When I attended university, I lived off campus. My first year, of course, was spent in a dorm. But the subsequent years were all spent renting a room in a nice old German couple in North Syracuse off “Erie Blvd.”
Back then, it was a nice tidy house, with a tiny front porch. That is the whitish house at the end of the road. Not the big porch that you see today. But the garage hasn’t changed, and everything else seems the same. My bedroom was on the second floor in the off-yellow-white house; the last window in the picture above.
They had emigrated to the USA out of Germany after world war II, and the two grandparents were Heinz and Gertrude Kadel.
I would get up in the morning, exercise, and then run a few miles. Then change, and sit down to breakfast. The Mrs would make me a fine German-style breakfast spread. Often including an egg, some toast, and lots and lots of condiments.
This was always a nice breakfast spread with a good cup of coffee. They never skimped on the coffee.
After that, I would ride the bus to the university. THis was about 40% of the time, the rest of the time, I rode my motorcycle. It was a 250cc Yamaha.
At that time, I rode my motorcycle back and forth to the university, and I had to ride right through a “bad” section of town. It consisted of project building housing for urban ethnic families. Lost of kids running around in gangs of 12 or so. many between the ages of 9 and 16.
Heinz was hard of hearing, and couldn’t speak English very well.
He also had early stage dementia, and he was a fright when driving in town. He was constantly driving on the wrong side of the road and shouting “Stupido Americano!”
Something a little like this…
The Mrs was very nice to me and made me a fine German breakfast every morning with a cup of coffee.
And it was from here that I learned to love the toast with egg, and toast with braunschweiger meat, mustard, and tomatoes and onions on it.
Great memories.
Anyways, I lived in a spare upstairs bedroom, and it was so nice.
A simple bed, a nice window. A desk and a bedside table with lamp. Everything that I needed. Including a closet and a chest of drawers. It was painted in light yellow with 1960’s era lace and blinds. I really loved it.
Something like this. Only a nice bedroom, not the living room that the picture portrays.
There are many stories that I have of my university days, but some of my fondest memories were of living in that upstairs bedroom with the traditional German family.
Tradition.
This and other things that suggest tradition is what brought about the calmness that I so treasure today.
I REALLY do miss the breakfast spreads. You all have no idea.
I do miss the German back yard… Throughout the Spring, Summer and Fall, they would gather together in the afternoon, and settled down in the back. There, they would enjoy the sun. Drink tea and eat snacks, and just listen to the birds and play with their little doggie.
Like this…
Today…
What are the things that make a millionaire go broke?
Meet Leonard Tose. He was a Philly boy like me.
He earned his fortune turning his father’s ten-truck business into a $20 million trucking company.
Leonard was a generous man. He gave freely to many local charities and even bought bullet-proof jackets for the Philadelphia police.
He once said,
My hobby is spending money.
He is best known as the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles American football team that lost the 1981 Super Bowl game to the Raiders.
Sadly, the Super Bowl loss was only the beginning of a long losing streak for Leonard.
He lost the Eagles in 1985, selling the team for $65 million to pay off more than $25 million in gambling debts in Atlantic City.
Sands Casino sued him in 1991 for another $1.23 million. He counter-sued (claiming they kept him drunk) and lost.
By 1996, he had lost it all in Atlantic City. Another $14 million was gambled away at the Sands (he didn’t hold grudges) and the final $20 million at Resorts International.
For his 81st birthday he was evicted from his mansion.
At a 1999 congressional hearing, Leonard testified that he once lost for 72 nights in a row. When Congress asked if he had any advice he answered,
don’t drink when you gamble.
1. Just after you brush your teeth, look at yourself in the mirror and smile. Even if you can’t think of a reason to, still just smile and keep it up for 10 seconds. Guaranteed you will spend rest of the day happier.
2. Finding yourself opening facebook or whatsapp again and again? Put away your laptop and phone and go on a short walk wherever you can. Walking is known to help collect your thoughts and relaxing you.
3. Meditate for 10 minutes. If you have no clue how to, just sit in a quiet place and try counting your breaths till 10-15. Your focus should be on your breath and no thinking. Restart counting as soon as your mind distracts you and you find yourself thinking of something else.
4. Before you sit to work, remind yourself of TWO things that you need finished today (only two, no more). Remind yourself again in the lunch time. There are high chances you will get more important things done this way.
5. Just before sleeping, tell your brain to wake you up at ___a.m. You will be surprised when soon you would stop needing the alarm clock. Still a stubborn sleeper? Put your cellphone some distance away from you when sleeping so that you need to walk up to it when the alarm rings.
6. Revisit your day and remember the positive/good things from the day. Be thankful for those.
7. Try to do at least one new thing – be it taking a different route to work, talking to a new person, experimenting an activity you haven’t before. Don’t let your curiosity and awe die in the daily grind.
Linda’s Own Midwestern Pot Roast
Once you cook pot roast in this manner, you will always want to make it this way. It’s fall-apart tender. The secret to good pot roast is coating it with flour and browning it well before baking.
