A painful passing

When I got out of Prison, I suddenly came down with two maladies. The first was Ball’s Palsy (where my face was paralyzed, and I couldn’t close my eyes), and the second hit me about two weeks later. I had terrible kidney stones. And man oh man was it painful.

Because I had no money, and was transitioning from prison, I went to the hospital emergency room and they gave me a number to call to get some medicine for the pain.

And when I called that number, the receptionist answered the phone and accused me of wanting drugs and said that I could come in, but they weren’t going to give me anything for the pain.

I endured that pain for a week before I passed the stone, and it was a mighty bad situation. The pain was HORRIBLE.

Never the less, the thing that I remember was not the pain; the stone; or the egress from prison. I remember that holier than thou bitch at the reception desk that was giving me a hard time.

For all you Karens out there, I have a message for you all.

FUCK

YOU.

…

Good, now that I got that off my chest, let’s do todays post…

What are a few bitter truths of life?

Robert Sandifer’s life began in two overlapping hells.

The first hell smoldered outside of his home, the streets of the South Side of Chicago, infamously dangerous, and marred by a blistering gun violence that persists to this day.

These streets are so dangerous that Google actively censors the imagery that populates on Google Streetview.

Robert Sandifer’s second hell raged in his own home.

He was born to a prostitute mother who had dozens of arrests, and who was addicted to cocaine before, during, and indefinitely after his birth.

Sandifer’s father was wholly absent, serving a long prison sentence for felonies related to brutal gun violence.

He received severe physical beatings that started long before he could speak, that left him with terrible bruises and bloody lesions.

At age 3, Child Protective Services opened an investigation after finding cigarette burns on his body, caused by his mother’s boyfriends.

CPS tried to save him. They moved him to his grandmother’s house, but that home was a 3rd hell, already overflowing with as many as 20 kids at a time, many of them from similar circumstances.

Sandifer quickly became a product of his environment, adopting a violent lifestyle, beating children mercilessly on the playground, stealing their money, and their food. He began burglarizing homes, breaking into cars.

He dropped out of school at age 8 and roamed unsupervised in the gun-born, blood-soaked streets of The South Side.

Sandifer was assimilated into a notorious gang, The Black Disciples, who embraced and celebrated his violence.

At age 10, he was arrested after being caught driving a hijacked car, not the first he’d stolen – nor the last.

After Sandifer’s arrest, his family requested that he be kept in juvenile detention for his own safety and for that of the public – but they were denied – Sandifer was too young for juvenile detention.

And thus – he was released to his Grandmother’s custody.

And into the arms of The Black Disciples.

On a fateful 28th day of August, his gang ordered him to take out a hit on a rival gang member.

Sandifer arrived at his target’s house, he positioned himself behind a parked car on the opposite side of the street.

And opened fire.

His bullets plunged into the crowd, hitting several bystanders, and ultimately killing the wrong person – a 14-year-old girl Shavon Dean.

3 days later, Robert Sandifer was taken under a bridge, told to get on his knees, and shot, execution-style in the back of the head by members of his own gang to silence him.

At the time of his death, he had committed 23 felonies and 5 misdemeanors.

At his funeral – the only picture his family owned of him was his mugshot.

He was 11-years-old.

The bitter truth of life: some kids never stand a chance. People really do not understand just how bad it gets.

Have you ever sabotaged food because someone was stealing it?

Yes I have. I was a single mom struggling to keep my head above water so I would take leftovers for my lunch. This one co-worker would help himself to my lunch, then tell me how delicious it was. I tried explaining my situation to him, but he still continued to eat my lunches. I even bought an insulated lunch box so I didn’t have to put my lunch in the employee refrigerator. He would steal my lunch while I was away from my desk. And still brag about it. Now this coworker was from a different department than I was and made almost twice as much as I did. One day I had enough. That night as I was preparing my lunch for the next day, I included a healthy dose of mineral oil. Mineral oil is edible, it has no taste or smell, but it is a very good laxative. It took the guy about a week to figure it out. He went to HR and tried to get me fired or at least pay his lost wages ( he had to leave work 2–3 hours early all week.) HR talked to me and when I told them my story and how long it had going on, they made him reimburse me for all my lunches he ate. They verified my story first, of course. Later an email went out to all employees that theft of any food would be grounds for termination.

Is a California poppy extract-related product legal to sell in China?

Illegal, in China, selling drugs is illegal, exceeding 1 kg will be sentenced to death.If you know Chinese, you should know that.

In June 2021, 215.37 kg of drugs were hidden in 67,000 tons of soybeans exported by the America to Qingdao port, China, and were intercepted by Qingdao Customs. Relevant personnel have been punished.

I hope you can understand Chinese hatred of drugs. Qingdao is an eastern port city, and it is obligatory to prevent drugs.

In 2017, Mianyang city Sichuan Province, southwest of China, a thief broke into a house to steal.When he find drugs on the ground,he gave up the plan and report to the police, confessed his crimes and discoveries, and helped the police officers catch a large drug-making-trafficking gang.

Yes, even thieves also despise drug dealers,they also join Antidrug.

Lone Star Bacon and Cheddar Fries

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 pound (3/8 inch) regular cut fries with skin on
2 ounce shredded Cheddar cheese
2 strips cooked diced bacon
3 ounces sour cream
Finely chopped green onions, for garnish
Jalapeno peppers, for garnish

Instructions

Deep-fry regular cut fries (350 to 360 degrees F) for 3 to 3 1/2 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.
In fry serving basket, arrange hot fries.
Top with cheese and bacon.
Garnish with sour cream and green onions.
If desired, garnish with jalapenos.
Serve immediately.

What are some small things that matter a lot?

It was a hot summer afternoon in the month of May.

I was riding on my bike to home. A man who may be in his early 50s asked me for a lift. He was sweating profusely and needed to reach home. As his house was on the way I was going in, I gave him a lift.

He explained to me that, his sugar levels are dropping and need to reach home fast. I dropped him off at his home and he thanked me whole heartedly. I got back home and forgot about it.

After a month, a small hotel was opened nearby. I went there to try it out. I was checking out the menu and someone tapped on my shoulder from behind. He was the same man whom I gave lift earlier.

He asked me if I had recognized him. I said no. He explained that I gave him lift a month ago. Then, I recollected him. He asked me, what would I like to eat. I was surprised.

He giggled and said that, he is the owner of that hotel and as a token of gratitude I can have anything for free. I politely refused it but he was stubborn in his offer. So, I gave in.He asked the chef to make the best of the dish I ordered and was given for free.

That day, I realized, the good you do however small, goes far.

Any small help you do to people will for ever be engraved in their minds forever and it comes back to you in the ways you can never imagine.

So, don’t stop doing good and spreading smiles!

Why don’t more people move to Wyoming?

This map of Wyoming offers one of the reasons:

The areas shaded in green are owned by the federal government. Although Wyoming is large, the federal government owns about 47% of the land. So, some of the most beautiful parts of Wyoming are not places to which people are moving because there is very little private land for them to buy and live on.

But the problem is even deeper than that. These federal lands contain timber, pasture, and minerals which are leased or sold to those industries, but those leases and timber sales are prone to fluctuate with political fads for or against use of federal timber, minerals, and grazing. Even aside from that, the bureaucracies in authority over these lands do not take responsibility for maintaining the jobs in these industries. Since they have often not worked in the private sector, they either do not understand or do not care how delays and unpredictability in their decisions kill private-sector jobs.

Another reason for the low population in Wyoming is the 75,000-person tipping point in urban population. There is a pattern in the United States: cities tend to grow faster once they have reached a population between about 50,000 and 100,000. At this population, there is enough demand for specialized services in medicine, law, finance, engineering, management, entertainment, air transport, and other professions to support higher-paying jobs in these industries. There is also enough population to entice specialized types of businesses to locate there. Some of these are businesses that hum along below the surface of your local economy, but are important in helping other businesses thrive: machining, transportation, calibration, training and testing. Some of these businesses are retailers and national food chains that make a place more inviting to new residents. No Wyoming city has broken through this tipping point, although Cheyenne may be doing so now.

A third factor: By geographical accident, Wyoming’s neighboring states tended to have urban clusters near their borders with Wyoming which hindered any Wyoming city from reaching this population tipping point. Specialized, high-paying jobs and businesses are less likely in an area within 150 or so miles of existing firms. Denver and Salt Lake City are large cities with trade areas which include much of Wyoming. But the smaller cities of Rapid City, SD, Billings, MT, and Idaho Falls, ID also have large parts of their trade areas within Wyoming. Have a look at the map of United States trade areas and influential cities. All of Wyoming is depicted as being within an out-of-state city’s trade area. The map has flaws. Certainly Casper, Wyoming should qualify as having a trade area if Butte, Bozeman, and Helena, Montana and Alliance and Valentine Nebraska do, but the map nevertheless makes a valid point about Wyoming’s lack of urban areas with trade areas.

In the long run, Wyoming will be one of the nation’s faster-growing states and will develop larger urban areas. It contains major freight rail lines and major interstate highways. It has cheap electricity, low taxes, and lots of money in the bank from all the mineral wealth. It has major electricity transit lines and energy pipelines. Culturally, it has a good work ethic and an openness to newcomers. It has enough water resources to accommodate lots of population growth.

Which incident did you consider to be an absurd hoax but later found out to be crazily true?

Many, many years ago I received a letter in the post. It was a recorded delivery and I had to sign for it to confirm delivery. I was intrigued and opened it immediately. It was a summons to appear in our local small claims court. I was being sued for £6,000. There were no details about the charges or any explanation of what the case was about other than the name and address of the complainant. I was mystified as I didn’t recognise the name. Lets call him Mr Smith.

In the three weeks before the stated date I convinced myself that one of my sons was playing an involved joke on me. I quizzed them all mercilessly but nobody would admit to knowing anything about it. As the date drew closer I determined to go to court just to find out which of my boys was the perpetrator of this rather involved joke.

Court day arrived and I went into the court building and presented my summons to an attendant, still expecting to be told it was a forgery. I was wrong. I was politely directed to a small waiting room and told my case would be called in 10 minutes. I was stunned.

When I was escorted into the courtroom the Sheriff (a lay judge in Scotland) asked me if I had a legal representative. I explained how I thought that the summons was a joke and I had no lawyer. He said that I could ask for a deferment to get legal advice if I choose but he didn’t think that was necessary. I sat down still stunned and confused but by now rather scared.

The Sheriff now asked the other side to outline their case. I listened in stunned amazement as the story unfolded.

Apparently some 6 months previously I had sold Mr Smith a tenpin bowling ball and drilled the ball to suit his hand. I had explained to him the need to keep the ball clean of lane oil on a regular basis. Mr Smith had taken me at my word and had left his bowling ball soaking in a bathtub of hot soapy water overnight. Feeling that the finger and thumb holes were wet when he fished the ball out of the bath in the morning he had decided to dry out the ball. Fifteen or twenty minutes in the microwave should dry it out nicely.

Some time later the ball had exploded. The force of the explosion was enough to destroy the microwave and send the door of the microwave flying upward with enough energy to punch through the ceiling and the floor of the room above his kitchen. Unfortunately the room above his kitchen was his neighbours bathroom. The microwave door not only punched through the floor but punched through the actual bath. Really unfortunately the poor woman was taking a bath at the time.

She was suing Mr Smith for the damage to her bathroom from the flying microwave door as well as the water damage to her carpets from the bath full of water. She wasn’t suing for the shock of a microwave door suddenly puncturing her bath although it must have been a terrific shock.

Mr Smith was suing me for the same amount on the basis that I had sold him a bowling ball without specifically telling him not to put it in the microwave.

By this stage several people in the gallery were laughing and the sheriff was definitely smiling. I was still worried but feeling considerably less scared. We all sat politely until Mr Smith’s lawyer had finished. The Sheriff then drew himself very straight and without a trace of a smile said that he was here to apply the law of the land and not to educate idiots. Case dismissed.

WARNING something BIG is happening in Ukraine, Putin stays quiet

Something big is about to happen in Ukraine. Is Putin about to launch a pre-winter offensive now that Ukraine has exhausted all of its resources? Logistical signs are showing newly built railway tracks and large troop movements on the Russian side. Also multiple reports over the past 48 hours show an increased number of young Ukrainian men racing to get the hell out of Ukraine.

How has living in China changed you?

it’s aged me!

I was in my mid-20’s when I came, and after 30+ years here I’m already 57. If I stay here a few more years I’ll be 60. No one cares!

I don’t know which changes are due to maturing and which are due to living in China, but I can say how I’m generally different than Americans who haven’t lived in China.

I’m less emotionally invested in news reports, especially about politics. If you’ve lived in a place or have a job that’s occasionally the focus of the international media (as China manufacturing has been) then the discrepancy between what’s reported and what you know is obvious. It makes you skeptical at first, then cynical. Apathy soon follows.
I don’t take it for granted that multi-party democracy is superior to one-party rule. I tend to look at the results not the process.
I accept rapid, sweeping, head-spinning change as the norm. instantly accepted and accommodated.
- Yesterday we used paper currency to purchase things. Today we use cash cards. Tomorrow we’ll buy everything with our phones…. oh wait… we’re using the phones now, today, not tomorrow. OK, ok. I got it. Yesterday we used cash cards, today we use phones, tomorrow well use something else.
  
  I don’t remember when I stopped carrying cash and then stopped using my cash card. But that’s where I am now. That’s where everyone is—even beggars on the street accept mobile payments.
- Got a meeting in the next city… ? Better schedule 1/2 a day to get there. Then, all of the sudden, you realize you’re always arriving early to meetings. Everything started moving faster like this. Now that half a day gets you from Shanghai to Beijing by train. And if you start in the morning in Shenzhen, you can have an authentic Hunan lunch in Hunan, and be back in Shenzhen for an authentic Cantonese dinner.
I’m more appreciative of people in general, Chinese or expat. I don’t love everyone, but I value my relationships and feel grateful for the respect and assistance I’ve been given. I often feel like the big bang has distributed the universe’s molecules with my wellbeing in mind.

Koreans React To ‘Mr. Rogers’ For The First Time

Why are many Indian Ph.D. graduates from top institutes now choosing China for their postdocs? How is the life of an Indian post-doc in China? Do the Indian postdocs settle in China?

Money!!!

Chinese programs in Universities today get more funding than even USA, as US focuses on Private Funding

In 2022, US Universities spend $ 208 Billion in University Research against $ 346 Billion by China

You write a good paper for your PHD in Biotechnology, you could get offered an Research Associate position for 25000 RMB a month that’s around ₹ 34 LPA plus housing against a mere ₹7.6 LPA in India

That’s equivalent to $ 83,666 a year in US that’s higher than the US median of $ 64,712 for a Research Associate in PPP terms

China pays highest in PPP terms for most research today barring Norway and Switzerland and Taiwan

Life of an Indian Post Doc in China

My son is one

He is doing research for a Private Company on a 5 year grant (2023–2028)

Here are his observations:-

Knowing Rudimentary Mandarin is very important. The Lab assistants, the research students do their best in mandarin. The english is pretty accented. Luckily most Universities offer you Mandarin elementary classes for free if you are doing research there.
Softwares and Settings are programmed to Mandarin. You have to set it to English. Then print in English and Mandarin.
Money is pretty good. Housing is pretty good.
You will have two security reviews by the Government.
If you do research funded by the Government Or research classfied as National Research , you get a ID that gives you some powers. You get clout with cops. Now technically these IDs are only for National projects but like India, my sons director has managed to wrangle these IDs for these guys as well.
Very easy to get a Chinese girlfriend if you are unmarried. Unlike Singapore where girls are steady since secondary school. My son has 3 Assistant Researchers from Vietnam, Indonesia and Kerala. All have Girlfriends in less than a year.
Research is very well funded. You want to buy a $ 300,000 machine, you get approval in a matter of 2–3 days

It’s damn good

Settling down in China ?

Not encouraged

Finish your grant, extend your grant, live for 15–20 years in China and then go home or to Singapore

Meanwhile train as many Chinese as possible

Most people who settle down in China are married to Chinese Mainlanders and have kids and full families

They become Chinese themselves, speak like mainlanders, act like mainlanders

They are eligible for Citizenship of China

Are Indian Postdocs selecting China?

Yes

China beat Japan to the fourth position in 2023

It’s US, Germany, UK and China at fourth position beating Japan which was at fourth place until 2023, France is sixth, Middle East & Africa is seventh (no idea how), Singapore is Eighth and Canada is ninth

However in absolute numbers only 8.63% Postdocs go to China with almost 39.44% going to US and 71% going to US, UK and Germany

However this is a huge increase because in 2006 only 0.51% Postdocs sought careers in China meaning a Eighteen fold increase in a mere 17 years

Men DESTROYED Modern Women’s Beauty Standard

Rating women’s attractiveness is dramatically affected by make-up. I’ve seen them transform from as much as 2’s to 9-10’s. Truly amazing results.

https://youtu.be/pf3qHed8TtA

How has living in China changed you?

A few years back I had to change my careers. At that time I took a big change and moved halfway across the world to China.

I lived there for 3 1/2 years. I was there for 3 years in NE China in a small rural area. Then about 4 years later I move back but to the big city of Shanghai(but only for about 1/2 a year).

That’s the background story now to your question.

My first 3 years in China was very humbling. I was in a rural area still governed by old rules and ideas. I met a friend who lived in South China in a big city and she told me that I experience things that she never experienced while there. Each person’s experiences are so different. In the rural areas you live like the Chinese, but in a big city, you live like a foreigner in China.

When I say humbling it’s because I learned to live on very little. I spent $200 a month for food, shopping and traveling. When I went back to China in a big city you definitely can’t live on that. I learned to appreciate what I had and how to make do with what I had.

I discovered that my own culture lack respect for elders. That we are far behind when it comes to public transport. (China is far ahead of us). I gained a love for food, Chinese eat all the time (but are skinny). They eat tons of vegetables and meat as well…but it’s fresh produce…which my own country lacks…we eat way too much processed food. Of course, I learned how to use a squatty potty.

