.
Michael Jackson and his doll
When I lived in Boston, I held numerous engineering management positions. And pretty much managed the engineering projects for automotive, electronics and household products. To do this, I typically managed a team of people; engineers, designers, and techs.
One of my CAD engineers came from Mattel. This is a major toy company in the United States. And he once told me the story of how he introduced his son to Michael Jackson.
At that time, they were producing a Michael Jackson doll, and he came on over to visit the factory and the engineering staff. He was segregated from all the workers, and most people wasn't aware that he was visiting. But my CAD engineers was. You see, the CEO introduced my engineer to Michael Jackson, and he was told to come back to the factory at 7pm with his kids.
So he did. His six year old son with him.
And there was Michael Jackson, up front and live. Walking to his son calling him by name and giving him a big hello and hug.
His son just stood there in shock.
His mouth was open and he didn't say a God damn thing.
Michael Jackson went on and chatted up a storm for something like 15 minutes, but he son was paralyzed in shock and didn't do anything. Just stood there looking up at him.
LOL.
Eventually Michael went away. He gave him a hug and some candy, and his dad got to get a few pictures of them all together.
And that was that.
It's funny how younger people idolize and adore those who are famous and who sign and perform in the movies. It's cute, but you know... dangerous.
Today...
What do you think of Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz asking Chinese leader Xi Jinping "to exert pressure on Russia" to end the war in Ukraine?
This shows a clear misunderstanding of the China/Russia relationship.
If Scholz asked Xi to put pressure on Putin to end the Ukraine war, this means that he thinks that China should use economic pressure on Russia and that China is willing to use economic leverage on Russia.
But China does not believe in exerting pressure on Russia this way because in Beijing’s view, the China/Russia economic relationship is working out very well. China gets all the cheap natural gas it needs from Russia; this is essential for China’s economy to keep its factories running and churning out products at prices the whole world can afford. Why would China do this? What would China get in return for putting pressure on Russia? Obviously the US would like to cripple Russia’s economy, and after Russia is carved up into several countries, which country will become the entrée on the US’s menu?
Obviously, it will be China!
So why should China help the US to weaken Russia? It makes no sense!
As for the relationship between Xi and Putin, it is very obvious that they consider the countries as equals. This is why while China has publicly stated it is for peace in Ukraine, it has not applied pressure on the Russian government to make any concessions. At the same time, Beijing has diplomatic relations with Ukraine, and is not happy about the casualties on both sides. But when it comes to economic importance, Russia is much more important than Ukraine.
The idea of putting pressure on another government is something the US has done repeatedly, especially on its European and Asian allies, who have been strong-armed into confronting Russia over Ukraine and China over Taiwan.
Because pressure has been used so much and used effectively, most of the G7 nations are not able to understand that diplomacy is not about the exertion of pressure, but clearly understanding national interests and conveying those interests through the proper diplomatic channels so that crises can be defused before they become too confrontational.
"I saw some politicians say that there appears to be a foreign element behind what's going on at the universities, like a foreign power that's instigating and agitating.
Yes, there is, and we all know which foreign power that is.
We all know which foreign country is stoking this crisis, and it sure isn't Russia, and it sure isn't China.
No, well, if you wondered why those kids want their schools to divest from Israel, just look at how their schools are treating them because they dared to ask for that.
Those universities are doing the bidding of Israel, not the bidding of China or the bidding of Russia.
They're not even doing the bidding of those kids' parents and those kids' families, and your police are doing the same.
So yes, there is a foreign power behind all this, and it's precisely that foreign power that the students want their schools to extricate themselves from, and it's very obvious to everyone.
It couldn't be more obvious.
It's as obvious as a baton cracked on the side of your head.
Look, on these campuses, like at Harvard and the Ivy League campuses and so on, you had demonstrations against Russia and in favor of Ukraine; you had that at the Ivy League schools, you had protests against China over Xinjiang and so on.
No zip ties, no arrests, no 550 kids going to jail, no.
But the moment they start demanding that their schools stop partnering with Israel over a genocide, and all hell breaks loose.
There's no mystery about what foreign country is driving that."
Excerpt from remarks by American geopolitical analyst Shahid Bolsen in a video where he speaks about the ongoing protests against the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on university campuses, both in the U.S. and around the world, April 27, 2024.
Plum Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 fryers, cut up
- Garlic salt
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 chopped onion
- 1 (17 ounce) can purple plums (reserve juice)
- 1 (6 ounce) can frozen lemonade
- 1/2 cup chili sauce
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 2 teaspoons prepared mustard
- 2 drops Tabasco sauce
Instructions
- Prepare sauce day before or make and freeze (best when used cold).
Sauce
- Pit plums and put in blender to puree.
- Cook onion in butter until tender (not brown).
- Add plum puree with juice and all other ingredients (except chicken).
- Simmer 15 minutes.
