Oh, it’s been a while, but I used to own a “turntable” and “albums” that I would play on my “Hi Fi” stereo system. Oh, ever since High School, I listened to albums on my all-in one player.
But, you know… when I went to college at university was I introduced to modular stereos components. And I really constructed quite a set up with all sorts of gear for my music listening pleasure.
Something a little bit like these fine examples. Though mine was on a real budget…
I had Pioneer and Techniques components with a few misc other makes. It was a Hodge-podge of stereo components, with some nice speakers. Why, though? I used headphones most of the time. Don’t you know.
I well remember the Techniques turntable.
My father couldn’t understand why I would have one that would play automatically multiple albums. But I said that I liked it that way… low and individual. He just shrugged and walked away.
Anyways… here’s to my lost collection of albums in egg cartons. Who know’s where they are today.
And now.
Today…
Are we witnessing the decline of the American empire?
In the past 5 or 6 years, I have noticed that America’s decline is comprehensive, affecting not just the economy, but the entire industry and culture.
Just like the Twin Towers, after what seemed like an eternity of smoldering, the subsequent collapse happened in an instant.
Presidential Election 2024
“Neither is qualified. Both deserve to lose.”
Video: Prof. Jeffrey Sachs Q & A at Cambridge Union as published on Oct 30 2024
Starting at 48:06 min (automated transcript, slightly edited):
Sachs:
I will not vote for a candidate that doesn’t meet the minimum threshold for being president of the United States and we have two candidates, lead candidates, that don’t. And so I decided I’m not voting – period. Because I want a candidate that actually has some possibility of doing something.
Now maybe they will but not based on what they say every day.
It is a profession of love for Israel’s murderous reign in the Middle East. Okay, by itself I wouldn’t support that. That’s enough for me because Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza and it’s sickening and it’s obvious and we see it every day. And if a candidate can’t figure out to say something about then I can’t support them. Period.
But then Kamala Harris, who would normally be my candidate because I was a lifelong Democratic Party voter. Although with great disappointment whether they won or lost. Because when they won I was disappointed with what they did. When they lost I was disappointed that my candidate lost. So I’ve never been happy for a while about us politics.
It’s been five miserable presidents as far as I’m concerned from Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden, awful all of them. They brought us to the brink of nuclear war. I can’t forgive them for that kind of recklessness.
But when it comes to Ukraine Harris says we stand with Ukraine. Just everybody understand what does it mean to stand with Ukraine, like Boris Johnson stands with Ukraine. It means 2,000 Ukrainians killed or wounded severely every single day. That’s not standing with Ukraine. That is standing with the destruction of Ukraine. It’s exactly the opposite. And so that’s a purely Orwellian idea that we’re standing with Ukraine by continuing this war.
And that’s what she says because she doesn’t seem to have any idea other than what she’s told to say or she says her ideas. And either way I can’t vote for her.
And with Trump – don’t even get me started.
So the answer is I don’t see either of them based on what they’re saying right now doing much.
But I think there’s another point that is important in this. I’m not without hope for a quite different reason and that is that our politics is not determined by American presidents. Our politics is determined by the Security State apparatus. And what is happening right now is not in America’s security interest and so they could change their mind.
President Putin said something actually very interesting in an interview in 2017, I think in Figaro. By the time he had three presidents as his counterparts, Bush, Obama and Trump, and he said to this French reporter in 2017.
He said: “You know I’ve dealt with three American presidents. Now they come into office with ideas but then men in dark suits and blue ties come to tell them how the real situation is and you never hear of those ideas again.”
And this is from a very tough-minded leader who was himself KGB he understands how the American system works very well. He understands what the CIA means for American foreign policy. He understands that American foreign policy is very deeply rooted.
It’s not this one wins then Obama changes everything and then Trump comes in and changes nothing like that. By the way this has been a consistent foreign policy arguably since 19 certainly since 1991 and arguably since 1945.
– end of Jeffrey Sachs quote
One Man Found The Infamous “Carpet Trails” In Florida That Lead To Enormous Homeless Encampments Way Back In The Woods
If you are still able to afford a decent home, you should consider yourself to be incredibly blessed, because vast numbers of Americans do not have a permanent place to live at this point. Homelessness in the United States is at the highest level ever recorded, and it has been growing at the fastest pace ever recorded. The homeless encampments that have been popping up all over our major cities have been making lots of headlines in recent years, but many of the homeless live and die in very isolated places far from public view. What I am about to share with you should deeply sadden all of us.
Way back in the woods in southwest Florida, trails that have been made out of discarded carpets lead to absolutely enormous homeless encampments where hordes of homeless people have made homes for themselves.
One man was able to find these infamous “carpet trails”, and he posted footage of them on his YouTube channel…
Coastal areas of southern Florida are very popular among the homeless because the nights never get too cold even during the winter.
But there are plenty of other hazards, and just trying to stay alive can be a real struggle.
Of course the west coast is dealing with an even greater crisis.
In Portland, homeless encampments have taken over vast stretches of the city and nobody seems to have any solutions.
KATU recently visited one of the most notorious homeless encampments, and they discovered that it has gotten even bigger since the last time they visited it…
This is what a collapsing society looks like.
Poverty and hunger are spreading like wildfire, and the deplorable conditions in many of our core urban areas are being openly mocked all over the globe.
In fact, in China they are actually “producing documentaries on the collapse of American cities”…
The Chinese are now producing documentaries on the collapse of American cities. What this showcases is the grim aftermath of decades of deindustrialization, disastrous progressive policies, and an opioid crisis—ironically fueled by China.
“Chinese are making documentaries about ultra-extreme poverty and decaying cities since they don’t exist in China anymore,” X user S.L. Kanthan wrote in a recent post, accompanied by a short clip from the documentary highlighting the implosion of Oakland, California.
Since the video was narrated in Chinese, X user TranslateMom translated some of the captions, which said, “Everywhere is garbage … People don’t live in places. There are wanderers everywhere.”
One of the primary reasons why so many people are forced to live in the streets is because housing has become ridiculously unaffordable.
If you can believe it, there are now 237 U.S. cities where “buyers will find a price tag of $1 million or more on the typical starter home”…
A million-dollar price tag no longer means lavish and luxurious living. In more than 200 U.S. cities, buyers will find a price tag of $1 million or more on the typical starter home, a new Zillow® analysis finds.
The typical “starter home” — defined for this analysis as being among those in the lowest third of home values in a given region — is worth at least $1 million in 237 cities, the highest number of cities ever. Five years ago, there were only 84 such cities.
That is nuts!
Who can afford to pay a million bucks for a “starter home”?
This is what rampant inflation has done to us.
It has absolutely eviscerated our standard of living, and ordinary Americans such as you and I are feeling a tremendous amount of pain right now.
According to Zillow, California, New York and New Jersey are the states that have the most cities where a typical “starter home” costs at least a million dollars…
Exactly half of all states have at least one city with a typical starter home worth $1 million or more. There are 117 such cities in California, well ahead of New York (31) and New Jersey (21), which have the second- and third-highest numbers. Florida and Massachusetts round out the top five with 11 each.
Among metropolitan areas, the New York City metro, which includes parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, has the most cities with million-dollar starter homes at 48. The San Francisco metro has the next highest count at 44, followed by Los Angeles (35), San Jose (15), and Miami and Seattle, each with eight. Irvine, with a population of more than 300,000, is the biggest city with $1 million starter homes.
