Interesting photos, global change, and some interesting stories

I’ve posted numerous videos on you-tube. And you know, not matter what I post about; self-esteem, love, happiness, confidence… there is a jack-ass that has parked itself on my you-tube and down-votes everything. I know who it is. Analytics show me what’s going on.

After three consecutive down votes by this jack-ass…

I sentenced “it” to trials in the cornfield. Of course, it probably won’t know what is going on as the changes that it would experienced isn’t anything that you can fight directly.

Why did I do this?

I need to maintain my own self confidence. That’s why. It’s for purely selfish reasons. That’s why. I’m human. With feelings. That’s why.

And I’m old.

I can tell the difference between an active passive-aggressive assault under the cover of an internet-based anonymous cloak, and some bad words written in haste.

Just because you are rude, crude and (so called) “anonymous” does not mean that you will never need to hold an accounting for your actions. Today, more or less, it is my self-appointed role (in this instance).

Took Longer than I expected, for reasons that are way to complicated to get involve in.

It will continue in ignorance. Not realizing or understanding the prison bars that it is erecting around itself.

Yes, Brady Barrineau, I hope you enjoy your nice long, long stay in the corn field.I expanded the departure radius for a nice loooong life. Just in case, don’t you know. Anchored with three feducials, not just one.

You all can have opinions that disagree with me, but don’t try or attempt to interfere with my life or actions. I will project back at you.

Let’s continue with today’s article.

Stoney First Nation Member, Samson Beaver With His Wife Leah And Their Daughter Frances Louise, 1907

Have some perspective.

Teenagers from the 1950’s

Putin’s Sledgehammer

“The Ukrainians are in bad shape… It won’t be long before the Ukrainians run out of food. It won’t be long before they freeze… They have done all that we can reasonably expect them to do. It’s time to negotiate…. before the offensive begins, because once it begins, there will be no further discussion between Moscow and Kiev until it is over to the satisfaction of the Russians.”  Colonel Douglas MacGregor, “War in Ukraine; Quiet Before the Storm”, 15 minute-mark 

 “Strictly speaking, we haven’t started anything yet.” Russian President Vladimir Putin 

The relentless attacks on Ukraine’s electrical grid, fuel-storage units, railway hubs, and Command-and-Control centers mark the beginning of a second and more lethal phase of the war. The increased tempo of the high-precision, long-range missile attacks suggests that Moscow is laying the groundwork for a major winter offensive that will be launched as soon as Russia’s 300,000 reservists join their formations in east Ukraine. Kiev’s refusal to negotiate a settlement that addresses Russia’s core security concerns, has left Russian president Vladimir Putin with no other option but to defeat Ukrainian forces on the battlefield and impose a settlement through force-of-arms. The impending winter offensive is designed to deliver the knock-out punch Russia needs to achieve its strategic objectives and bring the war to swift end. This is from Reuters:

 Russian missile strikes have crippled almost half of Ukraine’s energy system, the government said on Friday, and authorities in the capital Kyiv warned that the city could face a “complete shutdown” of the power grid as winter sets in.

With temperatures falling and Kyiv seeing its first snow, officials were working to restore power nationwide after some of the heaviest bombardment of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure in nine months of war.

The United Nations says Ukraine’s electricity and water shortages threaten a humanitarian disaster this winter.

“Unfortunately Russia continues to carry out missile strikes on Ukraine’s civilian and critical infrastructure. Almost half of our energy system is disabled,” Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said….

“We are preparing for different scenarios, including a complete shutdown,” Mykola Povoroznyk, deputy head of the Kyiv city administration, said in televised comments.” (“Ukraine says half its energy system crippled by Russian attacks, Kyiv could ‘shutdown'”, Reuters) 

Until recently, Russia had avoided targets that would dramatically impact civilian activities, but now military leaders have returned to a more conventional approach. Presently, the military is destroying whatever facilities, transformers, storage units, substations, rail yards and energy depots that allow Ukraine to continue to wage war. Clearly –as the bigger and more powerful state — it was always within Russia’s ability to take a sledgehammer to Ukraine and break it into a million pieces, but Putin chose to hold back hoping that Kiev would come to its senses and see the hopelessness of its cause. And –despite the deluge of western propaganda to the contrary– the outcome of this war has never been in doubt. Russia is going to impose a settlement on Kiev and that settlement will require the government to cut all ties with NATO and to sign a treaty declaring its neutrality into perpetuity. Russia is not going to allow a hostile military alliance to place its missile sites and combat troops on its western flank. That won’t happen.

Unfortunately, Russia’s military operation is going to greatly increase the suffering of the Ukrainian people who find themselves locked in a cage-match between the Washington and Moscow. This is from the World Socialist Web Site:

 Poverty in Ukraine has increased more than tenfold since the outbreak of the US/NATO-Russia war, according to the latest data from the World Bank (WB). Officially, 25 percent of the country’s population is now poor, up from supposedly just 2 percent before February 2022… With officials predicting that the poverty rate could rise to as much as 60 percent or more next year, levels of deprivation are emerging in Ukraine that have not been witnessed on the European continent since the end of World War II. 

