My brother once lost a job during his first week at work.
He got a good paying job in a company as a senior IT administrator.
Short story is this; in the USA everyone must get a “drug screening”. And he pissed in a cup, and they discovered marijuana and METH in his urine. And he was fired. It was an IT job.
Drug screening prior to employment in American companies has become a common practice over the years due to concerns about workplace safety, productivity, and liability. Employers started implementing drug testing programs in the 1980s as part of the "War on Drugs" initiative to address substance abuse issues in the workforce. Additionally, the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 requires certain federal contractors and grantees to maintain drug-free workplaces, which further contributed to the widespread adoption of drug testing policies by employers. This history has led to drug screening being a standard practice for many companies in the United States today.
He sat down and thought about his situation.
The chances were high that he would also get rejected time and time again until his body was clear of the drugs. That might take nine months. It took too much work to land a job, only to be discarded by a test result.
So he thought about going off on his own.
Not a bad result. As it forced him to set up his own business and get his own clients. And he has been doing well on his own. Personally, it’s always better to be your own boss then being a paycheck slave.
So, yeah.
One bad event can create situations that force you to do things that will lead to far better events.
This is not a bad statement on my brother, or the use of illegal drugs. It is a statement on how bad things, or negative events can force us to do positive things that will be good for us in the long term.
Today…
Why do many people from South Korea think that China is inferior by saying that China’s economy will be in trouble without the aid from other countries? Is China really worse than S Korea in many aspects?
The South Koreans will say anything their US master order them to say. We all know that South Korea is a US poodle colony with tens of thousands of American soldiers everyday trampling on South Korean soil and copulating with South Korean girls.
I pity them.
What is your worst “Karen” story?
I’ve written about another customer on a similar topic, but as we are coming out of a hurricane I would be remiss to not talk about this one.
The year was 2004. My state was hit by multiple hurricanes. I worked in tech support for the cable company, dealing only with internet issues. My office was right on the water and we were watching as night fell and the waves were coming up higher over the patio. We were waiting on the evacuation order and were taking calls up until the last possible minute.
I got a call from someone whose service cut out. I told her that I understand the issue but we are unable to send someone to restore that night as A) it is after 8PM and the techs stopped working and B) we had an impending hurricane. I offered to set an appointment for the next available day which would be 3 days out. She was having none of it.
She understood that there was a hurricane. She understood that it was after the time the techs got off. She even understood that I was waiting for my own order to evacuate. She just didn’t care. She had no concern for my safety or that of my technician. “You tell him to lash his ass to the pole! I need my internet!” I sat there getting yelled at for 15 minutes until they finally sounded the alarm to leave immediately. I told her I was being evacuated and now no longer had the time to book her a tech for three days out and she would need to call back after normal business resumed which was expected to be in two days’ time.
There are no magic words that get you connected faster than anyone else, and that goes for power, phone, internet, any of it. Everybody’s got little kids, a sick grandmother, this or that which is important to them. When it comes to disaster recovery it is always the goal to bring back the greatest number of people in as short a period of time as possible after essential services are restored. You can beg, plead, threaten, or cajole and it makes not a whit of a difference. If we were to take care of everybody who says they need theirs up first ahead of everybody else then we’d still do it in the same order because everybody says it. We will always fix 1500 people before we will fix 15 because it’s a lot easier to deal with 1485 fewer people being pissed off. Preparation also means making plans to busy yourself while you wait for restoration.
Roquefort Steak
Ingredients
- 1 (2 1/2 pound) porterhouse steak, cut 1 1/2 inches thick
- 6 tablespoons Roquefort
- 1 tablespoon dry sherry
- 1/3 cup Claret or Burgundy
- Kitchen Bouquet and a pastry brush
- Fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
- Blend cheese and sherry to a smooth paste. Make small incisions 2 1/2 inches apart on both sides of the steak, cutting only halfway through.
- Pack the cheese paste into the slits; use it all, making more slits if needed.
- Paint one side of the steak with kitchen Bouquet (lightly but thoroughly) and broil 3 inches below heat for 4 minutes.
- Sprinkle cooked side of the steak with pepper, turn and paint the other side lightly with Kitchen Bouquet. Broil again for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Remove to a warmed platter and sprinkle lightly with more pepper. NO SALT! There’s enough in the cheese.
- To the broiler pan juices, add Claret or Burgundy. Stir for 1 to 2 minutes over medium heat to warm through, and pour over the steak.
As a doctor, how do you feel when a patient of yours dies?
Happy ??
He was a painter; she a writer. He had never heard of ‘Michelangelo’; she could not spell ‘Dante’.
He painted house roofs hanging from scaffolds, she copy-wrote Malayalam documents in a document-writers office; but they made a good pair. Despite the fact that he was a Christian and she a Hindu, they fell in love, ended up marrying and settled down; in a small house in the suburbs. Their 3-year-old daughter, who did not clearly understand why her grandparents never visited them, was still not big enough to understand the depth of religious chasms.
