Oh, about nine years ago, I was “rolled”.

Yeppur.

You see, my wife and I went to a bar, and we “won” two bottled of “Red Label” whiskey, and we promptly started to drink them both. Ugh! (I do not advise that.) And anyways, eventually, I had to go vomit.

Too much hard alcohol will cause your body to react and demand that the toxins be thrown out.

And so, I tried to find the bathroom, got lost, and stumbled outside.

Then, I promptly threw up in the grass, and just sat there afterwards trying to get my bearings.

When a nice cute girl came out of the bar / club and came up to me, and grabbed my arm and led me back in. Was I lucky? She was cute. Wearing a baby-doll frilly dress and stockings.

For a moment, I thought that my wife sent her.

But no.

She led me though a door leading to the back unfinished cement of the rest of the building, and up some cement stairs. Then, she reached in my jacket looking for wallet, cell phone and whatever.

Found my cell phone, and then took it, and left.

After a few moments, I in a daze, stumbled out and found my wife who was frantically looking everywhere for me.

And it wasn’t until the next day that I realized that my phone was gone, and it was stolen.

I was “rolled”.

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This is my little story, and a treasured, if embarrassing, memory. Learn from my mistakes.

Today…

What did your boss say to you during a meeting that resulted in you immediately resigning?

When I was in college, I was a live-on-site apartment manager for an apartment complex with 80 units. When I was hired, not one person lived in the buildings. I was to fill the apartments with renters, as well as work on renovations to the apartments. I did all of this and managed to rent every apartment within a couple months, as well as do the renovations. I thought nothing of it — I was young and inexperienced and thought this was normal.

The owner, Ed, and I got along well and treated each other with respect, even though we were very different people. The owner’s ultimate goal was to sell the apartment complex. Within a couple more months, Ed sold the apartment complex to a new owner, who I shall call Arsehole.

After the property officially changed ownership, Arsehole came to visit the property, and me. When we met, I reached out my hand to shake his, but he refused my hand, saying, “I don’t shake hands with the help.”

I admit, I was shocked. Being young and inexperienced in such things, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind, “And I don’t work for assholes.” The look on his face was priceless.

I turned and walked away to go to my car and go rent a moving truck. He (and his assistant) followed me as I walked, yelling that I couldn’t do this as they depended on me to run everything. I ignored them, got in my car, drove away, rented a truck and was gone from that job within a few hours.

Later that week I called the former owner, Ed, and attempted an apology of sorts. Ed just laughed and agreed that the new owner was an asshole and that he didn’t blame me at all.

Southern Fried Quail

Ingredients

• 10 to 12 quail
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour

Instructions

1. Dry and pick quail. Clean and wipe thoroughly.
2. Salt, pepper and dredge with flour.
3. Have ready a deep heavy frying pan with close-fitting lid half full of hot fat.
4. Put in quail. Cook for a few minutes over a high heat, then cover skillet and reduce heat. Cook slowly until tender, turning the quail when golden brown.
5. Serve on hot platter garnished with slices of lemon and sprigs of parsley.

[HD] Twin Peaks – Jimmy Scott sings “Sycamore Trees” in the red room

That moment you realize you have lost the battle and you are never going to escape the red room.

Can anyone who lived in the US and China before advise the pros and cons of living in both countries?

Thanks for the A2A. Oh boy, this is a bit relevant I suppose. I’ll talk to moving to these places, as opposed to being born and raised there.

First off, I must stress this as deeply as possible:

Most people do not make for good immigrants. Being an immigrant in itself is a skill set.

It doesn’t matter what the target country is like, when a person goes about expecting to be treated normally or equitably. There is no such thing in the experience of being an immigrant. The very act of migrating means that one becomes an outsider trying to make their way in, and that will always be a special process. The fantasy of being “finally accepted” somewhere that better fits one’s personality is a road fraught with hurdles — achievable, but you will come out the other end a very different person. It is for this reason that most people migrate out of necessity or urgency, not out of adventure or comfort.

As such, it should be obvious but it bears mentioning:

There is a world of difference between visiting a place and living in it.

I am going to presume that “living in a country” means more than being a visitor, but rather a full resident/citizen of a given place. To be more specific, it should refer to a person planning on retiring and dying in said place, and special attention will be placed to all of the personal needs that entails.

With that said, I’m going to take this as a stream of thought. Categorization of the two countries is what rankings do. I am more interested in giving a personal take on both countries, because I think people are more interested in gathering advice rather than holistic approaches. So please keep in mind, I will be switching between the two countries in an erratic fashion here.

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First thing first, the USA is an immigrant country. This means that ideologically it establishes equal expectations for people who wish to become American, and to some degree the US holds itself accountable to this premise. This is often what immigrants are looking at when they try to imagine the American dream — here is a place in which one can work hard and succeed in life, regardless of origin or background.

Sadly, America has long since diverged from its ideological foundations. Some may argue that it never diverged because it never met those foundations in the first place (usually these arguments are along the lines of Black history or American Indian history). Regardless, the reality is that the US is primarily driven by race-based tribes, and there is a long litany of racial suppression policies that continue to this day.

This is the first hurdle that any prospective migrant to the US needs to realize — the dream is a dream, and it doesn’t just take effort to realize it (but really a lot of luck). For those who arrive with starry-eyed glasses, it can take decades for such individuals to accept the reality around them; some don’t even get to that point. To illustrate with examples, I like to cite this video because it perfectly highlights the dreamers versus the realists.

Dreamers come in all colors. White dreamers are more prone to saying that they “don’t see color” or that “they don’t have a culture.” In Black spaces, dreamers are often the ones that code switch and perform socially as if they’re white.

As usual, Boondocksreveals all.

In all the stripes of America, dreamers are perhaps the ones most sold by Obama’s 2008 campaign. Back then there was a lot of commentary on how America had finally become a post-racial country.

[1]It’s a very comforting ideal and one that is quite noble. I must profess, I was part of that too.

For realists, they were (sadly) vindicated when the backlash against Obama culminated in the election of Trump in 2016. And that’s the difference — realists are just pessimists and see the US as what it is, not what people want it to be. Politically and socially, this is perhaps the strongest divide, the primordial reason why the culture wars exist.

Many immigrants look at the US and eventually go “I don’t get why everyone is obsessed with race.” They just haven’t gotten the memo yet, which usually comes in the form of a rude awakening when someone treats them unfairly because of race. Much of an immigrant’s challenge in life is in trying to “see past the slight” and think of that as just human nature, or to cast it in light of how “things are back home” to justify their move to the US. At some point they either contend with reality (especially when seeing the reality of other people) or they seal themselves in a bubble to make reality go away. The latter strategy often comes to blows when they have kids, who may not end up thinking the same as their parents.