Unemployment is now running at 35 percent, and salaries have fallen by as much as 50 percent over the spring and summer for some categories of workers. … according to the International Monetary Fund, Ukraine’s public debt has now soared to 85 percent of GDP…. A recently released joint study by the World Health Organization and Ukraine’s Ministry of Health found that 22 percent of people in Ukraine cannot access essential medicines. For the country’s 6.9 million internally displaced, that number rises to 33 percent.

…The medications that are hardest to get—those that treat blood pressure, heart problems and pain, as well as sedatives and antibiotics—reveal a population struggling to cope with decades of poverty-induced ill health and the physical and psychological trauma of war.

While US and NATO officials are able to dispatch massive amounts of firepower to Ukraine’s front lines within a matter of weeks, the delivery of life-saving humanitarian goods is seemingly an impossible logistical challenge.” (“Poverty skyrockets in Ukraine”, World Socialist Web Site) 

Washington’s proxy-war on Moscow has inflicted incalculable suffering on the people of Ukraine who now face plunging temperatures, dwindling food supplies, a crashing economy and a growing shortage of essential medications. And despite the chest-thumping bravado over the recapturing of Kherson, the Ukrainian people will now be forced to flee their battered homeland by the millions seeking refuge in Europe which has already slipped into a post-industrial slump brought on by Uncle Sam’s reckless provocations. How many of these working-class Ukrainians would have preferred that their leaders reach an accommodation with Putin (regarding his legitimate security concerns) rather than engaging the Russian army in a pointless war which has cost them their homes, their jobs, their cities, and (for many) their lives? And do the people outside the country who claim to “Stand With Ukraine” realize that they are actually supporting the impoverishment and immiseration of millions of civilians that are caught in a geopolitical crossfire between Washington and Russia? Anyone who genuinely cares about Ukraine should support Ukrainian neutrality and an end to NATO expansion. That is the only way this war is going to end. Russian security will be achieved by-way of a treaty or an iron-fist. The choice is Ukraine’s. This is from an article titled ‘Russia Is Right: The U.S. Is Waging a Proxy War in Ukraine‘:

 “The war in Ukraine isn’t just a conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently declared. It is a “proxy war” in which the world’s most powerful military alliance … is using Ukraine as a battering ram against the Russian state … Lavrov is … not wrong. Russia is the target of one of the most ruthlessly effectively proxy wars in modern history.” 

The US foreign policy establishment does not care about Ukraine or the Ukrainian people. The country is merely a launching pad for Washington’s war on Russia. That is why the CIA toppled the democratically-elected government in Kiev in 2014 and that is why the CIA armed and trained Ukrainian paramilitaries to fight the Russian military in 2015 (7 years before the invasion!) Here’s some background from a 2015 article at Yahoo News:

 “The CIA is overseeing a secret intensive training program in the U.S. for elite Ukrainian special operations forces and other intelligence personnel, according to five former intelligence and national security officials familiar with the initiative. The program, which started in 2015, is based at an undisclosed facility in the Southern U.S., according to some of those officials….

“The United States is training an insurgency,” said a former CIA official, adding that the program has taught the Ukrainians how “to kill Russians.”

…the CIA and other U.S. agencies could support a Ukrainian insurgency, should Russia launch a large-scale incursion.

…“We’ve been training these guys now for eight years. They’re really good fighters. …representatives from both countries also believe that Russia won’t be able to hold on to new territory indefinitely because of stiff resistance from Ukrainian insurgents, according to former officials.

If the Russians launch a new invasion, “there’s going to be people who make their life miserable,” said the former senior intelligence official…

“All that stuff that happened to us in Afghanistan,” said the former senior intelligence official, “they can expect to see that in spades with these guys.” (“CIA-trained Ukrainian paramilitaries may take central role if Russia invades”, Yahoo News) 

There it is in black and white. The plan to use Ukraine as a staging-ground for conducting a proxy-war on Russia preceded the invasion by at least 7 years. The Obama administration and their neocon allies set a trap for Russia in order to drag them into an Afghanistan-like quagmire that would deplete their resources and kill as many Russian servicemen as possible. As Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently admitted, the US wants to “weaken” Russia so it is unable to project power beyond its borders. Washington seeks unhindered access to Central Asia so it can encircle China with military bases and nuclear missiles. The US intends to control China’s growth while dominating the world’s most populous and prosperous region of the next century, Asia. But first, Washington must crush Russia, collapse its economy, isolate it from the global community, demonize it in its media, and topple its leaders. Ukraine is seen as the first phase in a much broader strategy aimed at regime change (in Moscow) followed by the forced fragmentation of the Russian state. The ultimate objective is the preservation of Washington’s preeminent role in the global order.