Chicken
- Sprinkle chicken with garlic salt and bake at 375 degrees F for 45 minutes, skin side up.
- Baste with plum sauce.
- Bake another 45 minutes, basting generously with sauce until well coated.
- Serve with additional heated sauce.
What has a seller ever told you that made you leave that place immediately?
I was about 28 or 29 (a long time ago), I looked young and my Dad came with me to look for a new car. I went to two dealers and basically told each one what kind of car I wanted (the first dealer was a Pontiac dealer and I was interested in a Grand Am, the second dealer was a Chevrolet dealer where I was interested in a Corsica). I also told each salesman how much I could afford for the monthly payment. Each one had a car that met my criteria but I settled on the Corsica. So when my Dad and I came back with the car I was trading in I was ready to sign the papers (that he showed and reviewed with me before) I noticed the numbers had changed and my monthly payment was a lot more than when I reviewed everything previously. I said to the salesman (who was my Dad’s age), these aren’t the numbers you showed me before! He replied well, we have to add in all these fees. I said well when I was here before I told you I wanted to know exactly what my monthly payment would be and now this number is way higher. I told him that I no longer wanted the car at those payments and his response was but we already took your license plate off of your car and put it on the new car. I said well, put it back on my car and my Dad and I left and went back to the Pontiac dealer and got the Grand Am where all the numbers he showed me before were exactly as I expected when I purchased the car. I loved that car and kept it for a long time.
Anti-China news
Who do you believe if your child is telling you one thing and their teacher is telling you another?
Quick version. My son said the teacher refused his homework and gave him ten zeros in her grade book. Found that hard to believe. Set up meeting with myself, my son, her and principal. I asked her if that was true. A simple yes or no would have worked. Instead she opened her grade and asked me if I saw ten zeros. Instantly I recognized her statement as a non denial denial from Watergate days. I looked at her and said “No but you said it didn’t you. “. She admitted she did. I asked her why. She said she hated my son. I asked her why. Saying no one hated my son he was so nice. She said she hated my son because he reminded her of her son and she hated her son!!! I was also a teacher. High school and a few years later I got her son as a student. The resemblance was remarkable. Very nice young man. Liked by all. As was my son. So sometimes the student is the one to believe.
Why US Wants to Ban TikTok and Wage Economic War on China with Carl Zha and Alex Reporterfy
What did someone do that made you think they were really smart?
I have twin sons. They’re now 15, but when they were around 3 years old, I noticed that whenever we came home from being out, they’d be confronted with the decision of which of their (ridiculously) many toys they were going to play with.
They’d rush into the living room, and Tim went straight for whatever he wanted to play with, and within a few minutes, his brother Nathan would decide that he just had to play with whatever Tim was now deeply engrossed with, and would start a big fight over it or even wrestle it from him forcefully (Nathan was significantly larger).
If my husband or I were around, we’d try and adjudicate, but it always ended in tears and drama.
After a month or two of this, I noticed a change in pattern. All of a sudden, Tim was just giving up his toy to Nathan without a fight. I was worried that he wasn’t standing up for himself, so I said to him: “You know, Tim, you had just as much a right to play with that toy as Nathan.”
He said: “I know. I knew he’d take it from me so I played with something I didn’t mind him taking. This [showing me what he was playing with now] was what I really wanted to play with anyway.”
Well played, Tim, well played.
His cunning has continued to manifest in other ways since then. 🙂
Note: I’ve had dozens of edit suggestions from people from India, who think that “cunning” is a negative/derogatory trait and necessarily synonymous with sneaky and under-handed. I find it an interesting cultural observation that this seems to be a connotation unique to Indian English. In any case, I feel a need to defend my use of this adjective. I’m his mother and adore him, and this is clearly not what I intend; I simply mean that he’s intelligent and views things from multiple angles, and isn’t easy to outwit. 🙂
Intimidation? U.S. B-2 Stealth Overflies Gaza, Low Enough to Be Clearly visible
A United States B-2 Stealth Bomber was sent to fly over the Gaza Strip today, and do so at an altitude wherein the plane was clearly visible to people on the ground.
What kind of a monster, sends a nuclear-capable Bomber aircraft to intimidate people on the ground?
Who in the US Military, ordered this? Why was it done?
Chinese President Xi will pay state visits to France, Serbia, Hungary from May 5 to 10. Why these three countries in Europe? What can we expect from the visit?
April, China's home diplomatic month is over, May's away diplomatic month, is kicking off.
On 29 April, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying announced that Xi Jinping would visit the three countries at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Emmanuel Macron, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, Hungarian President Tamás Sulyok and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Considering that Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with a large number of Asian foreign ministers in April, Xi is expected to meet with a number of Asian leaders upon his return from Europe, and may even attend the "China-Japan-South Korea Summit" to engage with Japan and South Korea, which are close to the U.S. foreign policy.
You know, the United States is shorting the yen.