A dour look, but it is not too bad. All countries have negative sides, and the reality is that most Americans see the mess that is American politics and instead do their best to not make it part of their lives. Easier said than done, but this is how most people swim, so it is easy to parlay on a day-to-day basis. Just be prepared to see race pop up pretty much constantly — the black guy pulled over by the cop, the weird clustering of Asian stores, the abundance of Latino gardeners…

This isn’t to say everything is sunshine and roses for China. Now, neither is China some dystopian 1984 render fed by the press. But, it must be said, moving to China is not an easy process, and the primary reason why is that China is not an immigrant nation. All policies have a priority for Chinese people first and foremost, meaning the interests of immigrants are secondary, often optional to bureaucrats. The way this manifests is that immigrants are an afterthought in China’s systems, and while there might exist pathways for foreigners on paper, in practice people might not realize they exist. America might play pretend, but it has a far more mature system of handling foreigners. China doesn’t pretend and doesn’t have those systems, and any prospective migrant is going to do a lot of legwork to achieve parity with any Chinese citizen.

For most immigrants into China, the most common reflex is to stick to the role of being an outsider. This means not commenting on the local politics, or otherwise not making spicy takes. There is an expectation for outsiders to abide by that saying — “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” This is mediated by the degree to which migrants are seen as Chinese, with increasing adherence to Chinese cultural values a good (but not always perfect) rubric to one’s “Chinese-ness.” With sufficient exposure, it should become obvious that there is some tolerance, though it should also become obvious that Chinese people themselves usually take limited positions on politics, and usually within the scope of their own professions. It is usually fine to talk about how one’s own field is shaping up. It is less fine to talk about how someone else should work, despite being in a field one has little experience in. The reason is simple: You can’t be expected to know, so why are you shooting off your mouth?

The inverse of this fortunately holds true though. Because outsiders are expected to not know, they are freely given a neutrality pass and accommodated for. Don’t know the standards of a banquet dinner? It’s okay, outsiders aren’t expected to know. Have no comment on the latest nationalist rage? It’s okay, outsiders aren’t involved. This neutrality/obliviousness pass is very powerful, though it doesn’t last forever (there is an expectation that people eventually figure out the rules). Regardless, I recommend everyone use it, especially in their first 5 years in China. This holds true for visitors as well, and in fact is probably more pronounced.

The very rude awakening of living in China is that after that “probationary period,” that expectation to figure out the rules and culture starts hitting in full force. This is why the question “how long have you been in China for” is kind of a trap question to be treated with great caution — answer truthfully, but give yourself as much space as you can. I for one usually answered “since 2017” whenever I sensed that the other person wanted to know how to treat me (or rather, how much they were on the hook for guiding me). In cases where I needed to show that I wasn’t going to be a bother, I answered “on and off since 1996.” Both are true and you can always explain that away later (most don’t care), but always give yourself space in accordance to the situation. This is generally seen as prudence and/or social awareness, and this is generally a good thing (because it means you are aware enough to not be a liability in a guanxi network).

As for what those expectations are actually headed towards, there is a bit of a social conversation in China on what space foreigners should exist in. The most commonly accepted, uncontroversial take is that any foreigner acting as a Chinese does, competing on equal footing with a Chinese person, doing jobs that other Chinese would take, in accordance with Chinese social norms, is most certainly a fine addition to China. This is because all foreigners bring something special (they are not locals, after all), and if such a foreigner otherwise removes all the friction of being a foreigner, then such an addition to a guanxi network is seen as a strict positive. There are very few people who would turn down such a foreigner, and this is also the pathway in which a foreigner has the best chance of being treated as any Chinese person., or Mark Rowswell. He is a big reason why Canada had one of the biggest cheers from the audience back in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The rest of the debate splits into different camps. There is generally agreement that no one wants foreigners who otherwise hate China but stick around and exploit the “probationary period.” As for foreigners who can find gainful work as foreigners, most people are fine with that, but it will lead people to worry that changing government priorities might cause them to be out of a job. It is for this matter that not everyone is willing to engage such a foreigner as part of their guanxi network, though in most cases the allure of a foreigner’s own network or status is enough to bypass that risk.

For the most part, Chinese still take it as flattery that others would want to adopt Chinese cultural trappings, if not the actual culture itself.

The problem is, foreigners who do so stand out like a sore thumb. Anyone who wants to “blend in” is stuck in a conundrum, because on one hand that insists on adopting local behavior. On the other hand, doing that is contradictory to one’s own goals. Hence, China is currently incompatible with migrants who want the experience of being one of the masses.

…unless if you look Chinese. Then, everything changes:

1. There is no “probationary period” unless if people are notified ahead of time. They will assume you are Chinese first.
2. Because there is no “probationary period,” there is no leniency normally afforded to foreigners. This will feel unfair.
3. Likewise, because no one expects to treat you like a foreigner, it becomes possible to blend in. Stealth is the superpower of those who present Chinese, making it possible to see how Chinese people engage the system. This is the only way for a foreigner to have a truthful, firsthand picture of what it means to be Chinese.
4. And, because people don’t expect you to be a foreigner, if you suddenly start speaking with not-native Chinese, people will stop, stare at you, and try and “figure you out.” This will feel invasive.

Regardless, the attention that foreigners get in China is somewhat like being put under a microscope. It is deeply uncomfortable to a lot of people, and so this is a buyer beware situation — China is extra not for everyone. This problem doesn’t exist anywhere as much in the US, because once again, the USA is an immigrant country.

One of the other perks of the US as an immigrant country is that it makes it easy to be involved in politics. The first and foremost point of concern is probably going to relate to how one can become a citizen and gain the vote. Fortunately there is a clear process to do so (albeit fraught with delays, as it may take years or even decades to become one); likewise for any kids born in the US, they are automatically US citizens by means of jus solis. Lately there has been backlash against these policies, and this is best expressed by the current fight that affects largely the Latinos (see What is DACA and Who Are the DREAMers?), but overall this remains true for people looking to join the US and become US citizens.

While it is true that the vote in the US is actually not all that impactful, US political participation extends far beyond a simple vote. One can (and should) be involved in political campaigns, donate to causes and campaigns that are worth something on a personal level, and participate in political discussions in general. The US, by means of being a democratic republic, asserts much of its political foundation on the necessity of a rational, informed public, and other instruments of governance (particularly one’s guaranteed rights) are designed to protect citizens and promote the free spread of information. The ideological foundation of the US is quite solid.

By contrast, participation in politics in China is first and foremost a question of if someone has joined the Communist Party of China. To do so is by itself a competitive process for Chinese people and is where the Imperial examinationof old continues its legacy. For foreigners, this is nearly impossible to access as one has to first become a Chinese national to do so, and the process for doing that is specific to each candidate (there is no established, regular process). So while in the US there is a designated space for foreigners to participate, in China there effectively isn’t. In terms of ideological foundation, clearly it is superior to be an American as a foreigner.