Putin’s winter offensive threatens to derail Washington’s plan to drag the conflict out for as long as possible. In the weeks and months ahead, Russia is going to intensify its assault on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. Most of the country will be plunged into darkness, fuel supplies will dry up, food and water will become scarcer, communications will be cut off, and all rail-traffic will cease. Millions of civilians will flee to Europe while the entire country slowly grinds to a standstill. At the same time that Russian battalions overtake cities and towns east of the Dnieper, the Russian army will block vital supply-lines from Poland cutting off the flow of lethal weaponry and combat troops headed to the front. This, in turn, will lead to widespread capitulation among Ukrainian fighting units operating in the field which will force Zelensky to the negotiating table. Eventually, Russia will prevail and its legitimate security demands will be met. Here’s how Colonel Douglas MacGregor summed it up in a recent interview:

“What’s coming in the future is a very massive offensive... the kind of offensive that I and many other military analysts expected at the beginning; Very decisive operations, multiple operational axes designed to effectively annihilate the enemy on the ground. And that’s what’s coming now, that’s what lies in the future.” (Colonel Douglas MacGregor, “War in Ukraine; Quiet Before the Storm”, you tube) 

When the ground freezes, Russia’s offensive will begin.

Is China dealing with the United States from a strong position?

China has no desire to deal with the US in any authoritative manner in any which way. All they’re interested is to keep the trade going as the US has been throwing tantrums over nothing or everything without a direction.

Frankly, as an observer, the US has to get real and start be realistic about what’s going on in this globe. Any successful manipulation has a shelf live, it can’t be used perpetually. Repetitious application of a same tactic will be met with retaliation sooner or later. At the end of the day, the US has to brush up on their act to stay relevant.

No one wishes to challenge an angry person for whatever reason who is swinging a loaded gun in all directions.

China is not looking a fight.

A Roman Mosaic Depicting A Fish. 1st Century CE

Damn amazing.

My favorite scene from “The Sixth Sense”

I’ve always loved this scene. I still think it is one of the single most well acted, written, and directed scenes in any film. Just perfect, touching, and lovely.

https://youtu.be/FLyYYHqVTsE

The Mysterious Man from Taured – Evidence for a Parallel Universe?

The Man from Taured, sometimes referred to as the Taured Mystery or the Man without a Country, is an urban legend about a man who arrives at a Japanese airport from an unheard of country called Taured. Some have explained the story as proof of time travel , while others have spoken of a parallel universe. But, could there possibly be a simpler explanation?

Many people have claimed this story to be true, so the crux of the problem pertains to Taured. In case you’re wondering, there is no country by the name of Taured, either today or during the 1950s, the purported time when the incident took place. The story ends with the man disappearing (forever) a day after arriving in Japan. Moreover, all of his personal documents, such as his passport and driver’s license, also (conveniently) disappeared, thus making this strange mystery even more difficult to resolve.

The Arrival of the Man from Taured

The story of the man from Taured begins quite specifically in many sources with a hot day in July 1954. On that particular day, a man was said to have arrived at Haneda Airport, known also as Tokyo International Airport. This man has been described as Caucasian with a beard. Whilst his primary language is said to have been French, accounts claim that he spoke Japanese and many other languages as well. So far, there is nothing unusual to in the narrative.

The sequence of events then differs according to which version of the story one encounters. In one account, when the man handed over his passport to be stamped the Japanese immigration officer noticed something strange. Whilst the passport looked authentic, the country where it was issued, Taured, was recognized as non-existent by both the officer and his colleagues. The man from Taured was therefore taken away for interrogation. In another version, the man mentioned that he was from Taured, and when the immigration officer did not believe him, he showed his passport.

Trying to Identify the Mythical Land of Taured

The story of the man from Taured details the man trying to convince the immigration officers that Taured does indeed exist. According to the traveler, Taured was located between France and Spain, and had by then been in existence for 1,000 years.

When shown a map, the man from Taured pointed to the area occupied by the Principality of Andorra, and was puzzled as to why his country had been given a different name on the map. Both sides refused to give in; the Japanese officers insisted that Taured did not exist, and the traveler argued otherwise.

Eventually, the man was held by the officers, as they were suspicious that he might be some kind of criminal. While they conducted their investigation, they put him up at a nearby hotel for the night. To ensure that the man did not escape, two guards were placed outside his room. The next morning, however, when the officers went to the man’s room, they realized that he had vanished. There was no sign of how he had made his escape and all of his personal documents, which could have served as evidence for the story’s validity, had apparently disappeared as well.

Is the Man from Taured Evidence of Travel Through Time or Space?

Many, including Bryan Alaspa and Jeremy Bates who both wrote books inspired by the story of the man from Taured, have tried to explain this bizarre event, by delving into possibilities which usually belong to the realms of science fiction . In fact, the internet is full of people replicating the story and using it as evidence for alternate realities.

