Here’s a fun fact, once you become a grannie in China, you get to wear a grannie “uniform”. These grannies all wear outlandish crazy floral patterned tops. And it seems to be the unofficial “uniform” of the grannie sect inside of China.

I don’t know quite how it works, but seriously… all the grannies wear these God-awful floral tops; the busier, and more abrasive the better.

Don’t you know.

…

Let me tell you all the sad tale of my mistakes in cooking hamburgers.

You see, as a teenager, my father was trying to lose weight, and at that time he believed that all the fat in hamburgers must be removed for it to be “healthy”. And so, whenever he cooked hamburgers, he would squeeze all the delicious juices out of the burger. Whether on the grill or in the pan. And the result would be a dry burger.

I didn’t know any better. Being all of 12 or 13 at the time, and so I thought that this was the way that you cook hamburgers. You squeeze all the fat out.

Stupid silly me.

No wonder no one wanted me to cook the hamburgers at family get-togethers. I made dry and tasteless hamburgers.

I feel so bad about it, and I wince when I remember that particular memory.

Today, I leave all the precious juices inside the burger. Let it cook just that way. Don’t ever…ever…EVER squeeze out the juices! The juices are what you want in a fine greasy delicious burger.

Go get yourself a nice burger. Make sure that it is tasty and delicious and do not skimp on the sides. Have a great meal and a great day!

Todays…

10 Sad realities of life you should know

1. Almost everyone is bought and owned because someone controls what they want/need.
2. You’re not other people’s priority; their priorities are to survive, then thrive.
3. Even good people will close their eyes to get benefits at the expense of others.
4. Lots of people have no principles, only desires that they’ll do whatever to achieve.
5. Most people prefer being right over doing right. They put politics over common sense.
6. Most people are stupid, and even intelligent people have moments of stupidity.
7. People who signal their virtues are not virtuous; they are the opposite.
8. You only need 3 control freaks to ruin a group of 30 good people.
9. People don’t actually want to be equal. Those who claim they do seek safety or control.
10. Otherwise reasonable people can become completely unreasonable inside a group.

Southern Biscuit Pudding

Ingredients

• 6 cold biscuits
• 1 cup water
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk

Instructions

1. Soak crumbled biscuits in hot water for a few minutes
2. Add sugar, butter, nutmeg, raisins, beaten eggs, and milk, mixing after each addition.
3. Pour into greased black cast iron pan.
4. Bake in preheated 350 degrees F oven for about 30 to 40 minutes, or until browned.

Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North of Richmond REACTION | HE DID IT AGAIN! ANOTHER AMAZING SONG!

He’s not singing country music, he’s singing music to the whole country, to the whole world! North of Richmond, VA is Washington DC!

Pay attention to the reactions. The United States is a “powder keg”.

What is the most offensive thing you overheard someone sitting near you on a plane say?

Being disabled and looking like I do there are two things I always get to overhear. Going through TSA my name comes up red flagged. Meaning check him completely.

A customs agent told me “it’s due to your Military career and past knowledge.”

What the hell does that mean? I’m in a wheelchair and have metal in my leg, shoulder, and back. I am a wand beep show. All hands pat downs in a wheelchair. You need two hips to stand, so I can’t stand. Any chance I am taking over the plane? Gunpowder tests on hands AND ARMS. OK so the Navy/CIA service made me an enemy of the state or something?

I think it is BS and it’s profiling but my wife said “no it’s not.”

Then you have people whispering when we get on first. “Bet they fake it to board first…”

I tore into a woman I heard say that. I yelled so loud the airport got quiet. Does it look like I’m faking it? I tried to get out of wheelchair and fell. Hurt. But I felt better with that. Maybe she’ll get it some day.

My wife wasn’t happy about my antics but I’m so tired of it. And she knows. On the plane though I overheard a mom telling their kid there is no difference between disabled people and us. Except a part of their body just doesn’t work like ours. She had me in tears. The best explanation of a disabled person I have ever heard explained. And plainly so a child could understand it. The kid kept asking me if I needed any help?

HURRAY FOR THAT MOM. YOU MADE MY DAY!

With all these sanctions against Russia, I was expecting the value of the ruble to crash. Why is it stronger now than it was before the war?

