My wife does this all the time.

Scammy: We need to repair the operating system on your computer.

Wife: Ok, I don’t know anything about computers so you will have to help me.

Scammy: Go to your computer.

Wife: I am there

Scammy: Go into your windows.

WIfe: Ok but I thought we were fixing my computer?

Scammy: We are:

Wife: Ok I have my window open.

Scammy: Go to your start button.

Wife: You want me go back to my computer? I am looking out my window like you told me to.

Scammy: I mean your computer windows.

Wife: You did not explain that to me

Scammy: Are you in front of your computer now?

Wife: Yes

Scammy: do you see a box called xxx

Wife: No, there is nothing like that .

Scammy: Look to the left and see the icons, tell me what you see.

Wife: Nothing

Scammy: Do you see and runs through a list

Wife: No, my screen is just black

Scammy: Is your computer turned on?

Wife: You never told me that… you want me to turn it on?

Scammy Irritated now) : Yes Tell me when it is up

Wife: Ok.. (She goes and gets coffee and looks at me laughing because she bet me she can keep him online for 10 minutes at least)

Wife: (Nowhere near her computer) Ok I am back at my computer, what do you want

Scammy: Do you see a list of icons like this?

Wife: Yes I see them now.

Scammy: I want you to open a dialogue box by this method. (Gives her directions)

Wife: I am writing this down, can you repeat step 3?

Scammy: Repeats the steps

Wife: Ok, I think I wrote it down correctly, let me read it back to you (as she has written nothing, she misses some.)

Scammy: No You missed step 4

Wife: Ok, lets start over, hang on I have to get a fresh piece of paper,,, She gets scammy to run through the entire process again

Wife: Ok, I think I have it now, just one question?

Scammy: What ?

Wife; Do you honestly think I am going to have someone call me out of the blue to tell me my operating system needs repaired and I am just going to be gullible enough t allow you to do whatever you want? Does your mother know you try to steal for a living? She must be so disappointed in you.

Actually she sometimes gets a full lecture in before they hang up.

My wife, my son and I have contests to see who can keep a scammer going the longest. Especially if we have guests when a scammer calls, we use scammers as part of our entertainment.

Spreads

“Where are you, Lena?” I brushed the branches away to have a clear view of Hangar 2. I felt a thrill of warmth rush through my body as I saw the silhouette of the small, two-seat Robinson R22 Helicopter through the path lights.

A short distance away, there was a rustling sound that made my pulse skip a beat. I crouched even lower, nearly lying on the ground. The sound approached gently. I paused my breathing and glanced in that direction. The dense network of barberry and European bladdernut branches prevented a clear view. It rustled more and more. A black snout poked through the foliage, and then I stared into two enormous brown eyes. It froze. The deer nearly did a backflip as I made a slight hand movement that frightened it. I exhaled deeply and looked down at my fingers.

I stroked with my fingers along the ridge between my thumb and the index finger on the other hand. The GACHIP chip program, known as ‘Sound of Freedom’, was established by the government to protect children from human trafficking. That’s what my parents and grandparents thought. The government fooled everyone with their promotion.

There are now cameras installed everywhere that can scan the microchip embedded under the skin. As my grandmother described to me in my childhood years, “We all thought that was just a surveillance camera without any database information,” she said with a guilty look on her face.

During my grandparents’ era, Europe remained mostly democratic, with a few significant outliers. But as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine erupted in the early 21st century, everything—including my homeland of Austria, which had sworn neutrality—started to tilt toward an authoritarian administration.

I once questioned Grandma, while we were sitting in our favorite spot—the airfield. “Did the people never understand that the government was trying to take control of everyone?” She touched my face while glancing at me. “Yes, Rena, we were. A number of us were arguing and demonstrating, but then this happened. ” A 20-cm-long scar showed up where she had pulled her pullover over her belly. “I did have a family and prioritize things.” Her soft eyes surveyed the area. “I never felt bad about this choice.”

Someone tapped my shoulder, jolting me out of my thoughts. I grabbed the nearest branch and turned around. The woman ducked, lost her footing, and flew backward into the undergrowth.

She bellowed, “Cruzefix no amoi,” in Pinzgau dialect which means ‘Damned’.

My parents’ native language was Pinzgauer, a German dialect before the government suppressed it. They had to learn Surschyk, a Russian-German hybrid language. I was not even born by then.

