About thirty years ago, my wife worked in the cafeteria in a hospital. It was the hospital’s policy at the time to raise your hourly pay to $10 per hour (usually from around $7) when you had been there for 10 years. The cafeteria was subject to this rule, but owned by an outside company. The outside company decided that firing folks who had been there for ten years seemed like a good loophole, so they told her that her last day would be a week or so before her tenth anniversary. Then, on her last night (she worked the third shift by herself), her boss magnamously offered to let her work two more nights – to train her replacement. She told him to fornicate himself, but then agreed to finish her last scheduled shift.

Then, as soon as he left, she cooked several prime rib roasts, salmon, and shrimp that were meant for a hospital board dinner a few days later, and sent a message to all departments:

“D’s going away party, everyone eats free!”

Even the patients ate well!

We heard later that the board only found out why she – and many others – had been fired was because they ended up eating grilled chicken instead of prime rib, and dug until they found out why. Folks got fired, my wife and several others got retroactive severance pay.

Not terminated but I was quitting, a few years ago my brother and I worked at home depot, we were on the M.E.T. team (merchandising execution team). If you don’t know the M.E.T. team are the ones in the orange shirts that set the bays to plan, build displays make sure everything is stocked ectopic. Well since met is corporate and not store employees then met is not supposed to drop pallets for store associates and vice versa, so if you need a pallet down from the overhead you needed to get a M.E.T. associate that was certified to operate the fork lift, of which there were two. Those two were my brother and I.

So most of our days were go to this isle drop a pallet for person 1, one of us would flag and one would operate the fork lift and we would switch of occasionally, then we’d go to that isle and drop a pallet for person 2, then go over there and drop a pallet for person 3 and so on, usually by the time we dropped a pallet for everyone the first few had finished and needed another pallet so we would continue on.

We both truly loved our jobs because we spent the day essentially hanging out, driving a fork lift and spending time with our best friend. Until our boss was fired. A new boss came in and decided that my brother and I needed to be separated because even though we were getting all our work done we were “having to much fun” well she spent the next 6 months trying to have us on separate projects (which usually didn’t work because we were the only 2 that could use the fork lift and no one else on the team wanted to learn).

Well after separating us didn’t work she decided to fire us, well we were exemplary workers besides our having fun so she needed a paper trail and started writing us up for everything and anything (I once got written up for something I said off the clock across the street at the bar, I made a innuendo joke much like one of the hundreds you would see in a pg movie, it really wasn’t that inappropriate. But I didn’t know a coworker was there to report on us to her and she said that because I was still in uniform which let me remind you is an orange SHIRT that I represented the company and it wasn’t appropriate to make that type of joke)

Well after a few months of this my brother and I had enough so we put out feelers for different jobs, almost immediately a different ex boss of ours contacted my brother and offered us jobs on the spot which we accepted. So we called our regional manager and gave our two weeks to which she asked us to try and leave the store in a way that our absence wouldn’t hurt the remaining team. Well we knew that meant training more people on the fork lift, which our manager absolutely refused to let us do. She said that since we were leaving she wasn’t going to let us do ant job where we could sabotage the team so for the last two weeks she had us sorting screws, the pallets piled up with no one to pull them down for two weeks and by the time we left there was very little room anywhere in the store for new pallets, meanwhile there was no product to stock because the pallets were all in the over head so most of the shelves in the store were bare, we tried to help by dropping a few pallets but our boss caught us, wrote us up, and sent us back to sort screws. So we did.

We left with our heads high and not caring that there would be a reckoning for not having any pallets brought down for two weeks. And boy was there. We went back a week later to do some shopping and our boss had been fired.

She tried telling our regional manager that we refused to train anyone and also refused to pull pallets down, a couple people on the team “verified” her story. Than our regional manager came to the store to talk to store associates to see what happened and they told her the truth(my brother and I were liked by most of the store associates because we were always helping then out, even if it meant we might get in trouble) she heard the full story and checked the cameras and saw our boss was lying. So she was fired immediately. And it took a few months for them to catch back up.

A few years back, I walked on into my local Panera Bread craving a turkey sandwich something fierce.