Japanese media reports: Japan’s Finance Minister expressed to the United States in a pleading tone that the sharp depreciation of the yen is unbearable for us and hopes that the United States will be merciful and temporarily stop shorting the yen.
Xi's top priority in this round of trips is France.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. President Xi Jinping’s first visit to a Western country since 2020 is France, which reflects the importance he attaches to China-France friendship. Similarly, Macron is now in dire need of China's support.
That's because after the Sino-French meeting in May, Macron will face two big hurdles in his career:
- The European Parliament elections in June
- The Paris Olympics in July
At the European Parliament in June, Macron will have to pull in European leaders and seek to snipe at European Commission President Von der Leyen and curb her power.
At the Paris Olympics in July, if Macron seeks to push for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine or Palestine and Israel as host, he will in doing so become the true boss of Europe, replacing the US manipulation of Europe.
Macron's conflict with von der Leyen is mainly over trade policy, climate policy, and the relationship between Europe and the United States.
The huge contracts that can be brought about by the massive equipment renewal that China has opened this year, as well as the co-operation in the fields of new energy and nuclear energy, will be Macron's bargaining chips to convince other leaders in the European Parliament.
If, as Macron wishes, the European Commission President replaced by career bureaucrat Mario Draghi, former President of the European Central Bank, then the EU's trade and climate policy, will be led by France, in the relationship with Europe and the United States, France can also be more independent and autonomous.
But if Macron's plan fails, his influence within the EU will be extremely limited for the remainder of his term, and French foreign policy will be tied to the EU.
As for the competition between Macron and Joe Biden, it lies mainly in global leadership, and the proud French have always had a strong desire to challenge the United States in their hearts.
The Olympic Games will be held in Paris in July this year. The gathering of leaders of major countries will naturally become a platform for behind-the-scenes transactions between major countries. It is also the best time for negotiations between Russia&Ukraine, Palestine&Israel.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the UN has developed a practice of mobilising all its members to sign the "Olympic Truce" before each Olympic Games, and ceasing war operations for one month before and after the Games. This one-month window of truce is enough time for the warring parties to calm down, as in the case of the ceasefire in the Yugoslav civil war in the early 1990s.
If they can't do so during this period, it will be a direct escalation of the conflict.
For example:
- Russia raided Georgia during the 2008 Olympics.
- Russia raiding Ukraine during the 2022 Winter Olympics.
If Macron succeeds in brokering a ceasefire, it will make Macron the biggest contributor to world peace.
Either enjoy the glory added to it, or be embarrassed in front of the world. In any case, Macron is more or less about to take a gamble.
If Macron wants to do all this, he has only one choice in the face of Von der Leyen and Joe Biden, and that is to draw on mystical forces originating in the East, so he needs Xi's support.
Everyone wants world peace except the military–industrial–congressional complex (MICC)!
WTF Comics
How Americans communicate with Chinese people
What is the biggest tip that you have ever received as an employee?
I have done my time in the hospitality industry working at about 5 or 6 different restaurants and have been both fortunate and unfortunate when it comes to gratuity.
On two different occasions I received extraordinarily large tips and they were very similar amounts but very different situations.
The first time:
I was one of 3 waiters looking after a group of 25 VIP guests who arrived quite late in the evening as they had attended a formal ceremony earlier in the night. The host guest that night is a well known, very wealthy business man and we were optimistic. Only one course ended up being served, mostly burgers, along with wine & Champagne. It seemed the party was more interested in moving onto the next stop for the night.
The bill total was not that high considering the amount of guests and the usual head spend at this particular restaurant. I believe it was around R8000 (~ $450). In South Africa tipping is usually between 10 - 20% and upon receiving the bill back an expected, somewhat disappointing amount was written on the slip which I cannot remember.
It had been a long night and it looked as if us 3 waiters were not going to walk away with a lot. I informed the host that I would be back with the credit card machine.
Having seen enough evidence to know that good looking waitresses receive better tips from male guests I asked my fellow waitress who is very pleasing to the eye to return to the table with the card machine and to try and charm the host.
I have no clue what she said to him but when she returned from completing the transaction her smile was from ear to ear. The 10/15% tip that we would have received had changed to R1500 (~ $100) for each waiter which equates to R4500 (~ $300) total tip.
The second time:
Working at a different, much smaller, fine dining restaurant I received a tip that was slightly larger than the previous one. There were only 2 waiters working that night and it had reached the point where it looked like no more guests would be joining and we were close to having all the closing duties completed and getting out early.
5 minutes before the kitchen closes and we stop accepting tables and in walks a couple who are met by my fellow, very evidently displeased, waiter. He seats them and asks if I could please serve them as he does not have the patience this late in the night. Even though it was his turn on the rotation I agree and oblige because I had a strong feeling that it would be worth my efforts.
