

The Confederacy was a midget taking on a giant. It trailed the Union in population, manufacturing, economic might, transportation networks and available capital. It was a miracle it held on as long as it did.

Let’s start with population. At the start of the war, the population of the Union states was about 22 million. The entire population of the Confederacy was about 9 million, but 3.5 million of those were slaves. As a result, during the war, the Union raised 2 million troops. The Confederacy raised fewer than 1 million.

Similarly, the GNP of the Union states was about three times that of the Confederate states, and most of the Union GNP was manufactured goods even though the Union had triple the arable land. The Union had five times as many factories as the Confederacy, and most Confederate factories were focused on agricultural processing.

The Union had two and a half times more railway mileage than the South, and it was better connected. Most southern railways just ran to the coast.

Not long into the war, the Confederacy had practically no gold, and thanks to Union blockades, had trouble exporting goods to raise more. Both sides printed currency, and although the Union currency wasn’t popular, the Confederate currency pretty much quickly became worthless.

The Confederacy knew it couldn’t defeat the Union. It’s only hope was that the Union would tire of the war and sue for peace. However, the Confederacy, despite a couple of really competent generals, couldn’t form a strategy that would force the Union to the bargaining table. Yes, Union attacks at the heart of the Confederacy were generally unsuccessful, but on the Mississippi the Union pretty much won every battle and managed to stop Confederate trade dead in its tracks.

What was your most embarrassing unclothed experience?

Hi.

I’m Alex from Ecuador,

Well not many besides people I went to school with and my parents know this story but I figure what the hell! It’s a long one just a warning. I was bullied all through out my grade school and middle school years. I was a chubby over weight girl and far bigger then most of my fellow school mates.

It started with the usual name calling and pushes in the hallway, but it eventually got much much worse. My worst experience would have to be in 8th grade, when one of the boys I had a crush on pretty much the most popular boy in the school, was coaxed by a group of girls to “Ask me out”. Me being the dumb kid I was thought he was being genuine.

He asked if I would go to the school year end dance with him. I was excited I made my mom buy me a new outfit and I had my hair professionally done basically went all out. Well (now this is where it gets hard for me to talk about) I got to the dance and hooked up with a few friend waiting for my “date” to arrive I was so happy and excited.

He showed up and asked me if I wanted to dance. We danced not to a slow song or anything but danced together. Then the girls showed up. These girls were some of the meanest bitches on earth I swear. They came to the dance floor and well they were being nice.

Complimenting me on my outfit and hair saying how lucky I was to snag the hottest guy in school. Well my date then asked if I wanted to go sit on the bleachers for awhile and talk. I went sat down and we started talking and it was like everyone melted away. He then asked to be excused and one of the girls came up and asked if I would go with her to the washroom so we could “fix our make-up”. I walked into the washroom and there were at least 8 girls in there.

They grabbed my hair and ripped me down to the ground they literally ripped all my clothing off. I mean everything and dragged me by my hair out of the washroom one of the three girls stood by the back entrance so I couldn’t get out that way and one other girl locked the bathroom door from the inside so I couldn’t run there. Then my “date” came around the corner said I was a disgusting whale and he would never date someone like me he then grabbed my hair and two other girls grabbed my arms and they dragged me out into the gym dropped me and took off as teachers came running. Two other girls snapped pictures before taking off as well.

so there I was on the gym floor in front of 150 students..teachers and parents…naked..beaten up and crying. If that wasn’t enough one of the girls who snapped a picture of me. Had it developed and used a photo copier and posted the pictures all over the school on the last day. None of the kids involved were ever punished as the princible said ” It’s the end of the year none of these kids will be coming back here anyways”, What they did to me was wrong but I grew from it and I swore come high school I was not going to be some victim.

I joined the football team the first day as the first female linebacker ever and I kicked ass for 3 seasons. I was pretty popular I had tones of friends and even though I was popular I NEVER EVER put anyone else down.