I ordered that turkey sandwich on rye bread with Swiss cheese, bacon, lettuce, onion, and tomato.

What I got… a turkey sandwich on white bread with some kind of neon green avocado paste that, I swear to all that’s holy, looked like boogers.

It was a to-go order that I intended to eat in my car because the modern acid jazz music they play in there is blasphemous to a person like me that worships the genre.

I had to walk back in and explain that I received the wrong sandwich. The female manager walked over, flipped the sandwich open, and -no joke- said to me “hmm, that looks good. You sure you don’t want it? I’m over on my food costs and can’t afford to have any more mistakes.”

I was floored. Since when is it my problem they were making a lot of mistakes that were costing the store money, and I told her that, too. I was shaking and on the verge of tears. I asked to please just have what I ordered so I could be on my way.

The manager picked up the incorrect sandwich and said to me that she would be eating it on her break because “there was nothing wrong with it and no reason you couldn’t have eaten it”, then went in the back.

I wouldn’t be eating it, and didn’t have to, because it wasn’t what I goddamn ordered.

I was even more floored because, first of all, that sandwich left the store for two minutes before I brought it back. She didn’t know me. I could’ve wiped my ass with it for all she knew. But she was going to eat it.

The employees that remade my (correct) sandwich laughed at her and her ridiculous reaction the whole time. They apologized for her and threw extra chips and baguettes in my bag. It was amusing and made up for that crappy experience.

It was a typical 10 year old assignment, write a persuasive letter to you parents to convince them on something. Most kids chose getting a phone, some a dog or a new bike. Except one girl, who we’ll call Amy.

I was skimming though them, checking for mistakes for them to correct next lesson before the the follow up (write your parents reply, this was changed due to Amy’s letter) That’s when I saw her one.

This it it paraphrased

Dear Mum,

I am writing to ask for some changes…I would like you to stop drinking.

I would like this because when you drink you change. It scares me when you hit me…..and when you bring home your boyfriend he hits me too.

Maybe if you stopped earlier Daddy wouldn’t have left, I know I’m his little girl but he doesn’t come anymore and he says it’s your fault.

It went on longer, tears came to my eyes, she was such a bright, bubbly girl I never suspected anything. I was angry, why doesn’t her dad protect her, I was sad, she doesn’t relise it’s not normal.

A few days later she came in with a large bruise on her face. At break I called her back to talk to her. Then she let everything out, how her dad won’t come back until her mum stops drinking, how each night her mum gets back early in the morning with a new guy. How she sometimes sleeps in bus shelters or bushes to avoid her mum.

I talked to the headteacher and we called a meeting with her mum, on the day if it Amy wasn’t in school, her mum didn’t show up. Amy never came back, I went to her house but it was abandoned and a neighbour told me that they left for London. I panicked and by some miracle tracked them down. I found Amy alone in the flat, I waited with her until her mum returned. After talking it though with her and social services I’m fostering Amy until her mum is ready to look after her. They see each other every other weekend now and her mums nearly out of rehab. Amy’s just started secondary school and loving it.

I hope they can be reunited soon and live better lives together.

Should you stop to help someone that’s having car problems?

My family was on a cross country trip with a trailer and nine people. One Sunday morning we were on a country road in Alabama when came upon a woman and her three children standing next to a car with a flat tire. Of course we stopped and my brother and I changed the tire for her. She told us that she was on her way to church. She wanted to pay us, but we told her to put the money in the church collection.

That evening we told the story to a family at the trailer park. When we mentioned that the family was black, the father, in front of his children said, the “you should never help a nigger *”. My father told him he was a “shameful human “ and walked away.

Just another example of hate, but also another example of why I admired my father.

** this is a quote, I never use that word

Shorpy

Blinken reiterated that the US does not seek to decouple from China, stating that doing so would “harm the global economy”. What does this mean?

Let me offer an age-old script.

The cad of a man telling his mistress “I love you, but I won’t divorce my wife.”

In other words, stay illegitimate, and do what I say, because you are dependent on me.

Older movies portrayed the poor mistress as the long-suffering woman, asking little, and receiving none.