The couple were very aware that they were joining late and were very apologetic to which I dismissed as a non issue and that we were extremely glad to have them join us. I wanted to emphasise that they should not feel rushed and went as far to recommend our specialty 5 course food & wine tasting menu. I did not think they would actually go for it but I must have done a good job in promoting it as both of them decided to take it.
I was able to give them undivided attention as they were the only guests in the restaurant and it was very apparent that they were enjoying themselves. The lady had a few dietary restrictions which our kitchen was able to work around and they continuously raved about the food.
Come the end of their meal I returned to the table with the card machine and I saw the man had written R1600 (~ $110) under the gratuity section on a R1400 bill. I assume he must mean R1600 total which would be a R200 tip. I was willing to accept it as "money I never had before".
When he was signing the slip he sees the total and said that I put through the wrong amount. I was confused so asked him if I read the number 1600 wrong to which he replied that I never read the number wrong but that was my tip and not the total. I was clearly shocked by this and immediately thinking "I hope I have not just thrown away the biggest tip ever". He asked me to process his card for the difference which I did while saying thank you about 100 times over.
That same couple returned a few more times while I still worked there and always requested I serve them. They were always extremely generous and on one occasion they tipped every member of our kitchen staff an equal amount to what they tipped me.
Every time they came to dine with us my fellow waiter from that night would want to serve them only for them to request me. My patience the night they visited the restaurant for the first time led to me earning a fair sum of money from that couple over the period of a few months which was extremely helpful while I was a broke student.
American Justice
Tucker Interviews Aleksandr Dugin. THEY identify the destroyers of Western Values/Civilization.
Why was Rudolf Hess sentenced to life, even though he spent most of the war in the UK as a prisoner of war, while people like Albert Speer got 20 years?
There were multiple requests by the Brits, French and Americans for his release. Some attribute the lack of release due to a conspiracy between former King Edward VIII and Hitler. But that doesn’t appear to hold up since the British supported his release.
Each of the 11 unilateral British appeals, which dated back to 1957, along with 14 others made separately, or jointly, by the US and French authorities were rejected by an unwavering Soviet rejection. The Soviets wanted Hess locked away for life.
The Soviets alone were responsible for keeping Hess locked up. But why? Some say Soviet insistence that the release of the former deputy Nazi leader would be an insult to the 20 million Soviet war dead. Others that his release could fuel a resurgence of neo-Nazism. But these do not seem legitimate. Far worse Nazi criminals were released. The Soviet dead were not insulted. There was no resurgence of neo-Nazism.
On June 25, 1986, a Soviet guard caught Charles Gabel, the chaplain at Spandau, attempting to smuggle out a statement by Hess, causing Gabel to be fired. Hess had originally written the document as his opening address at the Nuremberg trial in 1946, which he had been unable to deliver in full after the judges cut him off.
Hess tried to mail a copy of the statement to Sir Oswald Mosley in October 1946, but the letter was intercepted by his US guards. Hess's statement (both the 1946 version and the 1986 version) claimed that Germany's attack on the Soviet Union was preemptive. In other words, the Soviets were about to attack Germany.
Hess claimed there had been overwhelming evidence that the Soviet Union had planned to attack Germany. He said in the statement that he had decided to make his flight to Scotland without informing Hitler, with the aim of informing the UK of the Soviet danger to "European civilization" and the entire world. He believed his warning would cause the UK to end its war with Germany and join in the fight against the Soviet Union.
If this were true, the Soviets would not want this to be discussed. Their role in the war was as victims. They were attacked by the Germans and responded.But if that is not true. If Hess was correct, the Soviet role in WWII would be completely different. Not the victim, but the aggressor. It would be the Soviets who caused the loss of millions of their citizens, not the Germans. The Soviet role in the Cold War would be on a completely different footing.
Geo-Fencing Added to Car Software! Can Shutdown Car if you drive too far, too long, or where government doesn't want you!
Vehicle manufacturers have begun issuing software updates which include "Geo-Fencing" to limit how far, how long,, or where they will not be allowed to drive. All done remotely without your consent.
Let's say government want to limit you to driving only five miles from your home. They can remotely issue a command that will cause your vehicle to simply SHUT OFF if you try to go farther than they want!
Let's say government wants to keep you away from certain areas, perhaps a protest area. They can remotely Geo-Fence that area, and any car that has an "SOS" Button, can be made to SHUT OFF if it tries to drive toward or into that area.
Missile Update
Expendables rule..
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This is brief note is free.
Defense analysts’ first conclusions from the Middle East and Ukraine missile wars suggest the PLA’s strategic preparations were sound. Let’s see why.
Israel
Theodore Postol, MIT Professor of Science, Technology and National Security Policy, analyzed Iran’s mid-April drone and missile attack on in Israel. A summary:
The evidence shows that all or most of the arriving long-range ballistic missiles were not intercepted by any of the Israeli air and missile-defense systems. Whether drones or not, all of the targets are shot down by air-to-air missiles.