Of course California is also being overwhelmed by homeless encampments right now too.
Progressive policies have resulted in a chronic shortage of affordable housing, and that isn’t going to change any time soon.
Sadly, conditions are only going to get worse all over the nation because our economic momentum is rapidly taking us in the wrong direction.
For example, we just learned that credit card delinquency rates have risen to the highest level ever recorded…
A growing number of Americans are falling behind on their monthly credit card payments as they continue to battle high inflation and interest rates.
New data published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia shows that credit card delinquency rates in the first quarter of 2024 rose to the highest level since 2012, when the Fed began tracking the data. All stages of credit card delinquency — 30, 60 and 90 days past due — rose during the first three months of the year.
And another major retailer just went bankrupt and is closing lots of stores…
Home goods retailer Conn’s HomePlus filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday and announced plans to close at least 70 locations across 13 states.
On its website, Conn’s says it will close 18 locations in Florida, nine in Texas and seven in Arizona. Other states that will see stores close include Virginia, Colorado, Mississippi and Oklahoma, among others.
Everywhere you look, there is suffering.
But for the moment, those at the very top of the economic food chain are still thriving.
In fact, the wealthiest one percent have actually gotten 42 trillion dollars wealthier during the past decade…
The world’s richest one percent increased their fortunes by a total of $42 trillion over the past decade, Oxfam said Thursday, ahead of a G20 summit in Brazil where taxing the super-rich tops the agenda.
Despite this windfall, taxes on the rich had plummeted to “historic lows”, the NGO added, warning of “obscene levels” of inequality with the rest of the world “left to scrap for crumbs”.
A day of reckoning is coming for them too.
In fact, a day of reckoning is rapidly approaching for the entire planet.
Our system is fundamentally flawed, and decades of really bad decisions have brought us to a breaking point.
So please don’t look down on those that have lost their homes and have no place to live, because lots more people will be joining them soon.
What is the rudest thing a store owner has done to you that you paid back tenfold?
I’m a model railroader.
Here in NYC we have a hobby shop owner who has zero social skills.
His family is evidentially quite wealthy. They own a hardware store. they finance his hobby shop because they don’t want him involved in the family business. So he can’t go bankrupt no matter what he does. He’s rude and disrespectful to his store’s customers. His prices are about 110–120% of MSRP for items.
The store is always a mess. The owner is always in dirty disheveled clothes. He has a cat that lives in the store, so there’s a smelly uncleaned litter box in the corner. Also the occasional cat shit found on the floor around the shop.
The only reason the model railroad community patronizes the store is because it’s been around for decades and occasionally some interesting long out of production items from decades ago are unearthed.
Everyone in the model railroad community here in the city despises him and has a story about an interaction with him.
A couple of incidents:
A friend of mine found an item on the store shelves he wanted to buy. So he asks the price. (a lot of items are not priced tagged). The storeowner comes running over and says “I need that for an order’ and takes out of my friend’s hand and runs off with it.
Another friend found a locomotive motorized chassis in a junk box. It’s a Bachmann, one of the cheaper toy brands. He asks the owner how much he wants for it and get a spiel about how’s a Bachmann and a ‘classic’. He gets quoted a ridiculous price.
A couple of years back he had a competitor hobby shop open across the street from him by one of his former employees. A UPS guy mistakenly delivered a carton (about 2 or 3 dozen) new locomotives to the store by mistake. So this cretin opens the carton addressed to someone else and starts selling the locomotives. That is until the competitor comes over looking for his mis-delivered items and the cretin refuses to return them. The police got involved and forced him to return the remaining models in the carton to the rightful owner.
To the paid back part.
So when those of us in the local community visit the shop, we like to try to undo in the process sales he’s made to unsuspecting tourist customers and direct them to some of the other hobby shops in the city which actually sell items at a discount price.
When someone is about to drop a few hundred or a grand on a sale, to find out you ca get the same items from someone else for about 25% less is powerful motivation. It being a clean orderly environment, sans cat shit, seals the deal.
Aliens (1986) | First Time Watching | REACTION – LiteWeight Reacting
“I asked a friend who has crossed 70 & is heading towards 80 what sort of changes he is feeling in himself? He sent me the following:
1. After loving my parents, my siblings, my spouse, my children and my friends, I have now started loving myself.
2. I have realized that I am not “Atlas”. The world does not rest on my shoulders.
3. I have stopped bargaining with vegetable & fruit vendors. A few pennies more is not going to break me, but it might help the poor fellow save for his daughter’s school fees.
4. I leave my waitress a big tip. The extra money might bring a smile to her face. She is toiling much harder for a living than I am.
5. I stopped telling the elderly that they’ve already narrated that story many times. The story makes them walk down memory lane & relive their past.
6. I have learned not to correct people even when I know they are wrong. The burden of making everyone perfect is not on me. Peace is more precious than perfection.
7. I give compliments freely and generously. Compliments are mood enhancers not only for the recipient but also for me. And a small tip for the recipient of a compliment: never, NEVER turn it down. Just say, ‘Thank you.’
8. I have learned not to bother about a crease or a spot on my shirt. Personality speaks louder than appearances.
9. I walk away from people who don’t value me. They might not know my worth, but I do.
10. I remain cool when someone plays dirty to outrun me in the rat race. I am not a rat & neither am I in any race.
11. I am learning not to be embarrassed by my emotions. It’s my emotions that make me human.
12. I have learned that it’s better to drop the ego than to break a relationship. My ego will keep me aloof, whereas with relationships, I will never be alone.
13. I have learned to live each day as if it’s the last. After all, it might be the last.
14. I am doing what makes me happy. I am responsible for my happiness, and I owe it to myself. Happiness is a choice. You can be happy at any time, just choose to be!
I decided to share this for all my friends. Why do we have to wait to be 60 or 70 or 80, why can’t we practice this at any stage and age?
Real Italian Spaghetti Sauce and Meatballs
My mother was born in Northern Italy and she taught my two sisters and me how to make traditional Italian spaghetti sauce. She insisted it was not REAL spaghetti sauce if it contained onions and to this day I never order red sauce in a restaurant because invariably restaurants Americanize their sauce and make it with onions.
Here is the REAL thing – at least according to my Italian mother.
Ingredients
Spaghetti Sauce
- 2 (28 ounce) cans tomatoes (crushed or whole)
- 1 (12 ounce) can tomato paste
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried sweet basil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 whole bay leaves
Meatballs
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon sweet basil
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 cups soft bread crumbs
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
Instructions
Spaghetti Sauce
- Place all ingredients in an uncovered Dutch oven, heat to a boil and then immediately reduce heat to a simmer and simmer for 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
Meatballs
- Mix together until well blended. Form into meatballs and place on jellyroll pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for one-half hour.
- Once the spaghetti sauce starts to simmer, add meatballs.
Attribution
Shared with recipegoldmine.com by JoAnn Heskin.
Shorpy
Has anyone rented a car with unlimited mileage and then really driven it with “unlimited mileage”? What was the response when you returned the car to the rental agency?