Oh and over the summer I ran into my “date” I went up to him called him a fucking loser and kicked him as hard as I could in the balls.

He moved away…Two of the head girls who did me the most damage I went to high school with….as popular as they were in middle school they were shit in high school one is now a meth head..The other is on welfare with 4 kids!

I LOVE karma 🙂

What is the most satisfying way you saw a smirk get wiped off someone’s face?

My wife has been chesty. Before the kids too.

Our daughter has taken after her mother in that regard.

---

My daughter was on her way to her office after a lunch with me, waiting for the elevator and a man (30–40s) came along. Made a bit of small talk, and then out of nowhere, he said and I quote what my daughter said “You don’t really have to work. Just show off those knockers to a rich daddy who’ll take care of you and those things”.

---

When he cleared three interviews (technical, informal, different teams + hiring manager), he was face to face with my daughter, who was the HR boss. She just played the video she got from security from the elevator.

He had to be escorted off, coz he wouldn’t stop accusing her of torpedoing him and turn to begging and than back to accusing.

---

Needless to say, his career in consulting for retail isn’t going anywhere and my daughter made sure every big employer in the narrow field knows about that man.

I was a proud daddy that week, and you couldn’t do anything to take off the smile off my face.

Oppressed?

If China really wanted to, could it successfully invade, occupy, and annex Taiwan?

What’s a rule your employer implemented that backfired terribly?

What’s a rule your employer implemented that backfired terribly?

I was eight seconds late getting back from my break. I got wrote up for being late. EIGHT SECONDS.

I usually worked through my breaks and part of my lunch because I just liked doing what I was doing without interruption. (My bosses knew this, too.) But for some reason, on that day, I did take my allotted break, and was late.

After being disciplined for my tardiness, I took every single break, every single time. Right down to the last second. I didn’t work nearly as “hard” as I did previously, either. (I like the t’s crossed, and the i’s dotted. That evaporated. My work was still accurate, but I didn’t go the extra mile.) My employer lost a lot for that eight seconds. However, the most valuable thing that was lost was the respect I used to have for my job and boss.

Thankfully, I’m retired now.

Visiting the USA After 5 Years Living Abroad

For anyone who was bullied in school, what was the worst act of bullying you had to endure?

I was a big and athletic kid but I also moved a lot when I was in elementary school. Each time we moved I had to prove myself all over again.

Being the “new kid” meant that I was bullied by all sorts of kids from all sorts of groups, at least until I fought back.

And I learned to fight back pretty quickly. You don’t really have to win all your fights, you just have to prove that you’re willing to fight. That’s the key. And that you won’t back down.

I particularly had a tough time moving from St. Pete, Florida, to a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri, in 1980 between 6th and 7th grade.

St. Pete was awesome. We lived on the water in a great community. We had power boats and sail boats and I had lived there for a couple of years so I had a bunch of friends (Little League and Pop Warner).

No offense intended but the suburbs west of St. Louis sucked in comparison.

Anyhow, as a 7th grader I went to South Senior High School which had grades 7 through 12. My first week there I got into a scrap with some kid and did pretty good. The problem was that he had an older brother, a freshman, who later cornered me when I wasn’t expecting it and gave me a bit of a whooping.

I was so disappointed in myself that I decided to fight the older brother again. So the next day I ran up and basically tackled him in front of all of his friends and fought him until teachers broke it up. I didn’t win but I sure as hell didn’t lose.

But that was enough. Nobody messed with me the rest of that year. Attacking a high school kid got me a lot of street cred with the kids in 7th grade. I was suspended for a couple of days but my Dad was old school so he was proud of me for sticking up for myself.

But then we moved from St. Louis to the East Bay of San Francisco between 7th and 8th grade and I had to do the same thing all over again.

Times were different back then.

Keeko

What happened at a poker table in a casino that made you say, “You gotta be kidding me?”

I had a business trip to Las Vegas some years ago. I was traveling with a friend, who frequented LV to gamble several times a year. He suggested we play craps and gave me a book on how it is played.