…however, ideology is different from reality. For any human being on Earth, we must be cognizant of society. When we become employed, we must beware of office conduct and the opinions of our bosses. HR will always wield unfair powers over us. This holds true for China and for the US, and this is where it becomes untenable to access those guarantees in the US. How? In the US, most high skill workers enter the US on a H1B visa, which requires that the foreigner be recommended by an employer and gainfully employed there. If the foreigner stops being employed, they have about two months before they are deported. Due to the practicalities of being sponsored for H1B and the difficulties of this process, those two months basically don’t exist, and the H1B visa effectively makes the foreigner’s stay entirely dependent on the whims of the employer. And while an employer cannot fire an employee over any expressed political opinions, they can fire an employee on pretty much any cause (and they will find one). The end result is that almost all foreigners self-censor themselves. This self-censorship regime is further emphasized by US law, which bans expression of certain types of anti-government opinions.

[2]It is usually beyond the capacity of most migrants to realize that these laws exist, though they are reminded of what is banned when they first apply for citizenship.

Not all foreigners are censored though. Many who come to the US do so under political asylum, under strategic interests of the US, and they are usually free to speak loudly and proudly about their freedom to express political opinions. These opinions happen to always be extremely pro-US, which in turn sets the tone for all other foreigners who might not be so giddy about the state; those who abide by the state are welcome to all of the freedoms, while those who are not are to be monitored for suspected disloyalty.

This is pretty much the same situation as in China. The methods are different in China, and I’d argue they are more blatant and upfront about it, but regardless it is hard to express an anti-China opinion in China as a foreigner, much like it is hard to express an anti-US opinion in the US. The difference is that the US pretends it doesn’t do this, while China just doesn’t pretend. Kind of a potato, potahto situation. My only political recommendation to foreigners is to not shake the boat. As an outsider, foreigners are always on probation, and this holds true pretty much in all corners of this Earth. There are always unacceptable opinions to any society, and one way or another a society will find a way to “deal with you” if you happen to cross those lines.

In both cases I do not recommend a foreigner to participate politically. If you are one of the exceptions, you will know from all the social cues that you are excepted. Even then, don’t be stupid, don’t burn bridges, don’t make life hard for yourself.

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I think we’ve gone over a lot of the dour parts. So what are the good parts? Here I am going to break it down into simple lists, pointing out the good parts unique to each side first.

For the US:

• American food is fantastic. You may have heard the memes about American food being just hamburgers, hot dogs, and whatever frozen nonsense. That is true, yes, but only on a superficial level. Food in America goes far deeper; local cuisines are almost never talked about abroad but feature the same kind of depth one would expect in most cultures. And of course, America does have a diverse population from all across the world, and it is imminently possible to eat authentic food from all regions of the world if one is located in a major city. China can’t do this except in a couple places, and even then the foreign food is inauthentic and terrible more often than not.
• American land is pristine. Now, both countries have a lot of wilderness to see, yes. But the US is obviously far less polluted now than China is today (different parts of the development-pollution Kuznets curve), and any foreigner should take full advantage of not only US parks, but the great expanse. Here I will wholeheartedly recommend Tēnn Khong Lîm’s Travel Stories. He has done a great job cataloguing the many sights to see in the US — albeit a point of criticism, he has a lot more work to do! As a personal recommendation, for those who are otherwise jaded by the usual scenes of nature, Alaska is a great place to change it up. Nothing quite like it.

• American salaries are enormous. Yes, the job market sucks. Yes, there is underemployment. Yes, living costs suck. But, in the end the US is a developed nation with the world’s largest economy (probably), and the pay is definitely there for skilled foreigners. Life at the top 10% of America is truly easy and great. (I do not recommend migrating to the US if you will end up in the bottom 50% though.) All in all, let’s not forget the power of the USD either — currency conversions are usually very nice when one earns USD.
• American internet is much more liberal. It’s not entirely uncensored (see culture wars, private moderation), but it hails from the Wild West days of the formative internet and that legacy persists to this day. This is especially true in comparison to Chinese internet, which obviously has the Great Firewall among other censorship effects. Now, there are some downsides to all this freedom (trolling in particular is bad), but the upsides are more numerous. Gamers especially should take note, as the GFW often shits on pings, whereas US internet is more of an uninterrupted experience.
• American safety is better barring violence. What I mean here is that it is safe to drink the water, easy to trust food safety, easier to find top-tier healthcare, and easier to access more complete safety nets provided by the government. In China, these things are more of a work in progress.

And for China:

• Chinese food is deep. It doesn’t have the international breadth of the US, but China is such a huge place that internally it is like the entire Schengen area in diversity. Many of the subcuisines of China are top-tier cuisines in their own right, sporting wildly different techniques from their neighbors. It is said that it takes more than a lifetime to eat all the dishes in China. For this, I recommend Blondie in China, who goes in such depth that she can actually educate Chinese people on Chinese cuisine. Intuitively, let me put it this way: when an entire country sports foodie culture, many things suddenly become possible, and many more niches suddenly become viable. That will always lead to more diversity.
• Chinese landscapes are curated. This is kind of a complex subject, but the long and short of it is that Chinese park architecture is more of a blend of the constructed and the wild, rather than the European picturesque (which is a constructed frame to which the wild can be viewed/owned). So while you might go to the US to experience more untamed wilderness, China delivers unparalleled curated wilderness, where instead of feeling like you are “away from all of it,” you will feel that you are “one with nature.”
• Chinese cost of living is very low. What this means is that while you won’t earn as much money, your wealth will go a much longer way. For people who are say, lower-middle class in the US, moving to China vaults them straight to upper-middle class status. It is night and day, and especially for underserved minorities this can feel particularly liberating. There are tons of videos of people living in the most expensive areas in China, but go outside of the Tier 1 and 2 cities and it becomes obvious just how cheaply one can thrive on in China.

• Chinese amenities are just better. In particular they are better planned, and this really is more of a black mark on the US. Lately it’s become quite common to see urbanist videos on Youtube about how US infrastructure sucks. But I want to also point out that in China, with ubiquitous metro, rail, bus, and bike services, it is exceedingly easy to get around as a pedestrian. More importantly, cities are often laid out with Communist principles (sometimes Soviet, sometimes Chinese), and so neighborhoods will all have corner shops and the like. 15 minute cities are honestly the norm in China, which makes it easy to handle just about everything with an electric scooter, further driving down living costs… hopefully the point has been made.
• And finally, China has less violence. This is particularly important for women, particularly for American women, who usually have to worry about going alone at night. In China, these are not concerns; it doesn’t mean crime doesn’t happen (particularly assaults on women), it just means that it is such a low occurrence that most people do not plan their lives around it. Chinese people might say that “China is more dangerous than the US,” but they mean all the other things I mentioned before. They just do not have a concept that a place can be so violent as the US (which in itself is overblown by Chinese who have visited the US, as well as Americans — especially white and Asian ones).