Despite the social boycott, they were content with their world.
Till it shattered.
He presented to the Emergency with sudden onset breathing trouble, medically ‘acute pulmonary edema’ resulting from a hitherto undetected narrowed heart valve (Rheumatic Mitral stenosis).
He was put on a ventilator.
24 hours later he developed a massive cerebral infarct resulting from irregular heart rhythm (atrial fibrillation) destroying about half of his brain.
His EEG showed that the chance of his recovery was remote.
But, we need a relatives written consent to disconnect life support, because technically he was alive.
Vegetative state.
I was the resident in charge, in this large hospital and I would meet his wife daily detailing about his condition. She was a thin young lady with a ‘gymnastic-style’ ear-ring, a rabbit tooth and a kid in tow.
Over time, I explained the futility of continuing treatment; the options of DNR, to disconnect from the ventilator, but she refused consent. With no relatives to support, she was perhaps unable to take a harsh decision; clinging to some hope.
A hope that I knew did not exist.
Days passed, his condition deteriorated, but his heart continued to beat, he continued to ‘live’ on a life support system; the bills were mounting. In a non-Govt. hospital, there was no way to cut down cost.
One day the gymnastic rings were missing; I knew she had sold her jewelry.
A relative of mine, who knew them told me that she is now trying to sell off her small house and plot of land, to finance her husband’s treatment; which I was kind of sure that, is going to be fruitless.
I never prayed that he dies. But I prayed that let the inevitable happen fast; before she could sell whatever little earthly possession the family have.
Think of the paradox – we put people on life support system, but because of legal issues we are not sure how to undo it.
I was on duty that night; he died. I was happy, not because he died; but because his family got a chance to live; still retain a place of their own that they call home. A mother and daughter for whom he would have been ready to give his life.
In a heartless society full of religious chasms.
Man Dies; Meets Higher Beings, Sees Wonders in the Afterlife, & History of the Earth!
What incident has traumatized you for good?
I had a best friend. He was originally from Sweden and you could tell he was very easily Swedish by his looks. We were friends for 11 years and maintained constant contact. This was in a different state (I was on vacation)
He did not have the best childhood. His parents were abusive (both from his personal confessions and through unfortanate experience (they were nice to us, but mean to him on the inside). He was also in poverty, but the best thing about him was he was a very nice and cheerful kid.
Well, another side of the story. We were talking on the phone and a loud scream heard from the mic. Subsequently I heard a car crash nearby. It was my birthday and I realized that same car was my friends car. We came to help.
He came out gravely injured. I was really really sad, tears welling up my eyes. The EMD came in and he let me know what happened. I went nuts.
A few days later, he passed away age 11 in the hospital due to a complication after the injury. I was horrified. I was only 13.
The mom wasn’t there during the crash, but the dad and his siblings were killed instantly. After the death of her son. she realized how terrible of a mom she was, and vowed to NEVER abuse any other family member again. She ended up adopted and is a completely different mom now. Rather than spanking, she helps her new son and keeps him well. Sorry, but you’ve already done the damage brother. No apologies given.
A investigation lead to the case being on the news. I found out and was still really saddened by the cause. They said that the crash was a planned attack by a family friend. Cams showed that a middle aged, very pale light blonde-haired woman intentionally was in the other car, trying to act “frightened” to avoid arrest. She was the only occupant. Unfortanately, however the police realized and decided to quickly “interview” her of her actions and she admitted and was arrested on the spot.
The woman was charged with malicious murder and aggravated assault and was sentenced to death row, however she got super lucky and was changed to life in prison.
TLDR: Basically, my friend was allegedly murdered.
Please rest in peace…. Jett.
The sanctions against Russia hurt everyone on this planet, especially the poorer countries, do the rich nations not care about the rest of the world? Are the US & allies being selfish & arrogant? How can we voice our objections to sanctions?
No, they don’t. They don’t even care that the sanctions against Russia are hurting themselves. Their economic growth had dropped to below 1% on average. Germany, Eurtope’s biggest economy, is on the verge of a recession. The NATO countries in Europe are paying more for their energy needs. They have stopped selling goods to Russia, thereby hurting their own trade. But despite all that, they add more sanctions against Russia.
Russia, meanwhile has benefitted from the sanctions. In 2023, their GDP rose 3.6%. In Q1 2024, their GDP rose 5.4%. They look set to have a high GDP growth in 2024, beating all European countries. This view has been expessed by the IMF.
Russia is now manufacturing most of the products that Europe is no longer selling to them. This has resulted in many factories sprouting across Russia, giving full employment to the Russians. They are looking to bring in more workers from Central Asia and Africa to meet the demand for more factory workers. And this major increase in in-house manufacturing is what has increased Russia’s GDP.