Modern versions give the protagonist backbone, who demanded better treatment and got it—either through financial independence or new relationships. Some even managed to take revenge against the heartless cad.

China says fine, we’ll embrace a future without you, and find others to share it with.

Yes, heartless cads CAN and WILL be spurned.

Who cares what Antony says anyway? Keep it up and he will be sanctioned the day he leaves office, just like Mike.

Have you ever stood up for a child when he was being beaten up by his parents?

Yes, I was walking after dinner and I saw a man beating his wife and child. I was furious and did not think straight. I grabbed the man and threw him up against the car (I was in the military) and held him until the police came. The wife and child were taken to the hospital and treated for their injuries. A month later I got a subpoena to appear in court for assault. His lawyer attested that since I was in the military and trained in hand-to-hand combat I could have “killed his client.” I was dumbfounded. Fortunately, the public defender had copies of the hospital records showing the injuries he had inflicted on his wife and daughter and the solitary bruise I had left from pinning him to the car. Yes, the case was dismissed but I was furious at him for a while.

Years later a woman came up to me and said “You don’t remember me do you?” I said no I did not. She said “You saved me from my husband killing me and his daughter and now he is in prison and we are finally free. Thank you for being brave.” Yes, I started crying immediately!!

Baked Chicken and Dumplings

Key Ingredients

• Whole chicken: I simmer a whole chicken with aromatics for about 1 hour, which produces the most delicious chicken broth and tender, moist chicken. Once you try chicken and dumplings this way, you’ll never go back. I use the same process to make our easy chicken broth.
• Aromatics: For the classic broth, we add an onion top (the part you usually throw away — you can see what I mean by looking at our photos or watching the video), carrot, celery, garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns, thyme, and salt.
• Self-rising flour: I use self-rising flour for the drop dumplings. Baking powder and salt have already been added, making the dumpling batter so easy! If you do not have it, I have included a DIY version in the tips section of the recipe.
• Milk: I use whole milk, which brings our dumpling batter together and helps make them tender.
• Butter: Adds flavor and keeps the dumplings moist.
• Spices: I add ground pepper, a bit of extra salt, and fresh parsley to the dumpling batter.

How to Make Chicken and Dumplings From Scratch

You can break this cozy classic chicken and dumplings recipe into 3 easy steps.

Make broth and cook the chicken. For the best homemade chicken and dumplings, we make the broth ourselves (it’s so worth it and is much easier than you might think). By making the broth ourselves, we also gently cook the chicken, which guarantees juicy and tender chicken meat for our soup (it takes about 1 hour). If you are short on time, I have included a speedier option using store-bought broth below.

Make the soup. Since we make our chicken broth, making the soup for this recipe is quick and easy. After straining our homemade broth, we add chopped carrot, celery, and the shredded cooked chicken (from cooking the broth).

Make the drop dumpling batter. This Southern-style recipe uses drop dumplings (similar to drop biscuits). We make a somewhat wet dumpling batter and then drop it by the spoonful into simmering broth, where they steam in the broth (about 15 minutes).

When cooking the dumplings, keep these things in mind:

1. Drop your dumplings into gently simmering broth with a spoon or cookie scoop, and don’t worry if the pot looks crowded. Depending on your pot shape, you might even have a few dumplings on top of each other.
2. If the dumplings fully cover your soup, use a spoon to make a small hole in the middle to allow steam and some of the simmering bubbles to release.
3. So that they cook perfectly, the dumplings need to steam, so cover the pot with its lid.
4. Keep the pot at a gentle simmer when cooking the dumplings. An aggressive simmer or boiling will break them apart. Keep the heat low and cover the pot so that they steam. The dumplings can cook longer than the suggested times without issues, but agitating them with an aggressive simmer will make them fall apart.

The batter for these dumplings is very similar to the batter for our easy drop biscuits. I love how light and fluffy the drop-style dumplings turn out. They also make the soup thicker and creamier since some batter will ultimately fall into the broth and help thicken it. We also have a this recipe for more traditional biscuits, but I’d keep those for dipping into the broth, not for cooking on top.

Storing and Make Ahead Tips

Homemade chicken and dumplings are at their best when fresh, but you can store them in the fridge for a couple of days and gently reheat them. The dumplings will be slightly more moist and might fall apart, but the flavors will all be there. We do not recommend freezing them.