But in the end, I want to note that the two places are honestly quite similar:

• Both are huge countries. Yes, 1.4 billion people is far larger than 330 million. But 330 million is also an amazingly high number. The real difference to me is that China feels more crowded than the US. Still, they are both huge and therefore people behave like they are in a huge country.
• Both are powerful and influential. Moving to such a place is not going to be a case of “throwing your life away” in the rat race of competition. While China was certainly easily ignored some 30 years ago, at this point it has certainly become impossible to ignore. And of course, the US continues to be top dog.
• Both are extroverted countries. I know a lot of people in the US think of China “as an Asian country” which causes them to reach to Japanese politeness as their mental model. This couldn’t be further from the truth. China is a place that rewards extroversion just like the US, and it punishes introversion as well (many in China will wonder if you are a 宅男/宅女 if you are a homebody, while in the US people will think you are antisocial).
• Both are welcoming countries to outsiders. Yes, cities can be a bit lonely. But both places are warm and welcoming and quite outspoken about it, and while there may be some political hostilities towards outsiders, these are political backlashes, and they work against the common grain. Do not confuse that for the general hospitality of either nation. You will miss out on a lot otherwise.
• Both countries have awful housing prices, but also huge houses. The awful housing prices are more of a global phenomenon — all big cities are being hit hard. But the huge houses are true for both places where there aren’t awful housing prices. This doesn’t quite make sense for China if approached with that Japanese lens, but again that’s a fallacy; in the Chinese countryside, the party has been providing much larger accommodation and so it is common to see rural people with new housing that has ceilings some 2.5+ meters high. (Honestly speaking, they are a bit too big.) In the US, most people underestimate how cheap it is to live in the “less desirable cities/states/areas.”
• Both countries are deeply misunderstood. Hollywood paints a very strange picture of the US, but this is unfortunately the prime cultural export that seems to inform people abroad. Meanwhile China itself is painted usually in the colors of totalitarianism, and the people are almost exclusively talked about in terms of political repression, often not existing outside of it. In general, both places are talked about from geostrategic concerns first, and the daily lives of these people become buried underneath politically motivated statements.

The nice thing is that really, both countries have a lot to offer for anyone; they are both very large nations with all sorts of experiences one can lose themselves in. The question at the end of the day is, are you willing to give up a lot to have a new life? That should be the first question any prospective migrant should consider, because more often than not, people are not willing to give up so much of themselves. It is always tragic to see a migrant who has moved and now regrets moving.

Footnotes

[1] The Myth of a Post-Racial Society After the Obama Presidency

[2] Prohibition upon the naturalization of persons opposed to government or law, or who favor totalitarian forms of government

“Get OUT now!” Syria tells U.S. to leave now and stop stealing its oil | Redacted w Clayton Morris

Syria would like to remind the world that the United States is illegally occupying its country and stealing its oil. The nation has appealed to the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Security Council President Ferit Hoxha for help. So what will the U.N. do? We ask journalist Syrian Kevork Almassian for his guess on what will happen and how this came about to begin with.

What is the tackiest thing you have ever seen at a wedding?

In a certain social class in Egypt, people deal with buffets as if they’ve been starved to death their whole lives. And surprisingly they aren’t really poor to begin with.

Anyhow, in my cousin’s wedding, they went really big with the party, inviting every single person we know in Kuwait, and keeping the invitations open so that anyone can bring whoever they want with them.

Let me just say that the moment we announced that the buffet is now open, people turned their heads and rushed to the buffet like there was no tomorrow:

Being my cousin’s direct family, we stayed with him, taking care of things. When we entered the hall to finally eat, the scene was truly shameful.

The floor was covered with food stains, the platters were almost empty, the tables were tilted. It was like a tornado had passed through the area.

And while I haven’t seen this in this particular wedding, I know for a fact that some Egyptian mothers take with them these big, black garbage bags to stuff them with food and take it home.

It’s like buffets are some sort of an eating contest!

That wedding was a good lesson for us. Keep weddings limited to people you actually know and ones who care about you. And perhaps… don’t go with a buffet?

That being said, that was the only wedding I’ve seen that was this disastrous; usually weddings around me are more organized and classy.

Is it true that Apple vision pro will take over the iPhone, iPad and iMac in 2024 and will Samsung and Google and others be doing the same as well?

It will take time for the Vision Pro to gain followers because right now it is relying on developers to port their apps to Vision Pro.

Right now, Apple is in a weak marketing position because there are no new features for the iPhone 15 series except for the change to USB-C connectors. It looks like Apple is putting more marketing weight behind Apple Watch than the iPhone.

This has left Apple severely exposed in its single largest market, China. Huawei has introduced the Mate 60 Pro, which enables satellite voice communications, and has much higher network connection speeds than Apple, Samsung and Google, who all rely on Qualcomm for their 5G transceivers.

The current version of the Vision Pro is priced at $3500, which means that only early adapters will buy it. A cheaper version will likely not come out until 2024/25.

I expect a lot of buzz about Huawei products even though they will not be readily available in the US due to sanctions.

Tough times for Apple and Samsung.

China’s economy is collapsing, isn’t it? Here’s Chinas real economic situation

I always take the opposite to what the US and other Western countries said about the economy, technologies and Geopolitics concerning China. If China is doing so bad economically, it’s common sense that they let the enemy keep doing all the wrong things. When the US bark and scream about China, then the truths is that China is doing well economically.

Can atheists explain the origin of the 7 day week, because it certainly wasn’t invented by man?

Piece of cake

Look into the sky. You will see seven objects in it that move relative to the other objects

The Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. They’re all visible to the naked eye and have been known since ancient times in all civilizations.

So in English we have

SUN-day, MOON-day, and SATURN-day

And in French, they have MARS-day (mardi), MERCURY-day (mercredi), JUPITER-day (jeudi), and VENUS-day (vendredi). In English we actually name those after Gemanic gods – Tiw, Odin, Thor and Freya. In French, you also have lundi (MOON-day) an samedi (SATURN-day). “Dimanche”, the French for “Sunday” means “God’s day”, i.e. the sabbath.

The word “Month” is also based on “moon” because it’s roughly the time between full moons.

Why would anyone with half a brain enlist in the United States military?

I grew up in a small town and joined the Army when I turned 18 on a 2-year enlistment. I had many personal reasons, but perhaps the one that might resonate the most with you was the Army College Fund. I thought going to college would help me succeed in life, and it might also be nice to see a bit of the world first. At the time, the Army recruiting slogan was “be all you can be” and that seemed to fit.

As a private (E-1) in basic training I was singled out and given more tests. Less than a year later, I finished jump school and was assigned to the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg. Then those test scores came through and I received orders to West Point.