Ingredients
- 1 (5 pound) chuck or blade cut beef roast
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon seasoned salt or Chef’s Salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cups hot water mixed with 2 teaspoons bouillon granules or 2 cups beef broth
- 1 large onion, cut into wedges
- 5 carrots, cut into 2-inch lengths
- 3 or 4 russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
- 4 stalks celery, cut into large diagonal chunks
Instructions
- Mix garlic powder, seasoned salt and pepper with flour. Cover all sides of the roast with the flour mixture.
- Brown roast in oil over medium-high heat in a large, heavy Dutch oven, making sure the oil is hot when you place the roast into the oil.
- Pour the bouillon water around meat; arrange vegetables around and on top of meat.
- Cover tightly; bake at 325 degrees F for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The meat should tear easily with a fork.
- Remove meat to a serving platter.
- Serve with the gravy made during roasting. If desired, thicken gravy with a little flour and water mixed together.
Notes
Many times I will add one envelope of dry onion soup mix sprinkled over the roast and vegetables before baking.
Have you ever had a neighbor who believed they had free reign of your property?
When we moved to Louisiana, we found an amazing home that we love. It is on a lake and has huge windows looking out onto the water.
It is part of a subdivision where most of the houses have waterfront property on the development’s five long lakes that snake their way through the neighborhood. However, a few of the houses do not have waterfront property, and the HOA rules dictate that 15 feet from the water’s edge is a right-of-way for water access for all residents.
There is a cul-de-sac of homes across the street from our house that do not have waterfront property. Although the rules don’t allow it, the residents of the cul-de-sac often access the lake by cutting between ours and our neighbor’s home, on our private property. As it is otherwise a long walk around to the public access we have mostly ignored this.
Since our back yard is flatter than our neighbors, the cul-de-sac residents often set up chairs and coolers and fish from our backyard. One day a kid asked if they could take our small kayak out. I confirmed this was okay with their parent, had them put on a life vest, and let them take the kayak out. Another older child with the group ended up taking our larger kayak out. I naively didn’t see the harm.
The next weekend, the kids showed up and asked to take our pedal boat out. I allowed it, but had my son go with them.
A month or so later, my wife called me at work. She said the neighbors were in our backyard and had our kayaks out on the lake. They weren’t wearing life vests and hadn’t asked. She was uncomfortable approaching them as there were several adult men and they’d been drinking. I couldn’t leave work and when I got home they had left already. I texted them and told them they needed to ask first before using our equipment. They didn’t respond.
Then the coup de grâce. We came home from church to find a large group of people basically hosting a huge barbeque in our backyard. They were eating at our picnic table, which they had moved from our porch out into the water, cooking with our propane grill, blasting a boombox with vulgar lyrics, and had both our kayaks and our pedal boat out on the water.
I was astonished. I could not believe the nerve of these people. It was all I could do not to blow my top. My wife was so angry she went inside to keep from assaulting someone. I considered calling the cops, but cooler heads prevailed. I went looking for the patriarch of the family that were the usual culprits, but couldn’t find him.
I started asking questions of the adults. Why did they feel they could just use our personal property without asking? Who’s idea was all this? How did this happen? Everyone was quick to blame someone else. Soon enough I realized that although I’d seen them all at one time or another with a local resident, not one of these people actually lived in our neighborhood.
With the help of my other neighbor who had come out ready to throw the boombox in the lake, we rounded up the party goers and herded them back across the street to the cul-de-sac. A few of the women protested loudly, but my neighbor’s threats to have the cops come and sort it out shut them up.
I later told this neighbor that if something like that happened again I would make sure they couldn’t cut through our yard to get to the lake.
We are also now in the habit of locking up our BBQ, kayaks, and boat in our shed. I put a chain on the picnic table to the patio roof column.
They still cut through the yard, and I have let the kids take the kayaks out because I’m a big softie. But if there’s ever a request of that day I’m raising hell.
What is the best result you ever had from doing something out of spite?
After my freshman year of college, my parents pulled the “my house, my rules” for the last time. Finally I said, okay, then I’m leaving. My best friends picked me up and I brought the essentials and my bank book that had $2,000 in it. No cell phone or car.
One of my siblings called me and I told her I was car shopping. She said “why bother? You’ll never make it on your own so why waste the money?” I found a car for $700 and my friend taught me how to drive a stick so I could get it. I used the rest of my money to get an apartment and fix the car. I started working any temp job (factories, retail, etc) to make ends meet and to save money for school.