Thats mainly because The Ruble is not a very Publicly Traded Currency & Russia is a Net Exporter

Putin did three strategic things:-

• Firstly , he rose the interest rates to 20% Short term. That helped when a huge amount of rubles entered into the Banking system, reducing the Supply and subsequently making the Ruble more valuable.
• Secondly, he had a rule where all Companies in Russia had to ensure 80% of all Foreign Payments were mandatorily in Russian Rubles. As a result – Companies within Russia had to buy Rubles from Russian Central Bank and this helped the Ruble gain traction and demand.
• Thirdly, he announced that he would only take paymets for Gas in Rubles. Now while G7 governments keep talking nonsense as Politicians do, the Businessmen – ie:- The Refineries, The Gas Distributors etc had to assume the worst case scenario and be prepared and so they collectively purchased roughly 160 Billion Rubles over 4 days (Around Euro 1.53 Billion). If they really have to pay for Gas in Rubles – they will need around 1.5 Trillion Rubles but still…this Ruble purchase also took the Ruble rate up.

In this way – the Ruble strengthened from 141 Rubles to a Dollar on 7th March 2022 to 93 Rubles to a Dollar on 28th March 2022.

---

Meanwhile – Why exactly did the Ruble crash in value???

Its not traded on any Exchange right? No Major Country carries Ruble reserves? Its not as if Rubles are sold in US or EU and they dumped the Rubles right?

I believe this was because the West dumped their entire stock of Rubles

Prior to 24th February – You had 900 Billion Rubles or around US$ 13 Billion with Foreign Countries in the form of Securities or actual Ruble Deposits.

My guess is – the West dumped this entire $ 13 Billion or 900 Billion of Rubles with the intention of causing a major crash in the Ruble and create an economic turmoil in Russia.

My guess was – Crash the value of the Ruble, Make Necessary Imports very expensive , mainly Drugs and Pharma and bring Putin to his knees.

Sadly someone spoilt the party:-

China has the largest Ruble Reserves outside of Russia ($ 55.1 Billion or around 1.5% of its foreign reserves). The West had hoped China would be panic driven to sell their Rubles as well which could have crashed the Ruble even further.

Luckily China didn’t fall for the trap and instead kept their Rubles and even rose the price band between the Yuan and Ruble by 10% instead of 5% to prevent panic sales of Rubles.

No Wonder the West is SO ANGRY WITH CHINA

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Its why i always say – A NON CONVERTIBLE CURRENCY is the Greatest Asset for a NET EXPORTER

And another thing

900 Billion Ruble dumping – caused a 13 day turmoil for the Ruble

IMAGINE IF CHINA DUMPS $ 1.273 TRILLION OF US DOLLAR DEBT !!!!!!

What are some things that have happened on your plane ride home that made it memorable? Why did those things stand out to you?

I was flying home to Mom’s funeral. Had our 13 month old son with me. A young soldier took the aisle seat. We exchanged pleasantries and then I busied myself keeping N. occupied. Mealtime came and I noticed the young man talking to the flight attendant. Turns out he had told her to hold his meal and he offered to hold N. while I ate and then happily ate his own. When we landed he helped me with my carry-on luggage and wished me luck with the next leg of my trip. I’ve never forgotten that young soldier.

Merkules – ”Rich Men North Of Richmond” Remix

This is great.

What psychological tricks and hacks are useful to know?

1. If someone is trying to make you decide in a hurry, they are probably giving you a bad deal. Walk away.
2. Sometimes pretending that you are naive gets you more information.
   1. Pretending is helpful many times.
3. If you want to avoid office politics, say good things about coworkers behind their backs.
4. Physical contact makes you more likely to say yes to a request.
5. If you want to make someone feel uncomfortable, look at their forehead when you’re talking to them.
6. When a group of people laugh, they tend to look at the person they like the most.
7. Nervousness and excitement have the same body reaction, so if you’re nervous for a speech, instead convince yourself you’re excited. Its proven to give better speeches, too.
8. Ask for something that seems small, but is related, to what you really want. Then, once they’ve agreed to the small thing, just work up with slightly larger requests until you achieve your goals.

What screams “I’m educated, but not very bright”?