To cut down on the preparation time of the recipe, you can make the broth and chicken up to three days in advance. Then, when you are ready to serve, reheat the broth, add your carrots and celery, and then make your dumpling batter.

You Will Need

Chicken and Broth1 whole chicken, about 4 pounds

1 onion top, see notes

1 garlic clove, smashed

1 large carrot

2 stalks celery

3 bay leaves

8 whole peppercorns

1 tablespoon fine sea salt

12 to 14 cups (3 liters) water

1 bunch fresh thyme

Dumplings2 ½ cups (325g) self-rising flour, see notes

8 twists black pepper

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 ½ cups (350ml) whole milk

1/4 cup (60g) butter, melted

Directions

• • Make Broth and Cook Chicken

1Cut a 3-inch section of the carrot, about 1/4 the size of the whole carrot, and set aside. Chop the remaining carrot into small cubes. Cut a 4-inch piece of celery stalk and set aside with the carrot. Chop the remaining celery into small cubes. Save the chopped carrot and celery for later.

2Place the chicken, breast facing up, in a large pot (we use a 9-quart Dutch oven). Then, toss the 1/4 carrot, 4-inch piece of celery, onion top, smashed garlic clove, bay leaves, peppercorns, and a tablespoon of salt around the chicken.

3Pour in 12 to 14 cups of water, depending on the size of your pot. In the video, we used 14 cups. It is okay if the chicken is not fully covered; an inch or so of chicken breast above the water is okay.

4Cover the pot with a lid, turn the heat to medium-high, and bring to a simmer. Once the broth is at a simmer, reduce it so that it’s a gentle simmer — the bubbles should be slowly dancing around in the pot.

5Cook at a gentle simmer for 50 minutes. Peek under the lid occasionally to see if the heat needs to be reduced.

6After 50 minutes, the broth will be aromatic, and the chicken will be cooked through (you can test this with an internal temperature thermometer — it should read above 165 °F).

7Carefully transfer the chicken to a plate and allow it to cool until you can handle it.

8Strain the broth, wipe any foam stuck to the sides of the pot, and then pour the strained broth back into the pot used to make it. Place the pot back over medium heat, add the thyme, chopped carrots, and chopped celery.

 

• • Finish Chicken and Dumplings

1When it is cool enough to handle, shred the chicken by hand, removing all the bones and skin. Shred as big/little as you like. We keep the chicken in larger pieces.

2To make the dumpling batter, melt the butter. In a medium bowl, stir the flour, pepper, salt, parsley, milk, and melted butter until mixed.

3Remove the thyme from the soup, scraping a few leaves off the bundle as you remove it.

4Stir the shredded chicken and any juices left on the plate into the soup.

5Bring the broth to a gentle simmer, and then use a spoon to scoop golf ball-sized portions of the batter into the soup, scraping them off with your finger. (If you have a large cookie scoop, scoop balls of batter into the soup.) Do this until all the batter is in the soup — it will look crowded. Some might sink.

6Cover with a lid and cook the dumplings at a low simmer for 5 to 7 minutes or until they look like they are firming up on the bottom. Then, carefully turn each one over to simmer the other side. If there’s no space for the liquid to bubble up past the dumplings, use a spoon and make a small hole in the middle of the pot.

7Once they are all turned over, simmer over low heat with the lid on for another 8 to 10 minutes. You can test a dumpling to check they are done — The center should look cooked through and fluffy, not doughy. When cooking the dumplings, keep the pot at a gentle simmer. An aggressive simmer or boiling will break them apart. Keep the heat low and keep your pot covered so that they steam. The dumplings can cook longer than the suggested times without issues, but agitating them with an aggressive simmer will make them fall apart.