Skip ahead to when I was trying to return to college and needed my parents signature to get a student loan. I had to get them to sign to prove we were estranged. Yes I know, It doesn’t make sense. I finally said, if you don’t sign, then I have to go in front of a panel. I’ll describe the years of abuse and I’ll bring the pictures I took as evidence. My dad promptly signed it, to protect his prominent reputation, and crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it at me. He said “you’ll never amount to anything and you’ll never make it on your own.” he dented the top of my car with his fists as I was leaving for the very last time, and I told him if I ever saw him again I’d call the police (he had stalking tendencies and every time I moved, he would find my new apartment, drive the hour to sit outside of it and stare at my house. No call or attempt to talk to me. He would just lurk, even in the middle of the night. The police said it is common with abusive estranged parents and they would do their best to make me feel safe.
I worked factories third shift during undergrad to make ends meet and went through college with no phone, internet, or computer. I lived at the computer lab basically and the custodians would wake me up from naps so I could manage small amounts of sleep. I graduated from an accounting program that was ranked very high in the US, after accepting an invitation to an honors fraternity that is invitation only. I get good life long discounts on my car insurance, too, from that frat 🙂
A lot of my motivation in the beginning was spite. To not have to ask them for help, and to prove my sister wrong. I went through a lot of hardship that I probably wouldn’t have endured, otherwise. But as time went on, and I didn’t see any of the family for longer and longer, the anger and hurt started melting and I started living life for myself. I got some therapy too to get past some of the trauma and I can now manage the residual anxiety/depression without medication.
Any comments that provide advice or defense on behalf of my family will be deleted. This all happened between 10 to 15 years ago and I have moved on with my life without them.
“We are on a path to World War III right now—nothing is explained, nothing is told to us, and we have no choices.
The CIA comes in, conducts the briefings, and off we go to military escalation.
The public is profoundly unhappy, and the students are getting beaten up; faculty are getting arrested because you’re not supposed to speak about this.
Then there’s this concoction that this is about anti-Semitism—give me a break.
I’m a Jewish professor at Columbia University.
This is not about anti-Semitism; this is about a slaughter that is taking place in Gaza right now, and the American people don’t like it.
They don’t like our complicity in it, and they are protesting it—that’s what this is about.
But we don’t behave in any reasonable way right now, not even to discuss these things honestly, to know the facts, or to have hearings where our executive is called to account by Congress.
This was one of the fundamental roles that Congress was supposed to play.
It’s laughable to think that this is how anything works right now—it doesn’t. I know it doesn’t.
There is no accountability whatsoever.
There are closed-door briefings, and then, if you approach a congressman or senator, as I often do, they say, ‘Well, Jeff, I’m just not supposed to talk about such matters. I’m sure you understand.’
In the meantime, we have our NATO allies talking about moving troops to Ukraine, and Russia entering tactical nuclear drills right now.
This is crazy.
This is what you read about on the path to World War I, when a few people decided the fate of the world.
We had made a claim that because we are a republic, it couldn’t happen here, but starting in 1947, it has been happening here repeatedly.
That’s the year of the National Security Act; that’s the year when we went secret, and now we cannot hold our government accountable because everything is confidential.”
Excerpt from remarks by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, American economist and academic, in an interview with Judge Napolitano, May 6, 2024.
Shorpy
Linda’s Prime Rib
This is SO tasty. The leftovers make wonderful roast beef sandwiches also.
Ingredients
- Garlic powder
- Seasoning salt
- Mrs. Dash Seasoning
- Lemon pepper
- Fresh rosemary (optional)
- Prime rib roast
Instructions
- Heat oven to 500 degrees F.
- Rub seasonings into the prime rib. Sprinkle with fresh rosemary, if desired. For medium rare, cook 5 minutes per pound. For medium, cook 7 minutes per pound.
- Turn oven off and do not open oven door for whatever time remains of 2 hours (total cooking time).
- Serve with Yorkshire Pudding, if desired.
Notes
When we serve this, it is always served with Yorkshire Pudding.
How did your teenager scare you?
One time my eldest son approached me & was like: “Dad I have something to tell you.” So i said sure. He was looking very nervous in the face so I was starting to get worried. Then, the next thing he said literally rocked my world. Alright so, I’ve been knowing that he has been having a girlfriend for quite a while now. So, i know that they probably have been doing nefarious acts while they were alone. Anyways, he proceeded to tell me that his girlfriend was pregnant. I immediately(in my head) went Bonkerzzz. There is no way he was serious. But, i knew i couldn’t flip out, I had to stay calm. I had to support him. So, after a bit of pacing, I mustered the courage to ask him how it happened. He told me that they just did it. So, i was just going to go with it & help my son out however I could. Because that’s what a father does. I was actually a bit happy. A grandchild! My very first grandchild!
But, as I was just going to pick up my phone & call his mother who was at work, I heard him laughing. So, I thought something was wrong. but, then he pointed at me and said. “You’re so gullible dad. She’s not pregnant & I got you!” I immediately felt stupid. But, after 30 secs I joined him & we were both laughing. I told him “You got me son. Now go take out the trash.”
(I continued laughing while he stopped)
Gravity is a Lie, Light Speed is Slow, Nothing is Real, the Universe is Electric
What is something that has happened very recently that disgusts you?