Star Wars A New Hope – 1950s Super Panavision 70 | Runway Gen 3
What are you missing in your life?
I am 60 years old. I miss many things, some are given below:
- I miss my vigor, figure and energy of my youth.
- Recently I lost my parents. I miss them.
- I retired from a company after working for 32 years in that company. I miss my colleagues and my work there.
- My two sons are married and settled at other places. I miss them.
- I have friends who enjoyed partying. But due to health issues they can not party hard now. I miss them.
- My friends, relatives used to visit us without prior notice. I used to do the same. I miss that now.
- My home was never locked in 25 years, there always used to be somebody at home. Ours was a joint family. Now, me and my wife stay at my home. Even if we both go out for 15 minutes, the house needs to be locked. I miss those open house days.
- I am now the eldest in my extended family, so have to behave in such a way that the younger ones should not be embarrassed by it. I miss those carefree days.
Thanks for A to A Paramjeet Singh.
Edit:
Many have found this either sad or scary. I would like to remind everyone, life is a game of hits and misses. A hit in the bull’s eye means one has missed its periphery. Nothing to be sad or scary about it IMO. It is just a fact. Every individual’s journey is from center of things to outer circles, finally into oblivion.
Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian has successfully completed its electromagnetic catapult test. The carrier carries J-15D, heavy duel engine stealthy jet J-35, KJ-500 etc. These are all one generation ahead of the US. What should the US do now?
Well, a Chinese CBG headed by a fujian-class carrier and flanked by type 055 destroyers is a formidable proposition that is the equal or even superior to an American CBG.
That’s an unprecedented development.
The most potent f-35c equipped USN CBG has peer competition, and we are talking 12, 18 months max before the fujian CBG becomes fully operational.
And that’s a worry for a china that already has the production capacity to build 100-150 twin-engine j-35 annually and 1 fujian-class carrier biennially. Ramp-up is not beyond the question either.
The USN has two impending, crippling issues stepping up to the China challenge.
One, the seriously delayed Ford-class program impacting the sustainable size of the supercarrier program. The oldest Nimitz-class hulls will be too expensive to retrofit for f-35c duty while the Ford-class is still riddled with production and operational issues.
Two, the f-35 program running into production snags, such as block software updates, and raw material bottlenecks for sensitive electronics upstream. This will reverberate down to the air wing, particularly crew training and logistic support.
Indopacom’s deployed naval assets will eventually be outnumbered and outclassed by the PLAN, even if the USN commits 100% of deployable assets to the western pacific. We are talking two decades, max, and that includes naval aviation.
The question isn’t what should the USN do but what CAN the USN do.
Even the usn’s nuclear submarine programs are having long-term manufacturing issues that have been filed away.
It appears the USN is pursuing the u-boat wolf pack strategy of the German navy in WWII, massively expanding its attack sub and destroyer fleets.
I say good luck.
Men are Chilling as the World Burns
When China takes over the US, will my 401k transfer to Chinese won or should I cash out now?
It is alarmist to say that China takes over the US. The Chinese do not have high expectations of changing the US, an imperialist country.
But China does have the ambition to help Africa modernize in the coming decades.
Africa’s oceans will turn into mulberry fields, deserts will turn into oases, barren mountains will turn into spacious communities, natural barriers will become thoroughfares, and skyscrapers will rise from the ground. All this will happen in the near future, and Africa is likely to become more developed than Europe.
Africa has a total population of about 1.43 billion, accounting for about 1/5 of the total human population.
As the Chinese Foreign Minister said: Without Africa’s modernization, there will be no world modernization.
What are some possible reasons for the negative attitudes towards the Chinese government and people? Could it be due to a lack of cultural identity or jealousy towards China’s economic status?
It is the zero sum game mindset of hegemonists who use finance as their main source of profit.
They know that China is strong, that China’s political system is OK, that there is no genocide in Xinjiang, that China’s camera density is lower than that of UK, that China is not a police country, that Chinese people are not brainless bots, that China didn’t create any virus, that Chinese people do not steal intellectual property rights, and that China does not have expansionism.
But they have to stick to these lies because they believe that China is an obstacle for them to continue maintaining their current affluent income.
That has nothing to do with any non hegemonic country, nor with any civilians. They are just oligarchs of hegemonic countries.
Some people, whether rich or middle class people, fantasize about themselves belonging to hegemonic camp, but no, neither the victory nor failure of hegemonists cannot prevent the decline of any others’ living standards.
Only when they are put down, other people have a chance to survive.
China’s Done With U.S. Semiconductors, Japan Stocks Collapse As “Asian NATO” PM Wins
What is the scariest real life thing that ever happened to you?
My 14 year old daughter was hanging out with a friend in town (small town, should be safe, right?). My husband and I were at a bbq at his sisters, so we called her to let her know we were on our way to pick her up and she screamed at us that she was being chased by a man with a knife.