 

Adam and Joanne’s Tips

• Onion top: We are only looking for a mild onion flavor in our broth. Slice an onion at the top, keeping the skins on. Use the top (what you would normally throw away) to make the broth, and save the onion for another recipe. You can also use a 1-inch slice of onion in its place.
• Self-rising flour: Unlike all-purpose flour, self-rising flour adds baking powder and salt. For 2 ½ cups of homemade self-rising flour (what you need for this recipe), whisk 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour with 3 ¾ teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
• Pot size: The perfect size for this recipe is a 9-quart Dutch oven, which is large enough to make the broth and cook all the dumplings. I have also used a 7 ½-quart Dutch oven with this recipe and found that I could only fit 12 cups of water with my chicken. If you don’t have either of these, make sure the pot is large enough to hold at least 12 cups of water with the chicken.
• Shortcut: I highly recommend the homemade broth, but if you are short on time, use 10-12 cups of store-bought broth. Bring your chicken broth to a low simmer, and add chopped carrot and celery. Stir in 3 to 4 cups of shredded cooked chicken. Make the dumpling batter and cook by gently simmering them covered with a lid, per our instructions above.
• The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.

Nutrition Per ServingServing Size1/6 of the recipe/Calories501/Total Fat14.4g/Saturated Fat7g/Cholesterol136.8mg/Sodium1599.2mg/Carbohydrate48.7g/Dietary Fiber3.8g/Total Sugars4.1g/Protein42.4g

AUTHOR:  Adam and Joanne Gallagher

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No Title allowed by YouTube. Russia, Ukraine, SOMETHING HAPPENED!

Stuff not reported in Western media.

What are the most common regrets that people have once they grow old?

I don’t regret a single thing I did, except one.

I knew from an early age that I had married the wrong woman. She didn’t love me, only tolerated me. I never learned about being loved until after being widowed at 63 and remarrying at 67. That was 17 years ago.

Sure, it sounds selfish, but I regret not learning more about sex and living with more variety during all of those years of being a devoted husband, even though my wife had many affairs.

I regret not divorcing her.

Now, my body isn’t quite what it was. No more mountains to climb, rivers to swim, bicycle races to participate in, or half Marathons north of the Arctic circle.

Do you have any paranormal/unexplained experiences you could share with us?

My father was hospitalized with heart and diabetes complications. He had to have a heart triple by pass surgery. There were complications and he was in intensive care for 3 days, near death. In the evening of the first night, I stayed at the hospital. My mother and daughter went to my parents home for the night. A neighbor was babysitting my daughters 2 month old daughter, there at the home. My mom, daughter and the baby went to bed soon after returning to the home. My parents lived along a golf course that was heavily lighted at night. There was always light fading into the rooms, even with the drapes drawn.

My daughter woke up at 3 am and saw a blond woman from the back. She thought it was me, standing beside her daughters small, travel crib. The figure, who was my height and shape, was staring down at the sleeping baby. She was dressed in a white robe, similar to one that I wore. My daughter then said that she whispered, Mom what’s the matter? Is the baby okay? And then the woman turned and faded away. My daughter said she saw her face briefly. She looked fully human. The woman or figure was only a few feet from where my daughter lay in bed. My daughter said she got up and walked into the bedroom that I was using and I wasn’t there. She then stayed awake, with the lights on the rest of the night.

Around 5 am I went to my moms home to rest. My dad had become more stable. When I got home my daughter told me about the incident. I took out some old photo albums and asked her to look and see if she could find a similar face. My dads mom died when he was 18 and in the Army. She was 43 at her death, which was near my age at that time. My daughter and I had never seen these photos before. My dads sister had recently sent them from across the country. My daughter picked out a photo of my dad in his army uniform standing beside his mother. She did look like me.

We think his mom was with us, just to watch over him and his great grand daughter, his little one. We had one more incident like this. He survived this surgery and 9 years later died of complications of heart disease, diabetes and dementia. In the nursing home,a CNA said to me,the last morning of his life,you’re back so soon. I lived a few hours away and had just driven there. I guess, early that morning a woman who looked like me,was in his room for a moment. The CNA saw her from the back,leaning over his bed,as she walked down the hall, and had glanced in his room. It was not me. At that time he was in the fetal position,and he died later that morning. I leaned over his bed as I told him to go with mama. I really think his mother was there. I held his hand and he died. I really believe that his mother took him home. It was as if he left his body. I knew he was embraced in love and at Peace.