I can reverse that. My father recounted the story of a massive brick chimney on the OSU campus. They wanted it down, so put it out for bids. The bids came in the thousands of dollars (a lot of money in the ‘50s), except one. An old guy with a beat-up pickup came by and bid $50. He chiseled out a number of the bricks, replacing them with wood blocks. When he’d replaced enough of them, he threw gasoline on it, lit it, and retreated. When the thing came down, he hauled away all of the brick (what he really wanted).

What legal incident is most misunderstood?

One of the great media injustices took place in 1994 — and it began a pattern of malignment that escalates to this day.

The case was Liebeck v. McDonald’s. It’s one of the most widely recognized and highly misunderstood lawsuits in history. Most people know it as, “The greedy lady who spilled coffee on herself and wanted an easy payday.”

It’s also the precursor to social media harassment campaigns — including a list of targets I hesitate to even mention — because I know people buy into the nonsense.

Here’s what really happened.

The lead-up to the legal showdown

Stella Liebeck did indeed order coffee and spill it on herself. After pulling through the drive-through, she put the coffee between her legs, and the lid popped off. The coffee then spilled on her inner thighs and crotch region.

What people often miss is that the coffee didn’t burn her — it completely scorched her body.

McDonald’s was keeping the coffee far, far hotter than it needed to be, at temperatures that cause third-degree burns in an instant. Remember: Heat damage is also a proxy of exposure of duration — and there was little time to react (which was exacerbated by her old age).

Liebeck spent more than a week in the hospital battling life-threatening infections.

The media also conveniently ignore that there were more than 700 hot coffee complaints and lawsuits filed against McDonald’s in the lead-up to this case. More than $500,000 in payouts had been given to burn victims.

But when the casual consumer scanned headlines and saw, “Woman Wins Millions After Mistakenly Spilling Coffee On Herself”, it turned McDonald’s into a martyr for lazy, greedy consumers — and the customer into an avatar of laziness and opportunism.

It became so easy to conclude the woman was a fool for not knowing coffee was hot, and that she should have been more careful and taken responsibility for her mistakes.

She’s lucky there was no Twitter back then.

The court case was a hot mess too

During my MBA program, we studied this case in corporate law class. I remember being so surprised at the number of contradictions to public perception within it.

First, Liebeck never sued for millions.

She asked for $20,000 just to cover her medical expenses (the costs her insurance didn’t cover). For six months, McDonald’s refused and instead offered her $800. Eventually, she hired a lawyer. His eyes went wide as he saw the facts of the case. That’s when their claim went way up.

The jury was initially skeptical of Liebeck. They thought she was just another ambulance chaser.

And then they saw the actual images of the burns

Liebeck had permanent damage to her private areas. The images are hard to look at and I can’t even describe them without getting very graphic.

Doctors performed several skin grafts. Liebeck’s physician testified in front of the jury that her burns were one of the worst he’d ever seen, as bad as people who’d been on fire.

Conversely, McDonald’s defense lawyers were flamboyant and pompous. In one of the all-time great legal screw-ups, they responded to the fact that 700+ people had been burned by saying it was “little more than a rounding error”. Regardless of the company’s customer volume, it reflected a callous disregard for the harm they had — and were — causing.

After the jury saw McDonald’s track record of burns, the arrogance of their lawyers, and their refusal to accept any blame, the tide turned.

Even worse, Liebeck’s attorney cross-examined McDonald’s quality control manager and squeezed three painful confessions out of him:

That their coffee was not served at a temperature safe for consumption.

That consumers were not adequately warned of the burn risk.

He also buried his foot in his mouth by saying he had more important matters to attend to than the burn injuries. He said they didn’t constitute a change in policy.

Between these missteps and the facts of the case, the jury awarded Liebeck $640,000. However, the judge added punitive damages totaling $2.7 million, equal to two days of Mcdonald’s coffee sales.

Punitive damages are a judge’s way of saying, “You messed this up so bad that I’m going to add extra damages just to send a stronger message to everyone watching this.”

The aftermath

Sadly, Liebeck never got the millions.

She instead settled out of court for a half-million dollars. She spent the remaining 12 years of her life in poor health while her settlement only covered her medical care and a live-in nurse.