Yes i did this. i just graduated from college and got a job interview in las Vegas. i did not want to drive my car because it did not have air-conditioning. so i went to enterprise and rented the cheapest car they had. i went to the interview and returned in 2 days. i put almost 2000 miles on the car. the lady who checked me in was not happy. She was the manager, well she grabbed a clipboard and went out to the vehicle and started nitpicking everything. even the stuff that was previously damaged. she just kept going for about 20 min and always quoting prices to fix. she paid extra special attention to the windshield and stated i would have to replace the windshield because of “chips” i just kept quiet…
we went back in and she got out her calculator and proceeded to add up all the damages and came to the amount of 2130.00 in damages. and asked how i would like to pay. i said are you sure that is all the damages. well that made he even more mad. and she went into a speech about how i have to pay for all the damages and such for about 2 min. i just stood there and listened. the car cost 19.95 a day. when she was done i reached over the counter and grabbed my rental agreement and i said the 2130.00 she would have to pay because i had taken the insurance with 0 deductible. for 9.95 a day. she grabbed the rental agreement and verified the insurance. and i walked out. she was pissed i will never forget her face when she realized she did not have a leg to stand on. best 20 bucks i ever spent.
How Women DISMANTLED The Sexual Marketplace!
What is the coolest line a pilot has said to the passengers?
Not sure if this line qualifies for coolest, but this particular pilot sure was a cool cat.
I landed for the first time in the States on a flight which was over 12 hours delayed due to missed layovers. A 23 hour journey from Mumbai to JFK had turned into a 35+hour nightmare and I was exhausted. To top that, I missed my onward connecting flight to Buffalo,NY and had to wait for the next and the last flight out of JFK for the evening.
So after a total of 39 hours, I was just about ready to punch someone.
Finally my flight was announced and I boarded. I was seated right next to the wings in an Embraer E 190. Cursing my luck I took a seat for the last flight of this terrible voyage.
This is when the captain comes on. Please excuse me since this might not be exactly what the captain said. I was jet lagged, in a foreign country and generally pissed.
Captain: “Hello folks. Sorry but I don’t think we will fly to Buffalo.
Passengers: *all groan* (I am thinking of just calling it quits and take a flight back home to India).
Captain: (..continues) But guys seriously.. do “you guys” really want to fly to Buffalo? I mean come on! Buffalo??!??. Its cold, wet and unpleasant out there. How about I fly you to Miami instead? Or New Orleans?
Passengers: *understand the gag and start cheering/laughing* (I start laughing out loud too)
Captain: *Chuckling* “Sorry guys, it seems my colleague here is from Buffalo and it is his wife’s birthday tomorrow and he absolutely needs to be there. I am sure all married people on board understand .
Since I have no choice, lets get to Buffalo as soon as possible. Folks the journey to Buffalo will be ….
The cabin was practically raucous by the end of that announcement . Needless to say the rest of the flight was very pleasant.
On our arrival, the captain just says:
“And Buffalo”. *sighs*.
Note: For anyone who cares, I was not flying the friendly skies.
The Tragic Reality That Is Coming To All “Alpha” Females
Does a single day in jail psychologically scar you for life?
i was on vacation at the beach with my 3 kids and husband. We were turning into our hotel when I saw blue lights behind me. I pulled over super confused bc I had not been speeding or doing anything wrong. Officer comes to my window and rudely demands my license. I hand it to him. He tells me to step out of the vehicle and walk back to his car. I asked why I was pulled over. He said “you have a warrant out for your arrest. You’re going to jail” (the warrant was valid although stupid af. 7 years prior I was pulled over for my taillight being out. Cop runs my info and my registration came back suspended. I was booked and released instantly. Went to court. Was put on probation. Didn’t finish my probation bc I had a baby and stopped going. The warrant was bc of that) that was the first time hearing anything about me having a warrant. Despite the reason for it. I was handcuffed and taken to jail in a town I didn’t live in hours from my home. I had never spent even an hour in jail. The whole experience was awful. After booking I was dressed in a jumpsuit and put in a cell by myself where I would spend the next two nights. No one would tell me anything ab my case. Just that I was on a hold. Unable to bond out. And would have to wait on my towns cops to come get me and take me back to where I was from. I wasn’t allowed a phone call. They doped me up on antipsychotics bc my Bp and pulse were high. We were at the beach that afternoon. I was severely sunburnt. The first night I slept on straight concrete. They didn’t give me a cot until my second night. Bc of the drugs I stayed out of it. Which looking back was probably a good thing. I lost time bc there wasn’t a clock to be seen. I would have to ask the guards what day it was and what time it was. I went in Saturday evening and didn’t get out until Monday at lunch. Which as I’m writing this, was yesterday. I’m worried I’m permanently changed. Mentally I’m not okay. I have flashbacks and they feel out of body. Like I know it happened. But it doesn’t feel real. And I feel stupid and weak because it was only two days. Why can’t I just get over it and move on? I feel stuck.
What was the most disrespectful thing a guest in your home ever said to one of your family members, yourself, or another guest?
I don’t get much of that. At home or in public, you would just have to meet me to understand why.
But I did have a friend that insisted in bringing his girl friend with him and she would always “need to use the bathroom”. What she really wanted is to snoop in the medicine cabinet. I told him she was doing it and he said no way.
I bought about a gallon worth of marbles and waited. When he called to see if I would be in I went and pulled the shelfs out of the medicine cabinet held a piece of cardboard over the lower part of the opening then poured in the marbles. I held it in place then pushed the mirror as close to shut as I could, pulled out the cardboard then finished shutting the cabinet.
When they showed up and she went for her “Bathroom break” I told my buddy to shut up and listen. When the sound of marbles crashing on the counter top started I told him to go get her now and never bring her back.
Doing things like that may be why I don’t get a lot of disrespectful people around me.
We Bought An Amazon Returns Pallet For $525 – Unboxing $6500 In MYSTERY Items!
Latest MM artwork generations
Theme is ancient civilizations that the rulers…
What are some of your deepest and most horrifying secrets that only you know about?
I am a 21-year-old girl in the final year of my engineering. I am a University Rank holder and have always secured the first rank in my class. I am not a healthy girl. I have been diagnosed with many ailments during the last 5 years of my life. It has been a struggle and students and teachers at college don’t know this about me.
I have been suffering from scalp psoriasis for the past ten years. I spend 2 to 3 hours every day cleaning my scalp so that others wouldn’t know I have it. It’s hell doing it every day.
I was suffering from anaemia in my 1st year of engineering and my haemoglobin dropped to 3.2 due to loss of blood. I was hospitalised and later was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis which the doctor said can never be cured. The medicines the doctor gave had steroids in it to suppress the inflammation in my body. This caused acute pancreatitis and I was hospitalised again. After I was discharged, the doctor thought of giving me a mild dosage of steroids. I was okay for about three days and again was hospitalised due to acute pancreatitis. Eventually, I lost a year due to lack of attendance and it shattered me.
I somehow temporarily recovered and joined engineering next year in a better college. One day, my hands started aching suddenly and this continued for a few months. I was diagnosed with IBD arthritis in my left wrist. And it is still deformed but people can’t notice it. No one knows about it in college.
I bear these pains every day and still manage to study well. I have dreams of becoming a successful girl who doesn’t have to depend on a man for a living. I belong to a middle-class family and I feel terrible that my health has cost my parents so much.
I hope I will be healed someday.
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST (1975) Movie Reaction w/ Coby FIRST TIME WATCHING
During a court case, what was your most, “You just messed up.” moment while someone in the opposition was talking?
I shall never forget this moment of “OMG! THAT sure backfired!!”
It was a pre-murder trial hearing to determine the competency of the defendant. Southern state. Material witness was on the stand; her testimony would probably make or break the incompetency claim of the defendant.