One of the most notable explanations for this incident is that the man from Taured had somehow passed through a parallel dimension by accident, ending up at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. Following this line of logic, the hypothesis is that there is a parallel Earth, similar to our own, with the exception that the location known as Andorra here is known as Taured over there. Another proposal is that the man was a time traveler from the future, though this interpretation is arguably more problematic than the one supposing inter-dimensional travel.

While it is entirely possible that the story of the man from Taured was a figment of someone’s imagination which eventually became an urban legend , it has also been suggested that a similar incident did indeed occur. This more mundane story could have been embellished each time it was told, so much so that it eventually evolved into the great mystery that continues to fascinate today.

Is There Any Truth to the Man from Taured Story?

According to Snopes, this popular tale of the man from Taured, said to have visited Japan from a parallel universe , is actually a “greatly embellished and fantastical version of a far less sensational real story.” The origin of this outlandish tale seems to have been inspired by the true account of John Allen Kuchar Zegrus , a.k.a. the Mystery Man, who was arrested and prosecuted in Tokyo after having presented a fake passport to enter Japan in 1959.

This forged passport stated it had been issued in Tamanrosset, supposedly the capital of the State of Tuarid, and was written in an unknown language. While Tamanrosset is actually the name of real life province and city in modern-day Algeria, Tuareg (with a “g”) is a Berber ethnic group from the Sahara region. This whole case came up during a 1960s debate about “frontier formalities” which took place at the House of Commons in the United Kingdom, as an example of how passports were prone to forgery.

The fraudster John Allen Kuchar Zegrus had managed to invent a country, its capital, its language and even created a fake passport. He then used it to travel throughout the Middle East, before being caught lying by the efficient Japanese. In the end Zegrus was sentenced to a year in prison, but this was due mostly to the forged cheques he had cashed in Japan. His ultimate fate is unknown.

Just a Bit of Fun: Or is it?

Just how this authentic story of identity fraud has morphed into a fantastic example of conspiracy theory / fake news / urban legend, incorporating elements of parallel universes and time travel, appears to have been thanks to an embellished interpretation provided by a Facebook post published by Alien UFO Sightings . Rumor and word of mouth then played their part, along with the media’s recurring lack of fact-checking and the capacity of social media to rapidly disseminate fake news .

While it can all sound like a bit of harmless fun, fake news during what has been dubbed the Age of Misinformation is potentially dangerous due to its ability to feed partisan hostility to the detriment of truth and historical facts.

‘The Speech’ – Secondhand Lions

Whoever marketed and promoted this movie did a lousy job of it. This movie was made 15 years ago and I just watched it for the first time ever. 

One of the best I've ever seen. It's simple, not much of a plot, but the theme of the movie was much more important than any plot. The theme pretty much centered around the general goodness of people, and what's right. Something that's missing in most movies today.

Cabbage Beef Bake

Quick, easy, and inexpensive.

Ingredients

Units: US

• 1 small cabbage, shredded
• 1 ¹⁄₂ lbs lean ground beef, can use lean ground turkey
• 1 large onion, chopped
• ¹⁄₂ cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon pepper
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon caraway seed
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 1 cup shredded swiss cheese, can use mozzarella, cheddar, etc

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease/spray a deep 13 x 9 baking dish.
• Place shredded cabbage in bottom of baking dish; set aside.
• Brown and crumble ground beef (or turkey) with the onion and red bell pepper; drain and return to the skillet.
• To the drained beef mixture, add the diced tomatoes (undrained), salt, pepper, sugar and caraway seeds. Stir together well and spread this mixture over the cabbage in the baking dish.
• In a small bowl, stir together the tomato sauce and sour cream, blending well. Spread this mixture over the beef mixture in the baking dish.
• Cover and bake for 1 hour.
• Uncover, evenly sprinkle with the 1 cup of shredded swiss cheese and bake (uncovered) for an additional 15-20 minutes.

Ashtrays And Coin-Operated Televisions In The Los Angeles Greyhound Bus Terminal, 1969

The Sixth Sense – Game Scene

What I love about this film is that Cole is just a child and he is suffering from a serious problem but he cannot share his problem with anyone because no rational person would ever believe him. He feels abandoned and alienated with no fault of his own. He drew some violent sketches in his class and everyone jumped into a conclusion that he is a freak and something is terribly wrong with him. Cole has to carry the burden of his terrible gift on his frail shoulders as no one believes him and therefore cannot help him.

https://youtu.be/BNDMirOSzWo

Serving A Snack On Scandinavian Airlines Flight, 1969

Leaders Line Up to Visit Beijing Instead of D.C. | Speak Softly

This is big development for Vietnam. Vietnam has always been forced to choose between the imperial West or China. Vietnam and China has a history that goes back 2000 years, and though this history has always been tumultuous at times, but in the end, I think it is better to go with China due to the great economic impact it can bring to Vietnam, probably on order of magnitudes better than the West could.

Teenagers from the 1950’s

Do you see China backing down on this Uighur issue?