The 9-year-old boy at the center of a viral video, dubbed “Cornerstore Caroline,” said he’s struggling to move forward ever since a woman falsely accused him of sexual assault
on camera, pushing him into a national conversation about racial profiling and excessive 911 calls made against African-Americans.
This is Jeremiah Harvey next to his mother.
He is a 9-year old little boy from New York City. He has a little sister, and a hard-working mother who loves him.
He was recently accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a Brooklyn corner store.
Let me explain. Jeremiah and his family went to Flatbush, a local food supermarket in Brooklyn, not far from his home. They were walking through the cramped pathway of the store when Jeremiah’s bag grazed the back of a white woman standing next to him.
This woman, now dubbed “Cornerstore Caroline”, then went on to accuse Jeremiah of sexually assaulting her, and called the cops.
A little boy. She accused a 9 year old boy of groping her.
And when she called the police, she stated, “That’s right, the son, grabbed my a—. Yes, I just was sexually assaulted by a child.”
That sounds ridiculous, and if I’d been on the receiving end of that call I would have laughed my head off. How in God’s name could you ever want to make that kind of call to the police? Why would anyone want to call the cops on an innocent child? Yes, it is possible for sexual assault to be committed by a child but why would you go as far as calling the cops on a little boy?
A few days later, surveillance footage was released and it was revealed that the woman was not groped by him, but his backpack merely grazed her.
After watching that video on the news and hearing what happened, I felt disgusted. One, because a woman was misusing the right that many women fought for. The fact that any person, man or woman, can come out now and say they were sexually assaulted, is a right that did not always exist.
And two, because such a human being exists in the world. To me, that seemed to have been caused by racial prejudice. If a white boy had done the same, I highly doubt she would have called the police. She might have gotten angry, but it would not have gone as far as calling the police on a 9 year old white boy.
After finding out the truth, the woman then went on to issue an apology, saying, “Young man, I don’t know your name, but I’m sorry.”
YOU DON’T KNOW HIS NAME BUT YOU ARE “SORRY”???? What a half-hearted attempt at validating your actions! At least bother to look up what his name is before giving him an apology.
His mother had to have a talk with him about sexual assault, at age 9. I’m utterly disgusted with the incidents that have been happening lately.
There were a few other racist events highlighted in the news that I saw, this being the most recent. Coupon Carl, Permit Patty, and BBQ Becky. In all of these incidents, a white individual has called the cops on a black individual performing an innocent, everyday act.
How is this the world we live in today, where the way we are treated is determined by the color of our skin, and not the content of our character?
Please, people. Let’s aim to spread kindness. We can do so much better.
Who is seemingly the “nicest” person who shocked the world by committing a horrible crime?
Actually I have 2 stories from my time at Wal-Mart. First is the story of “Bob”. Bob worked in electronics, everybody loved Bob, he was friendly, knowledgeable, and willing to go that extra bit to help a customer. Bob worked there just shy of 3 years and lived in the area for 27. We got word one day that Bob was arrested by Federal Marshals. Someone who had shopped there recognized him.
In the early 1970s, Bob and an accomplice had robbed a bank, and Bob used a woman as a human shield. Bob was sentenced to 7 years. He was 6 months away from being done with his sentence, and was on a light guard work crew, when he walked off and disappeared. When they raided him, he had loads of weapons and a lot of illegal hard drugs. Bye Bob, you might be out by now, IDK.
Second was “Winnie”. Winnie was a sweet lady, again everybody loved her, kind, helpful, spent her lunches crocheting and reading her bible. Winnie and her daughter and a family friend went to the east coast to visit family. 6 months after her visit, Marshals raid her house and arrest her AND her 18yo daughter AND the 18yo family friend FOR ARMED ROBBERY AND MURDER. They had run a profile on a case on Unsolved mysteries, where a woman was murdered, and her ATM Card used, and the picture on the ATM camera was of Winnie and her daughter using the card.
The gossip mill went into overload, there was one person defending her, ME. I knew her and her Daughter was a friend of my daughter, So I stuck up for her. WELL, all 3 were extradited across the country to a shithole of a US City. I won’t say which City (Coughthewirecough). So the FATHER of their family friend flies back east, lawyer in tow. He confronts the police, who being the ineffectual dickheads they are refuse to talk to him as his Daughter is 18.
SO He wields the Lawyer and points out, that even though she is 18, she still lives at home, goes to HIGH SCHOOL, and is supported by him and her mother, therefore in the eyes of the law, even though 18, IS STILL LEGALLY A MINOR AND THEREFORE THEY HAVE TO COOPERATE WITH HIM. BAM, POW, Up your’s you hacks.
So he gets their “Evidence, IE the ATM Camera footage. He talks to Winnie. Makes a trip to the bank, again Wielding his trusty lawyer like a scalpel to force the bank to cooperate. He then goes back to the Police and shoves this up their asses sideways –
- Winnie, her Daughter and the friend had gotten off their plane at X-O’clock, at the time of the murder they were still in the air.