I extended my hand to her. She looked at me with a smile and I pulled her with a strong tug that propelled her to her feet.

She gave me a ‘Tell me’ look and widened her eyes.

“Yes, he did phone me. Do you have mind-reading skills?”

“You’re not hard to read,” Lena said as I touched the ring with my finger, and she gestured toward it.

“He is not that bad. Even he has nice days.”

“Come on, let’s explore the world beyond the borders and kick some asses.” She grasped my arm forcefully.

We ducked down and made our way to the hangar. Everything appeared to be quiet. I gave her a hand signal where to find the rolls. Lena and I spent a lot of time observing how the helicopter was transported, so we knew the whereabouts and handling of the rollers.

I grabbed the rollers, placed them on the back ends of the skids, and pressed the lever down. I went to the tail rotor end and pushed the tail boom down. I signaled her to move forward and position herself behind the helicopter cabin.

I nodded in response to Lena’s expression. As I went, I could hear the rollers squeaking slightly. Lena looked from left to right, and I noticed she was smirking mischievously. We rolled the helicopter approximately 10 meters out of the hangar. We disassembled the rollers and placed them slightly apart in the grass; we then checked our watches and began timing. 30 minutes.

Laughter! We got down on our knees. Three men holding bottles walked past the path outside the flying area. There were jokes and chuckling, and a man glanced at us. He stopped and called after the others. The two men also paused and looked in our direction. My heart stopped, and I sank to the ground. I looked at Lena, who hid deep in the helicopter’s shadow. We heard laughter and slurred speech again. I did not understand a word. After another round of laughter, they left.

I let out a long breath and got to my feet, but then I had dizziness. I had to sit down for a little while. I inhaled and exhaled calmly, then glanced back at my ring. Does my husband expose me to the government to receive the reward? The reward aims to minimize resistance by the public. It was no longer possible to have the right to travel throughout Europe or freedom of speech. Individuals who held opposing views were “permanently removed” according to the government representatives’ argument. Nobody heard from them anymore. We do not know their fate.

I looked around for Lena, but she was gone; she sat already on the copilot’s side. I dashed over to the pilot’s side, opened the door, and took my seat. I felt my heart race as I pressed the pedals, and touched with the fingers the collective, and cyclic control. I let out my breath. We both turned to look at the clock simultaneously.

15 minutes.

“Lena. Tell me just the points from starting the engine and running up procedure; let out the pre-flight checklist” I gestured to her on the list.

“Battery, strobe switches – on,” said Lena, and had trouble reading the writing, her fingers were shaking a lot.

“Ignition switch – start and then both.” She continued.

“Ahh, what does it mean ‘then both’”.

“It stays here. How do I know,” said Lena and her tone was a nuance louder. She looked at me and I turned the key first left and then right.

“Set engine RPM 50 to 60% and switch the clutch.” she continued as I started the engine.

I carefully adjusted the throttle to 50 to 60%, just like I was taught in my grandmother’s secret simulator room. The helicopter’s 4-cylinder air-cooled Lycoming O-320-A2B piston engine powered up and the entire aircraft started to quiver. I grinned as I remembered my grandmother’s words about her years of helicopter training: “Fixed-wing pilots have traditionally said that helicopter pilots are crazy because they shut down their engines and land without power..”

I watched as the blades started to spin, first gently, then rapidly. We put our headsets on. Meanwhile, the helicopter is now running much more smoothly, reaching 97% RPM.

I gave Lena a thumbs-up. She breathed and also gave a thumbs up. We gazed outside. The ambiance is amazing. The fields and meadows are covered in a thin layer of dense fog. The sun rises like a fireball, bathing everything in a warm crimson light. A few trees away is the shape of a massive, antique wooden farmhouse.

I lifted the Collective with my left hand, and I felt the chopper hover. After two seconds, the helicopter began to swerve to the right, and I steered cyclic against it. It then reversed, and I steered against it again. I had the impression we were on a ghost train, going up and down, right and left, back to front.

Lena gripped with her hands to anything she could grip. The flight system steadied after a few bouts of boxing with the machine. It was dimly lit, but I could still see Lena’s pale face with her wide open eyes. I could feel the perspiration trickling down my brow—not only on it. Or did… I glance a bit downward. No, everything was in order.