No, absolutely not. Nor will China back down on any other issue that America is interfering in.

Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet…these are all Chinese domestic matters. China will not yield to any foreign power over its own internal affairs. Period. Full stop.

China does not believe that America has the moral authority to judge China. America has done much worse in the area of human rights in just the last 40 years, the period from Deng Xiaoping’s 1978 reforms that created modern China.

China will never again be bullied the way it was over a century ago by Western powers. China stands as America’s peer on the world stage, economically, militarily, and technologically.

Taxes and blame Putin. Sunak, Hunt strategy to fix UK economy

Mr Berkeley Hunt and Mr Richi Washy- and the sailors are soon going to mutiny on the ship of state. I hope. But Alex is so right. Sunak will be Sunk unless he steers back from those disastrous sanctions and could then bring us back from the brink. But he’d rather go down with the ship. Just horrible.

 

I’m American. I often notice on British cooking shows that they often spread butter on the inside of sandwiches. You never see this in America. Is that realistic?

Will the average Briton put butter in the inside of say, a ham sandwich?

We most definitely do butter our sandwiches. It’s unimaginable that anyone would make a sandwich with dry bread. I’m very fussy about the kind of butter too.

A piece of ham on dry bread isn’t a sandwich, it’s an abomination. That’s what you eat when you’re lost in the woods, struggling to survive.

Teenagers from the 1950’s

Children Playing On Playground Equipment In Dallas, Texas, 1900

Medical insurance not included.

The Change We Need Will Not Occur Until We Have Nothing Left to Lose

RockaBoatus • November 16, 2022

The recent mid-term election results which many people predicted would be a “red wave” throughout the U.S. proved at best to be a red drizzle. It was not what many political conservatives wanted although, in fairness, the Democrats lost several seats in the House of Representatives where the GOP will have a slim majority.

Many have rightly wondered why there wasn’t a greater displacement of Democrat incumbents when Biden’s presidency has been such a dismal failure? What didn’t the American people see?

We are now facing a serious recession, and things don’t look like they’ll improve anytime soon. Crime in our major cities is at skyrocketing levels, and seemingly none of our elected leaders want to face the reality of Black criminality. Our southern border is daily overridden by illegals, and the current administration is simply processing and busing them to various cities throughout the country (landing many of them in the Whitest parts too!).

We are also engaged in a proxy war on behalf of Ukraine against Russia – a country that has largest nuclear stockpile in the world (approximately 4,300 compared to America’s 3,600 nuclear missiles). Why would any rational nation instigate conflict with another nation that not only has a larger nuclear arsenal, but which in the end could lead to the extinction of all human life? Despite Trump’s faults, none of this would have occurred under his presidency.

Yet apparently half the country refused to eject incumbent democrats who, along with President Biden, are largely the source of so many of our national problems. The republicans, of course, have their own set of troubles. But they are not bent on radicalizing the country as the democrats are.

How, then, could Americans not see what is so patently obvious?

I’ve tried to make sense of this, and I keep coming back to the hard truth that most Americans are still too wealthy, well-fed and comfortable. They have not yet felt the consequences of their voting decisions. Their voting thought process is very much theoretical and ideological. Little if any of it is down-to-earth, real-life, and practical. It’s nearly impossible for many Americans to think their vote will lead to destructive consequences that will directly affect them and the entire nation when they still have jobs, can still meet their mortgage demands, take their annual vacation, purchase a new car, plan for their retirement, and still have food on the table.

It’s easy to virtue signal when one is not required to sacrifice anything of themselves. It’s easy to support the violence that Black Lives Matter thugs and Antifa engage in when it’s not occurring in one’s own city. It’s easy to support progressive social policies when one is detached from its immediate consequences and has the wealth and resources to move somewhere else if necessary. It’s easy to support open borders policies when one is not directly impacted by illegal aliens and the sorts of problems they bring. Wealth, comfort, and the generally American good life can easily lull us into a false sense of security, a feeling that we are immune from the impact of our voting choices.

This is perhaps the greatest problem with accumulating wealth, materialism, and having abundance. It blinds us to reality. It clouds our vision from the truly important things in life. It’s not that possessing riches is a bad thing by itself, but only that it has negative intoxicating effects when we allow them to consume us.

Read the rest HERE. (Racism alert.)

Teenagers from the 1950’s

He looks like a “Butch”. Doesn’t he?

How severe must the virus become in China before China asks the United States for help?

What a funny question.

Ask help? For what?

Let’s make some comparisons.

Mask Production: Up to now, the United State only have 35 million masks which are just 10% of domestic demanding. However, China dominates 50% mask production in the world, which produces more than 100 million masks per day.

Nucleic acid test: As the CDC claims, a single citizen needs 3500$ for the nucleic acid test, which is totally free in China.

Government attitude: The United States regards the virus as a kind of flu and still allows mass assembly while China shuts down several very major cities to control the spread.

Inside Of A Railroad Car Made By The Pullman Company, 1890s

When the United States actually made things.