- They had immediately caught a cab to the bank, withdrew money using THEIR CARDs, as THE ATM CAMERA FOOTAGE AND ATM TIME STAMP WERE OUT OF SYNC BY 17 MINUTES. The footage from the appropriate time showed 2 individuals using the victims card, and were felons known to the police.
He did this by doing about an hour’s actual investigation, nothing the fat, lazy, life wrecking swine that call themselves detectives in Shithole City did. The DA was NOT Pleased. Here’s the real insult. He gets his daughter and they leave, flying back home. Winnie and her daughter are kicked out onto the streets of Shithole City, without any kind of apology.
When she asked them what they were supposed to do as they had Nothing and nowhere to go, they literally said “That’s your problem, now leave before we arrest you for loitering” Those words wound up costing them a lot. Unsolved mysteries as well, as they also refused to apologize stating that “Verifying the facts ws the police departments job, not theirs.
So Winnie got a HUNGRY Lawyer and went to town. She got enough To buy her and her Daughter each a house, and her Daughter a good education at a good school of nursing. Winnie returned to work as she liked interacting with people but she let Management know she didn’t NEED the job, and they could just keep off her back. She also Has a signed letter of Apology from the Shithole City Chief of Police. She framed it.
NATO and Russia are Prepping For TOTAL War, Putin orders Nuke Test
Russia warns…
Russia warned Britain on Monday that if British weapons were used by Ukraine to strike Russian territory then Moscow could hit back at British military installations and equipment both inside Ukraine and elsewhere.
Russia said British Ambassador Nigel Casey was summoned to the foreign ministry for a formal protest after Foreign Secretary David Cameron said last week that Ukraine had the right to use British weapons to strike Russia.
Britain denied that Casey had been summoned, saying that he had met Russian officials “for a diplomatic meeting” in which he “reiterated the UK’s support for Ukraine in the face of unprovoked Russian aggression”.
Russia’s foreign ministry said the Cameron remarks recognised that Britain was now de facto a part of the conflict and contradicted an earlier assurance that long-range weapons given to Ukraine would not be used against Russia.
“Casey was warned that in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory with British weapons, any British military facilities and equipment on the territory of Ukraine and abroad” could be targeted, the Russian foreign ministry said.
The ministry said it considered Cameron’s remarks a serious escalation.
What were the most absurd beliefs you had as a child?
Oh, I had a couple of ridiculous ones.
First, I grew up in a very affluent area, but didn’t realize it because I’d always lived in one. Until I was school aged, I believed that everyone had a diving pool in their yard. I believes that the pools at public parks were just for swim and dive team.
And for a time, I believed that I was adopted. This is ridiculous, because my brothers and I all look very much alike, except the one brunette. But I was the only girl. So my brothers told me that Momma and Da took me from another family because they could only produce boys.
This belief was furthered by my oddball birth certificate. I’ve not seen another like it, but there must be tons, because it was the stamped official certificate issued by the state of New Jersey in the 70s. However, it’s ridiculously incomplete in the information it gives. It just says my name, girl, my birthdate, and the name of the hospital. No mention of parents at all. They showed me their Florida birth certificates, which did list parents. This really cemented my belief in their joke.
I also believed that all dogs were boys and all cats were girls.
One more… I believed that I’d be allowed to play quarterback when we all went to Pop Warner, because I was as a better quarterback than any boy I knew (still am). But of course, in the early 80s, this was not the case. I felt truly betrayed when I was given a cheerleader outfit.
Kids do believe some silly stuff huh?
Why do educated Chinese support CCP despite not having the freedom to criticize Chinese politicians?
For some reason, Quora answers about China are all very emotionally charged in both direction. People from China are either very pro-CCP and list every single one of their (usually) developmental achievements and what the west fails in. The Westerners usually paint the CCP as the epitome of all evil.
I would like to offer a moderate perspective on it. Throughout my life, I have had the good fortune to meet multiple educated Chinese nationals who studied abroad. My impression from talking to them is that most Chinese do not care that much about politics. They are more interested in basic issues like education, making enough money to feed their kids/live and advancing in their careers.
From my understanding, civil unrest happens primarily due to economic factors as much as ideological issues like human rights or freedom of speech. In the economic realm, the CCP has delivered. As for the aspect about societal freedom. Though most civilians experience censorship and media bias, a large part of their lives are actually very free from an absolute standpoint. They can own property, go abroad, own businesses and even hold some political opinion. Though they lack the ability to vote their top leadership, but most people don’t care. (I suspect from voter turnout that most American citizens don’t care either)
My friend once told me, China is just a regular developed country (at least in Shanghai etc) with its own host of problems and strengths. The CCP isn’t some demon, neither is it a savior. It is a government like many others. If one party rule was the singular thing people used to judge people, many European monarchies would have experienced revolutions long ago. Historically, many societies were ruled by monarchs, so it is not a definite dealbreaker.