She was never some dumb, greedy, careless woman who didn’t know that coffee was hot. The public’s misconception was a major disservice to someone who genuinely suffered.

This should have been a PR nightmare for McDonald’s. Between the 700+ incidents and the pattern of lava-hot coffee, it was just a matter of time before this happened.

McDonald’s was big enough to take the hit and was blessed with a rare media hall pass. Conservative political talk shows needed an anti-business case study to spin for election season.

The public drew quick conclusions about this woman before even knowing the facts of the case. It highlights a continuing clouding of the truth — often about things that don’t even affect your personal life — yet damage someone else’s.

In recent years, I’ve seen rampant campaigns to target and harass people on social media — Twitter especially — by people who don’t actually know what happened in some person’s divorce. I see Medal of Honor winners being targeted because of bogus campaigns about what happened on a mission — by people who have probably never been in combat.

Taking sides is fun. It’s in our nature to enjoy combative feuds and pick a team. Just remember that we aren’t usually working with hard evidence or perfect information.

It’s so easy to let your own experiences inform your opinion more than the facts.

In short: stay empathetic. Know that even if someone made a mistake — you could easily have been them, looking out from their eyes, seeing all the people holding torches and shouting your name.

What is the strangest failure you have ever seen on a car?

I had an 86 Chrysler Laser.

The first and only brand new car that I ever bought. About a month later I was driving down the highway doing about 60 mph and the engine shut down without warning. I managed to coast onto the shoulder and it would not start. I waited about 20 minutes and it fired right up! I took the car back to the dealership and they could not find any issues to get the problem to happen again. I picked the car up and while driving home the engine shut down again. S.O.A.B! So I had the car towed back to the dealership and they kept it for 2 days and still couldn’t find the problem. I went home and the next day it happened again. Shut down – wait 20 minutes – then start right up again. This went on for about a week and I was about to contact the dealer again to get this covered under the lemon law.

Then a friend suggested that I replace the magnetic pickup. This is a sensor in the distributor that detects the rotation of the distributor shaft. If is faulty it can trick the computer into thinking there’s an engine failure and shutoff the engine.

I bought the part, took off the distributor cap, pulled the magnetic pickup and there is was. Sticking on-end to the magnet was the tiniest sliver of metal no more than 1/16″ long! Probably left over from when the block was machined. I wiped the sliver off with my finger and put the original part back in and never had the problem again.

Intel, Nvidia, and Qualcomm DISAGREE With Biden’s Export Control

From a pro-USA source…

In a complex tug-of-war between national security and economic interests, the United States is facing a conundrum in its semiconductor strategy. Discover why the CEOs of major American chip giants, Intel, Nvidia, and Qualcomm, are urging the Biden administration to rethink its stringent export controls on computer chips to China. These restrictions were initially imposed to curb China’s military modernization efforts, but their unintended consequences are starting to surface.

Ukraine SitRep: Western Military Commentators Finally Accept The Obvious

The Kuebler-Ross model of grief describes the human coping mechanism to deal with extremely difficult situations. It has five phases:

• denial – “No, not me, it cannot be true”
• anger – “Why me?”
• bargaining – attempting to postpone death with “good behaviour”
• depression – when reacting to their illness, and preparing for their death
• acceptance – “The final rest before the long journey”

With regard to the Ukrainian counter-offensive the last phase of the grief model has now been reached.

While not all politician are yet there, the military and intelligence specialists, who are part of the western propaganda squads, have made their conclusions. From their mouth the truth is dripping to the media. While the headlines below may not express it, the content of those pieces, especially in the first four, is finally admitting the obvious. It didn’t work and the counter-offensive is done:

• Stormbreak: Fighting Through Russian Defences in Ukraine’s 2023 Offensive – RUSI – September 4
• Perseverance and Adaptation: Ukraine’s Counteroffensive at Three Months – War on the Rocks – September 4
• The Russians Are Getting Better – What Moscow Has Learned in Ukraine – Foreign Affairs, September 6
• How the Pentagon assesses Ukraine’s progress – Economist – September 6
• US Intelligence Official: Media Misleading Americans About Ukraine’s Battlefield Success – Hersh via Scheerpost – September 7
• NATO learning hard lessons about its future in Ukraine – Asia Times – September 7
• How Ukraine’s Heroic Stand Against Russia Could Collapse Into Failure– 1945 – September 7
• Ukrainian Progress: A Breach or a Breakthrough of Russian Lines? – War on the Rocks – September 8
• How Russia learned from mistakes to slow Ukraine’s counteroffensive – Washington Post – September 8