Now, when I went back to China 4 years later…so much has changed. They are so advanced when it comes to technology. While China was a humbling place for me for my first 3 years. It was not so the second time around…why? The simple answer is that times have changed. Don’t get me wrong I loved Shanghai and appreciated it, but I learned that sometimes you can’t go back…memories are better left in your mind.

China will always be a part of me. It has changed me so much more than I can ever put into words. But for me, “humble” is what learned from all my experiences in China.

No Handyman Jobs! People are BROKE!

I guess I was spoiled with the abundance of jobs these past few years. Well, I guess that has come to an end…

https://youtu.be/eJTOxnL_nBw

If a drone is flying on my property and I have already notified that I do not want it to be flying on it, can I destroy it without legal repercussion?

Ok, so here’s my experience.

A few years ago, a kid in our neighborhood got a drone for Christmas. He started flying it around people’s houses. The first time. I was sitting on my deck and it flew to the edge of the deck. I waved and it flew away. The next day, the same thing. After a few days, the kid got bolder. He started to fly it right over the deck. There was also one time that I was doing dishes in the kitchen it was hovering right outside the kitchen window, watching me.

This went on for about a month. I would see it right outside my windows or around my yard. I knew it was just a kid but it was getting kind of creepy. I wasn’t sure if I could be heard on it but I tried telling the drone that the fun was over and please don’t come back. Guess what? It came back the next day again. I didn’t know who the drone belonged to so I called the PD and they really didn’t know what to tell me. At this point, drones were just becoming popular and there wasn’t really any protocol. I asked around the neighborhood and no one seemed to know where it was coming from. I tried to follow it but it was faster than me and was piloted over houses and through other yards that I couldn’t go through.

Another month passes and now this kid is just taunting me. I tried throwing things at it, putting up a sign asking them not to fly it near my house anymore, my then-husband actually had it in his hand at one point but those things are pretty strong and he wasn’t able to keep a hold of it. We would flip it off when we saw it or curse at it, anything we could think of. I even fired a few warning shots with a BB gun. Nothing worked.

Finally, we were just done. The last day I ever saw it, I was again sitting on my deck and I hear the familiar drone sound. I tried to ignore it, hoping it would go away. I could hear it getting closer to me but I just kept my head down, pretending to read my book. The living room window was open so without looking up I yelled “It’s back again!!”. My then-husband walked out onto the deck and the drone moved towards him. He pulled out his pistol and pointed at the drone. No shots fired, it wasn’t even loaded and the drone high-tailed it out of there. Within 15 minutes, a very angry father and 2 police cruisers were in my driveway. The father wanted us arrested for threatening his kid. We explained what had been going on and the cops had several reports over the last few months from me as well (including pictures of the drone in various places around my house, date and time-stamped). Basically, nothing happened. The gun was registered to a licensed gun owner, no property was damaged, and the documentation from the police department showed that this kid was a nuisance. The cops went and had a talk with the kid. I found out later that other neighbors had the same issue with the drone so the cops had not only our complaints but many others. I don’t know what happened to the kid but I do know I never saw that drone again.

***EDIT***

A lot of people are commenting about the police not doing their job and yes it does seem that way. However, we have to remember that this was the first year that drones became really popular and it was the IT thing to have. People were having a lot of fun with their drones but there weren’t any clear laws that the police could follow. Also, you couldn’t trace them so you had a basic idea of the surrounding area where the drone was coming from but unless you actually saw where it went “home” to, there was nothing you could do so I believe that the police did the best they knew how at the time.

I don’t even blame the parents that much because the kid was like 13 or 14 years old. When I figured out who the drone belonged to, I knew exactly who this kid was, and quite honestly, he was an entitled little sh**. His parents were actually pretty nice people who tried their best but had very little control over their kids. The father showed up with the police because the kid made the father believe that a gun was pulled on him while cutting through our yard. That was not the case and when given all the facts, the father was still upset but it didn’t have a whole lot to say anymore.

And before you come for me, yes, most times kids are a product of their environment but sometimes the parents are doing everything right and the kid will still be a jerk. My kids are 21 and 17 and I have been involved in many of their activities over the years and have seen it all.

The Real China Shocked This British Man

Whenever I hear the China collapse theory, I always ask the person if s/he wants to take a bet, just provide a time frame when you think China will collapse and I bet you two whiskey that it won’t. I had been winning so many whiskey in the last 15 years, but none of those losers pay up.

Do the majority of people in China wish to remain communists, or if they had a choice, would they want democracy?

Seriously, do you really think the people in China really care whether China is a Communist or a Democracy if all there is to it is just some meaningless labeling.

Is like categorizing races by color, when you call it white I saw pink, when you call it yellow I saw light beige, when you call it black I say are you color blind, do you know what black looks like?

Chinese people in general are very much pragmatic, results orientated and doesn’t give much crap to whose camp they are in as long as they prosper and live a better live then the past. Also, Chinese history and philosophy never taught them life is simply black and white we know it has at least if not fifty shades of grey in between.

Furthermore, if one look at the Tai Chi symbols we see the black and white are not shown as antagonistic to each other, whilst they may be opposite to each other in direction but they intertwined in a circle with the opposite instead of a straight line in between a square. It also house a fraction of the opposite too, all for the purpose of equilibrium and in layman term it is call Win-Win or Harmony.

Life cannot always be a equal sum game, it has many elements and each play an important role, if one element does not survive well or is missing rest assure others will also get affected adversely by it. In science term, it is what we call a Eco System.

Balance reduce conflict, hegemony are always short lived and unintelligent, longer it stretches it more violent is the snaps when it breaks.

So is it really true that there are no democracy in a Communist system and when a country is not run by Communist does that mean they have no tyrant, no dictator, no ruthless regime, no poverty, no corruption and their people live a much better happy life?

Whats’s the big fucking deal about democracy if the leader doesn’t really practices it. “For the People, To the People, By the People” my arse when I see what’s going on in their land of Oligarchs Plutocracy.

What are some things you genuinely like about living in China that back home still needs to catch up to?

That is a great question indeed.

Safety – yesterday, today and tomorrow.
At first, right after moving to China I was truly amazed that there are so many chairs for valets randomly placed on the sidewalks. In Russia these chairs will end up at someone’s country house.
Small businesses
In Russia shops, restaurants, coffee-shops etc. belong to the large chains, you cannot find a small bar with homemade food for example. And places like that are my favorite in Beijing.
Infrastructure – in Russia you hardly can:
– get anywhere by subway and pay under 10 kuai for it,
– get anything delivered to your house,
– pay for the stuff via wechat,
– get foot massage in the middle of the night,
– pay for electricity and water using your own terminal, etc. etc.
Variety of entertainment choices
The only places that are really good for eventful life would be Moscow and Saint-Petersburg, other cities cannot be ever compared to Beijing: lots of events, activities and parties. Russia does need to get on this level.
Taobao
This is the most genius thing ever – I am a big Taobao fan and would love if a platform like that will be developed in Russia someday.

China moves into position to support Syria

So happy to see China & Syria are working together! Stronger united against the Empire!

School Bus Driver Rant

As a school bus driver, I would like to explain something.

My job is to transport your child from point A to point B safely, on time and ready to learn.

That is all.

What do I mean when I say safely? Let me explain. Safely means I pre-trip my bus daily to ensure it is running properly and that it hasn’t been tampered with. Safely means my eyes are constantly scanning all 7 mirrors, blind spots, and the road in front of me.

I’m NOT a babysitter.

I’m NOT a mediator.

I’m a BUS DRIVER.

I would absolutely love to be able to watch and hear each and every little thing that goes on in the 40 feet of school bus behind me, but while I’m watching Johnny jump across the seat, I just missed a car pull out in front of me. And oops, while I’m yelling at Susie to keep her hands to herself, the light changed and now I’m slamming the brakes to stop in time at the intersection. And what’s that? Now Joey has a nose bleed? And now someone dumped all of Katie’s stuff out of her bookbag, and “bus driver, Bobby is flicking me”, and “bus driver, Lily said she doesn’t like me anymore”, and what’s that? While I’m looking in the mirror behind me reprimanding your perfect children, a car just ran my reds and Sally almost got run over!

It’s Never Ending to us…

And that doesn’t even include the way the children speak to us. I’m pretty certain they don’t speak to other school faculty like that. And certainly don’t speak to their parents the way they speak to us.

So please, parents, tell me … where do you want me to look? Behind me? In front of me?

Would you prefer I pull over each and everytime someone yells “bus driver”? Because then YOU will complain that the bus is never on time, and trust me if I did pull over everytime, we wouldn’t even make it out of the school parking lot before I’d have to stop. Incase you didn’t know, your children are not perfect…no one is.

Would you rather I continue down the road watching what’s going on BEHIND me more than what’s going on with other vehicles on the road around me? Because I can assure you, if I’m not scanning every angle around the bus, there WILL be an accident, and then I will again be to blame, because I should’ve been paying attention to the road.

Now, on top of that, we see your children for less than 30 minutes a day, in most cases. Please teach your child to respect the bus driver, and to behave themselves when riding the bus…because we want to return them to you, SAFELY.

~ Unknown

Russian & American In China Are SHOCKED What They Experienced

What is the craziest request you have gotten when you were buying something (car, boat, bike, furniture, etc.) from someone who was so deeply attached to the item it felt like they were losing a part of their family?

Not crazy at all, just unusual and — under the circumstances — quite touching.

A 1969 Ford F250 was advertised for sale located in a town about 400 miles away. I called and spoke with the elderly original owner. He was not an enthusiastic seller and seemed to be throwing up obstacles to buying it. For one thing, he asked the questions, not me. The conversation went like this:

Me: Hello, I’m calling about the F250 for sale. Is it still available?

Him: Yes. What do you want with it?

Me: Uhhh, well, sir, I was thinking about buying it.

Him: Why?

Me (looks at phone with a WITW? expression): Because I need a truck.

Him: What do you need a truck for?

Me: To haul tools and material.

Him: That’s good. How old are you?

Me: (Young in spirit but wise beyond my years. More or less.)

Him: That’s good. How’s your driving record? Any accidents or tickets recently?

Me: No wrecks, no tickets.

Him: Will you put different wheels and paint and interior and engine in it?

Me: Gosh, no. I want it all original. Like it is now.

Him: Okay, you can come look at it. My address is…

I went all that way, looked, endured another vetting from him and was finally judged worthy of his treasured pickup that he could no longer drive because it had manual steering and he could no longer turn the steering wheel. As I drove away in the truck he’d named Whitey back in 1969, I glimpsed him in the rear view mirror crying unashamedly.

But wait, there’s more.

I drove directly to the other side of town and viewed a second 1969 Ford F250 for sale by its elderly original owner who also subjected me to a lengthy qualifying interrogation. Satisfied, he sold me the truck he’d named Rita in 1969 and helped me disconnect the driveshaft then attach a tow bar so I could pull her home with Whitey. After I had remote lights rigged up on his Rita, I got into Whitey and pulled away. In the rear view mirror I glimpsed Rita’s original owner crying unashamedly.

Nearly 10 years later Whitey and Rita are still exactly as they were the day I brought them to their new home. It was a good day, as have been all all the rest with them. As their original owners requested I have kept them exactly as they were: working trucks, now 50 years young, in original condition and carefully maintained. I even built them a canopy to protect them from the sun and inclement weather.

When you speak this way, your reality evolves…

Fair video. Fits in with my affirmation campaigns.

If the one child policy was such a disastrous idea, then why didn’t the Chinese experts object to it?

Was it a disastrous idea though? Who said?

Sure it wasn’t a comfortable idea for the people. I haven’t had children yet. But I do want to have two. One is scary in many way. What if something happens to him or her? What if he/she wants to join the military… and not come back?

But if I insist on having a second child, I would end up paying a fine. Then I would be liable to pay for the child education. The first child will get free ride from K-12 and university.

In fact, I can have as many children as I would like. I just have to afford raising them all with minimal government support.

Why the one child policy?

Look at China in the 60s – 80s

It was a simple life. Classism may have been at the lowest in Chinese history. To be a well respected person, you can be a teacher, a village chief, a policeman, a small government official, a factory manager, etc…

This simple peaceful life was made possible by the One child policy.

Do you know that unemployment was low? Job selection wasn’t great, but as long as you were willing to work, someone could find you a job.

Despite the scare of Western invasion and atomic bombs, it was a relatively safe society. Petty crimes were plentiful, from pickpocketing, theft, to scam artists. But it was unlikely your house would be broken in at gun point.

All these wouldn’t be possible if the population was left to balloon unchecked. Far more crime, homeless, desperate people out for blood, and money.

If I went back in time to 1970s…

Knowing the future is a hell of an advantage. I would start trading goods, then collaborated with the government’s economic expansion programs.

Humble start, this was how many Chinese entrepreneurs in the 70s and 80s had their start.

Moving up, buying a truck. One man transportation company in the 90s.

Eventually able to have enough money to open a factory. TV production company in the 80s.

Not really a photo of China, but of 1980 computer stores in the US. My computer store would look like this.

I would get into computers as early as 1975. This was around the time Bill Gates and Steve Jobs founded their companies.

I would even go to India in 1974 to meet the penniless backpacker Steve Jobs and offered him his first initial investment before he even knew he was to found Apple. He would be indebted to me for life.

Two prospects regarding to One Child policy:

One Child Policy: Boosted economy. I could be rich, easily affording 4–5 children if I wanted to.
Booming population: China would still be a shithole like any of the third world country China’s BRI is helping now. Raising one child and keeping my family fed would be very hard.

I actually knew people in China who had more than one children after 1980. They were not jailed or anything. Their neighbors and friends were supportive of their decisions.

Putin at Valdai, civilizational world order is here to stay

“I thought Putin was exceptionally clear, rational, even handed, well spoken, honest, and painfully accurate about everything he said. He has my vote for US president.”

Have you ever judged someone and realized you were wrong?

Oh my, yes!

Steve seemed such a surley man. Unsuprisingly older than me by a couple decades since this was my first professional job as a newly minted college graduate, he seemed to growl at me whenever I saw him.

With the confidence only available with youth, I judged him.

I judged him mean, old, and a bit scary.

Imagine my horror when after about a year on this entry level job when I was reassigned to work for Steve. Of course, the reality was that I knew nothing about him.

What happened over the course of the next year was one of those special times of life that changes who you are forever. I learned that while I knew nothing about him, he knew quite a bit about me. Turns out that this wasn’t some corporately bland reassignment, but, rather, he asked to take me on as a project.

As I got to know Steve, it turned out that the gravelly voice, which I can still hear in my imagination as I write, was just his voice. And the surley demeanor I had judged so harshly was a product of a direct and unassuming style this loquatious post-adolescent did not yet grok.

One teaching moment in particular is one I’ll never forget. I carry this lesson with me every day.

You see, I’d made a mistake. Not a huge one, but a clear screw-up. I had a plan for spin control. I was confident in the plan. The lies were off-white lies at best.

But Steve believed in me enough to ask questions gently. And after he had twisted me into a logical knot, he said, and I’ll never forget his words, “Tony, you can do better than this.” He proceeded to teach me the value of not spinning and just dealing with my own limitations as a human. He showed me the real value of honesty: building trust.

And, Steve was right. I came clean and it was all ok. And, a few months later when I made a yet bigger mistake, that was ok too.

I got to know Steve better over the next couple of years. I learned that we shared some basic interests and religious faith, but he was not the type to over-share or brag. Sadly, when I had this incredible access to him, I never fully understood Steve.

But, I understood far better when he died.

Just a couple years after this priceless mentoring, Steve was stricken with brain cancer. He was far younger than I am right now, so even in death he taught me to value every day.

But this wasn’t the last lesson he had to teach. Not hardly.

I was invited by his widow to his funeral. I had known of his faith, but not quite the extent to which he walked the walk. I’ve omitted a great deal of detail, but Steve had not had an easy life. In my mind, he was doing all he could to just survive and raise his own family. I assumed his faith was like my own: sincere, yet mostly a coping mechanism.

In the shadow of his recent death, some mutual acquaintances filled in some details. There was far more to the man than even I suspected. My admiration was already deep. My tears were quite real.

Steve had been an elder at a prominent church for many years. The details of his service to others would make this long answer far too long. The debts others expressed dwarfed my own sense of gratitude.

But, the funeral blew me away.

You see, it was a large church. Very large. That day, it was filled to the rafters. I have never been to anything like it since. The love expressed for Steve that day over powers me even as I write this.

And there, in that pew, I knew i wanted to be like Steve.

Not for glory or acclaim—not at all. Just to have left this place a better place than I had found it. And, as I traverse my new career in coaching, I am still chasing his example.

Thank you, Steve, for teaching me how to be real. I’ll never forget you. I’ll never achieve what you did, but I am so much happier for trying.

And, I even learned from misjudging you.

How did Huawei replace over 13,000 components in its range of products with local substitutes in response to US trade sanctions?

In a short sentence, the completeness of the supply chain.

In brief exposition, this is the bitter fruit of embargo.

No, I’m not referring to Donald the Orange’s tariffs and dismantling of Huawei.

I’m talking about the 30-year EMBARGO that the US enforced on China after the breakout of the Korean War, along with the withdrawal of Soviet tech support as relations cooled heading into the 60s.

In fact, the Cultural Revolution’s deurbanization was a direct policy response to having the economic rug pulled under by foreign forces.

China learned a very important lesson: Any weakness in a supply chain can and will be exploited.

The Chinese prioritized the control of key enabling heavy industries, beginning with steel manufacture, before using policy tools to encourage the organic growth of eco-systems downstream.

The Chinese were not happy with assembling a shoe from components. Rather they focused on being able to make every component, down to the dye and synthetic materials suitable for footwear.

This process was repeated up the tech ladder, and by the 2010s, the Chinese had the most complete supply chain in the world, encompassing all categories of the UN industrial sector classification. China remains the only country to maintain this milestone.