Did you know that dodge caravans can do 120mph? I do now. We got there at the same time as with the police, which was probably for the best. I’ve never seen my husband so mad, and he’s a hot tempered man to begin with.
My daughter and her friend had been walking along when this guy took offense to what they were wearing. (They were cosplaying.) A couple of older boys (my hero’s) told him to leave them alone, they’re just a couple of kids. Then, when he pulled a knife, they got in between the girls and the maniac and started swinging their skateboards at him to keep him away. My daughter and her friend ran into the Subway, who let them hide in the back until we got there.
The next scariest was only less scary because I wasn’t there when it happened. Same daughter, 5 years later. She called me and told me not to freak out, which is not a good way to start a conversation. She’d been shot in a drive bye shooting. The bullet ricocheted off the brick wall behind her and lodged in her foot. I don’t think I was driving safely that time, either.
The irony of this is if I had to choose a child who would be chased by a knife wielding tweaker or shot in a drive by shooting, it would not be her. She’s always struggled with anxiety and she’s super safety conscious.
We, The Left Behind
Submitted into Contest #232 in response to: Write a story set in a world with a dying sun, or where light is a scarce resource.… view prompt
Michelle Oliver
The second stalker steps into the shade beneath my tree. The glowing stones on its body illuminate the darkness, chasing the safety of my shadows away. I wait, not wanting to waste this chance by reacting too soon. Reaching into my pocket, I take careful aim—I will only get one shot at this. With everything that I have, I lob a handful of mud and silently rejoice to see it hit home, covering one of the glow stones on the creature’s shoulder. Instantly, the air around the stalker dims, and it wails as smoke sizzles from its body, while it flaps its arms urgently, trying to slap the mud away. Another shot, another glow stone covered in mud and the light is quenched. The creature screams, disoriented by pain as the fire consumes it, then collapses face first, before it can reach the safety of sunlight, writhing in agony.
I turn my attention to the other stalker. It looks from me to its companion, then quickly plucks two oranges from the tree and throws them at its fallen friend. The oranges hit the mark, covering over the remaining glow stones on the creature’s back, stifling the light and ensuring the stalker’s immediate death in flaming, orange scented smoke. Perhaps it was a compassionate move, like putting an animal out of its misery, but somehow I don’t think so.
The remaining stalker plucks another orange, looks through the branches, and gently tosses it to me. I fumble the catch. With another strange noise, the stalker rips one of the glow stones from the strap on its chest and tosses it up to me. This time I don’t fumble, and I grasp the precious stone with two hands. It nods to me, then at the charred remains of its fallen companion while pointing to its own stones. Cautiously, I clamber down the tree and edge toward the corpse, my eyes not leaving the stalker for one minute. I reach into my pocket for the last handful of mud, ready to hurl it should this remaining stalker make a single movement towards the shadows. It doesn’t move, standing perfectly still, watching me as cautiously as I watch it.
On trembling legs, I step nearer to the smoking corpse. The smell is dreadful, a charred, swampy stench tinged with burnt orange, that causes my eyes to water. I blink rapidly, determined not to lose sight of my enemy. Trying not to breathe in through my nose, I rummage through the charred remains to locate the four stones, two on the front of the corpse and two on the back. When I have them, I stand and search the face of the remaining stalker for any indication of what it is about to do. It’s hard to read the expressions on the reptilian face. The creature barely even blinks.
I hold a glow stone out toward it like an offering and it is then that I notice a change in expression. The mouth quirks up in the corner. Did it just smile? It gestures to its own stone, then points at me and chitters. I point to the stone in my hand, then point to myself and it tips its head. Did it just nod? I feel lightheaded. Have I just communicated with an alien?
It turns its back on me and walks back the way it came, so I use the opportunity to scurry away, silently slipping from shadow to shadow, all the way back to the mouth of our safe haven. Lil is waiting there for me, hiding in the shadows.
“Were you successful?” he asks.
“I think so.” I hand him an orange as I gather up the glow stones that we had left out to charge in the sun.
We, the left behind, may be the only humans left on Earth, but we aren’t the only people here. Now the question is, what are we going to do about it?
25 Missing Kids Discovered Behind Secret Door
https://youtu.be/joJwqdCGVYs
Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 1 pound bottom round steak, thinly sliced
- 2 bell peppers, halved and cored
- Avocado oil
- Bell peppers, sliced thinly
- Red onion, sliced thinly
- White onion, sliced thinly
- Pickled jalapeños, chopped
- 1/2 pound Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
- Onion salt
- Sea salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Heat oven 350 degrees F.
- Drizzle avocado oil on bell papers. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes.
- Heat a large frying pan over medium high and add a little avocado oil.
- Season steak with onion salt, sea salt and pepper. Sear each side of steak for about 1 to 2 minutes and remove to let rest a couple minutes.
- Cut steak into small 1/4 to 3/8 inch square pieces.
- Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add avocado oil when warm.