NOTE that the witness was not present at the scene of the crime, and did not even know about the crime (before defendant was arrested).
She was merely going to be questioned intensely about the defendant’s known mental illness. She herself had an unquestionable diagnosis that made her testimony different than the psychiatrists who testified as expert witnesses… and they all confirmed her diagnosis, as well as her unique ability to credibly speak about the defendant’s state of mind at the time of the crime.
Defense Attorney: “Do you swear… or affirm… to tell the truth?”
Witness: “Yes.”
Prosecutor: “Objection!! This witness is insane.”
Defense Attorney: “She is NOT insane. She has a mental illness (named it) that is NOT insanity. The DSM states (blah blah blah).”
Judge: “This witness has not been declared insane, and has never been diagnosed as insane. Your own expert witnesses have testified that she is capable of testifying and why her testimony is unique.” -gavel slammed- “She will testify.” — having noticed the witness next to him flinch at the gavel bang — “I’m not angry at you. Do you need something… a drink of water? A moment to relax? Your… ummmm… it’s a teddy bear, right? Do you want it? The bailiff can hand it to you.”
Witness: “Please let Teddy stay safe with the officer. He’s been with me for 42 years, before I left the NICU to go home as a baby. Nothing bad can happen to him.”
Judge: “OK. See? Officer Joey is holding Teddy so he can see you and you can see him. Nothing bad will happen to Teddy.”
Defense Attorney: “So… do you swear, or affirm—“
Prosecutor: “This is a travesty! She is NOT COMPETENT!! I don’t care what the doctors said…”
-rap rap of the gavel-
Judge: “Don’t let the gentle tap fool you; if you continue in this vein, you will be facing contempt charges, Mr P. I would be slamming this gavel, under typical conditions.”
Judge: “Before we try this again… Miss W — do you know what ‘perjury’ is?”
Witness: “Yes.”
Judge: “Will you please tell me what ‘perjury’ is?”
***** here is ‘The Moment’ of ‘He just messed up big time’ *****
👉🏼Witness: “It’s… perjury is… when you lie under oath — after you swore to tell the truth… or affirmed, if your religion doesn’t let you swear an oath… some Christians won’t swear on God’s name… Jews don’t have that problem… At least, not per se — some Jews might say ‘hashem’, it means ‘the Name’ coz they won’t actually say ‘God’ even though that isn’t His name either. But affirmation is just as serious as swearing an oath. And… if you lie under oath, you will go to prison for the rest of your life and never ever get out or see your family ever again.”👈🏼
Judge tries his best to smother his laughter. Hand over his mouth. Finally he turned his head away. And he then puts his hands over most of his face. Once he stops laughing…
Judge: “We have now established that the witness clearly comprehends what perjury is and… ummmmm… how serious it is. Mrs W… you don’t go to prison forever, it’s not more than a few years at the most — and in your case. you would probably only go to jail for a short time, until you pay a fine… lots of money. But… I think you have demonstrated for the record that you fully comprehend what perjury is and the gravity of the crime. Thank you.”
Judge, to Prosecutor: “Do you still have any objection?”
Prosecutor (very very quietly): “No, Your Honor. No further objection.”
Judge: “Be very, very cautious, now, regarding this witness’ capabilities. Neuroses are not insanity. Neither you nor I need to understand everything that created this witness’ complicated nature… all that is required here is her credibility… and, possibly, simpler than typical explanations… although she has described perjury remarkably well.”
Judge, to Defense Attorney: “Proceed… swear her in.”
And this witness provided approx 4 hours, over two days, of credible testimony. None of it was what the prosecutor wanted to hear, but the defense attorney was a happy man indeed. It proved invaluable to the defendant. Her testimony was why the death penalty was never sought.
I Spent Over $30,000 At A Lost Freight Auction And It Paid Off BIG TIME!
What thing about the military did you not know until you were already in it?
how bad it sucks being lower enlisted in the Infantry.
I thought I would be jumping out of helicopters yelling go go go and running around with a machine gun being a bada**.
But for every time I go to do that, there were at least a hundred times of-
working for moron a**hole leadership who made you do dumb things just because they could.
police call. if you miss a cigarette butt you can do police call again, but while low crawling and wearing your protective mask.
cleaning. we cleaned everything all day long. barracks, latrines, weapons, equipment, buildings, vehicles, motor pools, mow the grass, paint the rocks.
the big green weenie. if you don’t like it write a letter to your congressman.
soldiers that say hoo-ah to everything.
endless field exercises walking long distances with heavy equipment. endless rehearsals. freezing in the snow & rain. never enough sleep.
kp duty, including cleaning pots and pans for 18 hours a day in an immersion barrel heater in a snowy forest in Germany. Wearing a helmet. With your M16A2 strapped across your back. It’s “tactical,” you know.
punishment PT. pushups flutter kicks grass drills road marches five mile runs.
hurry up and wait. and wait and wait and wait and wait.
your leave is cancelled due to the mission.
training training training training on tasks you can already do blindfolded backwards while asleep.
parades, which really suck when you were the person marching in them. and rehearsals for parades.
go to the field again. sleep in the dirt, snow & mud again. clean everything again. more layout inspections.
spray paint metal tools & gear after cleaning. god forbid if they find a speck of dirt on your shovel- three day weekend cancelled.
washrack – crawl around under your tracked vehicle with a fire house and a long screw driver chipping mud out of the roadwheels. in january.
air guard in your tracked vehicle. in january.
mandatory fun.
intrusive & obnoxious drug testing.
daily maintenance on vehicles that haven’t moved in a month.
guard duty- standing at a gate at 3 am for two hours in the snow. cq duty. battalion runner duty. you will do guard duty everywhere, all the time it seemed like.
one guy forgot his field jacket so nobody can wear their field jacket and everybody has to freeze.
layout inspections really suck. get ready to do a lot of layout inspections in your barracks & motor pool.
somebody fell asleep riding in a vehicle & lost their weapon. be ready to be really miserable until it’s found.
if it ain’t rainin’ it ain’t trainin’. 40 degrees F, get rained on and get so cold you start to hallucinate laying next to a tree in the forest. Get up and walk 15 miles anyway then do platoon battle drills for hours. Walk 15 miles back.
dig a fighting position. an hour later be told to move it thirty feet to the left, fill in the fighting position & dig a new one.
if your battalion commander says you have to be somewhere at 1400 hours, your company commander will say you have to be there “five minutes prior” and your platoon sergeant will make sure you’re there at 1330 hours.
road march road march road march. learn to walk and sleep at the same time. learn to drive your armored personnel carrier while you’re sleeping. learn to function for a week on three hours of sleep a day in 15–20 minute intervals.
frago #23.
forget taking college classes, the op tempo is too high. and anyway your platoon sergeant thinks it’s dumb because you have so much maintenance & cleaning to do.
how long did it take to experience all this hoo-ah & much much more? from march 1987 thru october 1988.
I could go on and on. It ain’t like the recruiting commercials.
But it was a job I loved and look back on fondly. It profoundly shaped the course of my life and I don’t regret it for a minute. But most of it sucked.
it’s Saturday night, forget going to the club because you have CQ duty. BOHICA. smile about it there isn’t much else you can do. If you’ve gotta be one, then be a Big Red One.
Why do ultra-wealthy people rarely share their wealth with their friends?