China’s strength is hardware, and the world’s greatest concentration of hardware engineering talent—whether it is chips, IC, antennas, speakers, motors—are found on the mainland, and overwhelmingly Chinese.

These are world class talent who’ve delivered on big projects, and thoroughly up-to-date with their field of expertise. I daresay set them loose on any problem and they will find solutions, because the intensity and breath which they attack problems is unrivaled. The Chinese have the scale to apply multiprong strategies in parallel*, while the competition iterate sequentially. This is the famed China speed, and China has made up plenty of ground in recent decades expertly harnessing economies of scale.

America uses its heft to force compliance, through the threat of market access withdrawal. But the Chinese market is already bigger than the US, especially hardware components, just because China is the world’s factory. Huawei is able to find enough domestic partners who don’t mind losing the US market, because there are enough customers within China. Besides, this is a matter of survival for entire industries, and it is imperative to break the tech embargo.

Huawei’s telecoms gear isn’t like cellphones, because they are tethered to the mains. Power efficiency isn’t a make or break consideration, and there is no need for the latest and greatest off the cutting edge node, chip-wise.

This makes domestic substitution a breeze compared to say, the Kirin SOC, because hacks are always available, especially under the umbrella of Huawei’s immense patent portfolio.

In the final analysis, I’d say it boils down to the quality and quantity of talent, and it shows in the remarkable speed of the turnaround.

欺负华为没人？

门儿都没有。

Heinz Guderian noted in his diary that he had observed snow for the first time in the campaign in the Soviet Union.

The original plan for Operation Barbarossa was extremely sketchy for such a massive operation. One of the odder aspects of planning was that the endpoints for the invasion were never set forth, and became vaguer and more nebulous the further along planning got.

The first battle plans, prepared for the OKW by General Erich Marcks in mid-1940, actually did set forth a terminal line of the invasion. Marcks proposed the “A-A line” as the operational objective. This was to run from the northern city of Arkhangelsk on the Arctic Sea through Gorky and Rostov to the port city of Astrakhan at the mouth of the Volga on the Caspian Sea. This assumed that the European portion of Russia and its satellites was the only part of the country of any interest and importance. There, the German Army could stop and set up a defensive line beyond which whatever was left of the Soviet Union could be allowed to wither away, as it would pose no threat.

After the Marcks Plan (as it came to be called), though, the idea of any kind of ultimate objective for the Wehrmacht disappeared. The debate instead degenerated into one of whether or not it was even important to get to Moscow, let alone reach any points further east. The prevailing theory – primarily Hitler’s – was that the entire Soviet Union would capitulate after a few decisive border battles destroyed the Red Army, failing that Hitler issued a directive to pursue the Soviets.

As of 6th October 1941, there has been no “pursuit” in the Soviet Union or at least none that has lasted very long. Every step has been contested, every river has been defended, every city has been fought over and sometimes even been boobytrapped after the Red Army has left. The defense has been uncoordinated and lacking in effectiveness on many occasions, but the Red Army has been fighting all the way. Now, the best campaigning months of 1941 are already gone and it is only going to get worse before it gets better again. Given all that, the astounding underestimation of the effectiveness of Red Army opposition during the planning stage of Operation Barbarossa has not really hampered German operations yet, it just has required adjustments to compensate for a slower rate of advance than anticipated. The tanks still run, the trucks still carry supplies, the horses are still fed from grain in the fields.

However, everything is about to change forever, and the men on the front line see why after dark as the snow begins to fall around them. The lack of effective antifreeze for trucks or tanks, the lack of chains for wheeled vehicles, the absence of winter clothing which was considered superfluous in June – all of a sudden these omissions loom large.

Late Night Flight

While drinking, a Pilot bet he could land outside the bar, 2 hours later he touched down in central New York in a stolen aircraft. Years later he repeated the stunt because someone wouldn’t believe him.

In September 1956 after drinking heavily at a bar in New York City, Thomas Fitzpatrick made an intoxicated barroom bet that he could travel from New Jersey to New York City in 15 minutes.

At 3 a.m. he stole a single-engine plane from the Teterboro and flew without any lights or radio before landing on St. Nicholas Avenue near 191st Street in front of the bar where the bet was made.

The New York Times called it a “fine landing” and a “feat of aeronautics”. For his illegal flight, he was fined $100 after the plane’s owner refused to press charges.

In October 1958 just before 1 a.m., Fitzpatrick again stole another plane from the same airfield and landed on Amsterdam and 187th after another bar patron disbelieved his first feat.

For his second stolen flight, judge John A. Mullen sentenced him to six months in prison. When asked why did had undertaken the 2nd flight Fitzpatrick told the police “he had pulled off the second flight after a bar patron refused to believe he had done the first one”

Fitzpatrick was a Marine during the Korean War and received a Purple Heart. He has three sons and was married to his wife, Helen, for 51 years working as a steamfitter. He died in 2009 at the age of 79.

Fitzpatrick has a mixed drink named after him for his feat called the “Late Night Flight”

Oh SH*T, The Collapse Has REALLY Begun

The threat of a US recession is escalating fast as corporate bankruptcies and debt defaults pile up. As the Federal Reserve continues to hike interest rates, small businesses are starting to collapse and close down. There’s going to be a tipping point where job losses will accelerate and consumer spending will crash.

What is the best case of, “You just tried to scam the wrong person,” that you’ve witnessed?

I got the “You owe money to the IRS and are going to jail” phone call. I knew it was a scam because not only does the IRS not call you, but I could hear multiple voices in the background…classic boiler room. Duh! So I decided to play along. I let the guy go into his spiel and about halfway through I started crying. When I say crying, I mean REALLY wailing, gasping for breath, totally panicked! The guy has to stop talking in order to calm me down as I’m really losing it. As soon as he calms me down, off he goes again, telling me if I don’t pay, I’ll go to jail. Well, I just lose it again…crying, wailing, the whole nine yards.

Again, he tries to calm me down. Finally, with hitching sobs, I calm down enough to ask him how much I owe the IRS. When he tells me it’s $24,000, well, you know, I just lost it again. Crying. Wailing. Sobbing. What am I going to do?? OMG, I’m going to lose my house! I won’t be able to feed my kids! I’ll have to give away my dogs! Oh, noooooo! Noooooo! He calms me down (again) with the suggestion that he might be able to reduce what I owe to just $12,000. Which, of course, just sets me off again. Where, oh where am I going to get that kind of money?? I’m going to lose everything! Death! Doom! Destruction!

Finally, for the last time, he manages to calm me down enough to where I can ask him one final question…before I gave him my credit card number, would it be okay if I ask my husband first? After all, he IS a tax attorney. Dead silence for the space of about five seconds, then he let loose a torrent of profanity such as I’ve never heard before (and I’ve heard a lot) while I’m laughing my ass off. He then warns me that, “I’ll be sorry” to which I reply, “Not as sorry as you, you thieving, scum-sucking piece of humanity!” He hung up on me then, and surprisingly enough, I’ve never gotten another IRS phone call again.

It was the highlight of my week!

What are the biggest culture shocks people face when coming to Germany?

I’ve been in Berlin for about two months now.

Here’s my longish list:

I started learning German before coming here. People said I was wasting my time, that everybody here speaks English. That’s not true. Many Germans don’t speak English. Also, a number of people (usually officials or clerks) were upset that I don’t speak their language yet, as if my not having learned the language yet in the span of two months is some grave offense.
Maybe it’s only this year but the summer isn’t really summer. There are hot and cold days. Sunny and overcast days. Clear and rainy days. A day can start sunny and end in rain. You can walk out in your shorts and have to wear pants and a light jacket by the end of the day. Also, the days are unbelievably long. The sun rises before 5 AM and sets at around 10 PM.
WWII and the Holocaust. I am of Jewish descent. Many of my ancestors were taken to Auschwitz and other camps to be exterminated. I remember the first time I saw a stolperstein or “stumbling stone” in Berlin (these are brass plates inscribed with the names of Jews and information about the dates of their deportation and extermination, inlaid in the pavement outside their last place of residence) I froze. My heart sank, and a deep sadness welled from within me.
Ethnic Diversity here is wonderful. There seem to be people from all over the world, all co-existing. Yes, there have been some glitches, but seeing this melting pot of diversity brings hope to the heart. Plus, you can have authentic food from almost anywhere—from Mexican to Vietnamese to Turkish to Lebanese to Korean, etc., etc.
Many, many people are tattooed, so much so that un-tattooed individuals seem rarer than tattooed ones. And so much so that I sometimes wonder if even the businessmen and women, under those fine tailored suits, are hiding some large and colorful dragon or tiger adorning their skins.
I assumed Berlin would be cleaner. Before I came I had a vision of Germany as a glinting-clean place. And although it’s not filthy, there’s some waste strewn about in parks and on the streets—empty beer bottles and food leftovers and dirty plastic packaging, etc.
And speaking of beer bottles, people drink alcohol. A lot of it. I see many people walking around with some kind of drink in their hands, or people sitting outside bars or even in parks with an unbelievable amount of empty bottles by their side. Or in supermarkets, walking out with cartfuls of booze.
Maybe I notice it more because I’ve never lived in a place with so many churches, but there are so many of them here. Imposing ones with rising spires and crimson bricks and huge bells resonating blocks and blocks away. Having grown up in Israel, I find it hard to imagine how the visions of a carpenter in the Middle-East, over centuries and millennia, transmogrified into these massive, gothic places of worship in a completely different culture and milieu.
The other day we went to a pleasant park and there were a bunch of kids playing in the nude, splashing each other with water and running around in the sand giggling. My son took off his clothes and joined them, and I thought, how wonderful that no one is embarrassed seeing naked kids playing around, that they are granted this easy, unconscious freedom that in many other parts of the would would have been considered inappropriate.
Sex seems to be less of a big deal here. I’ve seen a number of adverts in the street depicting some form of sex in illustrations. In the US, there would have been a lecherous quality to it, some kind of cleavage or exposed thighs, something to suggest and tease and taunt. But here there is something unassuming about its depiction—a couple or even a threesome lying in bed covered in blankets, a cartoon of a man with his loins covered by a popping champagne bottle and a smiling woman by his side. Unassertive—as if this, too, is a natural part of life and there’s no need to make a fuss about it.
Organic food is available in most supermarkets and is not necessarily exorbitantly priced. In fact, almost every little place that serves food will have some kind of organic lemonade or soft drink.
Although I am not vegetarian, when I came here I imagined würste (sausages) everywhere, and a dearth of other, non-pork based offering. But, in fact, it is very easy to get vegetarian food here. From vegetarian gemüse kebap (Turkish food—vegetables in bread) to vegetarian asian dishes, to tofu, grain- or legume-based meat substitutes in supermarkets, it is not only possible to be vegetarian here, but even easy.
The streets and the curb are wide and spacious, oftentimes cobbled and shaded by evenly-distanced stately trees. Having grown up in Israel and lived in India, this was novel for me—this European expansiveness.
Some people can be incredibly proper and strict here. I’ve been scolded for standing out in the street when the bus came, and then for standing in the wrong place inside the bus as I was paying. In some places and settings people are expected to behave in a certain ways, and are frowned upon if they are not.
The bicycle is a serious mode of transportation with its own lanes and a substantial number of riders.
Drivers are not as courteous as in other places—in less trafficked streets with no stoplight, and unlike the US, cars will mostly not stop when they see a pedestrian, and one has to wait for an opportunity to cross.
Things are well made. The walls of the apartment I’m staying in are almost as thick as my outstretched arm. The woodwork is precise and sturdy. Some of the buildings around look like they’ve been in existence for centuries, and that they will last for many centuries more. There is an assuring sturdiness in the material existence here—like things are dependable and robust. Also, it is not difficult to find objects that are Made in Germany or Europe—be it knives or rucksacks or wallets, etc.—that look like they will last for a lifetime. I like that.
Almost all shops are closed on Sundays.
Parcels are left with neighbors. If you’re not in and you have a package, it will be left with one of your neighbors, who will then, perhaps later in the day, come knocking on your door and claim the package with a slip.
People have been incredibly helpful. When I arrived, a neighbor helped carry our luggage from the street. Another neighbor helps me whenever I need something in German translated. I’ve had people in the street, after asking for directions, pull out their phones, search for the place, and give me clear instructions. Of course, as with everywhere else, there are also unfriendly people, but the friendly and helpful ones have left a greater impression on me.

Boeing is Panicking! Brunei and China Order 30 Aircraft | Boeing Completely Loses The Chinese Market

In May 2017, China successfully conducted the historic first test flight of the C919 aircraft, which marked the complete break of Boeing and Airbus’ half-century monopoly on large commercial aircraft. Soon after, China’s C919 aircraft attracted cooperation intentions from many countries.

Up to now, China’s orders for C919 aircraft have exceeded an astonishing 1,061 aircraft, but I think this is just the beginning of the emergence of China’s C919 aircraft. At this year’s 20th China-ASEAN Expo, China’s C919 aircraft once again became the focus of attention.

Among them, Brunei spent US$2 billion to purchase 30 large passenger aircraft from China, including the much-anticipated C919 aircraft. As more and more countries purchase China’s C919 aircraft, Boeing in the United States begins to panic and even begs to regain the Chinese market.

https://youtu.be/7kIH65mOefQ

What’s the most useless map ever made?

One day at the end of the School year, my teacher was throwing out some old junk. One of which was this old globe that was so inaccurate, I’m surprised it wasn’t thrown away as soon it came off the assembly line.

Some Countries don’t exist at the same time.

As far as I know, Tibet did not exist at the same time with a unified Independent India, Southeast Asia with a unified Vietnam, and what’s that little country north of Mongolia?

Oh that’s right, It’s Tannu Tuva! You know the country that was annexed into the USSR during the middle of WW2. Because the Partition of India took place after the World War ended (1947). The inconsistency with time are the least of this Globe’s problems.

Making major countries the same shade of blue as the OCEAN!

As you saw above, China is the same color of the Ocean, but that’s not the only one.

The color they chose for Turkey just makes it look like the Black Sea is part of the Mediterranean if you’re not looking close enough.

Same goes with the Great Lakes area.

Since the State of Michigan is sandwiched between massive lakes, it should be a different color to make it stand out more. Well the designer didn’t think so, because instead of the Great Lakes, it’s just ONE Great Lake.

Plus New York makes lake Ontario and Erie look like an extension of the Atlantic. So does Quebec.

But this doesn’t go with what makes the map the most useless.

They got the freaking hemispheres on wrong!!!!

I’m pretty sure Australia is not directly south of Ethiopia!

South America is just floating in the middle of the Ocean.

Though Southern Africa actually fits well with the Northern Hemisphere part of South America.

This Globe has to be the most Useless reference of the World ever!

Have you ever let your dog loose on someone who was on your property and refused to leave? Is it legal to do so?

I got Montana at a church fundraising garage sale for $1.15. She was a Rottweiler/GSD mix and the owners were selling the puppies for $3. After three hours of wheedling my mother, and scrounging as much change as I could from the car, I paid for her quite proudly. She’d been the runt of the litter, and all her litter mates had long been snatched up. I brought her home, and made a bed for her in the bottom drawer of my dresser. Took her to the vet the next day to get her all of her shots. Did basic obedience training with her and all the requisite fun things a teenage girl could do with a dog.

Flash forward three years and I’m off at school across the state, and she’s at home with my mother, grandmother and younger brother. Due to her general quirkiness, she never barked or growled unless she felt that her family was in danger. She was quite content to roam the backyard, playing chase along the fence lines with the dogs that neighbored on either side. About three am my mom hears the neighbor’s golden retriever barking up a storm, then hears the fence rattle. Thinking it was a raccoon or opossum, she laid back down. Then Montana is growling right under her window. That’s when she hears a lot of cussing, more growling and then a whimper and the fence on the other side rattle. Now there’s even more cussing and growling as the other set of neighbor’s black malamute is in on whatever is happening now. Mom grabs a flashlight and the cordless phone, calls 911 and rushes out to find out what’s happening. That’s when she sees a man vaulting the far side of the fence in the neighbors yard, only to be confronted by a massive Great Dane. Montana comes slinking to her, whimpering with cuts running down both her flanks. Grabbing her leash, she takes my dog out to greet the police, explaining what happened. Apparently they caught up with the guy a few blocks away, having been bitten by about four different dogs. Mom took my brave girl to the vet immediately. The cuts were superficial and shallow, needing nothing more than some cleaning. She had a chemical burn on her backside because he’d sprayed her with either mace or pepper spray. Montana was handsomely rewarded with a steak for doing her job protecting the family, and no one ever set foot in our backyard without permission again.

Do the majority of people in China wish to remain communists, or if they had a choice, would they want democracy?

Not the slightest chance of that

There is anger against the CPC by some people, especially in the big cities however none of these people want democracy or voting

They simply want more capitalist reforms by the CPC

The Majority are very satisfied and happy with the CPC

Especially the younger generation

They regard US democracy as a JOKE

They are so proud of their country and it’s growth and the CPC that they only want reforms, reforms and more reforms

Here are the main suggestions

The Average Age of a Party Member is 49 and they want it to reduce to 40
The Average Age of a Politburo member is 56. They want it to reduce it to 50.
70 Investments were banned by the CPC between 2017–2023. They want these investments regulated.
They want flexible and productive work hours to enhance maximum output instead of the rigid slogging workstyle of the older generation

They have contempt for the USA

Especially the 17–30 year olds born post 1993

Chinas future

They are brilliant, they have the midset to be the BEST in the world

The Older generation in their forties and fifties, born between 1973–1983 are more of the WHY IS THE US SO UNFAIR rather than any contempt for the US

They have a lot of relatives in US and the West who migrated from 1965–1990

They have contempt for the Russians and Russian Technology

They are also a bit colonial and sub consciously believe they are not in the same league as the West deep down

They MAY have no problem if China becomes a democracy but they wouldn’t want it as a choice

The even older generation in their 60s and 70s, born between 1945–1965 are steeped in Patriotic Ideology. They remember the old days and the way the CPC took China to the top

It’s for their sake that China still has the name Communist when it’s anything but communist

They would abhor any democracy

Xi has created a very nationalistic patriotic generation of Youngsters brimming with confidence

The CPC needs to make some changes though in the next 10 years to ensure the Youngsters connect to the party and that wave of nationalism is retained at it’s same fervour

But Democracy? Especially Western Style?