The cost of a drone is $10,000 or $20,000, and the cost of an Iranian cruise missile is about $100,000. Their 4-hour, 1500 km flight to Israel allowed US Navy E-2 Hawkeyes AWACS to very effectively vector fighter aircraft to targets they quickly destroyed. The USAF workhorse air-to-air missile is the $500,000 AIM-9x Sidewinder and the Israeli government says the cost of defending Israel was $1.3 billion! [Non-government sources say $2.3-3.3 billion].
Commercially available technology is now good enough for constructing cruise missiles and drones with capabilities to “recognize” their targets and home on them. This means that the cost of shooting down cruise missiles and drones will be very high – even unsustainable – unless extremely inexpensive and effective anti-air systems can be implemented.
Ukraine
Analyst Armchair Warlord says Russia’s anti-air system is extremely effective and, apparently, financially sustainable:
Artillery shells have become the standard metric of the Ukrainian War, and Soviet-legacy gigafactories burying Western supply chains in mountains of steel its leading story. But shells are just steel. What if I told you the Russians were beating us in high-tech manufacturing?
One of the sleeper stories of the war has been the Russian air defenses’ extraordinary capability to defeat the most difficult targets: Russian SAMs routinely down GMLRS, Storm Shadows, and even AGM-88 HARMs that were specifically designed to destroy them. Russian air defenses in the Crimea have been downing ATACMS missiles – a supposed war-winning superweapon – like pheasants.
But I have never seen anyone remark on Russia’s bottomless supply of modern air defense missiles.
Just that week, they shot down no fewer than 1,715 aerial targets, 95% of them drones. Even assuming 75% of the drones were engaged with small arms or EW, that's still 400 antiaircraft missiles expended for the week. The Russians do this, week after week after week, and show zero signs that their air defense inventory is even under stress.
Meanwhile the West is out of modern missiles and desperately trying to keep Ukraine going with 1960s systems like HAWK, Chaparral and improvised Sea Sparrow launchers. Guided missiles are not simple to make - they're complex and require sophisticated manufacturing to tight tolerances. Western manufacturers have never been able to make them in large quantities, even at the height of the Cold War. And yet here the ‘gas station with nukes’ is stamping out enough ammunition to keep their Buks and Pantsirs on the firing line after two years of a war featuring an order of magnitude more aerial targets than any previous conflict.
PLA prescience
Russia and China already share the world’s leading missile defense technology, so we can assume that also share the Niagara of data from both conflicts. Pray for some insightful crumbs from their table.
Until then, however, we can appreciate the PLA’s foresight in building a chain of 24x7, 100% automated, high-precision missile factories, each producing 1,000 rounds a day.
A final thought: all war involves math.
Poland Officially Requests U.S. NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Poland has handed an official request to Washington to have U.S. nuclear weapons hosted in Poland.
No word yet on any need or desire in the US to put such weapons there.
Russia earlier cautioned Poland that nuclear weapons in their country would **not** make Poland any safer. In fact, they said, it would merely make Poland a target for Russian nuclear weapons.
Hal Turner Snap Analysis
Nuclear weapons “hosted” in Poland; Sounds like an exchange student or something innocent , like its a cultural program.
My bet . . . and this is pure conjecture on my part -- Poland didn't actually "request" anything.
They were just told that the US is going to deploy nukes on their territory.
The nukes will be controlled by US of course, not Poland; Poland would have no interest in this affair whatsoever. . . except when they get blown up by Russia for having them so close to Russia.
Is the USA rich because of hard work? What should African countries learn from countries like the USA, Japan and China?
Here are the top five sources of wealth for a Rich American with more than $ 15 Million :-
- Portfolio (65%)
- Landed Assets (18%)
- Liquid Deposits (7%).
- Others (10%) [Valuable Paintings, Royalty or Copyright contracts, Depreciating Assets like Cars, Yachts etc]
The Richer you are, the higher your Portfolio wealth is
For instance an American who is valued at more than $ 100 Million has almost 88% of his wealth in Portfolio
Portfolio means Stocks, Equities, Venture Capital Shareholding, Private Hedge Fund Units, Bonds etc
Now take a Middle Class American (Income between $ 68,000 to $ 300,000)
These are the top 5 Sources for his wealth
- Mortgage (38%) [Market Value - Amount owed to Bank]
- Portfolio (32%)
- Insurance (15%)
- Pension Plan /401K/Roth IRA(10%)
- Savings / Low Yield Bills (5%)
The Average Middle Class American, his wealth comes from the rise in price of his house and how his pension plan works and on his insurance encashments
Portfolio wealth depends on the market and astute investments but no real hard work
Insurance and Pension Plan contributions depend on solid hard work
Yet Portfolio wealth can make you a millionaire whereas Pension Plans and Insurance can just keep you comfortably off
Now take the top 5 Sources of wealth for a Chinese Wealthy (Income > 3 Million RMB a year)
- Real Estate Investment (26%)
- Gold, Silver, Jade (20%)
- Savings (21%)
- Profits from Businesses (15%)
- Real Estate (9%) [Commercial Rents , Residential Rent]
Do you see portfolio anywhere?