After giving Lena another glance, I moved the cyclic forward, forcing the chopper to accelerate slightly above the ground and dive nose down. 20, 30, 40, and then, at 60 knots, we experienced the lift-over-drag moment that propelled us quickly into the air.

Lena screamed as if her entire body had frozen. She glanced then sideways at the mountains. She screamed again, but this time it was pure excitement. Her entire body exuded enthusiasm as she began speaking, even though I couldn’t comprehend a word she said. She talked pretty fast and was spitting sometimes. I simply grinned and nodded.

I checked my watch; it was beyond time, and they would soon come for us.

I had a student who would not aknowledge my presence at all. He was absolutely silent, so I guess what depressed me was his lack of engagement—untilI found out why.

I had a boy in my English 10 Honors (sophomore level) class several years ago. He was quiet and chose to sit with his back to me every single day. I tried to get him to talk to me a few times, but he was so shy and withdrawn I stopped because I didn’t want to make him feel more awkward and uncomfortable than he obviously already did. He was a middle-of-the-road student: when he turned in homework it was often half done. His class work was sloppy and I usually sensed he wasn’t paying attention at all. That year, I had a rough group of classes: student fights breaking out, a girl was beat up by her boyfriend and almost killed, a very tall male student threatened me—and my admin wasn’t very supportive—so I was hanging on by the skin of my teeth. I allowed the young man to sit quietly in the back of the class because he wasn’t causing any problems.

When we got to the essay unit, I was completely gobsmacked by his paper. It was the most well-written and analytical essay I had seen in a long time. I wrote him some sort of encouraging comment and started to pay closer attention to him in a very low-key way. Well, fast-forward: his junior year, I asked if he would join the school newspaper (I was the advisor). He did and over the course over the next two years, I watched him change and develop into a leader in the class: he came out of his shell and got really involved in the paper—learning how to program and do layouts, etc. When he graduated, he wrote in my yearbook how when he was a a sophomore he was being jumped into a gang and it was my encouragement that gave him the courage to get out of that lifestyle. He joined the Navy and is currently in the PhD program at Duke University. I still talk to him once in a while and he doing amazing: married and happy.

Texas Grilled Cocoa Chile Steak

Bored with burgers and hot dogs? Offer seasoned steak slices in flour tortillas at your next backyard cookout.

Prep: 5 min | Refrigerate: 2 hr | Cook: 16 min | Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds flank steak
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons McCormick® Gourmet Collection Cocoa Chile Blend
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 teaspoon McCormick® Gourmet Collection Oregano Leaves, Mexican
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 (8 inch) flour tortillas

Instructions

1. Brush steak with oil.
2. Mix brown sugar, cocoa chile blend, lime juice, oregano and salt until well blended. Rub paste over steak.
3. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight for best flavor.
4. Broil or grill over medium high heat for 6 to 8 minutes per side or until desired doneness.
5. Cut steak across the grain into thin slices.
6. Serve steak slices in warm flour tortillas.
7. Top with salsa, shredded Cheddar cheese and sour cream, if desired.

China’s Missile Test Saved U.S. From Nuclear War

China’s Missile Test Saved U.S. From Nuclear War

In this most brilliant video, the commentator elaborates on the subtle “message” that China sent to the United States.

This message SHATTERED all the preconceptions that RAND, the Pentagon and the American government had about China’s ability to destroy the USA through nuclear fire.

• The missile was a DF-31AG upgrade.
• Where the range, speed, and payload was demonstrated to be much better than the RAND report assumptions.
  • Range covers all of the United States.
  • Can carry three nuclear warheads
  • Fielded in large numbers with warheads in place.
  • MACH 23, cannot be intercepted.
• Further, the number of deployed missiles with armed warheads is also much larger than the mere 500 “threats” that RAND assumes.

The video takes the time to parse what the demonstrated aspects indicate, and what their significance are.

The arguments are sound and valid, and the short video (7:40 minutes long) is a must watch.

Are inmates allowed to spend the entire day sleeping?

This answer is from a guy who served Fed time in 4 different prisons. State, county, city, etc May be different.

First, understand that not long after the fear subsides, you come to understand the true reality of your situation. You are facing years, decades inside of 4 walls. You don’t get out unless you are transferred or in a box. So your whole life comes down to to a few acres, surrounded by 20’ walls protected by piles of razor wire. You can count on your fingers the things you can do to keep busy.