US Politicians Have Lost Their Mind Over the Latest Chinese Tech

While the Media is discussing China and the TikTok ban, there is something much bigger at stake. US and China have been working together in biotech for decades but now US politicians want to ban US scientists from working together with their Chinese counterparts. What impact does this have on the future of American healthcare? Does the US actually need Chinese biotech? Let’s break it down

What is the most neglectful thing you have heard of a parent doing?

“My son doesn’t need an education, he is going to work in the mines and drive a truck. He doesn’t need to know all this crap.” Said by the parent of an extremely bright 6th grade student (11 years old) in front of him to his teachers, administration and support staff.

My response, “What happens if Erik doesn’t want to be a truck driver at a mine?”

Dad: “Tough, it is a good job, good wages and benefits. I don’t want to be taking care of him his whole life.”

My response, “Erik, do you like mining.” (Mining is a major industry here)

Erik, “Yes.”

Me: “Do you want to drive heavy equipment?”

Erik, “Maybe but probably not.”

Me: “What do you want to do at the mine?”

Erik: “I want to be a mining engineer, a metallurgist.”

Dad: “What is the hell is that, sounds like a pansy job.”

Me: “It is actually a wonderful job that takes a lot of work, intelligence and one that keeps you employed.” (Dad obviously works at a mine.)

Me: “Erik, you know that takes a lot of math and science as well as at least 5 years of college, right?”

Erik: “Yes, but I could do it.”

Me, “Dad, he needs this education, needs to be to school every day, do his work, and be able to focus on his future possibilities.”

Dad: “Bullsh*t, I need him at home taking care of his brothers and sisters.”

Yea. Erik is still not going to school as often he should, however, he works harder knowing he can do whatever needs to after he leaves home. He is focused on becoming an engineer. He even contacted a couple of the mines and asked if they have educational programs for college assistance. He is lined up with one that has him working as a laborer and taking classes. If he gets a B or better they pay for the classes, if he can’t afford to pay up front, they pay it and take it out in installments from his checks. When he gets a degree, they have a job waiting for him and he needs to work for them for at least 2 years. Hopefully it will work out. Dad is still a jerk, still finds ways to make it hard for Erik to surpass his own education and job title. It is like he is intimidated that his son could do better. Most parents are thrilled when their kids do better. Not this guy.

When did you know your parents were two of the good ones?

When I went to the house of my richest friend. I was in elementary school at the time. The boy’s family lived in an enormous mansion. It was grand. It was glorious. Every nook and cranny of that building seemed to exude power, wealth, success. Walking up to the main door, I was utterly in awe of the size of… everything. Grandeur.

Then I went inside. And it was… empty. Not literally empty, there were chairs, sofas, the largest television set I had ever seen and some lamps. But the house had no books. The house had few pictures. And there were no parents to be seen. I asked were my friends’ father was? At work, the answer went. He was always at work. His mother was “sick”, on bed with a headache. Every time I was there, and I was there five or six times, dad was away at work, mom was sick with a headache. Looking back I’m almost certain the woman was an alcoholic. The man a workaholic. My friend was raised more or less by his older siblings.

Our house was small. Our families deeply involved. Life was simple… but it felt full. Theirs, though outwardly grand, felt empty. Just visiting that eery house a handful of times reminded me of how good I had it.

Is China challenging the United States as the new global hegemony? Is the dominance of the U.S. over or fading away?

China is with world at large to form a new way forward. That the world favours considerably more than the present enslavement to the U.S. method! One that the U.S. cannot do anything about.

I is welcomed as a nation and not the nation which it does not like but it inevitably will dwindled into whether it. Likes it or not! No one cause this but the U.S. themselves since it abused the power that it gained to the point that everyone wants out. If you steal money kept in INTERNATIONAL bank, The world will want to collectively take it out.

if you could and constantly manipulated the real value if the dollar people will want to dump it all together. If you set up rules as you go along to advantage yourself it us a matter of time that people don’t want to have anything with your rules or better still get as far away from you as one can!

Yes everyone wants out of your orbit. China happened to be the biggest of them all. You should have thought about the consequences when you did barbarism on Russia!

Please don’t waste your life

Feudalism 2.0