- Add thinly sliced onions and bell peppers to pan and cook while stirring often for about 10 minutes.
- Mix steak, cheese, bell peppers, onions and jalapeños in a bowl.
- Fill bell peppers, then bake for 10 minutes until cheese is melted.
Wife’s Use Of Social Media To Cheat FINALLY Halted After Hubby Grows A Pair, Leaves Her No Alimony
A Belly Full of Apples
Submitted into Contest #247 in response to: Imagine a world where exploration is forbidden, and write a story about a character who defies this rule to satisfy their innate curiosity.… view prompt
Story Time
Right–the knowledge.
We’re not meant to know anything. We’re just meant to assign names, be fruitful, multiply, and praise Him every chance we get. If we want knowledge, then it’s out we go.
Well, Adam, I choose to know. I choose to know things. Not just some things, but everything. Why create an entire world and then tell me I’m not allowed to know anything about it? I can’t help but feel this was all some kind of test, and I will not be tested. Had I known that he was testing me, I would have eaten every apple on that tree. I would have stared up at Him with the seeds falling out of my mouth, and I would have laughed. For if I am to go into Exile, I am not going with an empty stomach. I will go with a belly full of apples.
My only regret is that I stopped at one.
I will not feel badly about you being punished for something I did either, because I have been punished many times over for you. For your laziness. For your superiority complex. For the way you smell at night when you are pressed up against me. It reeks so that I can barely sleep. Yet I have said nothing, because I have accepted that we are joined forever. You make strange noises in your sleep, but He never punished you for that. I took one bite, and we are damned. Be angry if you like, Adam, but do not expect me to worry myself over your anger. Your anger is your business. I will not make it mine.
Last night, before He woke us with our punishment, I had a dream. I had a dream that all of this was submerged in water. Enough water to cover even the tops of the tallest trees. There were more people. Lots more. They were running and screaming. Some were already drowned. In the distance, I could see a large boat, but it was too far away. I would never reach it in time. I would die alongside all these strangers.
Instead, I lay myself down. I began to float. Right up to the surface. I could still hear the wailing and the pleading all around me, but I was not making a sound. I simply laid like that on the surface of the water and let it take me wherever it wanted to go.
Source Transmission REVEALS Reincarnation Is NOT A TRAP & MORE!
What was life like for German soldiers in Germany after WW2?
Many of them came to the US and Canada. MANY of them.
When we moved into our new house in a new suburb, it seemed like most living there were either German, and those saying they were Dutch but were possibly German.
I was eight and friends with a girl named Elvira. Yes, that was her name, like the song. She told me her dad used to be in the German Army. Looking at him, I believe he was. He also sounded like one.
There was a boy named Ernest, very blonde hair and my age. He lived in a fairly modern house built along the River. He was in my class. He was German. I figured his dad must have been in the German Army in WWII. We sometimes played together. I never asked him though.
There was an another boy at school named Klaus. He told us that his dad was in the German Army in WWII and fought in Holland. My dad fought as an infantryman in Italy.
One day Klaus and I got into a fight at school. I remember kids standing around us cheering us on. I remember stupidly thinking that I had to beat him because his dad was in the German Army.
At home at the dinner table I told my parents what happened and that I felt had to beat Klaus in a fight because he was a German.
“Why the fight?” Dad asked.
“He told us that his father said the German soldier was tougher than the Allied soldiers. And I said to him, ‘Yeah, that’s why the Germans lost right?’ Then he came and pushed me. We started fighting.”
“They WERE tough. Very tough,” dad said. “I didn’t bring you up to be like that son. The wars over. His dad was more likely a regular German soldier, an infantryman like I was and just doing his job probably because he had no choice. He’s moved here with his family to start a new life. Klaus is not the enemy. He’s a schoolmate. He had nothing to do with the war
“Well it seems we’re surrounded dad,” I said.
Dad laughed. Then he said, “They’re our neighbors now. Let’s treat them like neighbors.”
Oddly enough Klaus and I got to be friends. One day I went to his house. We walked into the kitchen and his dad was there. His dad looked just like any other dad. He looked at us and smiled.
“Ah, you are hungry maybe,” he said. He took two dark pieces of bread and put a lot of butter on them. He gave us both a slice of buttered bread. Then he said, “Ach, warten!” He went into the cupboard and took out a chocolate bar and broke it in half giving us each a piece.”
That was the best tasting snack ever. I realized his dad was just like mine and dad was probably right.
What are the most extreme things you have done to stick to a budget?
Originally Answered: What's the most extreme things you have done to stick to a budget?
I once tracked all our expenses down to the penny for an entire year.
It was a few years after my husband and I had graduated from college. We did a startup right out of college and we had ruined our credit by financing a number of things for the business using our personal credit.
We had closed our startup a few months prior and joined a company. We were making a good salary, but we still had a bunch of credit card debt, and our credit score was not the best.