I’m not ultra-wealthy. But in a relative sense, I’m ultra-wealthy compared to a friendly acquaintance of mine. “Friendly acquaintance” is a description that’s short of “friend,” in part because of the story I’m about to tell.
I know this guy, call him Bob, from playing chess at Harvard Square. Bob isn’t quite homeless, but he’s damn close. What I like about chess is that Bob’s economic status has nothing to do with his social status (among chess players). He’s by no means shunned; he’s a well-liked member of the scene.
But when it gets to that point in the night and 10 of us want to go to a restaurant, those who can’t afford the restaurant are unfortunately excluded. That’s Bob.
There was a time, when that part of the night rolled up, I would discreetly tell Bob “come hang out with us, I got you at the restaurant.” Bob would be suitably grateful, and the fun would continue.
After a few of those, Bob started to become a little… emboldened. Eventually, it wasn’t a question of waiting until when (or if) the crowd organically went to eat. It started with “yo Charles, check this out….” Then I’d get a little bit of a sob story, and the ask: “so could you help me out with a burrito until I get paid next Wednesday?” Then the sob story dropped, and it was just, “yo Charles, help me out with some pizza.” Sometimes within minutes of me showing up to the Square.
The last straw was when another mutual friend and chess player, Bill, joined us at a restaurant. Bill was also often strapped for cash. To be sure, Bill didn’t ask for anything, he was just tagging along socially.
Bob gets to the counter and orders like 3 meals, and then calls to Bill from the line: “Yo, you want anything? Charles got it!”
Suffice it to say, our relationship cooled a little after that.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t afford to keep buying Bob food. It’s just that after some time — a pretty short amount of time — he appeared to see me more as a cash register than anything else. And that doesn’t work for me.
I have every confidence that story scales up. I’m wealthy enough to buy the Bobs of my world extra burritos all day, every day. Other people might be wealthy enough to buy their friends cars all day, every day. And who knows, maybe they have.
And I’m willing to bet that they’ve turned some friends into some Bobs along the way.
“Yo dude, help me out with a Tesla…”
How do you respectfully tell guests in your home that they’ve overstayed their welcome?
My daughter had a friend who had been kicked out of her home and asked if could she stay with us for a week until she found somewhere permanent. Bunnykins [me] said okay. The “friend” proceeded to borrow money from my easy going daughter, raided all the food in the fridge and cupboards when we were out, showered every 3–4 days, bought home a dog that promptly went into heat marking up my floors and carpet [ yuk ], did absolutely nothing to help clean, and when asked about alternative living arrangements, cried and said she couldn’t find anywhere to go. You get the picture? Six weeks later, she arrived “home” to find us packing boxes in the lounge room. She asked what was going on. I told her we were being evicted for non-payment of rent… three HOURS later, she had moved on to some other poor sap. We unpacked our boxes and once again lived in peace and quiet in our nice clean home. Nasty? Maybe. Effective? Definitely!
What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever witnessed in the waiting area at the ER?
Actually, three of my girlfriends and I were the sideshow in an ER waiting room.
We were with about 200 people doing a medieval re-enactment when a friend of ours accidentally ate something with cinnamon in it – and he is deathly allergic to it. One of us was a nurse, and even with her quick action with an epi pen, he still needed to go to the ER. So, one guy in Viking clothes and armor, and four women in varying outfits from India (mine) to early Celtic, to Imperial Roman, to 14th century French, all troop into the closest hospital ER – and it was in a really, realllly rural area of Georgia.
Being the only hospital within at least fifty miles of anything, they were predictably busy on a Saturday afternoon. We were there for hours and bored out of our minds. We’re all gifted with warped Monty Python humor, and so we started riffing on it. I started talking about how “our husband” was doing, and that I hoped he would be alright, because I wasn’t prepared to jump on his funeral pyre. (Mine was also the “blingiest” outfit, so I was First Wife by default. We referred to each other as First Wife, Second Wife, etc.) The other people in the waiting room were gawking at us like we’d all grown third eyes and horns.) It was just too good to pass up – we had SO MUCH FUN with it. By the time our friend got sent back out, we had all jumped up and started fawning on him – our beloved husband! Alive! What joy! I didn’t have to burn myself up! He didn’t skip a beat, got two of us under each arm, and we all left, rejoicing – and probably giving the locals a bizarre story to tell.
Pasta con Spinach
Ingredients
- 3/4 pound spaghetti
- 1 pound fresh spinach, washed, cleaned and drained
- 8 fresh mushrooms, sliced
- 1/2 cup cooked ham, shredded
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, divided
- 1/4 cup grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Add a tablespoon of olive oil to water in a large kettle. Bring to a boil and add spaghetti. Stir occasionally, and cook to al dente. Do not overcook!
- Put spinach into heavy covered pot and cook over high heat, stirring once. When cooked limp, set aside with cover on.
- Sauté the mushrooms and ham together in half the butter, just until warm, not brown.
- Press liquid out of spinach and add to the skillet with mushrooms and ham.
- Melt remaining butter in serving pot.
- Add pasta and ham-spinach mixture. Toss well.
- Sprinkle with cheese.
Caffeine Machine
Submitted into Contest #24 in response to: Write a story set in the dark recesses of space where the two main characters are often at odds with each other in humorous and comedic ways.… view prompt
Mary Lombardi
With a shoulder heaving sigh, I retract my hand, snap on the cracked cover, and give the poor machine an affectionate pat. Now that the immediate issue is over, I turn to Jack.
“Why, may I ask, is there another crack in the cover?”
He takes a single step back, bringing his hands slightly out in front of himself as he tries to form a consoling expression on his face. “You see-”
“Yes I see”
“I was filling it up and-” He turned before finishing his thought and scrambled away. In his struggle to escape he bounces feet into the air with every step. I race behind him, wanting nothing more than to teach him once and for all to never mess with my coffee.
As we crash through the small shuttle papers go flying in our wake. He is much faster than me, and I know that catching up to him is out of the question but- I grab a blunt object from the nearest table- I can still hit him. Thus started my onslaught of flying projectiles. Lucky for him, we only have ‘space grade’ appliances that can do no damage to the shuttle, and in turn, minimum damage to people.
Frantically dodging my projectiles he ducks into his room, slamming the door shut with such force that I dare say it shakes the whole shuttle. He is safe… for now.
In the aftermath of the conflict, I return to my room. I shuffle through a stack of papers on my desk, readouts from the multiple instruments our shuttle carries, an aged letter from home, and my half written letter of complaint lie before me.
I sit in the chair with a heavy sigh. Recently every day has been an ordeal. Just last week, while taking our annual inventory, I found that we were missing over a month’s worth of dessert rations.
Five or six of the well loved packets would have been acceptable (we each planned on five extra per month… everyone needs a sweet snack every once in a while), but a full 17 packets? Completely unacceptable!
The culprit was found almost immediately as I made my way to the kitchen for a much needed cup of coffee. There, with two opened dessert packets in front of him, was Jack. I paused for a moment, shocked by his flagrant misuse of rations.
Instead of laying into him right away, I strolled calmly into the room. He froze, knowing that he had been caught. I grabbed a dish and a fork, made my way to him, spooned a heaping portion of the brownie into my bowl, and sat down across from him.
Later would come the scolding, but those brownies are all that keep me sane.
After we finished our brownie’s it was agreed that he would be able to eat one portion at a time once a week and that he would limit himself a single brownie ration per month.
The issue has yet to return, and I believe that we are both satisfied with the results.