One more thing to note is that, the type of issues Chinese nationals have with the government are different than that of Westerners. Westerners do not inherently care about the development of China, although some might. (If the CCP collapses, who would replace them?) A Chinese national (like all others) wants the best for their country. The typical Westerner does not actively think about proper developmental policies that boosts China, they only think about China as a foreign country whether it affects their own country.
For example, a Chinese national might disagree that the Wolf Warrior diplomacy good. But they might think that their government should be more militant or utilize more soft power to influence minds. A typical Westerner would not want China to project any power or influence at all, instead Western media would for example, want China to help aid Western interests more. (Like standing against Russia)
The late Henry Kissinger, whom I admire said that we need to listen to our adversaries and understand them. We don’t have to agree, but we should listen to a variety of perspectives. When Nixon was in power, they turned the Chinese from an adversary to a neutral or even neutral positive state against the Soviets. This is despite China and Soviets being both “communist countries”. The reason they achieved that, was because they recognized that despite the shared ideology, there were many territorial conflicts between China and Russia on the border. They then offered trade and prosperity to entice China to become unaligned with the Soviets.
Two things impede the Anglophone world from understanding the Chinese in my opinion. The language barrier (most don’t speak Mandarin), and modern American political discourse seems to be very tribal, and don’t promote listening and dialogue with the other side, whether with Republicans, Democrats or the Chinese.
Chinese Lady Confirms PASSPORT BROS Can Find Their Wife In This Part Of CHINA
What does it feel like when a grenade explodes next to you in a combat situation?
I once stood about five meters (fifteen feet) away from a grenade when it went off. We had planted some booby traps in the vicinity of an enemy position and one of the grenades that we had used to build these traps had been activated.
It was night and I just heard a clicking sound when the ring was pulled out of the grenade.
There was no time to jump for cover. Anyway, it was pitch dark and I was in a forest: I would just have smashed my head against the next tree by trying.
I shouted “attention!” to my buddies, covered my ears with my hands and turned my back towards the grenade. Then I felt the blast, and a few seconds later, there was something wet and warm in my right boot. It was blood.
There were enemy forces around and so we had no time to stop and take a look at my leg. Fortunately, I could still walk and we made it out of the forest without any problems.
As soon as the sun went up, a friend of mine took a small pocket knife and pulled the pellets from the grenade out of my leg.
I was very lucky that I wasn’t exposed to the full blast of the grenade, otherwise I would have had much more serious injuries.
When you are in an open terrain, you are wearing your body protection, and the grenade isn’t too close to you (less than ten feet), you should be able to survive.
However, when you find yourself in an enclosed space, like a house or a trench, hand grenades can be deadly. I remember an incident where we threw a hand grenade through a window of a house during the war in Kosovo.
After the detonation, we entered the building to clean it up and came to the room where the grenade had exploded. Although there was no enemy in the room (there was one in the next room, though), the room was a complete mess:
The furniture was badly damaged, there was a big hole in the wooden floor, and the explosion had caused a small fire in the room. I was surprised: All this mess from a single grenade! I was sure that if there would have been any persons in that room, they would have been seriously wounded or even dead.
What is the smallest thing a person ever did for you that impacted your life?
About 18 years ago someone came to my rescue when bullies showed up on my front lawn.
Fast backward to junior high where I wasn’t exactly a popular girl. I had recently switched to a new school and I still hadn’t found my crowd.
A group of adolescent boys, convinced they were cool like the Fonz, decided to pick on me for fun. They barked at me and called me dog-face. It wasn’t long before I found myself hiding in the bathroom during lunchtime. I made the geeks in Sixteen Candles look good.
One afternoon I headed home from school on foot like I usually did. While turning onto my street I looked back and saw I had company. The bully ringleader and two of his jackals were bicycling toward me! I remember taking off running in Forest Gump glory and bursting through the front door with hot tears in my eyes.
Standing in front of me was my older sister Alyssa. We were teenage sisters at the time and we fought quite a bit. Unlike me she didn’t have a problem finding friends and being the center of attention. And so I waited for her to pounce on the opportunity to ridicule me for being such a wimp.
Instead, upon realizing what was happening, red anger flooded across her face. Quicker than I could say jambalaya she swung the front door back open and stomped down the driveway toward my not-so-gentleman callers.
There, in front of our home on Hickory Dr., my own Joan of Arc warded off the beasts. Facing the head bully, she bent down to the lawn, ripped out a fistful of grass, and threw it into his face. “Stop messing with my sister!” she screamed out with indisputable authority. The intruders were cornered as Alyssa launched an impromptu mouthful of artillery that reduced them to speechless, little weenies. I remember watching in awe as they pedaled off on what seemed like tricycles.
After that day I got to eat my lunch at a table instead of talking to toilets that don’t talk back. With time I found friends. Really good ones.
Eventually I did get bullied again by a different pipsqueak, yet this time I stood up for myself. My sister’s defending me inspired me to defend myself.