Davy Knowles & Artur Menezes – Garbage Man

A classic!

Teenagers from the 1950’s

How can the world expel the Chinese CP from Xinjiang and help the Uyghurs create an independent state?

What measures are effective, more sanctions or an economic blockade and all together? Besides them, what measures would you suggest?

The world can’t. Not without going to war with China, and no country is so bat-shit crazy as to do that.

Xinjiang is part of China. The question of independence is a domestic matter and it’s none of our business.

The same applies to Scottish independence and Corsican independence and Catalan independence and Balochistan independence and Hawaiian independence.

Inserting ourselves into the domestic affairs of other nations is a sure-fire way to start wars. Stay the hell out of it!

A Motor Home In 1922

Teenagers from the 1950’s

Freedom of speech works both ways. But Karen definitely didn’t know that. She demanded his name and ID. 😂 She thinks “freedom and democracy” should automatically be on her side.

Such entitlement!

Teenagers from the 1950’s

And the pooch goes “woof!”.

Children Cross The River Using Pulleys On Their Way To School, 1959, Italy

Ah, how parents described going to school.

U.S. Consumers Will Be Spending Much Less This Holiday Season Because Many Of Them Are Already Tapped Out

Inflation is weighing heavily on the holidays this year.

Roughly half of shoppers will buy fewer things due to higher prices, and more than one-third said they will rely on coupons to cut down on the cost, according to a recent survey of more than 1,000 adults by RetailMeNot.

Credit card and personal loan balances have reached record highs in recent months as an increasing number of consumers lean on such means to combat growing financial pressures caused by sky-high inflation.

According to TransUnion’s Quarterly Credit Industry Insights Report (CIIR), bankcard balances rose 19% during the third quarter from a year ago, reaching a record $866 billion. This was driven heavily by a growth in Gen Z and Millennial borrowers whose balances increased 72% and 32%, respectively, according to the report.

Rising prices are taking a toll on everyone right now, but a new study shows women are feeling the pain more than men – and it is the primary money woe keeping ladies up at night.

Research from Fidelity Investments found that inflation is currently the top financial concern for U.S. women, with upwards of 70% citing it as their main worry. Respondents listed the costs of essentials as the second-biggest stressor (65%), and another 58% expressed worries about not having enough saved for emergencies.

According to the National Federation of Independent Business, 33% of small business owners cited inflation as their most important problem in October. That number is three points higher than was reported in September.

The NFIB’s Small Business Optimism Index dropped 0.8% to 91.3 in October, marking 10 consecutive months it has remained under the 49-year average of 98.

In total, Carvana’s shares have plummeted 96% this year after hitting an all-time intraday high of $376.83 per share in August 2021. According to CNBC, the stock’s all-time low of $8.14 per share occurred less than a week after it started trading publicly on April 28, 2017. The company’s previous worst day of trading was a 26.4% decline on March 18, 2020.

As a result, Morgan Stanley pulled its rating on Carvana, saying its stock could be worth as little as $1 to $40. Analyst Adam Jonas blamed the decrease in used car sales and an uncertain funding environment for the change. “While the company is continuing to pursue cost-cutting actions, we believe a deterioration in the used car market combined with a volatile interest rate adds material risk to the outlook,” he said via CNBC. These factors contribute to a wide range of positive and negative outcomes.

The average interest rate for a new-vehicle loan climbed to 5.2% in the third quarter, while the average rate for a used vehicle loan hit 9.7%, according to TransUnion. Both are up more than one percentage point compared with the year-earlier period.

A report released Friday outlined the problem for Washington’s current ruling party. The University of Michigan, which releases a closely watched sentiment survey each month, asked respondents who they trusted more when it came to the economy and which would better for personal finances.

The result: overwhelmingly Republican.

The survey of 1,201 respondents saw Republicans with a 37%-21% edge on the question of which party is better for the economy. While that left a wide swath — 37% — of consumers who don’t think it makes a difference, the disparity of those with a preference is huge.

A Chippewa Indian Named John Smith Who Lived In The Woods Near Cass Lake, Minnesota Claimed To Be 137 Years Old Before He Died In 1922. Photo Taken In 1915

A need for Botox, if I ever saw one.

The Greek God Zeus: The Insatiable Womanizer of Mount Olympus

The most memorable of the deities of Greek mythology , Zeus was the Greek god of lightning, thunder, the sky, law, order and justice , as well as being the king of the gods from his throne on  Mount Olympus . In this role, he acted as their all-knowing ruler, ensuring they fulfilled their role, managing the frequent conflicts that ensued. He also loved to meddle in the lives of mere mortals, and had passionate affairs with many gods and mortal women.

The Birth of a Greek God: Zeus

A version of the story of Zeus’ birth can be found in Hesiod’s  Theogony. In this ancient Greek poem, Zeus is said to be the youngest child of  Cronus and Rhea. His five older siblings ( Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and  Poseidon) were swallowed by their father as soon as they were born, as Cronus was aware that one of his children was destined to overthrow him and take his place as the king of the gods.