Nopes
It's why Chinese don't give a damn about their stock market whereas Americans panic when the market falls sharply for two days
Chinese Wealthy work hard too to make profits from Businesses that form a sixth of their wealth on an Average plus manage Properties and collect Rents on them.
So Chinese Wealthy and the American Middle Class Citizen works far harder than the American Rich whose wealth is based on shrewd investments and portfolio
Provolone Chicken
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, flattened
- 1/4 cup flavored bread crumbs
- 2 teaspoons dried Italian herbs
- 4 slices Provolone cheese
- 1 teaspoon butter
- 4 cups cooked spaghetti or vermicelli noodles, buttered
Instructions
- Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Place bread crumbs in a flat dish and firmly press both sides of the chicken into the crumbs.
- Place coated chicken pieces in a greased 9 x 13-inch baking dish.
- Sprinkle with Italian seasoning, and top with cheese.
- Dot with butter and bake for 20 minutes or until done.
- Serve with buttered pasta.
This Is How They Treat Foreigners In Shanghai
Thank you, you changed my thinking about the beautiful Chinese people. I did not expect them to be so courteous, kind and humble.
What was your scariest "something's not right" moment?
- The minute I hugged my mom for the first time in three years, alarm bells rang so loud I could hear them screaming: Brain tumor.
I am studying in China, 6,217 km away from my family, I do not contact them much. I am not a big fan of traveling so I didn’t travel back and forth much either, in 2016 I decided to visit Jordan because I was feeling homesick and I heard news that my mother’s health wasn’t good.
My mom was around 42 years old at that time,chronically suffering from hypertension “high blood pressure”, she took the medications but she had a poor attitude towards keeping the blood pressure levels under check, so everyone in the family attributed her chronic headaches at that time to the hypertension.
After a long tiresome flight I reached home and met my mom at the door, she hugged me tight and suddenly her whole body leaned to the left. I didn’t understand what was happening at the time so I kept on hugging her until I noticed that she kept on leaning farther, I tried to support her weight but I was tired and couldn’t do it due to the awkward position so I told her: mom, you’ll fall, watch out!” she stood up, and we started talking, and oh boy, the alarm bells were drumming up a hole in my brain, I was terrified.
My mom slurred in her speech. Why did the rest of the family not notice that? Maybe because mom used to wear poor-fitting dentures in the past and it made her slur up, so they thought the same thing is happening now, and said we will get the dentures checked soon.
Besides the gait disturbance and the slurring, my mom made several edgy or —inappropriate — statements throughout the conversation. But the thing that made my bones jump, was how she yelped in pain when she coughed and said, “Every time I cough, my head splits in half”, and of course, that was attributed to the high blood pressure by the family and her primary care physician.
I went to a room and sat alone, I was freaking out. My vacation is 10 days, and I needed to explain what I’m thinking to the family so that actions can be made. I thought for a long time about that and about how can I approach my mom with that news. The latter part terrified me. Why? Because when I told my mom we might need to go and get her blood pressure checked, she screamed at me; I was taken aback. She screamed that she will not see a doctor, that I am not a doctor and I should not be acting like one and that she hates doctors.
She had seen plenty of doctors in her life, but that aggressive note was new.
Eventually the next day I convinced her to go with me to the doctor. I got her to the MRI room and asked the radiologist to let me stay with him so I can see the picture as it comes out.
Time stopped when I saw that MRI, and I knew at that moment that our lives are about to change. The tumor was huge, it had been growing for years undetected, years of slow personality changes, years of chronic headaches and years of unawareness. Thankfully, my mother agreed to have the surgery to remove the tumor, and she sprung back to her old, lively wonderful self.
This incident changed me and my family for good; my family became way more health conscious and I became more focused on the goal of becoming a good doctor. You see, if only one of her primary care physicians had looked — truly looked — at her gait or at how she screamed in pain when she coughed, they might have found this tumor much earlier.
How did Hitler react upon learning that Churchill would be replacing Chamberlain as Prime Minister?
Churchill had for years been warning of Hitler. He had warned of his rearming as well as intent to overrun large parts of Europe. Hitler knew that Churchill was the very last Brit that he wanted in as PM. If negotiated peace were the goal, someone else would need to be PM.
So Hitler publicly referred to Churchill by many names. His hope was that the British people would realize the mistake they had made. Hitler repeatedly referred to Churchill as a drunkard.
“As lunatics like that drunkard Churchill and Maccabeans and numskulls like that brilliantined dandy Eden are at the helm we’ve to be prepared for just about anything!”