Good God No!!!!!

Could China force all countries to use their yuan instead of American dollars for trading internationally if they took over from America economically and militarily?

No to both questions,

Economically,

Countries opt for local currencies in bilateral trade due to several reasons that align with their own interests:

The high interest in the US dollar has driven up the cost of purchasing US dollars.
Foreign exchange transaction fees associated with using US banks are expensive (3%), and the SWIFT system not only takes several days to settle transactions but is also subject to US monitoring for unilateral sanctions, even when the transactions involve purely business matters.
A surplus of expensive US dollars is circulating in the global economy, with many countries selling them back to the Federal Reserve Bank where billions are used to fund the record national debt and crowding out private investment by keeping the interest high.
There is a concern that the US dollar could face a collapse if the Federal Reserve Bank ceases its policy of increasing interest rates, as this could exacerbate inflationary pressures and erode the currency’s value.

Military,

In contrast to historical colonial powers and the dominant influence of the United States, China lacks the ambition of global control through culture/racial superiority, military endeavors, and covert activities. Instead, China offers an alternative vision to the world by fostering connections among people through infrastructure development and trade.

The Real Reasons I Left United States (and won’t go back)

I really enjoyed this video.

Real Talk about why I don’t like living in the United States anymore and why I can’t see myself ever returning. I had invested a lot of time and money to research and travel the world to find where I best fit in, which culture I feel more comfortable in. After almost 6 years of continues life abroad, I really can’t see myself ever going back.

What are some strange things that only happen in China?

The sheer logistics of trying to feed a nation of 1.4 billion people are insane. Take this building right here — it’s a pig farm. A 26-story pig farm named Ezhou farm. It’s one of the biggest ‘only in China’ moments for me.

Basically, China has been having some pretty major geopolitical tensions with many of its neighbors lately, and there have been a lot of issues with the ongoing trade war with America. So China wants to be less dependent on imports of vital things such as food.

[1] As a result, it has started building absolutely MASSIVE pig farms on an industrial scale unseen anywhere in human history. It’s pretty crazy. Also, I gotta say, pretty impressive.

So yeah, 26-story pig farms are a strange phenomenon I’ve not seen anywhere else. Anyone who’s ever enjoyed Chinese cuisine knows it cannot survive without pork. So if ever war breaks out and trade routes are blocked, China is ensuring it’ll never run out of pork chops.

Who are the most professional and skilled foreign soldiers you have served with?

Let’s start with the worst:

Unfortunately, some stereotypes might be true. When I served in the German army we trained for a week with Italy’s famous “Folgore” parachute unit. Although they were considered elite in Italy, they really sucked.

When we went with them to the shooting range my job was to count the targets they were hitting, which weren’t many. With one guy it took me a while to figure out that he was missing his target by at least 5 meters- at a 150 meters shooting distance.

These guys failed at everything they did, except for one thing: The last night of their stay we went to a bar with them and after a few German beers they started singing Italian songs. Very well and beautiful and not like our “barbaric” German singing.

I also trained a lot with French units. Most of them were really decent fellows, but their officers were completely useless. They were unable to motivate their soldiers and always seemed to be screaming at them. As a result the French troops we trained with didn’t perform as well as they could have.

Although I trained with British troops on several occasions, they didn’t leave an impression with me. Neither good nor bad. Later on my German army unit got their a** kicked by a British Special Air Service unit during an exercise in Denmark. I didn’t participate in this exercise and therefore these SAS guys are not in my ranking.

In Bosnia I fought for the Croats. They were all decent soldiers and what is very important, they were eager to learn. The Croatian army during the war lacked material and sometimes professionalism, but they more than compensated these flaws with outstanding bravery and high motivation. Especially their leadership was exemplary.

Later I fought in Kosovo with the Kosovo Liberation Army. I trained the unit that I fought with, so of course, they did ok. What I often saw in battle was that with the right guidance one could really make a difference. Sometimes we had soldiers from other units under our command and although we first thought that they were completely useless, watching our guys fight it out, these soldiers started to give their best.

I trained twice with US Army units and both times it was a pleasure. First time with a battalion of the 82nd Airborne in Italy and later I had the privilege to attend the German commando course with a US Army Special Forces unit. While the Airborne soldiers, although very good soldiers, were not really a match to our German “Fallschirmjäger” platoon, the US Army Special Forces (SF) were amazing.

They somehow weren’t that good at achieving many tasks during our training inside the barracks and were also not the fastest team on the obstacle course, but as soon as they were in the forest they showed admirable infantry skills, very good adaptation to the terrain, speed and stealth.

These SF would make the first place on my ranking if it wasn’t for a couple of Dutch LRRP’s (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol) soldiers who also attended the same German commando course. They were good at everything and in the end had the highest score from all attendees.

They were also very modest, quiet and polite, almost shy, and these are qualities one doesn’t find very often with elite soldiers. Therefore I rank them first.

If a drone is flying on my property and I have already notified that I do not want it to be flying on it, can I destroy it without legal repercussion?

I will answer with my experience in this. There was a drone that would come over my house three times a day and roughly the same time each day. I put out a sign said please stop recording my house and yard for a couple of days but it kept coming. Thay is when I noticed a police car parked in the lot behind my house while the drone was there. So each time I’d check and see on my camera if the cop car was there and every time the drone came around sure enough. So new sign unless you have a warrent stop filming my house and yard. At this time I checked with courts for any investigation warrents for me and my property and none. So I then went out and threw rocks towards the drone each time it would take off. But still coming back. So I set the trap. I sat out front and waited for this thing to come flying over my back yard with a rather large rock. I nailed it the first try. It broke and landed in the back yard. It took three days for the cops to get a court order to come and retrieve it. Seems in the attempt to get me into trouble they had to show the footage of the drone and the warning to stop recording was enough to exonerated me for damage to the drone. They have not been back since.

Man Didn’t Want This Cat. Now They’re Inseparable Swimming Buddies

At first this man didn’t want a cat, but his swimming buddy Frosty changed everything. It took time for them to develop the bond, but when they did, a cat dad was born. Soon, Stefan discovered Frosty’s affinity for swimming, He was super curious about water and started jumping to the shower, and then the bath and finally the swimming pool.

https://youtu.be/-wSl9unZ7wE

What’s something commonly eaten in America that British people find strange or disgusting? I’m looking for foods that are viewed as normal in America that British people can’t understand.

So what the bloody hell is this?!

Biscuits and gravy is a popular breakfast dish in the United States, especially in the South.

No.

No.

NO!

I don’t care that you have your own version of English – that is an abomination.

That quite clearly consists of a scone:

With some kind of weird elephant ejaculate on top.

So not only is the name utterly wrong to British ears (if you ask someone here if they wanted “biscuits and gravy” here you will either a) end up in a mental institute, or b) be hounded out of town like a demon), but:

The actual thing doesn’t look much better.

I mean seriously guys – that stuff looks pretty damn unappetising, and that’s a “glamour shot” taken from some recipe website!

So America – let’s recap:

You’ve taken a food item traditionally eaten in the UK with cream and jam – and decided it would be better with some weirdass sausage-jizz-sauce.
You gave it a name which makes it sound bloody awful to British people

In case you haven’t gathered – this is not a popular food item in the U.K.

And we would rather it stayed that way – it looks ghastly.

EDIT:

From some of the very angry comments, it seems like some of you Americans just can’t seem to take a light-hearted ribbing, or a smidge of sarcasm. The whole point of the question is that us Brits don’t understand why you like it.

And for crying out loud:

yes, I know you call biscuits “cookies”. That’s part of the bloody joke.
Yes I have tried it. Calling me ignorant isn’t going to help.
Yes some British stuff is weird too. But we’re not talking about us – the question is about America.

Some people are treating this answer like I did a big squishy turd on your beloved flag.

It must be that sarcasm is hidden away in the ‘u’ in humour….

Which countries have the most brutal and horrific history?

This answer isn’t really about saying what one single country has done the worst, but I do want to share below on the cruelty of humankind that many people don’t know about.

Graphic content below but I want to make this known because so many people around the world have heard of Hitler, Nazis, concentration camps but they have not heard of the Asian holocaust that took place around the same period. In western schools, history classes do not teach people about this part of the world.

This is regarding what the Japanese did during their occupation of China and Korea and the war crimes they committed to the surrounding Asian countries, including some Pacific Islands they invaded: Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar, East Timor, New Guinea, Indonesia, Guam, Nauru, Wake Island, Attu and Kiska Islands, and Kiribati.

They even had some prisoners of war from the west such as America, any forces against them at the time etc.

Hundreds of thousands of women from my country in Korea were forcefully abducted (called comfort women) during the Japanese occupation in WWII. They endured torture beyond imagination if they did not sexually submit to these vile men and were forced to have sex with 60–100 men every single day. Their innards rotted because of the STD’s and they were destroyed, unable to have children even after they were rescued. They have still not been compensated for the war crimes that they endured and majority have died.

Pregnant mothers were cut open and rape victims were sodomized with bamboo sticks and bayonets until they died in agony.

On top of this they literally tore the unborn from women’s wombs and speared them alive with bayonets in front of them. They’d crush the infant’s skull against concrete floors. They would actually do this for fun.

They tied sons and daughters up and tore them apart, spearing them and forced their own parents to watch.

They raped and pillaged women of all ages, even toddlers to old women in the most vile, disgusting way imaginable. They would often disembowel them while in the process, leaving them to die in agony.

They conducted unspeakable evil torture and experiments on LIVE prisoners from these countries even children and infants in UNIT 731. Torture methods such as vivisecting pregnant women without any anesthesia, centrifuging and killing people in pressurized chambers, and slowly burning and freezing people alive. They artificially created what is similar to the ‘bubonic plague’ to see the effects on the prisoners. They were forced into X-rays until they perished and hung people by their thumbs or tongues etc. These torture tactics were deliberately planned to see death happen SLOWLY, not fast as the scientists wanted to observe the resilience of the human body.

Unbelievably Inhumane Japanese Torture Methods Used During World War II

(image deleted – too unsettling)

Bodies of slayed, raped, mutilated women in China.

(image deleted – too unsettling)

Carcasses of babies and children piled up

Despite this, Japan still presently denies what has happened and even believes that it is a rumour. The young people as shown in this video are absolutely clueless on the whole tragedy, or are so far removed in cognitive dissonance and lack of care it is astounding. There is even a middle aged woman in the video who even says “Well I’m not sure if it’s a rumour or not…” which is an absolute lunacy and an embarrassment of the failure of the country in not properly educating their citizens of what truly happened. One young girl even says “Well, I wonder when they will ever get over it…” How are people supposed to get over it when there are still thousands of victims still alive who didn’t receive any form of compensation for what they have been through??!

Their government still warps their history books and deliberately tries to hide the evidence of what truly happened. There are active groups within Japan who refuse to accept what happened and truly believe that it is just a ‘rumour’ to make Japan look bad.

Below is a real life account by a South Korean comfort woman on the horrors she went through. It is heartbreaking to watch but quite educational. She sadly passed away early January of this year, fighting until her last breath but still never receiving any compensation or apology from the Japanese. They don’t even recognize that she went through this or who she is.

(Video no longer available on YT)

What Japan did wasn’t just an invasion or occupation, it was a literal carnage, hell on earth genocide. They didn’t have to go this far as majority of the Koreans and the people they invaded were helpless farmers, uneducated servants, and innocent people who were not trained in war at all. They did this because they did not see these people as human, and their goal wasn’t simply to occupy, but to desecrate the spirit from within. They knew when you destroy someone’s spirit from inside out, the enemy will bend the knee and yield to the point where they do not have the soul to fight back. On top of this, it was just pure, raw sadistic savagery because all of these helpless people surrendered and begged for mercy yet they were still tortured for absolutely no reason.

(Video no longer available on YT)

Presently Japan is one of the most wealthiest and prosperous Asian countries in the world yet they cannot even fully take responsibility for their own committed atrocities. It shows the savage barbarism that still resides in some of these people and makes one question just how this is even acceptable. Instead they choose to warp their own history books, flat out deny it existed and have refused to offer sincere, acceptable compensation/apology for the people who are still alive. They are waiting until every last victim is dead so they no longer have to worry about it. They are not truly ashamed of this past, they just see it as an eyesore they want to bury. Keep in mind Japan has very strong political parties that strives to ensure this shameful past does not reach the masses to retain their false honour. Still to this day, they praise their war criminals in shrines.

From the invasion of China in 1937 to the end of World War II, the Japanese military regime murdered near 3,000,000 to over 10,000,000 people, most probably almost 6,000,000 Chinese, Indonesians, Koreans, Filipinos, and Indochinese, among others, including Western prisoners of war. This is more than the estimated Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe controversially claimed that “there was no evidence to prove” that the women had been coerced into sex.

“The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is engaged in an all-out effort to portray the historical record as a tissue of liesdesigned to discredit the nation,” wrote Mindy Kotler, director of Asia Policy Point, in 2014.

“Mr. Abe’s administration DENIES that imperial Japan ran a system of human trafficking and coerced prostitution, implying that comfort women were simply camp-following prostitutes,” Kotler continued. “The official narrative in Japan is fast becoming detached from reality, as it seeks to cast the Japanese people — rather than the comfort women of the Asia-Pacific theater — as the victims of this story.”

Japan’s Textbooks Reflect Revised History

Japanese Broadcast Official: We Didn’t Commit War Crimes, the U.S. Just Made That Up

Why is it so hard for Japan to say sorry?

China criticises Japan after Shinzo Abe honours war criminals as martyrs

Letter threatening to hunt Koreans sent to South Korean embassy in Japan: media

The Harrowing Story Of Filipina Women Enslaved In Japan’s Wartime Rape Camps

Edit: Since I’m getting quite a lot of people who clearly don’t seem to understand and may not have read or researched in depth in this matter. They are saying that ‘Japan does not need to offer apology or compensation for what people of their past did etc’

It’s more complicated than that.

Please read the links again. Even if they can’t take full responsibility for their past, they SHOULD take responsibility for the future by not warping textbooks and giving power to political parties who enforces the dangerous fallacy of denying any of this ever happened or triviliazing everything that has happened. They should make sure to teach the correct history not just for educational purposes but to ensure their citizens fully know and accept their own history and in hopes that it never happens again. This is also to help not silence the voices of the people who did suffer in the past and to not spit into their graves and ruin their legacy by spreading false lies.

Also the comfort women and people who were forcefully taken into labour camps as prisoners, many are still alive who didn’t actually get any compensation or even sheer RECOGNITION. They suffered their entire lives without anyone hearing what they have to say with nothing from Japan. This isn’t just about wanting Japan to go up to a stadium and saying ‘I am sorry’ and stepping down. Words are meaningless and worthless when not backed up by actions.

They are hypocrites by warping textbooks and also praising their own war criminals. Imagine what the world would say if Germany praises Nazis and gave strong political power that has the power to make Germans never even hearing of the Nazis or even contemplate if it was just a rumour or not. Think about how insane that would be.

So why do they need to apologise? Because unlike Germany what they are doing is absolutely deplorable and morally bankrupt by continuing to CONTRIBUTE to the legacy of the abomination Japan was in the past. You don’t see Germany do the same about the Nazis and for good reason. It means Japan hasn’t learned and is not truly remorseful. By Japan I am talking of the FACES of Japan which are the politicians who represent that country. The rest of the Japanese experience their trickle down effect so while it’s not saying it’s their fault, they end up indirectly contributing to supporting these vile politicians. So yes the people who represent JAPAN who hold the power of influence does need to sincerely apologise and stop contributing to what they are presently doing.

As I am getting tired of having to repeat the same information again and again, any comments that say things along the lines of ‘Japan does not need to apologise’ or those questioning or defending the existence of any of these crimes, their war criminals will be either ignored, deleted or blocked. It is extremely disrespectful to the victims and deplorable. The links are already here clear as day for reading and one can also do the research themselves. Also for anyone who brings up another atrocity and pitting them against each other, STOP. This post isn’t about pitting one atrocity against another, it is disgusting to even keep doing that and seriously lacks any insight into the original point of my post.

Otherwise thank you for reading and have a nice day.

TLDR: Japan did some truly horrific shit that many people including the present day Japanese citizens are unaware of. What they did is abysmal carnage from the Antichrist itself.

Also, piece of shit apologies that require uttering words and throwing money at victims isn’t a true apology when they are still in 2019 warping textbooks and none of their youths know anything about their crimes.

Why do you think Germany forces every citizen to learn about their nazi history and Japan doesn’t ? It is to deliberately ignore and not acknowledge their past due to their pride and selfishness. I’d equate this to even pathological narcissism and psychopathy due to how far they have gone in managing stomping this knowledge out of their own present day citizens.

Edit 2: As I am still getting very disrespectful, deranged comments on here pitting atrocities against each other, saying that I am spreading lies and others spewing ignorant hatred against Koreans, here’s my final message.

Instead of blaming others, look at what Japanese Nationals do. Stop diverting the attention away by blaming the mistakes of other countries yet not acknowledging the corruption of the Japanese government

Japan’s leaders are still stubbornly refusing to admit their war crimes

What Japanese history lessons leave out

Japanese people often fail to understand why neighbouring countries harbour a grudge over events that happened in the 1930s and 40s. The reason, in many cases, is that they barely learned any 20th Century history. I myself only got a full picture when I left Japan and went to school in Australia

The Germans in contrast have personally done everything possible to make people aware of their Nazi past. Japan doesn’t scratch the surface of what it means to have true honour while Germans go to great lengths to do humanitarian work and to allow their citizens to understand the FULL facts. This is what true compensation and remorse actually is, not the dogshit excuse of what Japan does by also denying people, correct history. End of.