I’ve learned that sometimes we aren’t strong enough to come to our own rescue. When we lend our strength to others, even if it’s just for a moment, the effects can travel across a lifetime. Gracias, hermana.
Some daily comics
- You’re built to appreciate female beauty. Once you’re married, you’re supposed to turn on the filter limiting it to your wife. But the filter was not part of your design.
- Your public bathrooms are horrifying. I’ve walked into one by accident years ago and have been scarred for life.
- You have to monetize your life. Creative type? Become famous. A hero? Run for political office. Don’t care about money? Doesn’t matter, still have to make a lot of money. You are a man.
- The way all the pants are designed. Not to gently support and cradle your genitals, but to harshly cut them in half. Also topped off with a zipper in case if you also want to experience unimaginable pain from zipping up something you weren’t supposed to.
- To mate, you’re supposed to be good at reading women’s smoke signals. But all women’s magazines tell them to play it cool and not send any signals. Now what are you supposed to do?
- Women get a lot more pampering – we get massaged, our feet are washed, gently scrubbed, oiled, and toes decorated with pretty colors. Your feet look like hooves and you have to pay your toddler $3 to put some lotion on them.
- If a woman wears a low cut red dress, you will have difficulty concentrating, negotiating a deal, or forming your thoughts. Conversely, men don’t have similar easy hacks.
5 BIZARRE Experiences of People Being in a Parallel Universe
We live in a world where there are infinite possibilities. They come to us in our day-to-day decision making. However, we only get to live in one set of such possibilities. You either took the job or you didn’t. You either said yes or no. You either held on or let go. But a part of us may wonder: could there be an alternate reality where a different version of ourselves took a different path in life? Here are 5 Bizarre Experiences of People Being in a Parallel Universe.
My flight attendant friend said “pay attention if the captain says Easy Victory”, but didn’t say why. Is it better not to know?
First of all your friend should NEVER have told you that without explanation. Shame on them.
Actually, the words are ,”Easy Victor” it stands for “evacuate”.
However, you as a passenger will never hear the pilot just blurt it out! And passengers will already know there is a problem long before a pilot says this. DO NOT spend your time flying listening for those words. Trust me, in 20 years, the only time I heard “easy victor” was every year in recurrent training when we practice our evacuation drills. This fact should put you at ease to know that in the very very rare event there is an emergency, you will finally get to see what a flight attendants job really is about. The reason we spend weeks in training and 2 days every year! We save your lives! Honestly we do! And as a passenger in an emergency, you only have to do FOUR things!
- listen to the flight attendants, and do exactly what they tell you.
- listen to the flight attendants, and leave everything behind. You want to waste time opening the bin to grab a bag of CLOTHES??? Your life and the lives of everyone else are worth more than anything in your bags.
- listen to the flight attendants, tell you when to go OR use common sense and get out!
- listen to the flight attendants, and find your exits as soon as you get on the plane. All your exits! Know how and where to get your butt outta there! And dont get complacent. There are lots of aircraft types out there with doors that open differently, even if you fly the 737 a lot, did you know there are at minimum now 7 different versions of that plane flying around, ?? 4 types of 747, 2 types of 777 and 767 and 757. Etc. many different airlines who configure their planes differently????
(sorry, Im just used to using “he” for the pilot)
when the flight attendants tell everyone how to brace, do it. They will tell you when to brace and when to evacuate. Sometimes the crew and passengers are ready for an evacuation…. If the plane lands fine and evacuation might not be necessary. The pilot will make an announcement and say, “do not evacuate”. But if its necessary to evacuate some airlines have trained pilots to just say over the PA, “Easy Victor”. Then you will hear the flight attendants go into evacuation mode. Or the pilots may just say “evacuate”! Or, he may give special instructions, like,”evacuate aircraft right only”, or he may say”Forward doors only”, or “no overwing exit”. Sometimes they have info the cabin crew doesnt. Like if the plane lands hard and a fire starts under the right wing. The tower may see this and notify the pilots of the fire under the right wing before the plane has stopped. The pilot would then pass that on by saying “evacuate aircraft left only”
so you see, dont just listen for “Easy Victor” to be said out of the blue. But do always listen to the flight attendants. I hope this helps and puts you at ease. I know this is more than you asked for, but I have insomnia and am on a roll!!!!
Be kind, be safe, and make it a happy day!
Kevin out
Ukraine SitRep: Eating The Seed Corn – Intervention Threats And Responses
Dima of the Military Summary Channel and others have mentioned that the Ukrainian army has deployed its police and military cadets to the front line.
This is like farmer who, during a winter famine, eats his seed corn for the next year. It will only prolong the crisis and guarantee that there will be even more hunger during the following winter.
Where will the next generation of Ukrainian army officers come from when the cadets are all dead?