Zeus, however, escaped the fate of his siblings through deception. Instead of handing the infant over to her husband, Rhea decided to give Cronus a stone wrapped in cloth, which he swallowed. Rhea then hid her son in a cave (either on Mount Ida or Mount Dikteon), on the island of Crete.

Zeus was therefore raised in secret by a foster-mother. In several versions, Zeus’ foster-mother is said to be a goat named  Amalthea. In order to cover up the baby’s cries, a group of Kourete dancers made noise and clapped their hands in order to protect the infant Greek god Zeus. Other versions claim that Zeus was raised by  Gaia, or by one of the nymphs. In  Metamorphoses, Rhea gave birth within a cave and Zeus was nursed by sacred bees.

Zeus and the Olympians Overthrow the Titans

In any event, unbeknown to his father,  Zeus grew up to be a formidable force and ultimately overthrew his father, becoming king of the gods. Having forced Cronus to free his other children from the depths of his stomach, the siblings joined forces against their father and the other Titans in an epic ten-year war remembered as the Titanomachy.

Zeus freed the  Cyclopes, who ended up forging his iconic thunder and powerful lightning. After the battle, Zeus divided the world between himself and his older brothers, Hades and Poseidon, by drawing lots. Zeus became the ruler of the sky, remembered as the Sky Father, whilst Hades and Poseidon became the rulers of the underworld and the seas respectively.

Once in power, more violence followed. Angered by the way Zeus had treated his father, Gaia gave birth to the Giants. The battle that followed was known as the Gigantomachy. As with most Greek myths, the story had a moral. This time the Olympians were unable to defeat the giants without the help of a mortal, and Zeus had the perfect candidate in his son, the demigod Heracles.

Heracles famously battled against Alcyoneus, a giant whose immortality was dependent on him being in his homeland. The giant died when Heracles shot Alcyoneus with an arrow and dragged him out of the land of Phlegra. Alcyoneus was buried underneath  Mount Vesuvius .

The Greek God Zeus and His Many Conquests

Despite being the king of the Greek gods, Zeus was no angel. In fact, Zeus was the epitome of  toxic masculinity , filling his story with many wives and even more sexual escapades. Adultery, pedophilia, rape and incest were part of his repertoire, as they were throughout the many mythological tales. Each of these acts were excused as part of his obligation to help populate the newly created world where women were seen as docile, and often willing, recipients of the attentions of Zeus.

In the legends associated with his name, Zeus raped many of the women featured in Greek myths, including Callisto, Antiope, Europa and  Leda. In many of these stories Zeus transformed himself into the form of a variety of animals in order to do the deed, from a satyr, a swan or even a bull. In the story of Alcmene, Zeus turned himself into her long-lost husband in order to have his way with her. Their union produced the hero  Heracles.

Zeus even raped his own mother Rhea when, during an ugly turn of events, she transformed into a snake to escape him and he raped her anyway. The child born of this familial assault was  Persephone. Throughout the stories of Zeus, there are dozens of sexual encounters recorded, “each possibly a marginalizing of a goddess worshipped before the invasion of the Indo-Europeans,” according to  Project Orpheus .

It seems that Zeus would do anything to satisfy his lustful urges.  Danae was impregnated  by Zeus taking the form of a golden shower. After hearing a prophecy that told of his death at the hand of his child, Acrisius locked his daughter  Danae in a steel underground chamber. Attracted by her beauty,  Zeus decided to visit her disguised as golden rain , which fell through the only window into her womb and left her pregnant.

In one particularly traumatic story, Zeus fell in love with a young Trojan boy named Ganymede. According to the myth, Zeus kidnapped the boy and took him to Mount Olympus to serve as a cupbearer. It was claimed that Zeus shape shifted into an eagle in order to take the boy, who was then made immortal in order to serve the carnal needs to the gods for eternity.

The story of the rape of Ganymede was recounted not only in the  Iliad, but also in works by Ovid, Virgil and Hesiod, amongst others. Several artists inspired by the story have depicted the rape of Ganymede with an eagle kidnapping the child. According to the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite:

“Zeus carried off golden-haired Ganymedes because of his beauty, to be amongst the Deathless Ones and pour drink for the gods in the house of Zeus–a wonder to see–, honored by all the immortals as he draws the red nectar from the golden bowl.” 

Zeus’ Children: The Many Offspring of the Greek God

Throughout Greek mythology, the sexual exploits of the king of the gods with both mortals and goddesses, led to the birth a multitude of children. Alcmene gave both to Heracles, Europa gave birth to Minos, while Leto became mother to  Artemis and Apollo.