And I don’t dare forget the swivel chair incident of two weeks past!
In our control room, we have the best swivel chairs. They are so smooth, and in half gravity, it’s like you are floating instead of sitting.
One day, while doing the daily readouts of our course, I took a much needed break. Pushing off of the floor I started to spin. The world around me passed in a whizzing flash. The brightly lit shuttle intermittently interrupted by the dark expanse of space, as a childish carefree glee started to spread through me.
The weightless euphoric ride was cut short when a blurred figure of Jack makes his way into the room. It took me a full revolution to slam my feet to the ground, and the moment contact was made, I shot from my chair, still spinning, as I catapulted through the air.
Through the entire ordeal, Jack’s laugh echoed through the room. As I crashed back to the ground he sat in the co-pilot chair to watch my failure. His eyes were bright with amusement even after his body shaking laughter had ceased.
We sat in silence. Him still slightly shaking from silent chuckles, and me fuming with embarrassment at being caught doing such a childish thing.
Finally, I had reached my limit with this entire ordeal. Indignantly I got up, still dizzy, and stumbled my way from the room.
We have yet to talk about this incident, but every now and then, he’ll make an offhand remark on my fascination with spinning chairs.
As I recall our past fights, I find myself smiling. Never has there been a dull moment on this journey. I look down at the letter of complaint on my desk, heave a heavy sigh, and proceed to slowly rip it into a plethora of pieces.
Jack and I may not always get along, but I would rather be with him than anyone else.
What’s something you can’t believe you had to explain to another adult?
My roommate has Asperger’s.
Let it not be misunderstood: He’s very high-functioning.
He is intelligent in his thoughts and speech, has held a job at Target for 3 years, can drive a car, has a two-year college degree, and just celebrated his sixth-year anniversary with his girlfriend.
Really, the only thing that sets him apart from anyone without Asperger’s is his lack of eye contact and his inability to pick up on obvious social cues.
Other than that, he’s a perfectly average 25-year-old man.
But, like many, many young men around his age, he’s very irresponsible and doesn’t know how to take care of himself.
The best way I can describe it is a man-child. He’s a man-child.
I have two bathrooms in my house. The one in the basement is mine. The bathroom on the main level is for guests and for roommates.
One day, I went to change my toilet paper roll, and noticed that the six-pack of toilet paper I bought was only down to two rolls. I had just bought it at the beginning of the month. I should not have used that much.
Then my roommate came to me later that week, and he said to me:
“Hey man, just wanted to let you know you’re almost out of toilet paper.”
“You mean for your bathroom? Have you been grabbing my toilet paper?”
“Yeah, just the ones you have in your bathroom.”
I said to him, “Okay. That toilet paper is my toilet paper. If you’re out of toilet paper, you should go to the store and buy more toilet paper.”
He paused and said, “…Yeah, I guess I could do that.”
I know it sounds trivial, but I have tons of instances like this with him.
“Hey man, you only have one fan in the house. I took it so I can sleep with it.”
I respond, “Yep, that’s for my room. Do you think I could have it back? I know they’re selling them at Wal-Mart relatively cheap.”
“Oh, so are you gonna buy another one?”
“No, I was saying you could buy one.”
“Oh. Okay.”
And I sigh and take my fan back.
Couple months later:
“Hey man, you only have one space heater in the house.”
I say to him, “Yep, that’s for my room.” as I take my space heater back into my bedroom. “They’re $30 at the store. Go get one.”
“Hey man, you’re almost out of salt.”
I rub my temples and say, “Yep. And they sell salt at Target. Where you work. Where you get a discount.”
“Oh. Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“Hey man, do you have any batteries for these Bose headphones?”
“Uh… are those my headphones? I never said you could use those.”
“Well, you weren’t using them. They were just sitting on your computer desk.”
“Dude! I use them like, 3 or 4 times a week when I’m working on my music or when I’m writing! I use them all the time!”
You get the picture.
It’s really frustrating, because after meeting his family, it’s so blatantly obvious to me that they did next-to-nothing to teach him how to be an adult. All they did was feel sorry for him and bubble-wrap him.
Now it’s my responsibility to be the asshole who whacks him upside the head and teaches him how to be a better person, or else everyone around him is going to reject him as he gets older.
He uses things without asking permission, he never takes the initiative to solve a problem, and he expects everyone else to solve his problems.
We made a film together this summer, and while we were both “producers” I covered 90% of the expenses. While he’s the sole “director,” in truth I directed about 60% of the film.
I’m really, really anxious right now because Target just cut him down to 11 hours a week.
I told him, “Dude, put together a resume, go on the internet and look for job listings. I’m not covering your part of the rent. Get a job that gives you full-time hours.”
I’m afraid that it’s going to get to a point where I have to kick him out and find someone else to live with me, and that will be the dissolution of our friendship.
I’m afraid that he will just end up another man-child in his 30s living in the basement of his parents house, unwilling to try hard, unwilling to learn how to be an adult.
I’m afraid he will lose at this game called Life, and become absolutely miserable.
But I’m gonna wash my hands of it if that’s what happens. I’ve got enough trouble making sure I don’t lose at this game.
Can’t save everyone.
Within a nanosecond
The Values That Made Western Society Great Came From The Bible
Right now there is a tremendous amount of debate about what values our society should embrace. There are some that are promoting the benefits of “conservative values”, there are some that are promoting the benefits of “liberal values”, and there are others that are promoting the benefits of other types of values. But if we really want to make western society great again, the truth is that we should return to the values that made western society great in the first place. Those values are the reason why western nations were the most prosperous and most civilized nations on the entire planet for centuries. And once other nations started adopting those same values, they became more prosperous and more civilized too.
The values that I am talking about are the values that we find in the Bible.
All throughout history, civilizations that have chosen to do things God’s way have been blessed.
And civilizations that have chosen not to do things God’s way have been cursed.
Just consider the United States. It was founded by people that loved the Bible, and throughout our history it was primarily made up of people that loved the Bible.
Of course that has changed in our day, and as a result our society is now a giant mess.
But at one time we were the most blessed nation on the entire planet by a wide margin, and that didn’t happen by accident.
Centuries of experience have taught us that capitalist countries tend to be more prosperous than countries that practice various forms of collectivism.
A lot of people tend to think of socialism and communism as relatively modern movements, but the truth is that there have been collectivist societies for thousands of years.
In fact, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were both greatly inspired by hunter-gatherer societies that practiced “primitive communism”…
Primitive communism is a way of describing the gift economies of hunter-gatherers throughout history, where resources and property hunted or gathered are shared with all members of a group in accordance with individual needs. In political sociology and anthropology, it is also a concept (often credited to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels), that describes hunter-gatherer societies as traditionally being based on egalitarian social relations and common ownership.[1] A primary inspiration for both Marx and Engels were Lewis H. Morgan‘s descriptions of “communism in living” as practised by the Haudenosaunee of North America.[2] In Marx’s model of socioeconomic structures, societies with primitive communism had no hierarchical social class structures or capital accumulation.[3]
Needless to say, societies that practiced “primitive communism” never became great.
But even today, there are primitive tribes all over the globe that practice various forms of collectivism.
It doesn’t work, but they still keep on trying.
Of course the same principles also don’t work when entire modern nations try them.
In the Bible, from the very beginning we see buying, we see selling, and we see property rights being respected.
There is a reason why so many capitalists are fond of the Bible and so many collectivists are not.