Everyone had an assigned job. It usually starts after the morning count and ends before the afternoon count. You get weekend off. For me, I’d have rather worked 7 days. Days off tended to be long. Very long.

To your question, are inmates allowed to sleep all day? On days off, you are mostly free to entertain yourself in any non threatening way. Wanna sleep? Sure! All day and night if you like. Just be in position to be counted as they don’t fuck around with counts. Wanna sleep all day? Get sent to the SHU! You can sleep 24/7/365. That is if you don’t loose little pieces of your sanity. But why sleep all day? I think it sounds good! I think it carry’s a semi fun connotation, but can you really sleep all night then all day and then sleep the next night? Nights are pretty calm but at lights out, you are expected to STFU. And understand there are another 750 inmates that want to sleep at night so if you are up all night because you aren’t tired, you best not be waking up Bubba in the next cell or there’ll be hell to pay the next morning.

I slept about 5 hours a night. I’d go down about 7:30–8:00pm. Obviously I was up early. While I was in Tucson FCI, about a year before release, I was moved to the camp next door. I ended up with 2 jobs. Morning breakfast cafeteria, opened it at 4:30am and closing it by 9:00 am count and then headed to my day job. I don’t watch TV so there was a lot of time to fill and the truth is, there were about 100 paperback books with about 1/2 being romance novels. I wanted to stay busy. For me it worked.

America In The Age Of Nero

Authored by J. Peder Zane via RealClearPolitics,

Americans are like members of a quarrelsome family, so intent on arguing their petty grievances around the kitchen table that they don’t smell the rising smoke from the oven. As our nation fumes and the world burns, neither major party presidential candidate is addressing the lapping flames around us.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are not simply ignoring our frightening national debt – both vow to ramp it up. Neither candidate has a serious plan to respond to the threats posed by China, Russia, or Iran.

The strangling costs of health care, the sharp decline in mental health, the disintegration of our public schools – which is sharply tied to the breakdown in the family – are all ignored in a race marked by gauzy references to policy and sharp personal attacks.

It’s not just Harris and Trump – our leadership in Washington has long refused to face up to the growing threats to our republic. Their empty promise is that everything is the other side’s fault. Help us annihilate the other guy and everything will be peaches and cream.

A third-grader wouldn’t fall for this nonsense. Neither side can vanquish the other. A Harris victory will not be the death knell of Trump’s populist message; Trump’s win will not defang progressivism’s leftward lurch. Whatever the outcome, we will continue to be a divided, angry nation. And yet, seemingly thoughtful Americans have bought this line hook, line, and sinker.

More importantly, even if one side did seize absolute power, they have no legitimate plan to right the ship of state. Sixty years of Great Society programs have shown us we can’t spend our way out of problems. The 44 years since the Reagan Revolution show us that tax cuts can only set the stage for reforms that have never come – a task that nears the impossible as ever more Americans become dependent on government aid.

America is in a second Age of Nero – our leaders fiddle as the country burns.

In past crises, the strength, resilience, and ingenuity of the American people have saved us from the depths of want and war. It is not clear we retain that grit.

Instead of demanding leadership, we seem content with the bread and circuses of mindless politics more akin to the gladiatorial battle of Rome than the edifying debates of ancient Greece. The broad embrace of victimhood and grievance on both sides has replaced any question of sacrifice for the common good with the desire to demonize our imagined tormentors. If anything, we savor the fight. It makes us feel important, alive – it gives our lives meaning.

Although we have serious problems, we are no longer a serious people. Hence our choice between Donald J. Trump and Kamala Harris.

They are not the disease, however, but a symptom. The first step toward a treatment, if not cure, is obvious: we must reject our empty politics of diversion in order to identify and address our urgent crisis. Honesty really would make a difference. It might also make us happier as we re-channel our energies from angry partisanship into thoughtful partnership.

Still, that would only get us so far. Life teaches that identifying one’s problems is the relatively easy part of change – we all know what’s wrong with the other guy and, sometimes, ourselves. Finding the will and discipline to do something about it is far harder.

We are sinking before that challenge because it still seems possible to ignore the building fire. Many of us have it pretty good; our fears are mitigated by our confidence in escape. It won’t get me.

Ironically, the fact that much of the rest of the world is crumbling imparts a false sense of security. Instead of seeing those problems as canaries in the coal mine, we think, Hey, we’re still doing okay.