When we got to the tables, he carefully selected a table, based on the laughing and sport the players were having. His comment: play with people who are having fun. I was next to a guy who had at least $5K in chips. I had my measly $200. As play progressed, my slot had increased to about $400 and I felt great. The guy beside me had at least $25K in his. Then, we all crapped out. I was down to about $300 total, with $100 more than I started with. My friend insisted we leave the table and go for a walk and get a cup of coffee.

We took a walk, had a coffee, etc. My friend told me we’d stop by that table in about an hour and find the same $25K guy playing. We did come back and he had less than $2K in his slot. He had lost over $20K while we walked. My friend told me that many people gamble and do not stop until they lose everything they brought. This was an interesting lesson for me. Gambling can be fun, but one must limit the loss.

Watch this man

Why do humans need to wipe after they poop, when animals can just squat and plop? Why do humans need to shower or they’ll get rashes and smell awful, but animals don’t?

Every living creature has an anus: Ants, horses, eagles . . . And us. While most creatures’ anuses do their jobs with little fuss, not so with human beings. The design of our anus is Providence’s little joke to keep us humble.

Consider, for example, the horse. We live across from a horse breeding establishment so I’ve had ample opportunity to observe these estimable animals in action. While they shit copiously they never get any on their hair (when was the last time you saw a horse’s behind fouled by its own waste?). The reason for this lies in the design of the horse anus. It is an extensible device that, when a BM is about to pass, protrudes a few critical inches, allowing the manure to drop straight to the ground without mussing a single hair. To further forfend fouling, there is no hair in the immediate vicinity of the horse’s anus, nor on the extensible process itself. What a remarkable design.

Not so with us. Our small orifice is buried deep in a meaty cleft, the margins of which have to be spread to their limit if there is to be any chance the thicket of long, nasty hair in the cleft will not be fouled by the passing of stool — a vain exercise in 99 cases out of 100. Moreover, while the horse can defaecate while standing, just let a human being try that! No we must squat. But not only squat, we must go through all sorts of contortions to minimize the amount of feces that will cling to the surrounding parts — which, as we all know, is another futile exercise.

To accommodate our flawed design, we are taught from birth to use wads of paper, magazine pages, dried corncobs and even stones, to wipe our filthy behinds. And this we must do! If we did not wipe, we would reek of dung from the cake of dingleberries between our cheeks and our pants, skirts, caftans and burkas, would be fouled with nicotine stains and clouds of flies would follow us down the street like goslings.

We are the most wretched of all creatures.

By design

What is a slap-in-the-face job offer?

I worked in a high tech company and moved up the ladder from bottom level CSR to a business manager overseeing a 60 million dollar product line by the age of 30. I was the best in the world at what I did but I had two huge strikes against me. One was my absolutely shitty attitude. I have written about attitude before. You must always have a great attitude, even if you have to fake it. No single thing is more important to your success in life than your attitude. But mine sucked. The second thing that worked against me was that in many companies, no matter where you are or how good you are, many people will see the guy who started at the bottom. In the eyes of Management, I was the customer support lackey who fixed broken things for them, not the guy making them 60 million dollars a year. There was a distinct lack of respect and that contributed to my bad attitude.

A new manager was hired for the department. He was an angry, mean jerk whose approach to everything was “shoot first ask questions maybe – they don’t deserve your consideration anyway.” I could no longer take the contempt and I quit.

A few months after I left the company began to realize its loss. I am not bragging about myself here. I did good work and I was the best at what I did. I designed the products. I knew absolutely everything about them. I was the sales troubleshooter who went on hundreds of sales calls per year. I knew every weak link in the competition. I knew how to present the product in the best light. I could give stellar presentations to huge audiences. I was making them a lot of money.

So they approached me at my new job and said they wanted me to come back. Everyone wanted me to come back except for that new asshole who had been, and would be my manager. He had been tasked with bringing me back but he didn’t want me back. I outshone him at every level. I could do his job in my sleep. But he was the guy they tasked with bringing me back. So he asked me to dinner.