I calculated that between the two of us, we were paying between $70 to $130 more a month for our car loans than we would if could get the best rate.
At the time, I was also starting to think about saving for a home. The rental rates where we lived were quite high, and I calculated that if we could get together a down payment, we would be able to purchase a home and pay only a little more per month for the mortgage than we were paying for rent.
That is, if we could save enough for the down payment, and if we had a perfect credit score.
With our credit score at the time, the same mortgage would cost us several hundred dollars more per month.
Our bad credit was already costing us money, and would only cost us more in the future. I was super motivated to fix our credit.
I knew we had to get rid of all our credit card debt, and get out of the habit of carrying a balance at all.
I sat down and drew up a spreadsheet of all the things we normally spent money on, using our bank and credit card statements for the previous months as a starting point.
I created categories for our expenditures, slotting everything we were spending into those categories. Rent, utilities, groceries, car loan, insurance, repairs and maintenance, eating out, cell phones, internet, entertainment, gifts, vacations…
I didn’t leave anything out. Anything that didn’t fit neatly into a category went into a miscellaneous bucket.
I then analyzed the spreadsheet and made a plan of where we could cut our expenses. When I was ready, I sat down with my husband. Together, we agreed on what we should be spending in each category.
Then we put our plan into action.
We started by canceling and cutting out everything we agreed to.
We got rid of some subscriptions we were rarely using. We stopped buying beverages out and starting toting around water bottles that we filled at home. When we wanted soft drinks or snacks, we purchased them in bulk at the grocery store. Since we had slashed our eating out budget, I started to cook more often.
For several weeks, I entered our expenditures into the spreadsheet every single night. When I was sure we were sticking to our plan, I started entering things once a week, then once every month.
For a whole year, every single item got tracked. We weren’t allowed to buy a single pack of gum without logging it into the spreadsheet. I even logged the 50 cents I gave to an occasional homeless person.
Little by little, we paid off our credit card debt. After a few months, it became second nature for us to be aware of how things added up. After a year, I was comfortable that we had formed good long term habits, and I finally stopped logging things into the spreadsheet.
Over time, our credit score improved. I’m happy to say, it’s been over 15 years, and we haven’t slipped since.
U.S. Hurricane Survivors Without Electric; Biden Gave Transformers and Switching gear to UKRAINE!
Hundreds-of-thousands of Americans presently without electricity from Hurricane Helene, may not see their electric power restored soon because the Biden Administration GAVE spare transformers and switching gear to . . . UKRAINE!
While all electric utility companies in the US keep spare pole transformers in supply locally, there is a national reserve of such transformers for situations like Hurricanes, where hundreds or even thousands of such devices need replacing.
But that reserve is now gone because the Biden administration gave the gear to Ukraine, to restore _their_ electric grid after the Russia-Ukraine conflict destroyed it.
Now that Americans find themselves in need of those electrical transformers, there are few (if any) to be had.
Once again Americans are being harmed by a federal government that galivants around the world, meddling in the affairs of others, instead of working for the American people who actually employ them.
Election day is coming. Throw out the people who did this.
A Particular Set of Skills | Taken (2008) Realtime Movie Reactions
Why is Quora flooded with pro-China opinions?
Pro China?
I just came across a China bashing post that garnered 8k upvotes in less than 24 hours.
Jean Marie Valheur’s answer to What people make you ashamed to be a human being?
It will be hard for any pro China answer to hit 800 upvotes in a week or two, much less 10x that in a day. What do you expect on an English platform owned by Americans? That Chinese voices will become louder and more numerous than “freedom toting” Westerners?
Totally unrealistic.
There are plenty of negative political statements dressed as questions on China stating half truths or even lies as fact.
I’d say there is heavy anti-Chinese sentiment supported on Quora, if anything.
Do you think democracy in China and the West is comparable?
Only in one sense: How well does their democracy improve the quality of life of their citizens?
They have different models of democracy based on different philosophies. So the mechanics of their systems cannot be compared.
In terms of how well they serve their people, we may come to two conclusions:
- Chinese democracy has greatly improved the lives of the people.
- Western democracy, esp. in America, Britain, France and Germany, for example, has neglected the well-being of the people.
Which would you prefer?
How is it that docile farm raised pigs when let into the wild become such aggressive wild boars?
Well… when I was majoring in Animal Science, we took classes in Swine Production and worked hands-on with the pigs at the Cal Poly Pomona swine unit.
We did things like weigh adult and suckling pigs, measure back fat thickness, spray for lice (!), castrate and ear-notch young pigs, help restrain young boars so their tushes (look it up) could be cut.
Domestic pigs are NOT, repeat, NOT docile! Especially sows with suckling babies. If you have to handle the babies, you better have a couple people to stave mama pig off while you handle the screaming baby. Or you better be awfully quick on your feet to put a fence between you and mama pig.