It’s true that history confutes the doomsayers. The world does get better in the long run. But that is little consolation to those whose one short life is spent during the ebbing flow.

History also teaches that judgment for past failure often comes with sudden swiftness, like a thief in the night. As we think about the immense problems we are allowing to smolder, recall Ernest Hemingway’s pithy warning from “The Sun Also Rises.”

“How did you go bankrupt?” one character asks a friend.

“Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”

J. Peder Zane is a RealClearInvestigations editor and columnist. He previously worked as a book review editor and book columnist for the News & Observer (Raleigh), where his writing won several national honors. Zane has also worked at the New York Times and taught writing at Duke University and Saint Augustine’s University.

Why is there so much fear among many Westerners about the rise of China?

Meet Virgin and Chad.

• Virgin was an introverted, nerdy kid, who preferred keeping to himself and doing his own thing.
• Chad‘s an extrovert. He’s muscular, charismatic, popular, and a bully.

He tried to get Virgin hooked on some really dank shit. One day, Virgin said, “No Chad, I don’t need your drugs anymore, it’s fucking me up real bad, I gots to clean up my act, for reals.”

Chad was desperate for Virgin’s money. So he called his posse over, broke Virgin’s legs, and made him his bitch.

Virgin survived the ordeal somehow, and vowed to become strong, so that he will never be picked on again.

Time flies. While Virgin focused on bettering himself through discipline and sheer will, Chad completely let himself go. When they met again, Virgin became what Chad used to look like, while Chad became an obese, drugged-up drunkard who’s suffering from gender dysphoria.

The two looked at each other in awkward silence. Chad decided to break the ice. “Hey dude…how you been?”

“I’m alright”, Virgin replied calmly.

“That’s great man, I’m happy for you! I mean, wow, just look at you! Dem abs, nigga!” said Chad. “Listen, about that stuff that happened a while ago…”

“Don’t worry about it.” interjected Virgin. “That was a long time ago, I’m wiling to let it go, if you’re willing to do the same.”

Chad was speechless. “I…well…of course man, we cool dude?”

“Yeah we cool, no hard feelings. Look I gotta get back to my calligraphy and shit, you wanna see my work?”

“Nah it’s okay bro, you do you man, you do you. Laters.”

But Chad was not reassured by Virgin’s words. It only made him more anxious and paranoid.

“How is this possible?”, he thought. “No, he’s way too calm and forgiving. Almost as if….as if…he’s plotting something big.”

“He’s gonna get me….oh god, he’s gonna get me…payback for everything I’ve done to him….oh god, no…”

The Imperialist West has much to fear from China, because they themselves are well aware of what they have done, to China, to the rest of the developing world. How could they not worry that China will turn out to be a conqueror, a slaver, a destroyer of civilisations, as they themselves used to be (and still are)?

No amount of good faith, isolation and passiveness on China’s part will convince them that China is simply not like them. A thief will always live in fear of being burgled, a bully in fear of being bullied.

What made you realize your life will never be the same?

In November of 2021, shortly after I turned 67, my husband and I went for a vacation in Maui. I was still working, doing consulting on a big project and wanted a break before things got really intense.

We went snorkeling in the morning, but it was a bit windy so we didn’t stay long. My husband wanted to go boogie boarding, so we stopped at another beach we liked. I wasn’t going to go in but decided I should do a few. We’d been boogie boarding for 30 years so I should have known what I was doing. I walked out and the first wave looked good. As I jumped on it, I realized it was rolling down but I’d already committed. I hit my head on the bottom and felt like a lightning bolt went through me. Once I got back to the top of the water I tried to put my hands down to push myself up and realized I couldn’t move my arms. Luckily, some first responders (who happened to live in the same province as me in Canada) were at the beach and saw what happened. They came and pulled me out and had me covered up with an umbrella until the ambulance got there. I had no movement in my arms and legs although I could move my fingers and toes slightly. Ten days later I was airlifted back to BC and a week after that had surgery to fuse my neck. I spent a total of 4 months in hospital, 3 months of it in our regional rehabilitation hospital.

I am lucky enough that I got most of my movement back and am slightly impaired on my right side. When I was in the hospital there were many others who weren’t so lucky.

I’m now at the point that I can travel again and I’m trying to make the most of my life as I come to my 70th birthday.

Hero Cat Suddenly Rushes Toward Accident Scene – Does Something No One Has Ever Seen!