As a lieutenant (after ranger school) I was assigned to the 4th Mechanized Infantry Division at Fort Carson. The entire Army (regular, reserves, national guard) deployed to the Gulf for Desert Shield/Storm, except for our division. As a combat arms officer, with no combat experience, I figured my career was over. A JAG I knew recommended I apply for the Funded Legal Education Program (FLEP) and go to law school, so I did.

As a captain I tried my first court-martial while assigned at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia supporting 1/75 rangers and part of the 160th SOAR, among other units. This became the foundation for much of my later career, both in the Army and after.

As a major in the JAG Corps, I went on over 30 deployments while assigned to SOCEUR (during the Bosnia and Kosovo campaigns) then later back at Fort Bragg, I deployed again after 9/11 in support of 5th Group. It’s ironic, but I collected more hostile fire and hazardous duty pay as a JAG than I ever did while in combat arms.

My last assignment was in Washington, DC, where I retired with 20 years of active duty. I then spent a few years as a trial lawyer and partner in a large law firm doing corporate work. The G.I. Bill allowed me to first get an MBA and then another degree at Georgetown. Altogether, four masters degrees and two doctorates (all paid for by the Army), healthcare and a lifetime pension. Not a bad result for a kid who started out just trying to learn something about the world and earn money for college.

The Sopranos – Tiny Tears – Tindersticks

I can never listen to Tiny Tears without thinking of the Sopranos.

When buying a computer, why in the 90s were CD-ROMs included as a package but not anymore?

There are actually two pieces of hardware that were ubiquitous in the 90s, but mostly gone now.

The key reason for the demise of these devices is the flash memory in combination with USB. Diskettes were a way to transport small volumes of information (1.4 MB for most of the 90s) around cheaply and unreliably. The information could be overwritten and 1.4 MB is actually plenty of data, as long as you aren’t including images or music. Forget about video, but they were fine for text, power point presentations and the like. All in all they filled a useful niche of portable, short term data storage. You didn’t want to keep anything important exclusively on diskettes, because they had a high failure rate.

CD was for larger amounts of data, a CD could contain 650 MB or hundreds of diskettes. It was also more reliable, you just couldn’t trust diskettes for more than a few months, but CDs last for 100 years (manufactured ones) or at least 20 years (home burned ones). The problem with CDs was the writing process was curbesome and they couldn’t be rewritten. If you wanted to put data on a CD more than once you lost about 20 MB for each session too. Rewritable CDs existed, but they failed rather often as well.

So you had two technologies to transport data around. One was suitable for small amounts of data, but cheap, ubiquitous and easy to write on. The other was suitable for large amounts of data, but curbesome. The two systems worked well in unision and there was nothing wrong with the setup as such. They weren’t replaced because they sucked, but because the alternative was so vastly better.

Enter the stick drive, which is faster than the diskette and just as easy to rewrite, but can easily hold as much or more data as the CD. In early 2000s they became cheap as well and diskettes and CDs no longer had a niche to fill. There is almost nothing you need a CD for and there is no use for a diskette either. Nowadays we usually move data around either on an USB stick or through the internet connection, ubiquitous fast internet came about slightly later than the stick drive and helped kill off other physical data carriers. External magnetic drives helped too of course, for reliable long-term storage.

On top of that the humble USB connection also enabled inexpensive external CD/DVD burners, so there’s no point in having an internal drive any more. They’re all burners now, because the technology is so cheap it doesn’t make sense to make slightly cheaper read only devices.

What has been the best decision you’ve made in your life?

Losing weight was the best decision I made in life, it was a few years ago now and the only regret I have was not doing it sooner.

I was obese from a very young age up until I was 28 years old, which affected me in a lot of ways. I was subjected to daily bullying and felt terrible about myself most of the time. In general, I was and still am (to a degree) avoidant of people because of what I went through in my childhood leading into my twenties.

I never had close friends or dated women at all, I would not even approach because of the fear of rejection, which is what I was use to most of the time. The only thing that made me happy was food but at the same time it was making my life absolutely miserable because I was getting bigger and bigger trying to fill the void I constantly felt inside.

It got so bad that I was planning on ending things and thought about it a lot. One day I made a promise to myself, that I would give losing weight my best shot before I would go ahead with doing something drastic so that is what I did.

I went ahead and started small, building day by day and eventually after about 8 months of extremely hard work and dedication I lost 51kg!

I truly believe one of the best things you can do for yourself in the short and long term is to take care of your body and to live a fit and healthy lifestyle, it changed my life in so many ways but most importantly it gave me the confidence I never thought I had, to stand up for myself and to prove all the people that put me down wrong in the best of ways.

Holy SH*t,Something is Happening in Maui! Oprah & The Rock

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Oprah Winfrey face backlash for asking fans to donate to Maui fund instead of contributing more themselves The family of a woman who died trying to flee a wildfire on Maui is suing the county, the state and one of Hawaii’s largest landowners, alleging they neglected to maintain their fire-prone property.

It looks like the very start of an American civil war.

https://youtu.be/qKgGrNu-Qq0

Details of Chinese Tsinghua EUV-SSMB photolithography plant emerge

Tsinghua University has experimented with a large-scale EUV-SSMB photolithography plant in the Xiong’An new district are emerging.

This is much larger than the EUV machines made by ASML, and can handle different light wavelengths simultaneously, unlike ASML products. It is also permanent, and will be able to handle much larger chip production than TSMC currently can.

Right now the minimum light wavelength it can handle is 7nm, but it will move on to lower wavelengths in the future. The aim is to bring chip prices down to commodity prices.

This has been made with Chinese IP and know-how; there are no plans to export the device.

Can you take a boat across the Atlantic to the UK from America, instead of a plane?

CROSSING THE ATLANTIC ON A CONTAINER SHIP

I’ve never done it myself, but the coolest way to travel by sea is on cargo (usually container) ships. By Maritime Law, they are allowed to carry up to twelve passengers. If they have any more, they must provide a ship’s doctor.

It works. Container ships are fast. Some thirty years ago, the head of public relations at French Line CGT – she happened to be the Chairman’s daughter – insisted that all their new-build container ships should include the maximum number of passenger cabins.

The real reason? It was a very effective way to keep the crew on best behaviour – and sober.

Europe to USA by container ship is very popular among those-in-the-know and bookings are much sought-after. To other destinations such as West Africa they are easier to obtain. Voyages to the Far East can be long, even via Suez or Panama, but I have little doubt they are possible too.

London has a specialist travel agency which has been dealing in such unusual sea travel for at least 25 years. And there are no doubt equivalents in other major cities.

Nancy Pelosi Ambushed By Illegal Immigrants | Ends Event In Pure PANIC

During a public event, Nancy Pelosi found herself in a tense situation when she was unexpectedly confronted by a group of undocumented immigrants. The encounter quickly escalated, causing Pelosi to end the event abruptly due to the heightened emotions and concerns for her safety. The incident highlights the ongoing debate surrounding immigration policy.