(Pigs vocalize LOUDLY when you’re handling them. Measuring back fat thickness on live hogs, you’re exposed to a noise level that makes the up-close takeoff of a jet aircraft seem a whisper by comparison.)
One of the guys who worked at the swine center got into a situation handling some market-sized hogs where he was in a corner and couldn’t get out fast enough over the fence. He got a bite on the leg that took more than 40 stitches to close.
No, domesticated pigs are not automatically docile.
That said, if they’re handled regularly from a young age, pigs can be manageable. 4-H kids and Future Farmer teens are expected to be able to show their pigs in livestock shows and fairs using nothing but a cane to manage the pig’s movements while the judging is done.
Here’s the thing about domestic pigs: they’re SMART. That’s why, if they become feral, they manage very well for themselves, thank you very much!
Having handled farm hogs, I have to say they’re my least favorite farm animal to handle: they’re big (a mature boar can be over 1000 pounds, and contrary to the image pigs have as fat animals, most of their soft-tissue weight is muscle; market hogs are 250 to 400 pounds; sows are 400 to 700 pounds). They can move very, very fast, they’re agile and athletic, and they aren’t afraid of people. They have a mouth full of teeth that would shame a pit bull and if their tushes haven’t been cut, they can slash you with a sideways move of their head.
Pigs take readily to shifting for themselves. Domestic pigs may be habituated to having humans around, but I sure wouldn’t consider them docile.
“U.S. Will Default” – Sovereign Debt Collapse To Flip Global Monetary System
What is your worst “Karen” story?
This is ancient history, but it resonates so clearly for me, with an outraged complainer ignoring the reality of her surroundings demanding immediate attention to whatever problem she wanted fixed.
Shortly after I graduated from nursing school in 1982, I was a 3–11pm shift charge nurse on a medical surgical unit.
One of our patients who was being evaluated for the tumor in his brain was walking down the hallway carrying a metal ice water pitcher and his glass drinking glass.
As I saw him walking towards me, he fell to the ground, ice and broken glass everywhere, in a full grand Mal seizure. (His first).
As I was kneeling in the glass ,in my dress uniform and pantyhose, making sure his airway was open, that he didn’t bite his tongue, making sure he’d had no injury due to the fall/broken glass, etc.
I feel a firm hand tapping on my back…”Miss.then MISS! My husband is out of Kleenex!!!”
Why does America stupidly use high fructose corn syrup in their soda instead of real sugar?
The story behind how America adopted High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is long and involved, but far more interesting than you might think. Buckle up!
In 1973 there was an oil crisis when OPEC jacked up prices driving America into recession. Policy makers were seriously alarmed and decided the US had to cut its dependence on foreign oil immediately. One suggestion was shifting to gasohol, a mix of gasoline and ethyl alcohol.
Ethyl alcohol can be made from corn; Archer Daniels Midland the company responsible for most of America’s corn harvest absolutely loved this means to sell more corn and invested in many factories to turn corn into ethyl alcohol. Now gasohol makes sense when gas prices are high, but when they are low there is no market, so when gas prices dropped again, ADM was stuck with these idle factories and no idea what to do with them.
The ADM brain trust put its mind to the problem and realized the factories could be repurposed to produce this cool new sweetener discovered less than ten years earlier called high fructose corn syrup. Fantastic! There was only one problem. Sugar was cheaper than the cost to produce HFCS. How could they make a profit?
ADM was nothing if not determined. If you cant make your product any cheaper, what if the price of sugar could be increased? Sugar was cheap because foreign sugar manufacturers produced it cheaply and then dumped their supply in the US. There was a tiny American sugar industry but it was small and feeble because American sugar was more expensive to produce than the cheap foreign sugar.
ADM approached those American sugar growers to discuss this unfair competition. Out of the goodness of their corporate heart they offered their lobbyists to get congress to vote for a large sugar tariff to protect our “strategic” American sugar producers. Congress duly obliged, a huge tariff on foreign sugar went in place, and the price of sugar skyrocketed. God bless America! It was a great day to be an American sugar producer!
Unfortunately, it was an even better day to be an enormous agricultural corporation with a vast untapped ability to produce HFCS. With sugar prices about to become sky high, ADM secretly negotiated contracts to supply Coca-Cola, Pepsi, General Mills, McDonald’s and every other processed food manufacturer with HFCS. When the tariff went into effect, American sugar manufacturers found they had traded one shaft for another.
And that is how in one stroke one company changed the American food supply to the tune of $5+ billion annually.
Do you still believe in the Deagel Forecast? Will 2025 be disastrous for the West?
Well, we have 12 months to go. But, I think that the “worm has turned” and I am hopeful that the “train won’t derail” this year.
But, Lordy it has been close.
The ‘Biden Administration” has been trying their hardest to start world war 3. With the proof that they orchestrated the South Korean fiasco, and wanted a war There. the ongoing nuclear escalation ladder with Russia, and the shit regarding Iran and China.