According to one myth, Zeus’ first wife was Metis, an Oceanid who would later become equated with wisdom and cunning. It was prophesized that the son produced by Zeus and Metis would one day overthrow his father. Therefore, the king of the gods devised a plan to avoid the fate that had befallen Cronus. When Metis was pregnant, Zeus tricked and swallowed her. Because of this, the goddess  Athena grew up in Zeus’ belly, and subsequently emerged fully armed from his head.

Apart from Metis,  Zeus had children with numerous other goddesses and mortal women . With his next wife,  Hera, for instance, Zeus sired Ares, Hebe, and Eileithyia. Zeus is also regarded as the father of Artemis and Apollo, whose mother, Leto, was Zeus’ cousin.

Zeus had many affairs with mortal women as well, thus producing a myriad of demi-gods – the most famous of whom include the heroes Heracles and Perseus, Minos (the first king of Crete), and  Helen of Troy , the most beautiful woman in the world according to Greek mythology.

The Collector  explains that “some estimate Zeus might have had around 92 different children.” Of these, many were divine, resulting from copulation between Zeus and the many goddesses of his realm. Amongst these were Aphrodite, the goddess of love, Persephone, the goddess of spring and Athena, the goddess of war. His sons included Apollo, the ancient Greek god of the sun, music and light, Hermes, the messenger of the gods, Dionysus, god of wine, and Ares the god of war.

Zeus and Hera: A Match Made in Heaven?

Despite his string of lovers and wives,  the best remembered of his wives was  Hera, the wrathful Greek goddess of marriage. Like the many women in his life, Zeus tricked Hera into marrying him. This time he took on the form of a cuckoo, at least in some versions of the story. Despite being the goddess of marriage, her own union was a troublesome affair thanks to his lack of fidelity.

His frequent escapades inspired jealous outbursts and spiteful revenge against his unwitting victims. So extreme was her behavior, that she became responsible for the descent of Heracles, the demi-god son of Zeus and Alcmene, into madness and his subsequent murder of his own children.

On discovering an affair between Zeus and the forest nymph Echo, Hera cursed Echo with only being able to repeat the words spoken to her. When Zeus fell in love with Callisto, Hera turned her into a bear.

Temples and Monuments to the Greek God Zeus

As the supreme deity of the Greek pantheon , many temples were built in honor of Zeus. The most important of these was the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. This was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and was renowned for its colossal gold and ivory  statue of the god  made by the famed sculptor Pheidias. Other well-known sites sacred to Zeus include Dodona, where the god had an oracle, Mount Lykaion, and several caves on Crete.

As king of the Greek gods,  Zeus and his Roman equivalent Jupiter , have been depicted throughout history. In most portrayals  Zeus was shown as a strong, muscular man who sported a healthy beard. Often he is shown holding a lightning bolt in his right hand. Besides the lightning bolt, he has also been depicted with a royal scepter, associated with the eagle, and even as a bull, in a throwback to the mythical tale of when he raped Europa disguised as a bull. In many artworks he is seen sitting on his throne.

The Altar of Zeus at Pergamon, built under Eumenes II during the second century BC, was once part of the Pergamon acropolis in modern-day Turkey and can now be visited in Berlin. These stunning  reliefs include representations of the Gigantomachy, whose realistic carvings represent the fabled battle between the Giants and the Olympian gods in what has come to be a well loved example of Hellenistic sculpture visited by hundreds of thousands of people every year.

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Check out those prices…

Baked Swedish Meatballs

This recipe is from my Seaward Inn Cookbook. My husband loves it so much that I am putting it on-line to reference while travelling. I serve it with egg noodles.

The Seaward Inn is a lovely place in Rockport, MA, that we visited each summer while the Campbell family owned it. Great food and ambience!

Ingredients

Units: US

• 2 slices bread
• ¹⁄₂ cup milk
• 1 ¹⁄₂ lbs ground beef
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 small onion, minced
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon sugar
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¹⁄₄ teaspoon pepper
• ¹⁄₄ teaspoon cardamom seed
• 5 tablespoons flour or 5 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 (10 1/2 ounce) can condensed beef consomme
• 1 (10 1/2 ounce) can water
• 1 cup light cream
• 1 teaspoon dill weed

Directions

• Soak bread in milk.

Add the following to soaked bread:

• – Eggs, slightly beaten.
• – Ground beef.
• – Onion.
• – Sugar.
• – Spices (except dill weed).
• Shape into 1″ balls. Brown on all sides in skillet (or bake in 400 degree oven for 20 min.).
• Remove meatballs to 2 quart casserole.

In skillet, or saucepan:

• Add 5 Tbsp flour (or cornstarch) to meat drippings, then add 1 can Consomme and 1 can water.
• Note: Shake with 1 soup can of water with flour (or cornstarch) if meatballs were baked. Then add to Consomme.
• Cook, stirring gravy until thick and smooth.
• Add 1 cup light cream and 1 tsp dillweed, and stir until blended.
• Add to meatballs.
• Bake, covered for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.

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They had brutal potention for both anyone facing them and even the crew inside. 

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https://youtu.be/JOHHkdEny1o

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