Simplicius has taken several of the above pieces apart and finds that they finally admit that the issue is lost:

Dire New Western Reports Call to Ditch NATO Tactics
Plus a roundup of other grist from the Western propaganda mill

Nothing of the above is new to Moon of Alabama readers. I may have helped to spare you the grief by not clinging to a the narrative but to the reality of the battlefield:

• On The Failure Of The Ukrainian Counterattack – June 16
• The Ukrainian Counter-Offensive Had No Chance. NATO Failed To Explain That. – June 23
• Reality Defeats The War Narrative – July 18
• Ukraine SitRep: The End Of The Counteroffensive – August 11

This outcome of the counteroffensive against the hardened Russian defense lines was predictable (May 11!):

In military books this is know as ‘echeloned defense’ with three lines of well prepared positions ten kilometer apart from each other. Each line consists of tank obstacles, mine belts, prepared anti-tank positions to monitor and counter potential breach attempts and well prepared artillery support from behind the next defense line.

To crack such a nut without air support and without significant artillery advantage is nearly impossible.

But the Ukrainians did even worse than I had thought. The delaying action by the Russian army stopped them before they even reached the first defense line.

What may come next was predicted here on June 5, the day the counter-offensive was launched:

I strongly suspect that the Russian military will let the Ukrainian attacks run their course to then launch its own larger scale attacks against weakened Ukrainian defenses.

But to this day and while taking heavy losses the Ukrainian army is still running head first into a wall of Russian fire and concrete barriers. It may well keep going for another few weeks until the rain seasons sets in. That will lessen the chance of a renewed Russian attack. I have no idea yet of what might come instead of one.

To cope with the situation and bad news the U.S. will now send in a new wonder-weapon, the ATAMCS missiles with a range of up to 300 kilometer (190 miles). They come in several variants but the U.S. army will only be willing to hand over its older ones and only a few. The missiles are GPS guided which is unlikely to work well as Russia has sufficient electronic warfare assets that will disturb those signals. Some of these missiles will just divert from their target. Some will be shot down by air defenses. Some will come through. The 230 kilogram warhead can create quite a mess if it hits a large headquarter.

But keep in mind that the Russian forces are now regularly using FAB 500 glide bombs that come with nearly 500 kilogram of explosives.  The bigger FAB 1500 have been tested too and are ready to be deployed. The new ATAMCS missiles will thereby not change the balance of force.

Former ambassador MK Bhadrakumar is sensing some diplomatic noise that might point to upcoming talks.

Ice cracking sounds on frozen lake of US-Russia relations

Talks may well follow but I would not expect any agreement. The Russian side will hold up its demands and the U.S. will still be unwilling to fulfill them. Not even a ceasefire will result from them.

Posted by b on September 9, 2023 at 14:44 UTC | Permalink

The road not taken: Dilemma in filling application forms for universities in China

Dean of the School of Journalism and Information Communication at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) delivered a speech to the freshmen of the journalism major at the opening ceremony, in which he mentioned Zhang Xuefeng, a teacher who has recently become a hit on the Internet.

After this year’s college entrance examination, Zhang, like many other teachers in high schools and colleges, provided candidates with suggestions on live broadcasting. But what made him stand out is that his suggestions to each candidate are very customized, with a very sharp and extremely realistic tongue.

According to Zhang, one shouldn’t even think about finding a job at a big Internet company without a Diploma from Project 211 (a Chinese project of developing comprehensive universities and colleges, which, to some extent, symbolizes the quality of the universities and students).

“I’m going to beat my son’s arse off if he wants to study journalism (in China),” he also said.

As an online tutor who focuses on practical benefits, Zhang cares nothing less than helping students find satisfying jobs and living a stable life. His words, however, are very harsh in the ears of many who have already stepped into the university or even the society, because he talks down their past choices and future paths to nothing, and also reveals the cruel reality.