Do you like being an English teacher?

Yes.

Here are some of the things I like about it:

• In most states, students are required to spend more time in English classes than in classes for any other subject. Thus, there are more English teachers than any other kind of teacher, and there always will be. Job security is very good for experienced English teachers like me. I needn’t worry about ever being unemployed for very long.
• I get paid to read and write. What better way to demonstrate to the students the importance of reading and writing than by demonstrating it yourself? Silent reading time for my students is also silent reading time for me.
• The reading lessons are very repetitive. If I read a new novel with my students, it’s because I wanted to “mix it up a bit” for myself. But all of the short stories and novels I teach are new to my students, even if I’ve already taught them a dozen times. It makes teaching them that much easier. I am currently teaching three novels at the same time, with students reading novels that correspond with their reading levels. I’ve taught all three novels a minimum of ten times at this point. I don’t need to re-read them to teach them. I have all of the materials for them already. At this point in my career, it’s really easy for me to teach multiple novels at the same time.
• The grammar and writing lessons are very repetitive. I teach seventh and eighth grades. I usually teach the same concepts to both grades on the same day. The worksheets and other materials are different, but the lessons are the same. And, unlike in a subject like math, if a student doesn’t understand a grammar concept, they may still understand the next one. Failure to grasp something simple (like division in math) won’t completely derail every lesson afterwards. Didn’t figure out how to use a comma in seventh grade? Not to worry. We’ll cover it again in eighth. And in ninth. And in tenth. And literally every year from grades 1–12.
• I have a sweet, sweet classroom library now. I built it myself over the summer. It takes up one entire wall of my classroom, plus a little of another wall, and has just under 1,500 books in it so far. Once word got around that I was making a classroom library, a lot of parents donated books to it. I also have a Keurig and a record player and some really comfortable reading chairs in my classroom. It’s a space I enjoy being in, which is good, since I’m in it most of the day, 180 days per year. I suppose teachers who teach other subjects could also have classroom libraries, but it seems like a natural fit for English teachers in particular.

When I first considered teaching as a career, in my mid-20s, I wanted to pursue teaching science as a subject. But that would have required almost one full year of additional college courses, which I couldn’t do at that time. English teaching was the shortest pathway into the classroom for me, since I majored in Communication and minored in English during my undergrad. So it wasn’t my first choice, but, as with pretty much everything else in my life, it all worked out for the best. I’m happy with where I ended up.

Why did Honduras cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan? Was this done to be in favor of China?

Favorable to the people of Honduras!

Honduras’ GDP per capita is only US$2800, ranking 128th in the world.

Honduras lacks an industrial system and most industrial goods must be imported.

As a poor country, Honduras could not afford to buy expensive Western industrial goods, and Chinese goods were the only option.

China is the world’s factory, making everything in the world. The only thing China does not make – that is war!

Honduras does not have diplomatic relations with China because of the Taiwan factor, and they must go through a third country to buy Chinese goods, and are charged transit fees by the third country. But after establishing diplomatic relations with China, Honduras can trade directly with China, eliminating the transit fees earned by third countries. Why no?

In recent years, Panama, El Salvador, Dominica, Nicaragua and other countries have established or restored diplomatic relations with China, promoting the economic and social development of their countries and bringing tangible benefits to their people.

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98% of the goods offered to the public in Honduran stores are Chinese goods re-exported from third countries, and only 2% are produced locally.

Most of Honduras’ groceries, cosmetics, clothing, plastic products, personal hygiene products, Christmas items and auto parts are Chinese goods re-exported from third countries.

“Send Them Back!” – AOC migrant press conference DISRUPTED outside NYC Roosevelt hotel

Disruption on all sides politically. The USA is a “powder keg”.

What is the tackiest thing you have ever seen in a courtroom?

I was sued by my landlord for late rent. The payment arrived to him on the 3rd of the month instead of the 1st, and despite the money order being dated from the last day of the previous month, he asked for payment of a 100 dollar late payment. I refusd to pay and he took me to court.

I dressed in a dress shirt, black slacks, and a tie. I showed up 20 minutes early to court, registered with the bailiff, and waited for court to convene. My landlord didn’t show up until the last minute, and when he did he was dressed in shorts, sandals, and a Bahama Mama T-shirt.

Court was called to session and my case was called first. I approached the well and was asked if I was prepared to present my case. I informed the judge that I was the defendant, and that I would have to wait to proceed until the plaintiff presented his case.

My landlord, the plaintiff, dropped his papers on the way to the well. (I was not his only case that day.) When the judge noticed him, he guffawed and asked if my landlord was aware of court decorum standards.

Long story short, my landlord was disrespectful to the judge, and the judge was not inclined to be overly sympathetic to him. I won the case, including court costs, and was told that I had dressed respectfully for court and that it helped my case.

The landlord lost all his cases that day and had to make payment arrangements for late rent, and the judge split all court costs.

What happened today that made your day a good one?

A young man was brought into office by my colleagues and they left him with me. Usually a traffic violator is fined on the spot and thats it. But if they resist or make a scene… then they are detained in this office until the cops from police station arrive to collect them.

I was told that “This fruit cart guy made the whole intersection jammed and refused to remove his cart away from fast lane and resisted”.

He just sat there silent, while I called the police station to send somebody to take him… and got back to watching a gaming live stream on my laptop.

But then I noticed him turning his head to the other side with his hand covering his eyes.

He was wiping his tears.

Something startled him, I assume. Maybe the behavior of cops or the thought of getting behind bars or maybe his cart that stood there in our compound. I don’t know.

I felt so much for him that moment.

What did you do exactly to land here and don’t lie? I asked.

I was crossing a busy intersection when a traffic cop shouted at me and told me to get off the lane towards footpath. I refused as I wished to cross the road and I yelled back. Nothing else happened, I am telling you the truth.

Okay… so you refused to obey and intentionally caused a traffic problem.

Yes, I guess.

….

Then why crying now?

I want to go home, I need to buy groceries and wheat as well for my mother, for she must be hungry and eagerly waiting for me. That’s why I crossed the road hurriedly and got caught into this mess. I sell watermelons and barely earn enough to feed both of us.

I checked his ID and asked a few more questions. This guy was anything but manipulative.

By now, I had decided to get into this matter, though that’s above my pay scale as I’m just a constable but what the hell. I can do wonders when I want to. 🙂

You want to go home? I smiled.

Yes, I was hesitant to ask you out of fear when you called the police for me. Please don’t do that. Please let me go home. I want to go home to my mother, she’s alone.

I stood up and went to the other room, few traffic officers were there including the one who brought him. I asked him nicely and requested to cut this kid some slack. He can be let go with a warning.

I told my senior that the fruit cart guy regrets his actions and is apologetic.

The senior looked at me.