The Bible encourages private ownership, private enterprise, individual responsibility and hard work.
Needless to say, even those that do not believe in the Bible benefit when they embrace the same economic values.
Just look at what has happened to China. In the years following the communist revolution, millions died from starvation. But once the Chinese moved in a more capitalist direction and started promoting private ownership, private enterprise, individual responsibility and hard work, China became a global economic powerhouse.
The Bible also places a very high value on family. In the Ten Commandments we are told to honor our fathers and our mothers, and throughout the rest of the Torah we are given very specific instructions about how families are to operate.
Today, much of the population has rejected the Bible and the traditional family unit is relentlessly mocked.
As a result, divorce rates have soared, birth rates have fallen to historic lows, suicide rates are at all-time record highs, alcohol and drug abuse is out of control, sex outside of marriage is rampant, and the streets of our major cities are filled with violence.
Study after study has shown that kids that come from broken homes are far more likely to commit violent crimes, they are far more likely to get involved with drugs, and they are far more likely to end up impoverished.
And societies that do not value the traditional family unit also tend not to value the lives of those that are the most vulnerable…
In ancient Greece and Rome, individual human life had no particular value in and of itself. The Spartans left weak children to die on the hillside. Infanticide was common, as it is common even today in many parts of the world. Fathers who wanted sons had few qualms about drowning their newborn daughters. Human beings were routinely bludgeoned to death or mauled by wild animals in the Roman gladiatorial arena. Many of the great classical thinkers saw nothing wrong with these practices. Christianity, on the other hand, contributed to their demise by fostering moral outrage at the mistreatment of innocent human life.
In ancient times, child sacrifice was one of the most common ways to get rid of unwanted children.
When it was time to make a sacrifice to “the gods”, children that were not wanted were brought and put on the altar.
The same thing is essentially happening today, but we give it a different name.
We call it “abortion”, and it is done behind closed doors in pristine clinical settings.
Since 1973, more than 1.5 billion children have been slaughtered worldwide. So what makes us any better than any of the ancient civilizations that regularly sacrificed their unwanted children?
The Bible very strongly denounces child sacrifice, and it also very strongly denounces the various forms of sexual immorality that are exploding in our society today.
For decades, the left has been pushing us to accept one form of sexual perversion after another.
As societal sentiment has shifted, the right has eventually gone along with most of the changes that have been happening.
But God has not changed.
He sees everything that is going on, and He has warned us over and over again to change course.
If we choose to keep going down this path, we will be cursed and the consequences will be extremely bitter.
But if we repent and change our ways we will be greatly blessed.
God always gives us a choice, and the clock is ticking.
APOCALYPSE NOW (1979) Movie Reaction w/ Coby FIRST TIME WATCHING
What do you say when you run into an old boss who fired you?
We had offered a house for sale that we had just finished building. We offer owner finance and the properties sell very quickly.
When I was in my 20’s I worked part time for a drafting service. This was in the days before autoCAD and our drawings were actually on paper. About 6 months after I started, the owner came though the office and pointed at 3 of us. He fired each of us for no reason, and I was out of a job I desperately needed while I was finishing school. No reason given and he wouldn’t even speak to me when I approached him.
So, 30 years later, he strolls into our office to buy this neat little lake house we had just finished and was for sale. He and his wife had already looked at the house with Kenny, one of our site supervisors, and the wife was in love with it.
I recognized him immediately, and listened to him as he explained that his wife loved the house, he had money in hand, etc. I nodded politely, then got up, walked to the door, opened it and said “Get out.”
He looked at me and he clearly didn’t recognize me. Before he had time to say anything, I said the name of the company he had owned.
Realization dawned on his piggy little face, and he began to speak. I cut him off, as he had me all those years ago, and once again told him to leave.
They slunk out of the office empty handed, and we had the house sold with contracts signed, down payment in hand, and new owner out the door by end of business that day.
Sucked to be him. Hope his wife appreciated losing the lake house she wanted.
What was the most disturbing thing you saw a nurse do to a patient?
My Dad had cancer, and he was getting closer to the end, but he was still all there mentally, just not physically..
I don’t even remember what happened, but he felt really bad, so 911, ambulance. I had flown home for a few weeks, I just needed to get away from it for a few, I had been home for 8 days, get a phone call. Hopped on a plane the next morning..
A few days later, my dad thinks they are going to discharge him. He’s probably going to get another blood transfusion. They were pumping him full of electrolytes…
I told him I’d be back in a while, I was going to go grocery shopping or something.. I go down get my car from the valet, and then start driving… The radio lights up, my dad was on the phone, and he’s yelling at me for not answering earlier. My phone was on silent and I didn’t know he was calling until it hooked to the blue tooth in the car..
Around the block, say hi to the valet guy again, and back upstairs.
Right after I left, the nurse came in to give him his meds, and he asked what was in the cup, and she got mad at him for asking and told him to take his meds.. NO.. Tell me what is in the cup.. His pain meds, anti-nausea stuff, poop softening stuff.. And blood pressure meds..
He hadn’t been on blood pressure meds for over a year, and part of the reason he was even in the hospital was because his blood pressure was low, the nurse had even taken it shortly before, 95/55 or something (which for him at that point was pretty good).. So he said I’m not supposed to take that, I’m not taking it.. Nurse got even madder, screaming ensued (that’s when he started calling me).. She put him down as a refusal on ALL of his meds, including his pain meds, which he really really needed.
Those are tumors squeezing his spinal chord, he really needed the pain meds.
A few minutes later he heard the nurse talking to the Dr. in the hall that he was getting a transfusion to bring his hemoglobin up before he went home. Then I returned to the room..
A few minutes later 2 girls came in and started packing him up, he was getting moved to the discharge unit.. Would have been nice if somebody told us. But whatever.
We get to the discharge unit, and the nurse is really nice. She told us just to hang out while they finish up the paperwork and then we can leave.. Nothing the downstairs nurse put on the paperwork indicated that he hadn’t gotten his meds, nothing about a transfusion, and we also found out that he was supposed to get a potassium drip or something also…
That nurse was pissed.. Took her quite a while to track everything down, verify that he hadn’t gotten his meds, get new ones from the pharmacy, verify that he was getting a transfusion, make sure they would deliver the blood to the proper unit..
It was such a stressful clusterfuck, all caused by an incompetent idiot nurse on a power trip. My Dad did not need that shit, he was really sensitive to stress at that point, his stomach would flip and he’d start puking.
I don’t know what if anything happened to that nurse, but from what the discharge nurse said, something was going to happen.. I hope the bitch got fired.
I Bought an Abandoned Moving Truck FULL Of Stuff
Do you agree with Wang Yi’s statement that the US has “no right” to intervene in the South China Sea? Why or why not?
Africa, and indeed the world’s hegemon, Gambia.
In 1985, Gambia threatened the Soviet Union to conquer the entire Soviet territory, including Moscow, in three days.
In 1995, Gambia threatened to annex Europe, including the UK, France, and Germany.
In 2002, Gambia claimed that if the USA continued sanctions, it would conquer the entire North American continent within a week.
In 2007, 2011, and 2012, Gambia threatened China three times, intending to land a 1000-person force (800 Marines, 200 Army) on the southeast coast and sweep across all of China（including Tibet）.
…
The following image showcases Gambia’s astonishing military.
In 2021, China swallowed its pride and aided Gambia in completing a major bridge.