We must remember Nazi crimes, says Merkel

Westoids get rid of this sick mentality

Disappointed that china isn’t collapsing and Chinese people are not starving with 50 cent hoes selling their body to you?

A channel which is ironically named “Economics Explained” is possibly the worst when it comes to it. Western propganda is not just limited to mainstream media, but to nutwits like these.

Imagine if a Chinese made a video “sorry to disappoint America/India isn’t collapsing ..yet”. What wud their reactions be.

In all honesty, the best channel for economics is Xiao Lin, light years better than these sick bas***ds.

Meanwhile Indian videos on China’s economy are even more hating than that of westoids.

Like seriously westoids, get a forking life other than hating a new country every decade. Last decade was Russia, last to last was Iraq. You guys got no job other than invading countries and telling “we love the people hate the government” then getting sad why that country hasn’t collapsed yet?

Original San Antonio Chili

Ingredients

2 pounds beef shoulder, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 pound pork shoulder, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/4 cup suet
1/4 cup pork fat
3 medium-size onions, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 quart water
4 ancho chiles
1 serrano chile
6 dried red chiles
1 tablespoon comino seeds, freshly ground
2 tablespoons Mexican oregano
Salt to taste

Instructions

Place lightly floured beef and pork cubes in with suet and pork fat in heavy chili pot and cook quickly, stirring often.
Add onions and garlic and cook until they are tender and limp.
Add water to mixture and simmer slowly while preparing chiles.
Remove stems and seeds from chiles and chop very finely.
Grind chiles in molcajete and add oregano with salt to mixture. Simmer for another 2 hours.
Remove suet casing and skim off some fat.

Notes

Never cook frijoles with chiles and meat. Serve as a separate dish.

What is the toughest difficulty you have ever faced in life?

The pain was beyond anything imaginable.

Chiang Mai Thailand 2013. I had a rare form of Tuberculosis cysts lodged in my spinal cord and on my right kidney. The doctors didn’t know how I contracted this deadly bacteria. I was too ashamed to tell them it was from drug abuse and the unhygienic practices that came with it.

It felt like a hot knife piercing my back continuously for months as I lay immobilized on the bed of my apartment. I could not hold down food and went from 220 lbs to 163 lbs. There was no sleep, only my body eventually shutting down from the pain.

My mother was an LPN and flew in to take care of me because I could not afford a hospital. My poor mother, I screamed at her to take my life. I switched from fentanyl to methadone to morphine, but none of them worked – they only made the pain worse because my feeble body could not process the drugs. It was gasoline on the fire raging inside me.

Once a week or so, my mother would help me to sit up, place a back brace on me, and help me move six feet to the bathroom so I could attempt a bowel movement and a brief shower. Every inch of every movement was excruciating pain; I had no more tears; it was hollow bellowing, and even cursing was painful. And then back to bed. That simple exercise would be an hour of horrific suffering.

After three months of strong antibiotics, I could finally eat and hold it down. With a back brace and cane, I could stand and walk briefly. The photo above was from this time, taken with my beautiful mother. You can see the back brace under my shirt and the cane I used to walk.

This life I have today is beyond anything imaginable

I never thought it possible. I thought I was doomed to the bondage of self, and the slavery of active addiction.

Now, I live a lifestyle of sober recovery – drug and alcohol-free at 56. I train daily in the gym, go for power walks and jogs in nature, and have a purposeful, meaningful life.

I Just Got an Email That Left me SPEECHLESS. WE’RE AT DEFCON 2

This is really good, from a prepper. DEFCON 2. Holy Shit!

What are things about corporate life no one tells you about?

Your appraisal is dependent on last 2 months efforts and not 12 months
You ask for a raise, and your boss thinks you’re looking for a job change
You complain about administrative issues and your manager thinks you’re trying to be a rebel
Don’t share secrets with your colleagues, they might be sharing your secrets with colleagues or managers
Your office friend is not your real friend and they won’t swear by your death bed
If you die tomorrow, there is a replacement within a week
Your efficiency is decided by number of hours you clock in vs number of productive efforts you place in
A junior person can outsmart a senior person but he will still be called junior
Your mistakes will always be discussed during appraisals
Your best performance will be discussed when you want to quit
If you finish your work on time and leave early, this is getting noted in the system as you don’t have enough work. [Your efficiency is not counted 90% of the time.]
Hiring is done based on communication skills and not on management, writing, negotiation, programming, analysis, attitude and mindset
Your CTC, Variable, Bonus and Take home salary are different components (understand the difference)
Utilize your earned and casual leaves when you get time
Find your interests and do some certification courses from LinkedIn, Coursera, edX etc
Documentation is king
Lazy ones are the smartest but are difficult to manage
Love your job and be committed to the work. Period.
Your salary will increase by 1.5x, 2x or 3x only when you switch companies
At age 20–30 skill set is primary and salary is secondary.
If you find a mentor in your current company, listen to him/her and always consult when you get stuck
Be open to change and learn how to become smarter
Try to be 1% better than yesterday
Kill the boredom, go for a walk when you don’t have anything to do at office or talk to your colleagues and find out how they do what they do
Be happy and learn the financial management, this will help you stay afloat after 10–15 years

Chen Si.

He works at a logistics agency in Nanjing, China. He also spends his free time saving other people’s lives.

Let me tell you his story.

In 2003, a very close relative of Chen’s committed suicide after watching his sons argue over who would take care of him. The incident was deeply traumatizing. Having to lose someone he held so dear to his heart just because his sons didn’t seem to show enough respect and compassion for him. Chen also read in the local newspaper that the Nanjing-Yangtze River Bridge was a major suicide hotspot — in fact, by 2006, about 2,000 people were estimated to have killed themselves by jumping off the bridge since the year it was constructed (1968). He then became greatly determined to devote the rest of his life saving those of others trapped in hopelessness by foiling suicide attempts.

In response, Chen began to patrol the Nanjing-Yangtze bridge either on his motorbike or on foot, continuously on the lookout for people willing to jump from it.

He has been there almost every day, even on holidays and weekends, regardless of the weather.

He has kept a lookout for signs of depression, for example, in the way some of them walk, which Chen describes as “passive with no spirit or direction”.

Chen also keeps a diary documenting the people he has encountered and the reasons why they wanted to kill themselves.

Some had been greatly shamed for not being successful enough in school.
Some had broken up with their boyfriend or girlfriend.
Some had wasted away their money on needless things.
There was also, for example, a migrant worker who was drowning in debt because he couldn’t pay off the $15,000 bill for his daughter’s leukemia treatments.

Chen also gives out suicide prevention pamphlets to potential jumpers, detailing emergency contacts.

And not only does he simply pull people off the bridge. In fact, he has spent 10,000 yuan ($1,457 in dollars) renting a two-room house not far from the site, which he calls “a station for the soul to rest in”.

He sits with people and lets them share all their suffering in their stories, which in a way ignites friendship, trust, and newfound confidence. Chen also occasionally brings victims back to the bridge as volunteers, helping others see a way forward in life.

Throughout his time engaging in this, Chen has stopped over 300 people from ending their lives. That is an example of being a hero without having to fight. An example of generosity and compassion at work without the necessity for bloodshed. Sometimes the best heroes simply dedicate themselves to lending a hand to people who feel like they’ve got nothing left for them. Chen Si isn’t called the “Angel of Nanjing” for nothing.

“Not all heroes wear capes”, they say. That is most definitely true.

Footnotes

[1] Chen Si – Wikipedia

What are some of the oldest contracts still in place that include some regular payments, like a lease that requires the user or tenant to pay something?

Every October since 1211 the City of London has paid rent to the Crown for two pieces of land even though nobody knows their exact locations.

The Ceremony of Quit Rents is the oldest legal ceremony in England apart for the Coronation of the Monarch. It takes place between St Michael’s Day (October 11th) and St Martin’s Day (November 11th) every year in the Royal Courts of Justice in London where the City pays the King’s Remembrancer.

The King’s Remembrancer is the oldest judicial position in England and was created in 1164 by Henry II to keep track of what was owed to the crown.

For the first piece of land, called The Moors, the City pays two knives, one blunt and one sharp.

The Remembrancer’s duty is to test the knives. The billhook is tested on a hazel tally and should make a mark representing the payment. The sharp axe then splits the tally in two, one for each party as a receipt. The Remembrancer then calls “Good service”.

This is called a split tally where in order to record debts a stick was marked with a number of notches and then split lengthwise. This way the two halves both record the same notches and each party to the transaction received one half of the marked stick as proof.

The second quit rent is for the use of the forge in Tweezer’s Alley, somewhere near The Strand. It is believed that the first tenant, Walter Le Brun, was a blacksmith who had set up his business near the tilting ground of the Knights Templar sometime around 1235.

The rent for this land is sixty-one nails and six horse-shoes. The horseshoes used are believed to date back to 1361 and are probably the oldest horseshoes still in existence. After the payment is received, the shoes and nails are then loaned back to the City of London for the next year.

When presented with the horseshoes and nails, the Remembrancer calls “Good number”.

There are also other quit or peppercorn rents. In Medieval times when a piece of property was deeded over as a reward for service a nominal rent was often charged as a reminder that the tenant didn’t own the property outright. A single peppercorn (or a single rose i.e. rose rents) was among the most popular forms of this style of rent but there were various other interesting forms of payment, such as a frog, a roast pork dinner, the donation of a petticoat to a poor woman, or even a raw calves head and a pair of gloves.

What do you dislike most about the U.S.?

Hi.
I am an Australian who is married to an American and, due to the nature of my work, lived ALL OVER the US over a decade.

Half my family are American and many of my closest friends.
In short, I’m very fond of the United States and support my nation’s close affiliation with them.

So please forgive me if I’m blunt.
This is NOT an American bash, it’s an honest expression of the one thing that [SOME] Americans do that never fails to trigger me.

“We saved your asses in World War Two”.

Americans often tell us bluntly, over and over how they “saved our arses” in both World Wars.

I assure you, EVERY SINGLE Brit, Aussie, Kiwi or Canadian reading along can hear those words spoken in an American accent as they read them.

That’s how often we hear it.
Almost weekly.
Certainly once a month.

Wars that we ourselves stepped up and fought in the protection of others.
Wars that wouldn’t even have affected us directly.
Wars we fought for YEARS before the United States.

Australia, Canada, India and New Zealand particularly could have turned their backs on Western Europe.

Britain herself could have closed her borders and looked the other way.
Hitler had no designs on the UK – He admired them.
All they had to do was stand back and allow the holocaust to happen.

But of course they couldn’t because fighting Nazi Germany was the right thing to do.

We didn’t make Britain wait 3.2 and 2.3 years to enter either great war.
We were there from day one.

We didn’t charge Britain for our goods or help.
We didn’t keep a tally and make them pay it back for seventy years.
We didn’t insist they realign their trade preferences to favour our markets setting their still very young colonies prematurely adrift or cost them their empire, wealth, dignity or preeminence as a world power.

We didn’t use Britain’s plight as a springboard for our own wealth and dominance or spend the following century diluting their culture with Pan Americanism and shallow consumerism.

CANZUK didn’t ask for anything.
We just went because we’re family and that’s what family does and despite what some of you are going to assert in the comments, yes, America, though you are the black sheep you are also family.

Speaking for Australia, from a population of six million (2/3 of which were women, children, the elderly and infirm), a full one million Australian men served in the military during the Second World war.

Let that sink in.

We had, from our far-flung nation gathered together the fourth-largest air force in the world and the fifth largest navy and lost so many men in every theater of both World Wars that we had a noticeable lack of them right into the 1980s.
Indeed, by the time American boots had touched the ground in North Africa and Europe, CANZUK had already sacrificed literally millions of men.

It’s SO, rude.
I’m not even sure you understand just how disrespectful it is and how much damage it does [at street level] to our relationships with the US.
Honestly – it’s there in the pit of all our stomachs whenever we even engage with an American.

I will leave you with this quote from the memoirs of one of your own.
American journalist Ernie Pyle who was killed in action by the Japanese in April 1945.

His account of D-day and the liberation of Paris.

“One cannot help but be moved by the colossus of our invasion. It was a bold and mighty thing. One of the epics of all history. I hope that we can rejoice in victory but humbly. The dead men would not want us to gloat.”

Peace.

Do people realise that China is an authoritarian country?

Probably. So?

I don’t live in China. But I do live in another country that is often said to be authoritarian (Singapore). And what else can we say about Singapore?

It’s ranked in the world’s top five richest countries (by GDP per capita). It’s ranked among the world’s top five least corrupt countries. Its public transport system is often ranked as the world’s best. It’s also ranked as the world’s no. 6 most peaceful country. It has one of the world’s highest average life expectancies. It’s ranked No. 1 for infrastructure. Singapore is ranked the 2nd safest city in the world. Singapore students are the world’s best in science, math and literacy. Its economy is ranked the 4th most competitive in the world. Singapore has the lowest infant mortality rate in the world. Homelessness is very rare here. Singapore’s rate of death by drug overdose is 81 times lower than in the US. There hasn’t been one gun homicide in the past 17 years.

Etc etc etc. I could go on and on. Basically Singapore is a very successful country across a wide range of different indicators and criteria. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it – what exactly is so bad about authoritarianism.

Yeah, yeah, you can’t smoke pot; you’ll be caned if you are a rapist, and you have no right to utter hate speech to bully anybody. Sounds quite good to me.

Which is the best thing to import?

Cigarettes 😀

You do the maths. I used to be able to buy them at HKIA for $90HKD a carton. The airport staff said you have to pay duty if you take more than 2 cartons. I said yes and filled my suitcase.

I’d take them to the UK and sell them for £35–40 a carton. I’d sell them to somebody who looked like he’d stab you in the face. First time I met him he wanted to rob me, but realised I could supply him regularly. Anyway he’d sell them for £50–60 a carton (it’s about £50 for 100 a carton is 200).

The trick was to land late at night, if you did this the customs agents were usually not too attentive and wanted to go home.

Same thing with France, I’d go for a razz now and again and come back with a car filled with cigarettes.

It was easy money and made me my seed money to get my business off the ground.

What are some sad truths about life?

Chris Langan was born with a freakishly potent brain, having arguably the highest IQ of any living person.

Langan began speaking at six months old and went on to skip several grades. He had an adult vocabulary by age 10. He breezed through college-level tests as an adolescent. He took his SAT several years early and got a perfect score in half the allotted time and took a nap.

Today, he is a rancher. He never finished college. Most of his adult years were spent as a bouncer at a bar, and in manual labor jobs.

It all stemmed from his rough childhood. He grew up in a poor family. His mother married multiple times before he turned 12. One stepfather committed suicide. Another was psychopathic and abusive.

His stark upbringing created behavioral problems and a persisting contempt for authority. Combine this with inadequate mentorship, resources, and an absent professional network and he never weaponized his extremely rare gift.

The sad truth is that there are many like Langan, who are like the gifted child working on a 3rd world farm, born into poverty and dealt a common, cruel blow to the chance of success.

TikTok on the cost of living | RANT ON INFLATION | EVERYONE IS BROKE AND TIRED

“Hi guys, just to clarify I do not own any of these videos I just thought it would be interesting to see how people are dealing with the cost of living, sending prayers and well wishes to you ”

MM hospital run

Well, I am in the hospital. In-patient.

I had a “blood pressure” event that scared the living shit out of myself and caused me to rush to the emergency room.

The night before, we had drank three bottles of Merlot wine. Now, Merlot is a very hard wine, not so much in alcohol, but it is a heavy wine, and the next morning, I felt “very off”. That feeling of being “off” persisted well into the afternoon.

By 3:30 in the afternoon, I made up some of my herbal tea. Which consisted of “yin Yang Hua herbs (“Horny goat weed”) and GuoGe grapes. You just keep on adding hot water to the mix. And I drank about six bottles of the tea. Perhaps six or seven bottles. Maybe three liters total. It made me feel better.

It always does.

Anyways, I started to chew on some of the leaves and swallowed some of the GuoGe berries. And about a half of an hour later, I started to feel really “off”

My body felt really “wrong”.

So I went and checked my blood pressure. It is normally at 121.

I read 142. High.

High.

So I calmed down. Waited 15 minutes.

Measured it again.

158. Uh oh!

Gulp.

It was rising rapidly. Too rapidly. Too fast.

So I waited twenty minutes, and checked again.

175.

Sheeeeet!

I told ms. mm, “we need to go to the hospital now”. She started to protest, “but I have xxxxx”. I said “I don’t care.” And grabbed my keys. And the mrs and kid followed behind.

Luckily the hospital was down the street and we parked in front of the emergency room, as it was around 5 o’clock Sunday night.

I got in. They measured my vitals.

Blood Pressure = 214
Body temperature = 39.5 C

Both too high. I was admitted, and checked in. The staff took care of me.

…

Anyways, things are under control now, but I have to stay in the hospital for a while as they watch me.

My temperature is back to normal, and my BP is going down. The doctors tell me that I worry too much, high BP will not kill me. And they put me in the old people wing of the hospital due to my age.

LOL.

They nurses look at me… and then to my wife…, and four-year old and go “really?”

I don’t look like the rest of the folk in this area. And frankly, they are scaring me. Old 90 year old men on death-beds, and 80-year olds with health issues.

But I’ll get out once things stabilize.

My heart checks out fine. CT scan of my skull is fine too, though the doctor wanted to know what those seven black beads were. LOL! He chuckled at my answer, and I joked about it too.

Anyways…

Don’t fuck around with your health!

Anyways, the doctor says that my worrying about my situation only made things worse. All I was doing was drinking red wine, and taking Chinese herbal teas and that there was nothing that I should worry about.

Nothing. Normal behaviors.

Blurred vision, however. Dizziness, however… yeah… go straight to the hospital, but aside from that. Dontworryaboutit.

I’ll give you all updates as time moves on, but I have a lot of things on my plate that this particular moment in time, and I have to jiggle my medical emergency with all sorts of other personal, professional concerns. So I’m at max right now.

…

Today…

Attractiveness as rated by different sexes

How and where was Huawei able to manufacture the 7nm chip that powers the Mate 60 series? It is the subject of intense speculation within the US government. Why does the US focus on it? Will it reignite the ongoing US-China tech cold war?