When you’re going to bring someone back and you ask them to dinner you don’t take them to McDonald’s to make your pitch. We were suit and tie guys and wearing a suit and tie at McDonald’s was a surreal experience. I let it go. I wanted to hear the offer.

And so Greg made the offer. They offered me the exact same money I was making at my new company and that was it. No bonus. No extra stock. No retained seniority or vacation time. He was going through the motions because he was told to go through the motions. But his entire attitude was resentment and anger. For a few minutes I thought I was misunderstanding him; the offer was so lame as to be not even worth the time at McDonald’s. I had to ask for clarification.

He looked at me with contempt and said, “That company you’re at now is going down. We can offer you any terms we want and you’ll take it because you don’t want to be part of a sinking ship.” I might add that my old company that was trying to get me back was also doing a fair imitation of the Titanic at the time, too. I was absolutely stunned when he said it. I couldn’t believe it. So I laughed a little bit, got up and left.

That was a slap in the face offer.

I told a few old friends at my old company what had happened and it got back to the President. He called me personally on the phone and invited me to dinner. It was at a four star restaurant. When I got there he asked me what happened. I told him. He apologized. He said if I came back they would make it worth my while. I asked him if that guy would be my boss. He said yes, there was not much he could do about that. So I thanked him and said no. We ate and talked and then I left.

Two years later my old company was being sold to Compaq Computer on the back of a product I had designed years earlier. Even though I had been gone for two years, I was credited in a speech by the President for the work that made them successful in the sale. By then I was the senior manager in the department of my new company making much, much more money than I ever dreamed possible. I attribute my success in the new company to my new and improved attitude because attitude is everything.

Children of Lawyers

How or why did the US Army allow soldiers to drink and do so many drugs during the Vietnam war?

I was in the infantry in 1969, we were at a small, one-company firebase in the Mekong Delta. The Army did not “allow” drug use among its soldiers but it happened anyway. A guy who bunked across from me openly shot heroin. This obviously wasn’t sanctioned by the military. One night when we had set up a standard L-shaped ambush, this fellow decided he wanted to go home and walked right out into the middle of the ambush. Fortunately, nobody clicked a Claymore handle and he was retrieved safely. But the safety of an entire platoon had been compromised.

The very next night two VC walked right through the middle of our ambush site and nobody opened fire or set off a Claymore. We weren’t certain it wasn’t our drug-addicted soldier trying to head home again.

As for alcohol, all we had was beer when the little beer window was open. Pabst, aka rat piss, was 25¢ and the much-preferred Black Label was 35¢, and we sometimes had Bud. There was no hard liquor because there was no PX from which to purchase it. I never saw marijuana use but I’m sure it was widespread in other companies. Heroin was the problem.

So I suspect the next question would be: Why wasn’t this reported to the higher ups? Well, soldiers learned to be remarkably tolerant of their fellow GI’s. There was no upside to creating problems in the platoon, too many opportunities to become a victim of “friendly fire” on a dark night in the boonies. One soldier, on rare stand down days, played “Black Pearl, Precious Little Girl” endlessly on a 45 rpm player and nobody complained.

In summary, the Army allowed drinking because soldiers have consumed alcohol since, well, forever. Drug use was not allowed but it happened anyway, and this was well before the advent of drug testing. Everyone was trying to figure out his own way to get back home safely and the solutions were never that simple.

Party time on a stand-down day.

What was the best revenge you’ve ever gotten?

I worked for my best friend and he got into a bad motorcycle accident he was in coma and had to learn to walk and talk again so I took over doing everything for the company I worked 16 hr days 7 days a week for a year never asked for anything just wanted my friend to have everything he has before the accident. so after a little more than year he was back at work so I asked for a day off he said no he wife didn’t stick up for me or anyone in his family and they all knew what I did for him so I told him I quit he said fine so I went to our 3 big company’s we did work for and asked them if they wanted to learn what we did for them and I told them what my boss did that night we went out bought 3 trucks and I trained them how to do what we did my boss lost over a 1,000,000 because of losing those company’s work and then list his wife and everything he owned because what I did by taking those company’s away

This is painful

How did your high school crush end up in life?