Perhaps due to China’s submissive attitude, the global hegemon Gambia was satisfied and henceforth abandoned its military plans to sweep across China.
Clearly, China dared not protest against Gambia, but the United States…
That’s a different story, as China has strongly protested against the US.
Really, America, don’t mess with China!
We have Gambia as an ally now！
I was WRONG about *2001: A Space Odyssey* FIRST TIME WATCHING Movie Reaction
Out of all of the islands in the world, what would be the worst one to be stuck on?
My vote’s for Elephant Island.
An icy mass of jagged, rocky, snow-covered cliffs 215 miles square, located 150 miles north-northeast of the tip of the Antarctic peninsula, on the outskirts of the South Shetland Islands.
It is one of the remotest, most inhospitable places in the world. It doesn’t have much in the way of coastline—sheer cliffs plunge from the island’s summit (2,799 feet) straight down into the Southern Ocean. The weather is usually freezing cold and foggy to boot, so good luck getting a passing ship to spot you—if there are any passing ships, which there usually aren’t. Elephant Island lies 581 miles south of the Falkland Islands, 779 miles from South Georgia, and 550 miles from Cape Horn, so good luck building a raft and sailing away from the island—which you couldn’t because there’s no wood there. Nothing grows there, in fact. No animals live there either except nesting penguins and fur seals during certain seasons. The winds routinely reach 100 miles per hour, and good luck finding a nook or a cranny in which to hide from it unless you happen to have building materials already on hand.
And you want to know the worst thing?
People actually have been stuck on this island.
From Wikipedia:
The island was the desolate refuge of the British explorer, Ernest Shackleton, and his crew in 1916 following the loss of their ship Endurance in Weddell Sea ice. The crew of 28 reached Cape Valentine on Elephant Island after a harrowing ordeal on drifting ice floes. After camping at Cape Valentine for two nights, Shackleton and his crew moved 11 kilometres (7 mi) westwards to a location which offered better protection from rockfalls and from the sea, and which they called Point Wild.
Realizing that there was no chance of passive rescue, Shackleton decided to sail to South Georgia where he knew there were several whaling stations. Shackleton sailed with Tom Crean, Frank Worlsey, “Chippy” Macneish, Tim McCarthy, and John Vincent on a 1,300 km (800 mi) voyage in the open lifeboat James Caird beginning on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916 and arriving at South Georgia 16 days later. His second-in-command, Frank Wild, was left in charge of the men on Elephant Island, waiting for Shackleton’s return with a rescue ship.
There was much work for the stranded men. Because the island had no natural source of shelter, they constructed a shack and wind blocks from their remaining two lifeboats and pieces of canvas tents. Blubber lamps were used for lighting.
They hunted for penguins and seals, neither of which were plentiful in autumn or winter. Shackleton instructed Wild to depart with the crew for Deception Island if he did not return to rescue them by the beginning of summer but after four and a half months the artist George Marston spotted a ship on August 30, 1916. The ship, with Shackleton on board, was the tug Yelcho, from Punta Arenas, Chile, commanded by Luis Pardo, which rescued all the men who had set out on the original expedition.
That made my skin pucker up and my belly ache just reading it.
Imagine four and a half months spent shivering in a jury-rigged shack made of canvas and lifeboat staves, listening to the wind roar outside, living by the light of blubber lamps and hunting for hours every day in all kinds of weather for the occasional seal or penguin. How they didn’t all die of starvation or scurvy or exposure or sheer exhaustion boggles my mind.
The Dark REALITY About Dating 9’s & 10’s That NOBODY Talks About!
What is an experience you had at a court house that you’ll never forget?
I grew up in a large city. When it came time to get my drivers licence, or get it renewed, it meant going downtown to the Department of Motor Vehicles, taking a number, waiting for a long time, then dealing with employees whose level of service was somewhere between rude and hostile. It was just a part of life.
Then I moved to a small town (pop. 4,000) in the same state, and that summer my drivers licence expired. I made a couple of inquiries of where one went to get it renewed, and I was told, “Oh, just go down to the courthouse and they’ll take care of it.”
So after work on a Friday I walked across the street to the courthouse. The building looked deserted. In the lobby was a directory. Drivers licenses were in the basement.
I found the DMV office and there wasn’t a soul in sight. I rang the bell and waited. Still nothing. I wondered where everybody was. Soon, I started looking around the building looking for signs of life.
I poked my head into the sheriff’s office. At the desk there was a grizzled old sheriff’s deputy wearing sergeant’s stripes. “Help you?” he asked gruffly.
I explained that I wanted to renew my drivers licence but there was nobody in the office. He grunted, “Yeah, everybody around here wanted to get an early start on the weekend. Go on back, I’ll get someone down there for you.” He picked up his phone and I returned to the DMV office and took a seat.
Five minutes later, the old sergeant walked in. “Guess I’m going to have to do it myself. Let’s see your current licence and paperwork.”
Despite the delay in finding assistance, I was still in and out of the office in record time, and the old sergeant, for all his gruffness, was still the most pleasant interaction I’d ever had during the process.
Who/what has made you cry the hardest and why?
I knew a young girl at my school, she was 13 and one day she didn’t show up to class, now lots of people made fun of her as she had depression and apparently was an easy target.
She had really short black hair and had recently come out as lesbian and was going through an emo phase for a long time now.
Lots of people were saying “awh thank god that stupid psycho isn’t here to ruin everything” and “she always talks to herself” and “ugly bitch” ect.
Now our principal came to the door looking very pale and said ” I’m not sure if you all have noticed Melissa isn’t here today, well she has sadly passed away last night” loads of gasps and open mouthed kids in that room that day.
I later found out off her neighbors daughter that she was abused really badly and was taken away from her mom who was locked up for letting her boyfriend rape her and she was heartbroken at her new home and she hung herself in the nearby park.
I almost threw up nobody had no idea how she was feeling, later her suicide note was read out at school.
It said ” sometimes I just wished I would die and I never had the guts to do it, I apologise to everyone for being a shitty daughter, friend, classmate and human, my time has come…. sorry for the mess”
And that was it.
Probably the most I ever cried.
For me it was tapes, rather than vinyl. I had a load of “metal” tapes I recorded in “Dolby S” which I thought sounded nearly as good as CDs.
My pride and joy, in 1995, was s “3-head” Sony tape deck. Sony were awful in the nineties though but I was a fan boy for some reason. My TV, VCR, tape deck, “Super Walkman” and AV amp were all Sony and they ALL failed within a few years. I believe that Sony had outsourced manufacturing all over the place, this was before China’s rise, and had some severe quality control issues because of it.
Now it’s just FLAC files and services like Tidal. It just isn’t the same. My Panasonic walkman eventually died because the head wore away to nothing, I played it so much!
I must admit though, my Huawei Freebuds 5s with my phone produce a music quality that would have astounded me back then. Now I’m a Huawei fan boy and nothing I have bought of their’s has ever failed. It’s just hard to find their stuff here.
I am looking forward to buying a proper Huawei phone when I get to China next year. The ones available here have shitty western chipsets, so no thanks.
Guess you could say am retired from hifi scene. Used to have stacks of tapes & later, CD but hardly listen to them today. 80s music still the best. Today all I have is a valve amp Samsung soundbar with subwoofer to watch Netflix.
Friends who still into hifi scene are now playing valves/tubes pre&power amps & they tell me the Chinese made ones are the best. Apparently the valves/tubes are based on Russian military grade valves.