Huawei did a miracle, defy traditional convention and believe, it had done the impossible. It was beyond US and DOC imagination, it is still a mystery to them, they have yet to figure out how Huawei did it.

The US banned Huawei access to EDA design tool, practically cut Huawei or Hisilcon from designing the chip although Hisilcon was able to design chip of 3nm using US EDA design tool before the ban.

Therefore Huawei and Hisilcon need to come out with their own EDA tool which they did successfully in unprecedented record time.

With its own EDA tool Hisilcon can proceed to design 7nm chip that SMIC can fabricate.

The other breakthrough was the fabrication of 7nm chips with DUV machines which according to industry is not possible, DUV standard limit is to produce chip up to 14 or 10 nm. 7nm chip require EUV machine, China or SMIC was banned from getting EUV machine.

BUT SMIC with corporation from Huawei did successfully produce 7nm chips by using available DUV machines which they call them N+2 chip. It was reported Huawei seconded more than 300 engineers or scientists to jointly resolve the bottleneck of using existing DUV machines to produce the require N+2 chips, an unbelievable breakthrough.

Another mystery is how can SMIC mass produce N+2 chips, initially, market was under impression, Huawei Mate 60 pro will be limited in supply, but Huawei surprised the markets by introducing 3 more models and look like the 7nm chip had achieved mass production able to meet sale volumn requirement.

The US and allies are panic now, Qualcom sale of chips to China contribute more than 60% of their sales, may risk losing the markets, ASML is panic too, China and Huawei are likely to breakthrough on EUV machine soon. US EDA suppliers risk losing Chinese markets permanently, the biggest risk is China may soon flood the markets with competitive chips killing US and allies chip industries.

The US and allies need to worry beyond just Mate 60 pro.

周杰倫 Jay Chou【Mine Mine】Official MV

What do you make of the comment by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat that “the most important bilateral relations in the world is that between the US and China”?

Of course.

The U.S. will lose considerable ground and opportunity if it continue behaving like it is doing now.

What you need is a leader like Newsom the California governor. He sets aside biases and US media narratives to visit China and sees for himself what opportunities the U.S. is missing by having senile leaders like Trump and Biden.

The U.S. can only stay strong if it takes its head out of the sand. China is not just a big market it is humongous and growing rapidly. China alone is worth more than your next 5 biggest market. These nonsense of decoupling or de risking is having the opposite effect. You are not cutting China out. The U.S. is being decoupled from the world instead.

I suspect that Americans will throw out all China and Chinese haters out of your government soon. That is the first right step for the U.S.

GLICHERY – SEA OF PROBLEMS (PHONK)

Creole Flank Steak with Sautéed Vegetables and Cheese Grits

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

Flank Steak

1 beef flank steak (about 1 to 1 1/2 pounds)
1/2 cup red wine
2 tablespoons lime juice
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

Okra and Carrots Sauté

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
16 ounces okra, cut into 1 inch pieces

Creole Grits

1 1/2 cups water
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup quick-cooking grits
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup jalapeño jack cheese, shredded

Instructions

Flank Steak

Combine red wine, lime juice, garlic, Creole seasoning, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper in a food-safe plastic bag. Add steak, close bag securely. Marinate in refrigerator for 6 hours to overnight.
Remove steak from marinade; discard marinade. Place steak on grid over medium, ash-covered coals. Grill, covered, 11 to 16 minutes (over medium heat on preheated gas grill, 16 to 21 minutes) for medium rare (145 degrees F) to medium (160 degrees F) doneness, turning occasionally. Allow to rest.

Okra and Carrots Sauté

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the onions, carrots, cumin, coriander and chili powder. Sauté for 3 to 5 minutes or until the onions are transparent. Add the tomatoes and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
Add the okra and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes or until the okra is cooked through.

Creole Grits

In a Dutch oven combine water, milk, Creole seasoning and salt. Bring to a boil.
Slowly add grits to hot liquid stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and cover, stirring occasionally, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Remove from heat, stir in butter in cheese until melted.
Slice grilled steak against the grain. Serve with vegetables and grits.

Nutrition

Per serving: 569.53 Calories; 256.68 Calories from fat; 28.6g Total Fat (13.2g Saturated Fat; 0.1g Trans Fat; 1.1g Polyunsaturated Fat; 8.6g Monounsaturated Fat;) 97.9mg Cholesterol; 1192mg Sodium; 45g Total Carbohydrate; 5.3g Dietary Fiber; 38.5g Protein; 4.3mg Iron; 964mg Potassium; 9.9mg Niacin; 0.7mg Vitamin B6; 3.6mcg Vitamin B12; 6.6mg Zinc; 35.5mcg Selenium; 129.3mg Choline

This recipe is an excellent source of Protein, Iron, Potassium, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Zinc, Selenium, Choline; and a good source of Dietary Fiber.

Why do many people live beyond their means/income?

Because the goalposts have been moved.

50 years ago, it was perfectly reasonable to have a huge house, 3 kids, a car, and go on holidays at least once per year. On a single income.

Today, working 2 jobs, living in a small room, having no kids, taking the bus, never going on holidays, but sometimes getting a latte or an avocado toast… is considered to be an extravagant lifestyle, filled with needless luxuries.

Give it another couple of decades, and random stuff like getting 8 hours of sleep will be declared to be some kind of reckless indulgence, irresponsible behavior that youngsters should avoid if they ever want to be able to afford housing.

Husband Shocks Mrs By Laying Down The Law About The Marriage, Lack Of Bedroom Fun, Etc (She Obeys)

In today’s video, I go over an email sent from a subscriber who shares his story of how his once great marriage went down the tubes after unfortunate life events caused him to stop being the masculine leader he once was.

Finally after gaining back some of his manhood, he confronts his wife about her years of bad treatment of him and makes it clear that there are going to be some immediate changes or it’s over!

This is a great story about how men need to always remain in their masculine (even when things are difficult) as well as be the leader or things will quickly go to hell in a handbasket in their relationships.

What was the best April Fool’s prank played on you/you played on someone else?

Sixteen years ago, I got a job assignment 100 miles away for one year. My newly married daughter and son in law (Andy) moved into my house and I got an apartment in the new city. I came home most weekends. Before I left, I asked Andy if he wanted to keep cable for the year and pay for it. He said no and I cancelled it. Interestingly my bill with Comcast reflected the cancellation but the house still had service.

A few months go by and now it is April 1. I call Andy and leave a voicemail. I say that the Michigan State Police contacted me. They are investigating a three state cable theft ring. They claim my home is stealing cable, there is an illegal, third party bridge device affixed to home and the device has Andy’s fingerprints on it. I am in the clear because I have not been living there. This is all fiction.

Next, Andy is out and goes to my ex wife’s house where he and my daughter had been living previous to my house. A younger daughter answers the door and tells Andy that a police officer came to the house asking for him. She gives him a name and phone number the imaginary cop left. Andy is confused and then listens to my voicemail. Now he is freaked out. He calls the number and it rings to the desk of the woman who works next to me. She sees the incoming number and answers “Kent County Jail”. Andy identifies himself and tells her a bit of the story. She says she will transfer the call to the detective.

The call rings to my desk and I answer Hi Andy. April Fools.

I never left his side

What are some reasons the Cold War started?

Everyone keeps saying “1945” but the genesis of the distrust between the Soviet Union and the United States goes back way before that, and it’s impossible to understand why the two sides got engaged in proxy wars and a disastrously expensive arms buildup without going back to the Russian October Revolution in 1917.

It’s 1917 and the Russian Empire is on the ropes due to some spectacularly bad military and civilian leadership that saw Tsar Nicholas actually trying to lead troops in the field. His government completely collapsed that spring.

However, the provisional government, led by a faction called the Mensheviks (“Minority”) made one critical error. They were dependent on Great Britain, France and the United States to prop up their finances on the condition that Russia continue their war effort. The Mensheviks were no better at trying to fight the Germans, Austrians and Turks as the Imperial forces were and Germany decided to try to destabilize the new government by allowing passage to a Communist who went by the pseudonym of “Lenin” who was living in Geneva at the time who knew an opportunity when he saw it.

Lenin managed to get the support of worker’s unions, known by the Russian name “Soviet”, and the armed forces and took power in Moscow. He then consolidated power and ordered his foreign minister to end the war with the enemy powers as soon as possible no matter what it cost them. Russia conceded massive amounts of land and Lenin planned for what he knew was coming next – a civil war with the various factions that remained in Russian territory and breakaway states.

Naturally, the Western Powers were appalled, not only by the fact they now had to fight the Germans and Austrians alone (the war dragged on for another year) but that Lenin was making good on his promises to destroy the aristocracy and redistribute land and factories to the new “Soviets”.

The Russian Civil War, which lasted from 1917 to 1923 was an absolute mess with dozens of factions getting involved in addition to the primary fight between the Bolshevik “Red Army” and the “White Movement”, a loose coalition of anti-communist forces. Into this mess jumped in Great Britain, France and the United States, who sent personnel and support to the White faction.

So, after half-a-million people were killed and another 2.5 million people were wounded, the Reds were clearly on top and ready to rebuild the country. Unfortunately, the currency was worthless and the economy (once the world’s 4th largest) was in the toilet. What made it worse was that the economy was still largely agricultural at this point, and the Soviet Union still had to feed itself.

And absolutely no-one was willing to help them. Despite the Soviet Union being the de facto government of most of the old Empire (the Baltic States and some other areas remained independent) it would be another ten years before the western governments would recognize the new government, at which point the Soviet Union still struggled to recover its economy while it made great strides in industrialization. Sure, the west would buy Catherine the Great’s diamonds, but money was scarce.

In 1924 the secretary of the party, who had by manipulating meeting attendance and taking control of the bureaucracy rose to the head of the government, was clearly in charge with his rivals fleeing the country (to no avail, he had them hunted down). Joe Steel, or in Russian, “Josef Stalin”, had been a Georgian seminary student (he was very bright) and former bank robber (to finance communist party operations) but despite his accomplishments still spoke Russian like a Georgian and had a massive inferiority complex, a suspicious streak a mile wide, and was absolutely ruthless. When he died thirty years later, his servants were too afraid to check to see if he was actually dead.

But the western powers, this time including the newly restored Nazi Germany, were still hell bent on anti-Bolshevik rhetoric. The Nazis were hardly alone in this – the U.S., France and Great Britain were also hostile to communists during this period.

And it’s in 1939 when Stalin makes one of the greatest blunders in world history – he trusts Hitler. As his foreign minister later said, Stalin trusted no-one, except the world’s greatest liar. At first, it seemed to be a good idea as Russia seized the eastern half of Poland. However, just two years later, the Germans were on the move and invaded the Soviet Union. The irony is that Great Britain had excellent intelligence and was able to pin down the date of the invasion. They weren’t stupid and passed the information onto Russia. However, Stalin thought it was a ruse to get them to attack Germany. The Tsar’s attack on Germany in 1914 was what led to the war with Germany and he didn’t think it was a good idea to repeat history.

Nevertheless, their common enemy pushed Great Britain and the Soviet Union together as the British provided what they could to the Russians. When America entered the war later that year they got in on the game too and the three sides realized they had to work together to destroy Nazi Germany.

But throughout this period the three sides still had a lot of distrust of each other, and there were even cases where the United States and Great Britain were at odds.

Percentages agreement – Wikipedia

Russian and Great Britain’s plan to carve up Europe after the war. The U.S. wasn’t in on it.

But distrust over each other’s post war motives continued. By the time Truman told Stalin about the atomic bomb, Stalin knew about the project and even before that, had known about the potential (Russian scientists had independently hit on the idea). Moreover, during the period from 1941–1944 and D-Day, the Russians were carrying the bulk of the fight against the Germans and suffering terribly for it while the British and Americans were safely making plans in England. Stalin persistently pressed the matter about when the western powers would open a second front, and by the time they did so in June 1944 it was clear the Germans weren’t going to win the war anyway. American involvement didn’t win the war, but it certainly shortened it.

Things didn’t get better after Germany’s defeat. Russia turned its attention to Japan and Japan, in another great historical miscalculation, figured they could avoid an occupation by using the Russians as intermediaries with the Americans. Instead, the Russians moved their forces east and invaded Manchuria the same day the first atomic bomb fell.

The importance of this delay cannot be overstated as it allowed Russia to occupy Manchuria and the northern half of the Korean peninsula, both of which were under Japanese occupation. Meanwhile the Americans grabbed the southern part of Korea and Japanese occupied Taiwan. Russia’s occupation allowed safe haven for the Chinese and Korean communist parties.

Still, the Russians, Americans, British and French still worked together to get things done, but by 1949 it was clear that the relationship was severely strained. One of the big issues was the flight of European capital to the United States after the war. This was clearly against the laws of the countries where the capital flight had taken place, but instead of repatriating the capital to their original countries, the American government decided to provide replacement capital (commonly called The Marshall Plan). Stalin outright refused to participate in the plan and again blamed capitalists for the now near total lack of usable money in his sphere of influence.

The western powers managed to keep the Russians from extending their influence into Austria or Greece, but it was clear Stalin had a great plan to prevent western friendly governments from getting influence in the regions he occupied. The first was his refusal to clear Warsaw of German troops as the Polish government-in-exile in London planned to return. This gave him the opportunity to set up a new Polish provisional government. East Germany’s new leaders were found by using the easiest denazification tactic after the war – finding German communists who had been forced into exile or concentration camps.

After the Soviet attempt to blockade the western powers zone in Berlin in 1948, everyone quickly got used to the new world order with NATO in the east with the remaining democracies and the Warsaw Pact consisting of communist puppet governments in Russian occupied territory. A couple of places like Yugoslavia and Albania were both communist and mostly independent of Russia, but it was a delicate balancing act.

At the same time, it was clear the Republic of China was in serious problems and the Kuomintang fled to American controlled Taiwan as the Chinese Communist Party managed to do what the Republic of China never did – consolidate the country’s military forces into a single unit and take control over all the countryside. The Soviet Union immediately recognized the new communist government of China, but the western powers instead continued to back the Kuomintang despite the fact they no longer controlled any of the mainland.

So in the end all of this really goes back to that time in 1918 when the western powers refused to accept communism despite its immediate popularity in the new Soviet Union, and gave birth to a paranoid sociopath who could neither trust nor be trusted. The two sides continued to be suspicious of each other for the next forty-five years as both spread misinformation about the other in order to justify their tactics.

Do not be fooled

What is the strangest thing you’ve seen someone return to a store?

Someone attempted to return a steel entry door to the store I worked at. I refused the return.

“You have to take this door back! I know the returns policy here!”

“No, I do not. We only accept returns of unused items.”

“And how do you know it isn’t unused?”

“Okay…
It’s painted green on one side.
It’s painted white on the other.
The tape from where someone hung a picture on it is still there.
The jamb on one side is nine years older than the jamb on the other, and it’s busted out where the lock bores are.
The jamb side of the hinges is a different color than the lock side.
It’s warped.
The brickmould around the outside is three different colors. (There are three pieces of brickmould on a door.)
There’s a big dent in the area of the lockset where someone kicked it in.
Which says to me that someone came in, bought a new door to replace this one, removed the parts from the new door that he needed, reassembled the rest of the parts into a facsimile of a door, then sent you down here with it to try to return it. And, as I said, I’m not going to accept the return.”

Naturally, he demanded to speak to a manager…who took one look at the door, asked the guy “you’re kidding, right?” and walked away.

On edit: Here’s one that was actually justified. In North Carolina, you can buy bales of pine needles. The product is called Pine Straw, and people use it in landscaping. A woman brought back a bale of it – something that NEVER happened.

“Reason for return?”
“There’s a live rattlesnake in it.”

We called Animal Control. They sent a truck over to pick up the bale. Before hauling the snake off, they told her that next time she gets a free rattlesnake with her pine straw, she needs to call Animal Control and not try to haul it back to the store. They returned two hours later; they hauled the snake twenty miles out in the woods and turned it loose.

Second edit: A customer I knew pretty well and got along with (he was a contractor) brought in a wooden gable vent. A very, very used wooden gable vent…the house it was in was probably 50 years old. So I got called to Returns. “No. Definitely used, and we don’t sell these anyway. The cobwebs on this thing probably weigh more than it does.”

“But I bought it here fifteen years ago!”

“Sir, I can guarantee you didn’t buy this here fifteen years ago.”

“How can you guarantee that?”

“The store is only eleven years old.”

He was just fucking around; he wanted to see if I’d throw it away for him because it wouldn’t fit in the dumpster he rented. That, I would do.

Two options

I just got fired. Now my former boss (the one who let me go) is asking me where some important documents are. How should I respond?

I went through this myself and I was the biggest idiot in the world for thinking that maybe, just maybe, if I’m nice and give the info my “dear friend” would change his mind. HAH!! The fucker had his errand boy bother me for days about all the shit that they never fixed or gave me the correct info to fix it properly and they they denied the fact that I worked 7 days a week and only paid me for one week instead of the 2 it should of been. His piss poor excuse was that his girlfriend the office manager said I wasn’t owed it. I wonder how she would of felt if I told her about the offer of an apartment and $3k a month to be his girlfriend and how much he hated being with her and was disgusted at the thought of having sex with her. DO NOT DO IT! If you are offered payment to do it and you need the money, tell them the money has to be in your account before you tell them anything, otherwise let them look for it themselves. Basically, fuck them, they fired you and now are proving they need you. It’s bullshit!

What is the worst case of a spoiled person you have ever seen?

In 9th grade, during PE class we were just sort of milling around waiting for class to start. The guys were all standing around discussing chores.

Our PE teacher was a southern blue collar kind of guy. He worked as a fixer upper worker on the weekends too, repairing homes, bathrooms, kitchens etc. This is a guy who probably earned every penny he ever spent.

And here he was stuck in a room with a bunch of spoiled rich kids.

He jokingly said something to the effect of, “Man, you guys are all spoiled. I bet your parents pay you to do chores.”