Over the last days the Democratic Minority Leader in the House Hakeem Jeffries suggested that U.S. troops would have to intervene in Ukraine:
In an interview with CBS News, Jeffries expressed concerns that despite billions of dollars in military aid from the United States, if Ukraine cannot secure victory over Russia, America may be compelled to intervene directly in the conflict.
The British Foreign Minister David Cameron has invited Ukraine to use British delivered weapons against Russian territory:
David Cameron said Ukraine “absolutely has the right” to conduct attacks inside Russia with British weapons as he made his second visit to Kyiv since becoming foreign secretary.Lord Cameron said it was up to Kyiv to decide how to use the ammunition supplied by Britain.
“In terms of what the Ukrainians do, in our view, it is their decision about how to use these weapons, they are defending their country, they were illegally invaded by Vladimir Putin and they must take those steps,” he said.
France has allegedly deployed parts of its Foreign Legion to Ukraine. The report follows musings by the French president Macron about putting French troops onto the ground in Ukraine.
All this was a bit too much for Russia. It invited the British ambassador to its Foreign Ministry to get an earful of serious talk:
Russia’s foreign ministry said the UK’s ambassador to Moscow had been “summoned” to make him “reflect on the inevitable catastrophic consequences of such hostile steps by London”.
Russia also announced a spontaneous drill of the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons:
Russia has threatened to strike British military facilities and said it will hold drills simulating the use of battlefield nuclear weapons in response to UK weapons being used by Ukraine to strike its territory.
…
It is the first time Russia has publicly announced drills involving tactical nuclear weapons, although its strategic nuclear forces regularly hold exercises.
The exercises will be held by the southern group of Russian forces which is also involved in the special military operation in Ukraine.
This should for now shut up the loud voices who dream of defeating Russia in Ukraine.
There is zero hope that this could be achieved. The Ukrainian army has had 600-700,000 soldiers, maybe even more. It has been defeated. How many soldiers could France deploy into Ukraine? 5,000-10,000? And all NATO together? 100,000?
No western force is currently configured and equipped to defeat a near peer competitor force. Twenty-five years of ‘war of terror’ have left those armies in a very sorry state. At least during the first year of an expanded war their troops would have no chance to survive. The Russian forces, by now a well oiled machine with plenty of excellent weapons, would defeat them within one or two weeks. What then?
Since February 2022 Russia’s old and new president Vladimir Putin has warned against all interventions:
Let me emphasise once again: if anyone intends to intervene from the outside and create a strategic threat to Russia that is unacceptable to us, they should know that our retaliatory strikes will be lightning-fast. We have the tools we need for this, the likes of which no one else can claim at this point. We will not just brag; we will use them if necessary. And I want everyone to know this; we have made all the decisions on this matter.
I for one do not take that lightly.
Lisa’s Crispy Chops
Ingredients
- 6 pork chops
- 3 eggs, beaten slightly
- 2 cups crushed soda crackers
- 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 1 1/2 tablespoons dried minced onion
- 1 teaspoon each salt and pepper
Instructions
- Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Dip pork chops into egg, then roll in dry mixture.
- Fry over medium heat in a small amount of oil until dark, crispy brown.
“Hungarians are a worldly-wise people, so we can see through the games of others, and we know that war not only brings losses.
Of course it does bring terrible, appalling losses, with the tide of war sweeping away human lives and entire national economies.
But there are always those who gain from it.
I look at the decision of the US Congress, a month or two ago I listened to the US president, and he made it very clear that the US economy benefits from arms aid to Ukraine.
First the US secretary of state said this, and then the US president.
Now they’ve made these decisions about 60 billion dollars and more in military aid; and if you look at its internal structure, you can see that it’s actually a huge military order for US industry.
There are these NGOs, Soros and his people.
There are always these financial speculators, people fishing in troubled waters, who – as they say in Budapest – are looking at the war to see what they can get out of it, and are trying to get everything they can out of it.
It’s all very well to say that they’re few in number; the fact is that they exist, and they’re strong.
So behind the tendency for war there are very serious forces: business, political and economic forces.
But the public – the majority of the public at least – are on the side of peace.
This lends the current situation its tension, with the number of people throughout Europe who feel the danger and don’t want war growing continuously, while every day European leaders take ever more steps towards war – although I’m not saying that they’re marching.”
Excerpt from remarks by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in an interview on the Kossuth Radio Programme ‘Good Morning Hungary’, May 3, 2024.
Russia’s final warning to Macron and Cameron
As far French Legion troops. They did arrive to Slaviansk. They were hit by Russians and had casualties. One group had a close combat encounter with Russians in the region Ocheriteno and 5 French and 2 German soldiers got killed after a day of clashes. After that they ran away like chickens, basically French Legions are not for this war. People have to understand that Ukrainians are losing up to 1500 men per day and no NATO can replace that. Having said that, this war is going to end with NATO Ukrainian defeat, a bad defeat. Out of Hundred or so Legions who arrived just in less than a week they lost 30% of soldiers, and at this point they are out of Ukraine. I think France understood the level of war being conducted by Russians.