But that was not all. He referred to Churchill as “a senile clown”, “gangster”, “bloodthirsty guttersnipe”, and “undisciplined swine” among other things.
Notably you will find no such invectives used by Hitler against Chamberlain. But such insults did not sway British foreign policy.
Hitler saw Churchill as his greatest obstacle. He remarked:
“If Churchill were suddenly to disappear, everything could change in a flash. The British aristocracy might perhaps become conscious of the abyss opening before them— and might well experience a serious shock! These British, for whom, indirectly, we have been fighting and who would enjoy the fruits of our victory…”
At some point he realized that negotiations with Churchill could not take place. Only after Churchill was defeated would the British be willing to talk.
Hitler remarked to von Brauchitsch, the commander in chief of the German Army, that “the British will be ready to talk only after a beating.
Hitler’s reaction to Churchill being chosen as PM was reality, the reality that the worst man in Britain for Hitler had be chosen. There would be no easy victory. There would be no short war. There would be no more bullying.
Mark Sleboda: Putin just Dropped BOMBSHELL Warning to NATO and Ukraine's Army is Done For
China’s $170BN Gold Rush Triggers Taiwan Invasion Fear
Beijing appears to be stockpiling gold following a record buying spree, in a move that has raised fears China is preparing its economy for a possible conflict over Taiwan - guarding it against potential Western sanctions.
The People’s Bank of China bought 27 tons of gold in the first three months of the year, taking its reserves to a record high of 2,262 tons, according to data from the World Gold Council.
What is the best life advice you would give?
- Keep a healthy distance from all people, including your friends. They could bring you down with their baggage if you are not careful.
- Job is just a job. Don’t make it your priority.
- Be very sure you want to get married and have kids. Many people get trapped in a situation where they keep on asking this “What if” after 10 or 20 years into marriage.
- If possible, spend more time with your family, especially your parents. From your 20s to 40s, you will be too busy looking out for yourself. All of a sudden, your parents will become “old” like you never noticed.
- Don’t expect people to come to your rescue. Own your actions and consequences and suck it up.
- Tomorrow is not necessarily going to be a better day. Tomorrow is just another day.
- Stop reading a self-help book if you are not self-aware.
- Life is actually fair. It has no mercy on anyone.
If Jewish students don’t feel safe at university, does that automatically mean American can’t support Palestine and free of speech?
I laugh my ass off at this oh I’m so victimised mentality.
I still remember it 2 decades ago when I moved to London. A box fell off the back of a builders flatbed, near a Synagogue. They immediately phoned the police and said these bomb threats are a sign of anti you know what. Turns out it was just that a carboard box that had fallen off the back of a builders flat bed.
Anyway they don’t feel safe?
Let me give you some figures from the UK.
One group totals 400,000 people this figure is disputed as it includes citizens but they may not actually be there. They form 0.7% of the population yet face 4% of all the violent crime. 15% of them have faced violence with 51% of facing slurs and racist name calling.
Meanwhile one group is about 270,000 and have faced drum roll 1600 you know what incidents each year. OMG American maths means 1600 is bigger than 200,000 incidents of racism or nearly 30,000 instances of racism.
Yet one group gets all laws to protect them, gets news coverage, representation in government and one doesn’t.
Funny how one group matters and all others don’t doesn’t it?
So SATISFYING! I chose a random fairytale and found that the nasty "princess" got put to work. Ha!
I love all of this. How all these historical traditional stories were changed by social re-engineering. Fascinating!
Loving these unfiltered, brutal, unwokified stories.
When did the negative perception of masculinity begin?
This is a byproduct of the American “Woman's Rights” movement.
The initial intention was for gender equality, where women would be treated as equals with men. Eventually, a more radical sub-branch of the movement took control and steered the movement towards an anti-male bias. Over the years, they acquired wealthy and powerful contributors, and used their positions in government to fund and control the narrative. Resulting in the destruction of the American male.
This women's rights movement in the United States has gone through several stages.
Each stage has been marked by specific goals, accomplishments, and challenges.
First Wave (19th Century - Early 20th Century)
- Focused on legal issues, particularly women's suffrage (the right to vote).
- Key events: The Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott; the adoption of the 19th Amendment in 1920, granting women the right to vote.
This initial stage is often erroneously considered to be reasonable, but a look at the amendments to the constitution clearly show that the movement removed the stable “Head of the Household” voting role towards one where anyone can vote. Thus, this movement, during the FIRST WAVE, significantly altered the federal government and the spending trajectory of the United States.
The United States moved from a Republic to a democracy.
Demographics changed substantially. Voting profiles changed radically, and a “nanny state”
became the norm, as the female voters started to demand a government that took on a parental role; thus a government with a greater role in the lives of Americans.