Definitely going anonymous for this.

My high school crush was a beautiful girl named Adrian, a year behind me, and it seems I was the only person in the school who had ever seen Rocky and got the ‘Adriaaaaaaaaaaaaaan’ joke she kept making.

She was maybe 5 foot 4, adorable, and had a propensity for sitting in my lap in the lunchroom and stealing my food (I made my own lunch through most of high school).

She also ended up dating a guy who was, to be fair, scum. He had that ‘bad boy’ charm that young women seem to enjoy, I suppose, but he was borderline retarded and generally violent.

One day in 2014, I was sitting around bored and decided to reconnect with people from high school. Would not recommend.

I found her Facebook page, and noticed that literally nothing had been done to it in years.

Then I found her obituary, and his about a month later.

I talked to someone from her circle of close friends in high school, and it sounded like when she graduated, they moved in together. She was bound for great things, musically and mathematically talented, and he was bound to wind up in the gutter.

Sadly, it sounds like he dragged her down, talked her into ‘experimenting’ with drugs, and both died of heroin overdoses.

Why can’t China invent anything new and only steals from the West?

A Student at Tsinghua asked Ren Zhengfei of Huawei this question

Everyone says China steals from the west. What should we do when someone says that

Zhengfei replied

Keep Innovating. Only the day you become more innovative than them and beat the West on their own terms, would you be in a position to convince yourself that you did not copy from anyone.

That’s your answer

Stealing can only take you so far

So wait and see how China does and then we decide whether China steals or innovates

Unless of course you are the fox who finds the grapes sour

The USA is bat shit crazy

Why don’t Westerners call out for the active dehumanisation of others? Is it because they quietly support it?

Absolutely!

Debate many westerners for a short period of time, what happens? Many of them will turn to racism and dehumanisation when they start losing the debate.

Yesterday for instance somebody posted a comment on the atrocities of Britain against India. He called the atrocities fiction.

I provided counter evidence and he started to dehumanise me and said it was all CCP propaganda.

Except I had been using WESTERN SOURCES.

He couldn’t respond to that so continued to make racist comments at me. They of course don’t see this as racist, much like war crimes against brown people are considered OK because they’re not really people!

You see television and culture of western countries makes them usually white people think they are the master race, that’s why there’s so many self hating Asians in the western world. They’re taught conditioned and trained that whiteness is GODLINESS and many of the people there run with it, as such they feel they can do no wrong, they are the BEST and only humans possible!

What was the most unexpected knock you got on your door?

I’m in my second week of at home suspension for striking a teacher. He locked me in a classroom and attempted to assault me when I wouldn’t consent to his advances on 14 year old me. The knock on the door was a deputy that served legal papers in our little town. The papers he served me was a summons to court for legal action pertaining to expenses incurred from point there after. I’m being sued by this teacher. My dad exploded, that jerk has bigger problems than money, just wait I don’t care if he’s in a courtroom. OMG I was saying daddy calm down a lot, I only call my dad “daddy” when I need him to calm down and focus on me so he doesn’t get into trouble or worse. The day of court arrived and there stands Mr Smug in his neck brace, bandaged nose, and black eye. I am holding my dad by both hands, telling him to look at me, please I don’t want you in jail dad. It doesn’t help that I’m shaking and I’m sure dad can feel it. Then the judge starts reading the case notes, Mr Smug is suing one Miss Key for medical expenses incurred during an altercation that resulted in a fractured nose, two chipped teeth, severe painful swelling in the groin, blurry vision, slight concussion, and upper neck pain. So young lady how do you plead? I asked the judge if I could present my papers (please don’t laugh we couldn’t afford a lawyer). He accepts my papers which are the affidavits from the custodian, vice principal and teacher (the witnesses that pulled me off of Mr Smug), the arresting deputy, and the school nurse that treated me before my dad arrived. His whole demeanor changed. WTH?! You mean to tell me that you are suing this girl because she kicked your but during an assault? His lawyer started trying to make an argument about me being malicious, and over bearing about defending myself. The judge told him to shut up, in what world does a 30 year old man believe he has a case against a 14 year old child that he is attempting to assault? Lawyer sets in with that is just allegations and hear-say, there’s no proof. I didn’t ask you lawyer I asked your client because as it stands this is the stupidest case I’ve ever heard of. In fact it’s so stupid that I’m dismissing it without prejudice, on grounds of incomprehension and competence. And might I extend my gratitude to you Mr Key for raising an able and resourceful young lady.