In the dean’s speech, he said in response to Zhang’s view, “Going to university is not only about finding jobs. If it is that way, in today’s highly informationized society, even without going to university people can still achieve this goal.”

Many people working on journalism refuted Zhang’s views before, thinking that he was too one-sided and shallow, and maliciously smeared the journalism major. At the same time, there are students of this major who agree with his views, and more are the parents of the candidates who regard his words as the Bible.

As we can see, the biggest conflict that lies in front of the young generation is the conflict between a sure future and dream chasing.

In East Asian countries, especially in China, voluntary application after the college entrance examination is regarded as an extremely important step in determining the direction of life, and everyone is afraid that their future will collapse if any mistake occurs.

Students face not only the choice between majors, but also the dilemma of huge income differences, overflow in the talent market, and, probably, the only child supporting the whole family under the influence of the abolished one-child policy.

From this point of view, Zhang is just starting from an ordinary student who has studied hard for many years, hoping to live a better life in line with his efforts. Scholars, nevertheless, talk the talk from the academic angle, which includes idealistic elements. In their eyes, Zhang is no more than a “cynic”. Life also has many turning points in store for you, all of which depend on both how hard you work and how lucky you are.

Though experienced, Zhang can never ensure a student’s whole future life with his words. The final decision is still in their own hands.

As far as I can see, the trial and error cost lies not only in whether you are in a well-established family, but also in how much you’d like to sacrifice the time, the pressure, and the fierce competition……every least expected incident may run over you and crush you down.

It’s still ruthless to talk about dreams without mentioning their cost. However, a person who is willing to go through mature deliberation and take advice prudently, always deserves good results.

Freezing Stray Cat Banged On The Door With His Paw, Begging For Help

One evening a woman from Quebec City heard someone scratching at her front door. It turned out to be a cat, probably quite elderly, and it should be noted that the weather outside was already very cold. The woman did not think long and let the traveling cat into her house.

https://youtu.be/3jTVOfD8xII

Do they sell cats on wet markets in China?

Hi, John McEnany. Thanks for your interesting question!

I’m going to be tackling your question in three parts.

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Part One:

Your question, as at September 10, 2023, at approximately 1308 hours (GMT +8), is:

“Do they sell cats on wet markets in China?”

English might not be your first language, so you might have gotten your prepositions mixed up.

“On” – we use this preposition when something (or someone) is touching the surface of something. For example: “Danny is dancing on the roof!” or “Milli has a tattoo of a spider on her right arm.”

“In” – we use this preposition when something (or someone) is located inside of a defined space. It could be a flat space, like in a yard, or a three-dimensional space, like in a building or plane. For example, “Brett is studying in the library.” or “Can you put the potato in my bag, please?”

The question should really read:

“Do they sell cats in wet markets in China?”

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Part Two:

Now, to your question.

I’ve been to more than a few wet markets in China (and the rest of East and Southeast Asia), but as of today, there hasn’t been a wet market that sells cats.

If you’re looking to buy a cat in China, I would suggest going to a large pet store.

The larger pet stores tend to have cats for sale.
The smaller pet stores may only sell pet food and accessories.

OR, you could go to a reputable cat breeder.

If you’re one of those who are into “pure breeds”, a cat breeder might be your best bet.
But the prices can be astronomical.

For example, my cat-owning friend tells me that a Maine Coon can easily cost you 20,000 yuan (approximately $ 2700, USD).

However, as someone who used to be the owner of three dogs (no, not all three at the same time), I would suggest that instead of buying a cat, you might want to go down to a local animal rescue and shelter to adopt a cat instead.

Unfortunately, stray cats are still a common sight in many cities in China.

But there are many animal rescue and shelter groups trying to change that.

Last year, one of this groups opened “Cat Island” in Shanghai.

This “Cat Island” is actually an artificial island with an area of about 800 square meters, located in Laogang town, Shanghai. According to the group, they intend to accommodate 200 to 300 stray cats in the future.

The public can visit “Cat Island” to learn about how to control the stray cat and dog population as well as how to feed and take care of cats and dogs in general.