He is a good man, I know. But he also knows that I’m a good guy too and I don’t ask for such favors with some ulterior motives. And that… even being just a constable, I can make traffic warden’s life quite miserable if I wish to.

So couple of minutes later…

I told that young man to get up, take his cart and leave. He couldn’t believe it. Those expressions of gratification were soothing and awesome. He thanked all of us and left but not before hearing my advice.

Remember this, you cannot disobey an order given by cops and you cannot resist. Just earn your living and go home. Stay out of trouble for you’d regret it in great deal. Your mother needs you, know that and act wisely from now on.

I stood there outside for some time… thinking of him.

Yes, a thought of his mother made me feel for him. But what primarily motivated me to help him get off the hook was…. that he shouldn’t be going to police station or spend a night there or even worse… Jail. He should not experience the company of bad guys there and learn the existence of a new and evil realm.

He shouldn’t hate himself, cops and the society in general.

He should remain what he is.

Positive, innocent and hardworking.

Warnings! Invasion of U.S. is about to get worse coming from Panama

This is the story that the US citizenry needs to see. The migration to the US is funded and orchestrated. Wonder by who?

How much of what China says about Xinjiang is true?

China never say things that are not true. 100% of what they say is absolutely the truth. While the U.S. and the west remedy for Muslim extremism is carpet bombings Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen and others killing millions of mostly innocent men, women and children China used a more humane approach saving lives and using a more successful and sustainable method.

Chinese too faced a spate of Muslim extremist violence post 9–11 years. China use re-education to help the highly influenced Muslims who have the tendency to is likely to resort to violence for what they think is a just cause. This approach works better and compared with the U.S. approach almost no deaths occurred. And it made China safer yet addresses the Muslim issue and problem.

The U.S. and the west instead of learning from this far better resolution felt compel to fabricate lies on China but China’s fairer and more effective solution is very well accepted and appreciate by the Muslim nations world wide.

In my opinion almost no body believes in the genocide narratives and it exposed the lying and obnoxious behaviour of the US instead of dirt sticking on China it sticks on the U.S. as an untrustworthy nation. China never deny re-education. The did it and it was effective. Were some Chinese Muslims unhappy? I am sure there are but 99% of them appreciated how China handle it compared to the sadistic murder by the U.S. and the west.

CAN’T BELIEVE IT: Gen Z Americans can’t answer these basic questions

It’s really hard to watch this kind of video without shaking your head in disbelief.

How do UK police compare to US police?

Visiting New York and decided to walk from the station to the hotel. Promptly got lost. Saw a police man standing by his car. So thought I’d ask. He looked shocked and even nervous when I approached to say hello. And was very abrupt. He then didn’t understand my question asking for directions. If he wasn’t in a uniform I would of honestly assumed he was mentally challenged.

Few years back was in London, again at a station with my 3 y/o daughter. 2 big police men all kitted up standing outside. My daughter saw the officers and got a little scared. I think partly as her 1st visit to London. One of the officers spotted her, smiled and walked over. Asked her a few questions about her visit and offered if she would like to try his helmet on.

Although the Met has at the moment a terrible reputation. Genuinely feel the British police are far more approachable and helpful.

When a stealth aircraft uses radar to scan enemy aircraft, does it also give out its own location?

You might very well think that. And certainly, if it was broadcasting on full power while right on top of the enemy, then yes, it will be giving out its own location. But there’s an interesting ability that modern radars, such as the AN/APG-81 (below) as fitted to the F-35, have which means that this will not usually be the case.

Until recently, radars were like single element searchlights sweeping out in the darkness, and were therefore clearly visible to the opposition, who were on the lookout for radars operating on specific wavelengths. The larger and more powerful the radar, the further away it could be detected, often well outside the range where it could detect an opposition aircraft. Frequency swapping helps, but the windows of opportunity it presents are often too short to have any meaningful effect.

AESA radars, on the other hand, are basically a group of multiple individual radar emitters collected together in one unit. One individual emitter on its own doesn’t have a great deal of power and therefore does not have a great range, but when used in conjunction with the other emitters surrounding it, the range and detecting power of the whole is every bit as good, if not better, than a powerful single element radar.

Now, here’s the clever bit. Each individual element on an AESA radar can be set to emit a different frequency from its neighbour (and to frequency shift at random times). This way, even when scanning on full power, the emission from an F-35 can appear almost indistinguishable from background radio noise, as no one frequency is being broadcast at any great strength. But the F-35 knows the frequency signature of its own radar, and can detect returns across this frequency range, while to an enemy scanner it will simply appear as noise. Of course, the closer the F-35 gets to the enemy, the greater the chances of its radar being detected, but that’s the same with any stealth adaptation. The hope would be that the F-35 would be able to engage the enemy (or otherwise complete its mission if it was simply intelligence-gathering) long before being detected.

The other thing about the AN/APG-81 (and to an extent other AESA radars) is that they are also excellent passive detectors, with the interesting ability to pick up returns from other radars. So (for example) a Boeing E-3 Sentry flying well away from the front lines will be using its radar to search a wide area. The opposition will clearly be able to see this, as will the F-35, but the F-35, flying much closer to the front, possibly even over enemy airspace, will also be able to pick up the radar returns of the E-3’s radar reflecting off opposition aircraft, and being much closer these returns will actually be stronger than the return that makes it back to the E-3. The upshot of this being that the F-35 might actually be able to see the returns of enemy aircraft in the E-3’s radar that are too far away for the E-3 itself to see.

Which means that in a hypothetical future war, as the enemy is setting up a long-range intercept of the E-3, an F-35 is setting up a much shorter range (though still many tens of kilometres away) interception of the enemy aircraft, all without emitting as much as a milliwatt from its own radar or receiving any other information from any source.

Of course, quite how powerful this ability is in the AN/APG-81 is confidential, and at this point we simply do not know how well (if at all) AESA radars fitted to Russian or Chinese aircraft can mimic it. But it is an ability that just a few short years ago would have been considered firmly in the realms of Science Fiction.

OMG First Time Hearing Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond | THE WOLF HUNTERZ REACTIONS

The positive reaction to this by so many is telling. The criticism Mr. Anthony gets from certain celebrities is also just as telling. He is doing something right.

A window to the murmurings of discontent inside of America. This is the moment in time that comes right before the beheadings.

When will China have its own euv lithography machine?

Question : When will China have its own euv lithography machine?

Short answer: 2023 AD China already have own EUV machine (lab quality) and this is No red herring.

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China Uni have conquered EUV light source few years back.

And current China EUV machine although large as a building, crude (compare to ASML), use enormous amount of electricity but the end result is it is here :

It is extremely likely soon within 3 to 5 yrs (2026 to 2028 AD) China will equalize world’s chip manufacturing with her in house China EUV, while using a big cruder EUV machine, yet China can still manufacture 3 to 5nm size, even smaller size

.