And all the guys start nodding yes. “Oh yeah, my mom gives me $20 to mow the lawn.”

Another says, “I get $5 to clean my room.”

The teacher had poorly concealed disgust on his face.

For the record, I didn’t get paid for chores. Again, I’m from a military family. Being paid for chores is preposterous.

I cleaned my room or else.

Why did China’s Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng say that the US wants to establish China as an ‘imaginary enemy’ to divert attention from domestic problems and suppress China?

Of course.

It is cheap political propaganda that gain popularity but in reality costly to the U.S. government and the Americans livelihood.

To me and indeed the world. The U.S. is a broken nation that has tremendous internal issues to the point of being unsustainable and imploding politically and socially. There is far too many unworkable issues facing the U.S. such as racialism, poverty, homelessness, disparity of income, high inflation, bankrupt cities, random street shooting and unworkable. Health care policies.

Most U.S. politicians simply ignore those unsolvable issues and distract the attention of frustrated citizens by ignoring those problems through creating imaginary adversaries like China, Iran or Russia. Their media are used to demonise these nations instead of facing its own domestic issues.

What is the last thing you want your pilot to say?

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have a problem with our wings,” announced the pilot.

True story. This happened to me last week.

The plane was making its final approach to Houston Intercontinental Airport. Suddenly there were three consecutive “ding-dong” sounds in the main cabin.

I saw both air hostesses run from the back of the plane to the front and grab the phone. They talked for a few seconds to the pilot, then the pilot came on with an announcement.

“We have broken off our approach. We have a problem with our wings. The leading edge slats won’t come down. We have declared an emergency and we will be landing shortly,” he said.

“Fire trucks will be waiting for us on the runway. It’s probably going to be a hard landing because we can’t slow the plane down as we normally would. We’ll see you on the ground.”

That was it.

Immediately the air hostesses started preparing everyone for the emergency. Uncertainty filled the cabin. Everyone of us felt vulnerable and scared.

I reflected on how fragile we are. There we were, trapped inside a metal tube flying at a high speed, … nothing to be done, simply pray and trust that everything would be okay.

The wind shook the plane from one side to the other. I could sense how the pilot was trying to find the optimal speed to land, not too fast, yet enough to fight the winds.

I could finally see the runway through my window. We all braced for the impact and as soon as we touched the ground, the pilot hit hard on the brakes.

The captain did an amazing job. We cheered and clapped for his fantastic landing.

Fire trucks followed us to the gate.

It was not fun. That leading edge slat on the front of the wing is responsible for the addition of a few more grey hairs to my head.

My first — and hopefully my last — emergency landing!

Making a sandwich is a problem

Is it a crime to say in China, “Xi Jinping is destroying China. He must be kicked out! He is a dictator!”? In the West, saying such things about one’s president is perfectly normal.

Nobody cares about you.

You need to prove your idea carefully and defend your opinion facing a tsunami of debates, otherwise, no one believes in you, or they just took you as a psycho. Persuading Chinese people is a hard task, America tried every means to turn Chinese people to think so in past 30 years, but worked badly. And thanks to Western anti-China propaganda, Chinese people are well trained in confronting such speeches.
China has a lot of CCP-haters, Western-lickers, retro-nationalist (hate their own nationality and hoped to be colonized by the West again), they spoke much more hilarious speeches than you.
Again, if someone making speech only providing his own opinion but lacking details, usually means the speaker is less educated or lack independent rational thinking.

Why I choose to raise my child in CHINA and not the WEST

I found a practically new Porsche 911 that was declared a total loss by an insurance company because water came up to the floor. A third party says it’s in perfect condition and wants to sell it. Should I buy it?

Oh. Oh dear god.

Any car that’s been written off for water damage is a car you want to stay as far away from as possible. Insurance companies know what they’re doing, and there’s a reason they declare water-damaged cars total losses even when the car looks and acts fine.

Look, Porches are expensive, temperamental, finicky beasts at the best of times, with perfect care and proper maintenance. A water-damaged car that insurance has declared a total loss? Jesus.

No. The third party is lying to you. It is not in perfect condition. Dear God no. If you buy it, you are not purchasing a car. You are purchasing a world of hurt. You are purchasing pain everlasting. You are purchasing a demon of the night, a thing that will present you with repair bills you never knew could be so high and so frequent at such totally unexpected times. Every seal, every moving part, every bit of metal on that car is suspect, and it will fail in interesting ways you wouldn’t think possible.

“Perfect condition” my left testicle. Right now, as I type this, corrosion is at work in every tiny nook and cranny of that car, eating away at its heart. As the seller hopes you’re too technically naive to realize. Don’t think of it as a car, think of it as an opportunity to saddle yourself with an expensive albatross that will be a source of the most magnificent pain for years to come.

Snowgraff – 10 Mentions Parallèles feat. José (Clip Officiel)

Israel Minister Amihai Eliyahu: Dropping a Nuke on Gaza is “An Option.”

World Hal Turner

Israel’s Minister Amihai Eliyahu says that dropping a nuclear weapon on the Gaza Strip is “an option.” Given the volume of explosives already dropped on Gaza, it exceeds the explosive power of Hiroshima.

Asked in a radio interview about a hypothetical nuclear option, Eliyahu replied: “That’s one way.” His remark made headlines in Arab media and scandalised mainstream Israeli broadcasters.

Neither Eliyahu or his party leader are in the streamlined ministerial forum (War Cabinet) running the Gaza war. Neither would they have inside knowledge of Israel’s nuclear capabilities – which it does not publicly acknowledge – or the power to activate them.

“Eliyahu’s statements are not based in reality. Israel and the IDF (military) are operating in accordance with the highest standards of international law to avoid harming innocents. We will continue to do so until our victory,” Netanyahu’s office said.

Eliyahu also voiced his objection to allowing any humanitarian aid into Gaza, adding that “there is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza” and that Palestinians “can go to Ireland or deserts.”

Hal Turner Editorial Opinion

I am almost apoplectic at this remark by Minister Eliyahu.

It is unclear to me which is worse: His remark, or the reality that his country has dropped more conventional explosives on Gaza than the explosive power of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb; and Israel still isn’t winning.

Can any of us imagine a military that is so ineffective, they would have to resort to using a nuclear bomb against an “enemy” that has NO ARMY?

How pathetic must the Israel Defense Force actually be that someone would even consider using a nuclear weapon?

One wonders if Minister Eliyahu has even considered what the rest of the world might do if Israel actually did something like that? Would the rest of the world allow even ONE Zionist – including Christian Zionists – to continue living anywhere on this planet if they did something like that?

How could the world ever trust any such person to remain breathing if they chose to use a nuclear bomb against an enemy that has NO ARMY?

I think this remark by Minister Eliyahu shows a gigantic, deep-seated, severe, mental sickness. Win at all costs, no matter what.

The remark strikes me as what we get when we bring up entire generations of people with “Participation Trophies” so they “all win.”

In real life, in sports, in business, in relationships, someone wins and someone loses. It is the reality of human existence.

But those who were brought up with Participation Trophies, have never had to learn to lose. They never learn to deal with it.

And it now appears to me, this is the result: A man who is so bent over possibly losing, he is willing to use nuclear bombs against an enemy that has no army, in order to satiate his need to “win.”

This remark indicates to me, that this particular Minister (and maybe a whole slew more) is a danger to himself and to other people.

How many more such people with such maniacal ideas are elsewhere in Governments around the world?

Maybe it’s time to find out – before such a maniacal idea spreads.

It’s a different race completely

Have you ever gotten roadside help from somebody unexpected?

Quite the opposite. One of the right side 110psi tires on my 24 foot living-quarters horse trailer blew out spectacularly on the interstate in Wyoming. It caused quite a bit of damage to the trailer. My horses were fine, though. I was alone, but prepared for that eventuality. On the side of the freeway, I set about getting it changed. I noticed a car pull over in front of me as if to help. A young man got out of the back seat, took one look at me standing there holding my four-way lug wrench, immediately turned around and got back in the car and left! What was he expecting? I was 57 years old at the time with silver hair, but not ugly or scary. I can’t imagine why someone pulling over to help would change their mind upon seeing me. Maybe I looked capable? I did get the tire changed, but getting the extremely heavy spare on was very difficult. I was very dirty (I ended up sitting on my butt on the roadside straddling the wheel, and lifting the spare up with the help of my knees) and bug-bit when I was done, and I’m still mystified as to what changed the young man’s mind.

Why Men Age Like FINE WINE in the Dating Market | Why Women Like to Date Older Men

The reasons why men age like fine wine and most women prefer to date men that are older, is because women look for a “standard”. In addition to qualities, that most men, simply do not have in their early twenties. Which makes it very ironic that women complain about this fact, since it’s women themselves, who are choosing these standards and men. Most skills that women love in a long term partner are skills and traits that only come with age and experience.

What was the most scariest experience you’ve had at work?

Hello, I trust that you will truly understand the whole means the this event had upon me. I was working in neibourhood office with about a dozen others, a mother came in carrying her child, who alleged had stopped breathing. Everyone stood back aghast…. Not knowing what do, several people just ran out. I had to push through the melee of useless people who were happy just to stare.. Moribid fasination! I managed to take the child from the mother and began breathing and heart compression treatment. I was very briefly trained in first aid, but only to a small degree. While I was with the child, someone called for an ambulance, which eventually arrived. They took the child from who by now was partly recovered. I heard theat very soon the child had recovered completely. All this action caused a great deal of mental worry to me and disrupted me a huge amount. Am I now over the trauma? I very much doubt it. My the lord never sho you the back of his hand.

What are some paradoxes in life?

The more you seek approval from others, the less you will get it.
You can only be brave when you are afraid.
If you aren’t happy now, you won’t be happy after you achieve your goals.
We aren’t wired to be happy and fulfilled, but to be miserable and safe.
Without failures, there can be no consistent success.
Wisdom is realizing that you know so little.
The more available you are to people, the less they will respect you.
Nobody will love you if you don’t love yourself.
A king and a slave have the same duties i.e. to serve others.
If you find yourself in toxic relationships over and over again, then it’s your fault — you teach people how to treat you.
Whatever you think is stopping you from living the life you want is not stopping you, but only you.

Triangle method

What is your craziest TSA experience?

I was on my way to Iraq. I was on a plane chartered by the Marine Corps for this, there were about 400 Marines on the flight, in uniform, with our weapons stowed under our seats. I was stationed in California, and we left from March Air Force Base out there. The first stop was in Baltimore, at the international airport there, and this is where my story occurs.

In Baltimore, we were let out of the terminal to go make phone calls and smoke cigarettes and whatever else. I called my girlfriend from a payphone, I smoked some cigarettes, and eventually it came time to get back on the plane. Now, I had put my rifle cleaning kit into my cargo pocket, without the slightest idea that this would cause any problem whatsoever. Inside my cleaning kit was this”carbon pick”.

I’d estimate that the steel rod at the end is about half an inch long by maybe a millimeter in diameter. As I emptied my pockets to go through the checkpoint, this carbon pick came to the attention of the TSA mouthbreather working there. He had decided that this steel rod, significantly smaller than a toothpick, was a deadly weapon (or something) and that I would not be permitted to take it into the terminal and on my flight. Now, mind you, I was in uniform. Flying with a military ID. With approximately 400 other guys dressed exactly like me. I told him that I clearly was flying on official military duty, and that I wasn’t wearing desert camouflage for fashion sense, and that it wasn’t a coincidence that there were all these other guys wearing the exact same outfit who were with me. He didn’t seem to comprehend this. I told him that, speaking of weapons, I had an M16A4, a select fire rifle, under the seat on my flight, a bayonet with a 7″ blade in my carry on, and everyone else on my flight was similarly equipped – except for those with grenade launchers and machine guns. He looked at me stupidly. Eventually I said something to the effect of: “you know those guys, those terrorists, that you’re trying to keep from getting on airplanes? Well me and all those other guys dressed like me are going over to Iraq to kill them. And to do that properly, I need my fucking rifle cleaning gear”. He grudgingly handed my carbon pick back and let me through. He took my cigarette lighter – I’m still convinced, 12 years later, that he did so simply to score some small, petty victory. I didn’t care, I’d left my crucial Zippo on the plane anticipating TSA stupidity.

This is your tax dollars at work, America. Outfuckinstanding.

Anima Libera 0.8X (国会鼓DJ抖音版 2023) Remix Tiktok

Why don’t China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea have emotional intelligence and no global media? Why they don’t use datas against the USA? Everyone thinks the USA is right always.

You think that everyone thinks the U.S. is right. That is a highly flawed notion. You media gives you the impression and your politicians fooled you into thinking that way.

The truth is to tally the opposite. Very few people on earth have trust and faith in the U.S. Global media reached out to mainly to the western world. This group sound a lot but they are a small minority. In population it adds up to 13% of the world. In nation count it is at most 12–15 out of the world’s 195 nations.

I live in South East Asia. Almost everyone I meet are disgusted with American lies and western media. No one believes it. It is biased it is opinionated, it spews falsehoods and fabrications. For me I feel pitiful for the western Ignorant and highly naive lot. Please tell yourself 90% of everything written in CNN, Fox, BBC are inaccurate and lies.

I cannot speak for other nations but Chinese media focus less on opinion but you are given facts and proofs. Chinese media trust that armed with facts one can make up their own mind.

Creole Hot Dogs and Rice

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

3/4 onion, diced
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
2 slices bacon, diced
3 hot dogs, sliced
2 cups cooked rice
1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes (seasoned or not)
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro or basil, chopped

Instructions

Cook bacon until crisp and remove from pan to paper towels to drain.
Sauté onion in bacon drippings for 4 to 5 minutes or until onion is softened.
Stir in seasoning and sliced hot dogs and cook for 2 minutes.
Add rice, bacon and tomatoes and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until heated through.
Remove from heat. Stir in chopped cilantro or basil.

Would you be willing to adapt if European style socialism was implemented across the board in the U.S. or would you have to leave the country?

If the U.S. treated its citizens like Europe does, I might actually come home.

Leaving Media, PA for Frankfurt, Germany in 1990, I have to admit, it was hard to adjust.

When I went to the supermarket there were only ten or twelve types of soda. The bread was heavy with brown stuff and seeds. Some stores didn’t even bother to take the goods out of the carton boxes. The cashiers didn’t treat me like a king and the stores closed at 6.30 p.m. during the week and at 2.30 on Saturdays. The service was so lazy they refused to work on Sundays and everything was closed.

What a nightmare!

I went from the land of 24/7 plenty to a socialist desert.

Get this, on Sundays people walked everywhere. Gas was so expensive, that few could afford to cruise about the countryside just for fun. People took public transportation because they couldn’t afford a car or the place to park it.

Then there were the taxes. When you are young, single and making tons of money they rob you. In some countries such people are taxed at more than 40%.

Healthy I had to pay the highest premium for mandatory health insurance, and some chain-smoking unemployed father of five paid much less.

There is no better way to say it, I was furious.

I was used to a different sort of social justice.

Then something really terrible happened.

Summer came and I had to take vacation. I learned that I had five weeks with full pay. Crazy isn’t it?

How can any economy function when everybody spends so much time on vacation?

It gets even worse. Everybody gets a minimum of 20 paid vacation days! EVERYBODY! Yes, even the dishwasher, the hotel page, the taxi driver and the cleaner get paid vacation. And for a small deduction from their salary, they get unlimited health care too. And if they have smart kids, they get to go to the best schools for free.

It was then I started to understand why eating out was more expensive too.

Feeling sorry for myself I asked “Why did I go to college and study so hard if even the cleaner has the same rights to vacation, health care and education as me?”

Slowly, the answer dawned in my thick skull.

Everybody else does have the same rights as me.

Everybody has the right to health, enough to eat and a warm place to sleep…even those who don’t work. It occurred to me that that may be why the incarceration rate is so much lower in Europe.

Everybody who works hard, no matter how much they earn, has the right to paid vacation.

I woke up and smelled the roses.

I liked vacation. And I was much more productive and happy when I returned to work

I saw the clean streets, the modern buses and metros, the airports crowded with regular people returning from sunny beaches.

I learned to look forward to Sunday grill parties when nobody had to work.

I became tired of traffic jams and trying to find a parking spot for my car and read a book while on the train or the bus.

I fell from a fence and had to go to the hospital. They treated me like a king and there was no bill.

I met a girl who became my wife. We moved to France and raised four children. That was almost 20 years ago.

I still pay the highest rate for health care, but it’s not much more than I paid 30 years ago as a single. The deduction for our four children makes our income tax rate very low. If they want, all the children can go to university without breaking the family finances.

To conclude, everything I paid into the system as a young man is being returned to me in spades.

When the children are grown and my taxes rise, I will pay them without anger (I won’t lie and say happily).

Europe is taking care of me, my family, my friends, my co-workers and my neighbours.

It is not a utopia. It can do many things better.

But America can do better too. A good start would be to recognize that caring for fellow humanity is not a dirty word that ends like Venezuela.

I love America dearly, but Europe treats its normal people (that would be me) better and I will stay here until that changes.

That’s Right

Groovy living

In the middle 1970’s I visited my fathers’ second cousin in Youngstown, Ohio. He had two daughters my age. And we stayed with them. Those girls were tall, blonde and nice. I’ll bet that they became amazing when they filled out and became grown women. I’ll tell you what.

They lived in a nice suburb, and it was decked out in mod 1970’s style. Silver and velvet wall paper, lots and lots of shag carpeting. A nice avocado green kitchen with wood trim, and they even had a downstairs cellar pool table. I was stunned. They were so groovy!

Times change. I know. Today, I want to dedicate some photos to the 1970’s era. Those of you that know… KNOW.

What is the craziest thing you’ve seen in a private school?