You can also apply to “Cat Island” to adopt one of their stray cats.
From what I’ve gleaned on Chinese social media, many cats that were initially sent to the island have already been adopted.

If you live in Shanghai, you can try adopting from “Cat Island”.
I’m sure they’d love to hear from you!

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Part Three:

So, no, John McEnany.

I’ve not come across a wet market selling cats yet.

Like I said above, if you’re looking for a cat, it’s best if you go down to a local animal rescue & shelter and see about adopting a stray cat.

I have come across stray cats that are loitering around wet markets, yes.

But, no, you won’t find wet markets selling them.

Wet markets tend to sell meat, seafood, produce, etc.

They’re like supermarkets or grocery stores, but prices tend to be cheaper and many people believe that wet market stuff is fresher than what you would find in a supermarket/grocery store.

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Conclusion (a.k.a. TLDR)

So, just a quick recap:

If you want to buy a cat, you can do so at a large pet store or look for a breeder.
However, I would suggest going down to your local animal rescue & shelter operation to adopt a stray cat instead – unfortunately, there are still a lot of stray cats in China and they all need warm homes and caring, loving fur-parents.

Wet markets might not be able to satisfy your need for a cat, but they do sell stuff like vegetables, fruits, meats, seafood, and other food products, so if you’re looking for produce and stuff that’s cheaper than those sold at supermarkets and groceries, wet markets might be the place where you can get some really good deals.

China SHOCKED Whole Industry: The New Twin-Tailed Scorpion Is Launched

Wow, china’s unmanned two-tailed “Scorpion” drone has been launched with a capability of carrying many missiles. This UAV is a remarkable technology as the 3-engines drone is completely autonomous that can fly non stop for 35 hours using precision navigation system. It’s high aspect ratio and two vertical stabilizers guarantee its long range capability and excellent stability.

China innovates technique for gallium-based semiconductors

Researchers at the Zhejiang University in China have devised a new method that allows for easier and cost-effective production of gallium oxide, an alternative to silicon for semiconductors. The discovery assumes importance amidst the ban on gallium export to China.

Silicon may be a significant component powering semiconductor-based applications. Still, the industry has evolved to use compounds such as gallium arsenide and indium phosphide in production processes over the years. Gallium oxide is the newest entrant in the arena.

What is gallium oxide?

Gallium oxide is a fourth-generation ultra-wide band gap semiconductor that can withstand a strong electric field and consumes little power. A band gap is the amount of energy needed to free electrons inside a semiconductor material, and an ultra-wide band gap allows the material to be used for high-voltage applications.

Among other ultra-wide band gap materials, such as gallium nitride and silicon carbide, gallium oxide has many advantages. However, its production is much more challenging.

Gallium oxide is the only material that can form single crystals at atmospheric pressure after solidification from a melt. This can drastically reduce fabrication costs, but the process needs large amounts of iridium to make a crucible for the melt.

A four-inch crucible requires about 11 pounds (five kg) of iridium; since the price of iridium is three times that of gold, this increases production costs. It also raises concerns about intellectual property in China since Japan and the US have used the method.

Chinese innovation amidst US ban

Last year, researchers at the State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials at Zhejiang University made two-inch gallium oxide wafers. This year, they have improved their approach and made four-inch wafers.

Their improved approach involved a casting method that uses up to 80 percent less iridium. This will help reduce production costs and make the process shorter and more manageable for mass production.

The team has spun off a company that holds the patents for these improved methods and is currently working on using a temperature gradient to increase the size of the crystals produced.

Due to their low energy consumption, gallium oxide semiconductors are ideal for use in communications, aerospace, radar, and electrified transportation like cars and trains.

Last year, the US Commerce Department imposed an export ban on gallium oxide to China, citing concerns about national security since they can also be used for military purposes. The ban aimed to prevent China from gaining experience in next-generation semiconductors, where gallium oxide alone is expected to be a $1.5 billion opportunity by the end of the decade.

Not only has China overcome the aims of the ban but, in a tit-for-tat response, imposed a ban on the export of gallium and germanium from August 1 this year.

Inside Michael Imperioli’s History-Filled New York Home | Open Door | Architectural Digest

Man oh man. I love his home!