The refinement of the production machine will take more time and likely very few EUV machine of a building size will ever be build, since it is such awfully big size.

Before the newer EUV models, commercial one gradually will shrink in size eventually. Nonetheless China will be making Chips of equal nm abet at cost of much higher expense.

So likely initial phase, ~2027 the product will likely only be for internal consumption. Until mass production & efficiency is achieved.

The release of the Huawei M60 Pro phone happened during US Commerce Secretary Raimondo’s visit to China, the first such visit in five years. What’s the message?

I sincerely believe that this is an intelligent demonstration by China that jailing Huawei’s CFO was simply totally ineffective.

But this Chinese demonstration is a little naive, because it assumes that Raimondo understands the difference between a Chinese phone and an iPhone: I highly doubt it.

What’s more, I highly doubt that Raimondo knows that the Mate 60’s chips are mainly Chinese, but especially the SoC and modem.

Raimondo doesn’t understand this, and she doesn’t care: she has a single message to get across, and nothing else.

She’s come with the mindset that China is a technologically inferior country, and there’s no room in her mind for thinking differently.

She’s not arrogant, she’s just ignorant of Chinese culture and doesn’t want to learn it.

Why is China’s property market a leading negative for its economy?

In my 46 years living in the U.S., I have experienced 4 severe real estate crashes, last one was 2007–2012, when prices dropped 50%-80%, 7 million Americans went into foreclosure and bankruptcies.

Nobody wanted to buy any property at 80% discount, yet everybody rush to overbid to buy properties when home prices go up crazy.

Be very careful when you ridicule other market’s real estate crash, because next is your own real estate, guaranteed.

Real estate rises and crashes are normal healthy economic cycles, it is God giving you another chance to make $ millions, if you are smart enough and have the financial resources.

LIVE: Report—Largest Poverty Increase On Record!

Lee, don’t know how you muster the mental energy and resilience to continuously report on so much moral depravity, mendacity and governmental malfeasance, but I applaud you for doing so. I’m an atheist but nevertheless I like to believe there is a special place in the afterlife for the few honest Western journalists such as yourself.

How bad is discrimination against Asians in the US?

It’s real bad here in the USA now. Especially because of the western propaganda. First they were saying they purposely created the virus and then released it. Then they changed the story to. They created the virus but somehow it accidentally got loose.

There’s actually been a few reports. About these dangerous untrustworthy people in this country deciding to play vigilante. And apparently some minority groups. Have you been developed the paranoia that they’re coming after them next.

The people in this country deliberately expose their children to the virus and let them die. And the reason why was because both political parties wanted to see the other president go to jail. Whether that was Trump or Obama. That is the real reason why the virus spread so successfully here. Not the first time the people in this country treated their own children as expendable pawns for their own shady gine. And probably won’t be the last time.

I strongly don’t suggest coming to this country. Especially when they’re falsely accusing your people of trying to kill everybody with a virus now. And if you come here try to stay together as much as possible. Try not to be anywhere by yourself.

What was something that someone said or did that has changed you forever?

Easy– I had just picked my wife up from the hospital after a 3 vertebrae spinal fusion. I was driving very slowly and carefully (picture an old lady driving a T-model Ford filled with nitroglycerin). As I was easing across some train tracks in my small hometown, moving at about the speed of smell, a plumbing work truck came up behind me. He was in a hurry, and gave me multiple exotic versions of ‘the finger”. He honked his horn, leaned out the window, screaming obscenities and suggesting anatomical impossibilities because of my slow speed. As a previous professional driver, I understood his hurry, but had a much more important personal reason to maintain slow-n-steady.

As we cleared the tracks, he screeched around us, cut me off, and sped into the distance still “saluting”.

Rather than be angry, it suddenly occurred to me that I’d done very similar things as a professional driver. You get in a hurry, and the job becomes more important than attempting to understand the potential plight of the other driver. I swore that I would never be intolerant of other drivers again, when it was my turn to be in a hurry. To this day, I still practice understanding that everyone has reasons for the way they drive, and every driver is a human being. It’s simple enough to conceive, but can be difficult to practice.
Curiously, this event started a torrent or cascade effect for me. I now drive much more courteously, and it’s so much calmer of an experience. I don’t yell or “talk” to the other drivers when I witness a mistake, or am caused an inconvenience. I try to remember my needs that day, and assume that everyone else has similar needs.
I recommend it.

People Drove Past a Kitten Shivering from the Cold On the Side of the Road

She squinted through the windshield of her car, trying to discern what it was. As she got closer, her heart sank.

How does China’s potential ban on iPhones impact Apple’s share price?

China is NOT banning Apple nor will it do so. In fact, all the leading companies are allowed to operate in China without the hinderance of the Chinese government – companies like Tesla, Samsung, Intel, Walmart, Costco, Starbucks, etc. In fact, the Chinese government deliberately encouraged the participation of those companies in the Chinese market place. The only requirement is that they follow Chinese laws.

AND there is a good reason why.

The Chinese government want those companies because they wanted foreign companies to force Chinese companies to innovate and be cost efficient to compete with those foreign companies. This will not only benefit Chinese consumers but will allow for the development of world class Chinese companies.

Otherwise China will be like India – a poor country with businesses that produce second rate products protected by tariffs despite the country’s tremendous potential.

That STRATEGY is paying off handsomely and China now have MANY leading edge companies.

On a side note, Apple’s share price is falling because Huawei’s phone is expected to take away much market share of Apple not only in China but also overseas. This will affect Apple’s profitability.

Southern Hamburger Pie

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 pound ground chuck
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 small can corn or green beans, drained (optional)
• 1 (9-inch) frozen pie shell
• 5 slices Velveeta cheese, about 4 to 5 ounces
• 1 can flaky biscuits

Instructions

1. Begin thawing pie crust. Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Cook ground beef and onion in a large skillet on medium heat, breaking up the beef with the back of a spoon, and cook until onions are soft.
3. Drain excess fat and season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Add corn or green beans if using.
5. Put meat mixture into the pie shell and evenly distribute the cheese over the top.
6. Separate biscuits and layer in a circular pattern over the pie, covering it completely (you may not need all the biscuits).
7. Cut a few small “steam slits” in the top and bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown.

Serves 4.

Why is China advancing rapidly in technology?

Because the US is sanctioning China.

In the 2000s China took down semiconductors from its university courses, because the Chinese ministry of Education thought that such majors are useless and China can just buy chips from other countries since China had joined WTO.

Big mistake.

China has now reopened the major in Chinese universities and the graduates are being hired before they leave campus, because of Chinese companies’ sudden urge to innovate and build domestic chips due to US sanctions.

Other industries are also on a similar quest for tech independence because they fear the US would do to them what they did on chips against Huawei.

American products are just not reliable anymore.

So innovation is on fire across the board.

China is now ahead of the US in new patents filed and scientific paper quotations.