Hunter’s Stew (Bigos — Poland)

Ingredients

• 6 pounds canned sauerkraut
• 1/4 pound bacon or salt pork, diced
• 3 large onions, chopped
• 3 tart apples, peeled and chopped
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1 cup sherry or dry red wine
• Salt, pepper, sugar, to taste
• 3 pounds smoked sausage, sliced
• 1 bay leaf

Instructions

1. Rinse sauerkraut in cold water and squeeze out juice well, reserving some of the juice. Put sauerkraut in large kettle over low heat.
2. Meanwhile, render the bacon or salt pork. Add bacon bits to sauerkraut.
3. Sauté onions in bacon fat until golden; add chopped apples and cook until slightly browned. Add all to the kettle. Add sausage. Add enough beef broth, bay leaf, salt, pepper, a little sugar and some of the sauerkraut juice for tartness. Simmer slowly for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
4. Add wine and let stew bubble up. Cover and let stand until ready to use.

What is a slap-in-the-face job offer?

I went on an interview for a job I was grossly overqualified for, but I was unemployed (to finish my degree, which required internships), then the sequester hit when I graduated, and I needed ANY job so I could find one that was a better fit.

The boss told me the job paid $28 to $30. I was shocked, because that was extremely low, but they hired desperate people and they could smell it.

I then went through the interview process with the team lead and the office manager. Everything went well, and I headed home. It was a long drive, but that’s where business opportunity was.

While driving, I took a call from the office manager. She has been authorized to offer me the job at $10/hour. I did not laugh. I said “that is significantly lower than (boss) indicated the position paid.” Manager says, ‘you didn’t think $28 to $30 meant per hour, I’m sure? (Of course not, but the position SHOULD have paid much closer to that). $10/hour is the same as $28 to $30 thousand.’

I’m driving down the highway at 75 miles per hour, and very calmly said, no, I knew that was the annual salary. But $10/hour is $400 per week, at 52 weeks per year is $20,800 per year. and I did NOT say “if i can do the math in my head while driving, i’m pretty sure you can do it at your desk with a calculator at your disposal!”

Manager says “I can go check with (boss) to confirm – do you want to hold?”

I said “no, you were going to send me an offer letter? Why don’t you tell me about the benefits you mentioned, and when you send the letter you can make sure the figure is correct.”

An offer letter was not one this company typically provided because they liked to bait and switch – pay $8/hour when they’d offered $12, because you had no proof. I learned this later, and was SO glad I’d gotten a letter. When it came in, it was for the $28k figure.

My three-month review never happened, and at five months I had a nice offer from a much better company and I’m still there 5 years later. Making what I’m worth.

Sometimes you have to accept a slap in the face, but don’t let them step on your neck while they’re doing it.

Def-Con 4 (1985)

I remember this one. A cheesy B-grade movie, but I well remember enjoying it. You all have fun.

It is strange that the contemporaneous things going on today Geo-politically is much worse than what is described in this movie. Ugh!

Full Movie! Please watch the first 25 minutes. It’s all gold.

https://youtu.be/YTRoBQLQbZo