Three nuclear war “fronts” all at once.
My “gut feeling” is that Trump 2.0 is gonna be quite different than Trump 1.0. But who really knows. My appraisal is that things can go either one of two ways; [1] really, really, REALLY BAD. or, [2] A slow, serious and prodding controlled implosion and a stronger than anticipated domestic recovery. We will see. -MM
the numbers in that forecast are absolutely insane. Let’s hope the reality is different.
Praying. -MM
Hi MM and all reading this blog,
“Forecasts” like that of Deagel, “wishful thinking” like the one mentioned in Georgia stones and elsewhere and self-fulfilling prophesies are all just hidden in plain view revelations of the plans designed by the “invisible” elite governing almost all.
So unless a miscalculation or glitch or decisive Act of God occurs, sadly rest fully assured that the execution of the plan (killing spree) will go ahead as planned starting this very year.
And in Orthodoxy “invisible enemy” is only Lucifer and the rest of his fallen angels acting through humans willing to submit their free will to their service.
Here is a very extreme case about how doing/experiencing bad things can lead to greater goods.
Meet Queen Casey, the Queen Bee/Gigastacy of the first RP site I was on as an adult: RPHaven. I met her in 2011 back when I was looking to write with Big Titted Women for my guys to snuggle up against and pampered. If I were to describe her briefly, she comes off as a Borg Queen, and I was like Seven of Nine: enamored, captivated, and amazed by her massive ego, fancy use of words, and viciously cutthroat demeanor.
<img src=”https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8b/de/37/8bde37f9c2efbbf38de191df564300f8.jpg” />
I wanted to write with her because her friend, Sarah, told me about her, but A. I did not like her being so supercilious towards me for whatever reason and B. I was still fresh out of the DJHives’ cult, meaning I was instinctually misogynistic and tried to manipulate her by subconsciously using Hives’ manipulation tactics. It didn’t work. She told me off in June by saying that our chances for play were near zilch, and I should not bother to Run a race that I cannot win.
Despite being shattalk and rejected many times on RPH, for whatever reason, her rejection was brutal enough to make me quit the site altogether in favor of trying to develop a business/practice magic or yoga. From that day forward, she and her nasty rejection took permanent residence in my head: eclipsing everything else.
So much so, that even after I sound WSW’s frontend site and got inducted, I went back to RPH because I missed her and also the community (even if they are just like a Borg Unimatrix).Because I could not get her out of my head, I wanted to get tit-for-tat revenge on her by bruising her ego back: and to do that, I wanted to be a success in life.
I met James the Nazi in 2013, and I decided to use him to practice my Game/Rizz in preparation for confronting Queen Casey. We talked about magic, reincanation, demonology, freaky anomalies in Earth’s design, and he was hooked. He was so enamored by me that he would end up initiating me into an ancient Nazi-Magi cult called The Secret Kings in 2016 (nobody else on RPH or any RP venue would have succeeded if they tried the same).
And in 2016, when my obsessive thoughts of her and her clique had reached a boiling point (I was ready to kill everyone on Earth out of spite towards her, I was that obsessed). I confronted her on my OOC Profile:and stickied a bunch of freaky secret profiles that contained secret WSW information to her. She dismissed it all as shit, and then she had her clique dogpile and crucify me. During this, one of my newfound RP partners at the time: Danial Henegar, revealed to me that he is a 33rd degree Freemason.He read through my OOC profile and communed with his masonic lodge, confirming that I am legit. So while the woman who I tried to get revenge on gave me 500 lashes in front of the RP community, Daniel gave me affirming information about how I could safely open the Ark of The Covenant, how he comes from Merlin’s lineage (he has Merlin’s beard), he inspired the creation of Sans from Undertale (because Toby Fox, another freemason, heard about Daniel and his exploits). And eventually, we started planning to start an insurrection in the USA so that I could rule as president after making Trump into a sacrificial lamb.
This all started because Queen Casey did to me what she did to 1000s of simps and beta males through her time on RPH: truculently reject me in a scathing manner, and like a freaky incel-stalker, I never got over it.(She still resides rent-free in my head, and nobody in WSW will explicate or remedy my obsession with her).
That being said, I neglected to take advantage of being a Secret King or honorary Freemason. At the end of the day, both of these big names were mere practice for an RP Queen-Bitch. With what I learned from WSW, I knew better than to expect anything good from either of these two guys or the organizations they come from.
<img src=”https://media.moddb.com/cache/images/members/1/643/642875/thumb_620x2000/Borg_Queens_vessel_interior.jpg” />
Do not follow my example, I almost doomed our sentinence nursery to a fate WORSE than armaggedon because of my vengeful tendencies towards a stuck-up woman on an RP Site: and as cool and fictitious as it sounds, it’s not something you want to experience firsthand.
Lessons learned. We all must be careful. The alternatives are really, really bad. -MM