Additionally, history was rewritten. An active effort was made to rewrite the old European fairy tales to something supportive of first wave feminist belief structures. So, for instance, the Grimm Fairy Tales were rewritten from a structured give-and-take, with harsh lessons, to that of “Prince Charming”, and “one’s wishes can come true”.
There were other initiatives as well. The “Temperance movement” of the 1920’s was led by radical feminists and it resulted in the forced nationwide ban of alcohol, and the surge in organized crime. All the time while destroying the “freedoms” that American enjoyed.
And finally, let’s not forget that the first wave feminists brought in great federal-level social re-engineering evil masterminds; Coolridge, Herbet Hoover and then Taft.
Second Wave (1960s - 1980s)
- Emphasized a broader range of issues, including equality in the workplace, education, reproductive rights, and legal rights.
- Key events: Publication of "The Feminine Mystique" by Betty Friedan in 1963; the establishment of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966; the passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
- Advocacy for reproductive rights, including the landmark Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973.
During this wave, the “rights” of women altered the workplace, the Geo-political scene, the educational system, and the kinds of movies and shows on televisions and extracted out of Hollywood. It was during this wave that the notion of a traditional family was discarded, and men started to be depicted as buffoons and useless clowns.
It was during this time that marriage longevity was destroyed; that divorce became the normal. That a two income household become the norm, and housewives rearing their own children was considered stupid.
There is a direct correlation between divorce rates and the implementation of pro-feminist initiatives. This was the era of the destruction of the family. As the women entered the work-place, forced layoffs, firings and short-duration employment became the norm.
Third Wave (1990s - Early 2000s)
- Focused on diversity and intersectionality, addressing issues of race, class, sexual orientation, and gender identity within the context of women's rights.
- Emphasized individualism and a more inclusive approach to feminism, acknowledging different experiences and perspectives.
This wave turbocharged the fall of traditional values, and the “career women” entered the work force with government sanctioned privileges that harmed the male roles. The court systems, and child service systems became co-opted by this movement and became hostile to males.
While the second wave feminists vocalized equality, this wave argued superiority at all levels and promoted benefits, and privileges that men were denied.
Laws and rules, from family law to corporate law favored females. Lower skilled females were engaged in once-dominant male activities to meet hiring quotas. The result was a gradual decline in the quality of the American work-force.
Fourth Wave (Mid-2000s - Present)
- Characterized by the use of digital and social media to advocate for women's rights and mobilize anti-male activism.
- Focus on sexual harassment, gender-based violence, and the #MeToo movement.
- Greater attention to intersectionality, considering how various aspects of identity intersect and impact the experiences of women and non-binary individuals.
It’s a real problem.
The damage has already been done.
Presently, in the United States and it’s proxy nations, under the LGBQ+ rainbow flag, the male gender is ridiculed, minimized, and berated to a point where various social phenomenons have occurred. To include…
- Young men in the 20s have stopped dating.
- Young men tend to be virginal, while young women engage in serial promiscuity.
- The “Soft man” era where men have “checked out”.
- A drop in college and university admissions for men.
- A push back on dating with the “drizzle drizzle” movement.
- American men are leaving the United States as “passport bros” and not returning.
The changing demographics and the ten year forecast for citizens within this toxic anti-male environment is contentious. Historically, very BAD things happen when large sections males in a nation are hurt, abandoned, ridiculed and disparaged.
It will be very bad.
Think Rwandan genocide BAD.
1. If your house smells fishy for no reason, 9 times out of 10 it means there is an electrical fire.
2. If you ever feel like someone is following your car, turn right four times and it will eventually go in a circle. If they are always behind you, it means they are following you. Don't drive home, just call the police and drive to the police station
3. If a service dog ever approaches you without its owner, follow it and do so quickly because you could potentially save someone else's life.
4. If someone tries to kidnap you, fight back. Most kidnappers will simply give up if they encounter resistance. And whatever you do, don't let them take you anywhere else.
5. If the tide suddenly goes out unexpectedly, run like you stole it, for higher ground.
6. If you are ever attacked by a moose, get behind a tree...they have about a ten inch blind spot and they will lose you...
7.When people say to take an aspirin to help during a heart attack, chew the pill, don't swallow it whole. It is absorbed much faster.
8. If someone asks you for something on the street - a light, the time, whatever - always keep the person in your line of sight. So if they ask you the time, don't just look at your watch. Raise your arm slightly so that your watch is in view.
9. If you're in danger or need help, in a public place, it's almost always a bad idea to just yell "help." It's more important to be specific. Pointing your finger at someone and telling them to call 911 will be more effective. The bystander effect can sometimes be cruel.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - The Threat of China is Wildly Overstated
Robert F. Kennedy gives three main reasons why he believes the threat of China is wildly overstated.
I like his overall message, but I disagree with his idea that the USA can block shipping, and that without Walmart, China would collapse. I disagree that the Chinese "are on the edge of revolt".
But still, it's nice to hear a different voice out of the USA.