Are Huawei phones now a real challenge to Apple’s iPhone?

Yes.

Competition is always a challenge, right? More than competition, Huawei is a Cinderella story. Remember, it was ranked #1 before Donald Trump torpedoed it.

Now, let’s use a little logic. If Huawei is able to manufacture enough chips to supply the global market, how long do you think it will take Huawei to rocket back to #1? It will have a reputation as the best smartphone on the planet, bar none. It will also have a reputation as the comeback kid.

Do you suppose some people might buy one just to spite Donald Trump or America? That’s precisely why I bought mine.

The Western media never stopped crowing about Huawei’s dependence on Google. In fact, more intelligent people might buy a Huawei phone to escape Google. That was part of my motivation. Unfortunately, my phone runs on Google’s Android program. No problem, I’m going to upgrade to a new Huawei, now that it’s running on Harmony OS.

The iPhone may remain #1 in the U.S., but I predict it will fall to 2nd place (or worse) just about everywhere else.

One thing helping the iPhone is the Apple ecosystem. If you own a Mac, as I do, an iPhone might seem a logical peripheral. Unfortunately, the U.S. tech sector is rotten to the core. I like Apple far more than Microsoft, but I still don’t completely trust it. It also seems like it has become just a little buggier in recent years.

My dream is to someday migrate to a Chinese system, leaving all that U.S. crapware behind once and for all. Unfortunately, I use Adobe software extensively, and I don’t know how long it will be before Adobe software will be compatible with Harmony OS or some other Chinese operating system. However, it wouldn’t surprise me if it happens in the next few years.

Oops, I almost forgot to mention 5G and 6G. China is clearly in the lead here. I don’t know how much that will affect the average person, but it’s certainly a good selling point.

After being wowed by Apple for two decades, I never thought I’d abandon ship, but the Chinese can outperform and undersell Apple at the same time. As a U.S. citizen who’s getting tired of being screwed by the tech sector and my own government, I appreciate bargains, don’t you?

The One and Only Authentic
Southern Strawberry Shortcake

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 2/3 cup Half-and-Half
• Butter for spreading
• 4 cups fresh, ripe strawberries, rinsed, hulled, sliced in half, and sugared, to taste
• 1 cup heavy cream, whipped to stiff peaks

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 450 degrees F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and mix well. Add the butter and using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut the butter into the mixture until crumbly.
3. In a small bowl, combine the egg and Half-and-Half and mix until well blended. Then add the flour mixture and stir until the mixture is thoroughly moist. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead very briefly. With your hands, pat out the dough to about a 1/2 inch thickness, then, using a floured 3 inch biscuit cutter, cut out six biscuits.
4. Place the biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet and bake on the upper rack of the oven until slightly brown on top, about 10 minutes.
5. While they’re still hot, split open the biscuits, spread lightly with butter, and arrange close together on a plate. Spoon berries and cream onto the biscuits and serve while still warm.

HE EXPOSES THE SYSTEM! FIRST TIME REACTING TO ANTHONY OLIVER (Rapper Reacts Series)

Shots fired! Shots fired!

https://youtu.be/-UEJqnWY1A4

Is the atomic explosion in Nolan’s film ‘Oppenheimer’ computer-generated?

For the scene depicting the atomic detonation during the famous Trinity test in the New Mexico desert in July 1945, Christopher Nolan and his creative team did not rely on CGI. Instead, they recreated a real explosion using gasoline, propane, magnesium, and aluminum powder to enhance the blinding light and initial flash of the explosion.

The explosion was filmed at 48 frames per second using 65mm IMAX cameras and Panavision Panaflex System 65 Studio cameras. Additional detailed shots were captured using 35mm cameras at 50 FPS. All elements were shot in a way that made them appear much larger than they were and then composited together in post-production to create ‘a colossal event made up of many small pieces.’ The final product was assembled by overlaying 100 shots and over 400 practical elements, all crafted by a team of more than 150 artists.

This is one of the reasons why I absolutely admire Nolan and his films

Africa SHOCKS the world: EXPOSING France Oppression in Africa!

The game is over, Africa is waking up.

All troops From the West, will leave Africa.

https://youtu.be/fppZGQ3QFFQ