A little boy was beating on a little girl at a private school where I was working as a regular substitute teacher. None of the regular teachers were doing anything, so I went over and separated them. I was called into the office and told that touching children at their school was forbidden. I explained the situation, and they said it didn’t matter why, we were not to do it. Their ATTORNEYS had made it clear to them that no adult was to touch a child for any reason in their school building or on their property. Period. I went home and searched news services for anything that might have caused attorneys to insist that little boys be allowed to beat on little girls while teachers looked on. Yeh, there was quite a scandal, I couldn’t believe I’d never heard about it. I went into the office the next day first thing, and explained to the principal why standing by and letting that small child be physically terrorized was just as bad as what the attorneys were trying to prevent. He wouldn’t hear it. I walked out and never went back.

Peppered Beef Puffs

Beef Curry Puffs 16 768x512 1 — Beef Curry Puffs 16 768×512 1

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

Steak

2 pounds minced steak
3 eggs
1/2 cup packaged dry breadcrumbs
6 shallots
Salt, pepper
(2 ounces butter
1 pound packet puff pastry
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon water

Mushroom Sauce

3 ounces butter
8 ounces button mushrooms
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup dry red wine
1 1/2 cups water
2 beef stock cubes
1/2 teaspoon basil
3 tablespoons tomato paste
Salt, pepper

Instructions

Steak

Put meat, eggs, breadcrumbs, finely chopped shallots, salt and pepper into bowl; mix well.
Divide meat into 6 equal portions. Shape into small loaves, pressing in lightly.
Heat butter in frying pan, cook loaves on all sides until golden brown, remove from pan, cool.
Cut pastry into 6 equal portions, roll out each portion to 9 x 5 inches rectangle.
Put cold meatloaf into center of each pastry strip, brush edges of pastry with egg yolk mixture.
Bake in hot oven for 10 minutes or until golden, reduce heat to moderate, cook further 15 minutes.
Serve sauce separately.

Mushroom Sauce

Heat butter in pan.
Add finely sliced mushrooms, sauté until mushrooms are tender.
Add flour, stir until combined; cook for 1 minute.
Remove pan from heat, add wine, water and crumbled stock cubes.
Return pan to heat, stir until sauce boils and thickens; season with salt and pepper.
Add basil and tomato paste, mix well.
Simmer sauce uncovered for 5 minutes.

What is the biggest culture in China?

The culture of the Han people is the biggest culture in China.

Han Chinese constitute approximately 92% of the population of China and 95% of Taiwan; 76% of Singapore, 23% of Malaysia, and about 17% of the global population – making them the world’s largest ethnic group, numbering over 1.3 billion people.

Malaysian Chinese children wearing Hanfu, to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival in Kuala Lumpur; Sept. 24, 2023

Mandarin is the primary language of the Han people, and hence the official language of China, and with such a vast majority of the population identifying themselves as Han, you can find their influence at nearly every corner of China.

The written history of the Han people dates back to 1,000 B.C., which is one of the longest unbroken written histories in the world aside from Jewish people. The ancestral homelands of the Han, where they live in the highest concentration, are along the middle and lower parts of the Yellow River Basin, the Yangtze River basin, and the Pearl River.

With an agricultural and urban culture, it is not until recent years that you would find the Han people in mountainous or desert regions. Despite being such a large group, the Han people still share a common culture of celebrating traditional cuisine, clothing, and customs, which have been passed down from its ancient history.

All other ethnic groups – 56 officially recognized – in China outside of the Han’s are considered to be minority groups, and the largest minority in China is the Zhuang people, whose population today is around 18 million. They are mostly located in Southern China, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Young girls from the Zhuang ethnic group

Han Chinese commemorating the 2,574th anniversary at the birthplace of Confucius in Qufu, eastern Shandong Province, China.

Chinese people tend to honour tradition, but they also embrace many parts of Western popular culture. Thanks in part to the enduring influence of Confucianism, Chinese customs include a strong sense of family, a deep respect for hierarchy, a reverence for education and an appreciation for harmony over conflict.

Why do so many people suddenly think it’s acceptable to continue to live with their parents into adulthood?

You used to be able to work 40 hours and rent a HOUSE.

When I first started going to college a huge 4 bedroom house that allowed pets was 1250 a month. Now its 1400 for a decent 1 bedroom apartment. A really shitty two bedroom is available for 1400 but no pets.

Just 8 years ago when I first turned 18 and moved out — you paid first and last or first and deposit to move in.

Now you have to pay first, last, full month as deposit, plus extra for the pets. If I had 5000 to move somewhere I’d be buying a house.

Two people working 45 hours plus weekend side gigs dont even make enough to clear the 1600 monthly rent necessary for our barely adequate housing for myself and our daughter. I have a Masters in administration. I didnt pick something shitty, I chose to ignore passions and get a useful degree. Every year that goes by — the decent jobs now only schedule you 31 hours, because at 32 they’re required to pay benefits. Now, if you’ve been there 5 years but you’re sick for a week, they still fire you. Because now companies dont care. They don’t know your name. They have 15 people lined up for your job.

Rent should be 30% of your income. Now? Its 85%. We pay for our food with our side gig money. We need a car for work but we share one. We have never had credit cards, because we could never even fathom spending money we dont have? So our credit, while not horrible, isnt good. We dont have enough credit nor enough savings to even consider buying a house, which are all absolutely overwhelmingly expensive even out an hour out of town. I got up to working 80+ hours a week before finally I couldn’t anymore and it was costing me raising my daughter. We never took vacations, only my daughter and dogs have insurance because it was too expensive for us adults. We cooked our own meals, we used our left overs, I meal planned for a month at a time. We had very few special occasions for treats, and I sought out all free and cheap kids fun stuff. Crafts and socializing. But then rent got higher. And higher. And I couldn’t work any more. My partner already worked an 8-6 5 days a week. I worked two jobs, 31 hours at my degreed office job. Another 45 at any restaurant that needed help.

There is NO reason two people working for above minimum wage 40+ hours a week shouldn’t be capable of buying a home. Renting shouldn’t cost all of our money. We should be allowed to have pets.

Like what the fuck.

It didnt become “suddenly acceptable “ it became UNFORTUNATELY NECESSARY.

Bedazzled Elliot has a TINY problem

Scene from the movie Bedazzled where a huge basketball star discovers he has a small penis.

Have you ever talked a mugger out of robbing you?

Back in the late ’60s, my father, a self-employed plumber, was working in a house in a Brooklyn neighborhood that wasn’t a very good one.

My dad had no problems working in the poorer neighborhoods. He was especially compassionate about larger families in smaller homes with one bathroom.

One day, while working in a house, he found he needed some tools from his car. Some guy came up from behind him and held a knife to his neck.

“Gimme the money,” he told dad.

He rummaged through dad’s pockets.

“That’s not the money,” dad said calmly, “those are parts for my plumbing clients. My money is in my other pocket.”

As dad went to get his money, the lady of the house came running out.

“Please, mister, don’t hurt the plumber! He has to fix our toilet!” she pleaded.

“You a plumber?” The mugger asked.

”Yes,” my father answered.

“My toilet’s been broken in my apartment for weeks,” the mugger added. “The landlord won’t fix it. My kids all gotta use the neighbor’s.”

My dad said quietly, “Let me finish here and I’ll come to your house and see if I can fix yours.”

The mugger removed the knife and stepped back.

“You’d do that—for me?”

“For you and your family,” my dad said.

Dad wrote down the address and promised he’d be there soon. The mugger walked away.

The lady of the house wanted to call the police. Dad said no, not to worry. He fixed their single toilet, and, sure enough, drove to the mugger’s apartment. Dad saw a bunch of children and no working toilet. Dad fixed the problem.

The mugger shook dad’s hand and started to cry. He hugged dad and apologized over and over for trying to rob him. My dad hugged him back.

He told the mugger, “Son, if you want to really help your family, don’t keep robbing people. If you go to jail, who will help them? Try to get a job. I know it’s hard.”

My dad came home that night and told us this story over dinner. My brother and I thought our dad was losing his mind. I started to cry thinking my father was in danger.

“He could have hurt you, Daddy!”

My dad pulled me to his side. “No baby, that man wasn’t looking to hurt people. He just wanted money for his family.”

“How can you tell?” I asked.

“When he put the knife to my neck, the blade wasn’t sharp. It didn’t leave a cut. He couldn’t have cut butter with it. He was looking for help.”

My father was just like that. He was the sort who would pick up hitch hikers and swear he was going their way—even if it was really out of his way. I saw him stop a few times in the pouring rain to help people—someone changing a tire or needed a jump start for their battery. One man wanted to give dad money for helping, and dad, always with a smile, would say no.

I miss my dad.

Bedazzled – Rich

Fun clip.

The Politico reports that the infrastructure bill sends a message to China who had been outpacing the United States on infrastructure. Will this legislation put the United States on more of a competitive pace with China to may surpass them?

BEIJING: The infrastructure bill touted by the Biden administration is not as wonderful as the Democrat Party claims it to be.

The US$1 trillion bill will lead the US federal government into deeper sovereign debt while creating new infrastructure projects that will take decades to complete if approved.

The government boondoggle will not free up funding immediately for the construction of new highways, bridges and railroad lines, since that requires contractors winning approvals from local, state and federal governments while they must obtain

hundreds of inspectors’ permits and support from local community activists.

Building a bridge in the United States is not a simple process even if Washington provides ample funding for it.

I had witnessed the complexities of government-back infrastructure when I lived in Dallas from 2007 to 2010 and I was assigned to cover the Dallas County Commissioners’ Court public hearing every Tuesday morning for the Dallas Blog.

You would often hear amazing ideas to construct major projects in Dallas County but then they got political. Even extending the highway a few extra miles required much public debates, while the landowners directly impacted sought big payouts from government agencies.

But that was just the beginning. Contractors made bids to compete for the project and if they lost out they hired protestors to attend the Dallas County Commissioners’ Court to give speeches claiming the new project would become an environmental hazard or harm local communities.

If Dallas County Commissioners voted in favor of the highway extension, they required an environmental impact report that took years to complete.

Most construction projects from the moment they are approved to the time contractors start building took seven to nine years.

I recall one time after two decades of waiting for approvals; contractors for a toll road extension in North Dallas were blocked from construction when an elected official at the Dallas County Commissioners’ Court announced he would block it since the leading construction firm failed to meet racial hiring quotas on the management side.

But upon closer review, I learned from County officials that the elected official allegedly was upset the contractor never gave him a donation for his re-election campaign.

I mention this tale to explain why the US will continue to struggle in playing catch up with China in regards to infrastructure. Beijing is way ahead and Washington will not be able to start construction on new projects for another few years at the earliest.

You can review the Politico article with the link HERE.

As reported by Politico:

“But a review of proposed spending in Beijing’s latest annual budget and five-year plan indicate that the U.S. faces an enormous challenge merely in keeping up. Here’s a number that is illustrative of the gap:

China poured more cement from 2011-2013 than the U.S. did in the entire 20th century.

Numbers from the National Bureau of Statistics show that China spent about $8 trillion on infrastructure investment in 2020.

The U.S. spent $146 billion in federal money over the same period.

A comparison of 2018 infrastructure spending as a percentage of GDP by 48 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries ranked China first at 5.57 percent compared to 0.52 percent for the U.S.”

In recent years, China has constructed some of the world’s finest infrastructure projects. They had built very long sea bridges, road tunnels and highways reaching to many parts of the country.

The building in China will keep going and the US will fall further and further behind.

Star Trek – Throw The Switch

Biden said that America will go to war if China invades Taiwan. If China does invade, and the US declares war on China, will the US military reintroduce the Draft?

It is impossible for Biden to have made such a statement

Impossible!!!

That’s because the US officially follows the ONE CHINA POLICY

This means China can never invade Taiwan because they are the same country

It’s like India invading Punjab tomorrow

So all US can do is to provide weapons to Taiwan and claim to help them defend themselves citing human rights and aggression

It will be like a Civil War & extension of the 1931–1949 Chinese Civil War

US in fact not fight against China at all

They will give an excuse of Chinese aggression and get ASEAN to turn against Taiwan and get the entire South China Sea nations to join a Military Alliance with the United States by SACRIFICING TAIWAN

That is the game plan of the US termed Operation Majullah coined by Pompeo in 2018

To provoke China into an invasion of Taiwan by 2023 (Assuming Trump won the election in 2020, so now 2025–2027)
To convince a terrified Philippines & Vietnam into joining US in a Military alliance and allowing NATO to expand to South East Asia
Persuading ASEAN to join NATO and finish the encircled shield against China and recommence a trade war with full cooperation of the ASEAN to hopefully break the CPC and it’s hold on China

Of course Trumps defeat has set back Operation Majullah badly because this operation assumed Russia would be close to the US under Trump (Assuming he won 2020)

Yet now Russia is firmly with China so that opens up a long trade route

Plus the world had COVID so US is economically much weaker

Plus the Ukraine war has draines the West of it’s influence and strengthened China and Russia and the BRICS

So it’s a different world now and Operation Majullah would be redundant now

“THIS IS IT! Most people have No idea what 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.

https://youtu.be/NFT2EW9B9hw

What shocked you when you opened someone’s safe deposit box at the bank?

In the early 80’s I was Operations Officer (in charge of all non-lending, non-trust functions) of the headquarters branch of a large, state-wide bank. 80 odd branch employees on the first three floors, senior management of the region and holding company on floors 7–11.

This bank had grown and evolved from a family owned institution, and a solid chunk of the shares were still held by family members, and a number of the Directors and senior managers were related. A former President and Chairman had recently died, and his son, a Senior Vice President in charge of Commercial Lending, was his estate’s Personal Representative, but had not yet filed and received Letters of Administration. In addition, the owner keys could not be located, so it would need to be drilled.

Under our state’s laws, a safe deposit box can be opened, an inventory of contents made, and certain time-sensitive items can be removed, such as a will or life insurance policy. As a large office with a disproportionate ratio of older customers, this was something we saw with some frequency. It required the bank’s Safe Deposit Custodian (a non-officer employee), an officer, and a locksmith. Unlike normal box access, the bank representatives had to be present, go to a private room in the Safe Deposit area with the estate representative, make the inventory and insure only authorized items were removed, and then re-secure the box contents pending further legal proceedings.

Not this time. Me, the Custodian, the Senior Vice President son, the Corporate General Counsel, and a stenographer from the holding company cluster around the locksmith, who had the door open in about 30 seconds. We took the rather large size box upstairs to a Corporate conference room and opened it.

It contained this somewhat crusty old gentleman’s most precious and important documents – 40 years or so of birthday cards, Christmas cards, letters and notes to and from his wife, children and grandchildren, school papers and projects, refrigerator drawings, and family pictures. Not a single will, stock certificate, or business paper.

There was not a dry eye in the room.

5 Scary Truths about The Digital Nomad Life

This NEEDS to be said.

Can China destroy the American Navy fleet if they get into Chinese waters?

China can destroy any fleet anywhere in the world. Not only an American one. Not only near and around China, but anywhere.

The idea that China has the ability, technology, capability and wherewithal to destroy a complete fleet of military grade vessels is well known, well established and incorporated in contemporaneous Pentagon planning scenarios.

…

Just because China CAN, does not mean that it WILL.

After all, the United States can eliminate hunger, and homelessness overnight simply by funneling a fraction of the USA budget dedicated to Ukraine towards the needs of American citizens. But, of course that’s NEVER going to happen.

…

Questions like these used to raise my ire; get me infuriated by the ignorance of those questioning the obvious, and a general fury at that the troll and ‘bot attacks that invariably follow. But now, given the utter hopelessness of the Untied States on the global stage, I just shrug my shoulders and feel pity.

It’s like this question:

Can the United States drop a nuclear weapon on Beijing?

Well. Yes it can.

But it won’t.

…

Or this question:

Can the United States assassinate Alexander Putin?

Well, it can.

But it won’t.

…

Or this question:

Can I force my spouse to eat dog shit?

Well, you can.

But you won’t.

…

In all the cases above, a hypothetical fantasy is generated. But the scenario will never occur where the test of validity were to be realized.

Why?

Because other factors come into play.

…

So, let’s go back to the question at hand.

Can China wipe out any American fleet that sails near China?

Well, it is obvious. Of course it can.

Will it do so.

No. Other factors come into play.

…

I know that there are ‘bots, teenagers, drunken misfits, and trolls that want to argue this point, but China is not stupid. It will maximize the damage through retaliatory measures it deems suitable, given the situation and scenarios that manifested.

My PERSONAL opinion is that if China sinks one fleet, it will sink them all.

The reason is simple; economies of scale.

…

And that’s not all, folks.

Not by a long shot.

Sorry to say.

…

So, let’s just keep our personal fantasies, and delusions to ourselves. Just because you own a shotgun, doesn’t mean that you intend to go Postal, perform a “suicide by cop” or have a Columbine mass shooting with it. Seriously. Those are just fantasies. Nothing more.

China is currently working with the United States on a wide range of issues, and as the provocations by the neocon arm of the American government subsides, so with the over all prosperity of the (remaining) American middle class increase.

It’s a win-win for everyone!

Why are so many smart and diligent people successful in school but fail in real life?

Here’s “School-Smart” vs “Street-Smart” in a LEGO analogy:

School is like getting a very complex LEGO set:

The goal: “We expect you to put this Lego together,. We will show you how to do it! Follow the instructions and you will succeed!”

So, we go from first grade through to sixth grade.

In each grade, we get a set of instructions to follow:

For example, this is first grade:

Attention!

If we fail to meet the required standards, we WON’T be able to move forward. If we DO meet the standards, we will be allowed to move to the next level — each level stacks upon the other, growing in complexity.

If we complete elementary, we move on to middle school, and then to high school:

Once we successfully finish high school, we move on to college. We continue “stacking” up ALL the sets of instructions, meeting the standards.

If we don’t do it EXACTLY as expected, we will fail!

Finally, the day comes …

We celebrate …

CONGRATULATIONS! We all get a “certificate” that proves we are capable of following very complex instructions.

Then, we face the real world …

The real world is also like Lego, but with NO INSTRUCTIONS!

We feel confused and overwhelmed. “What should I do?” we ask ourselves.

We urgently need someone to tell us what to do (boss). After all, we were all trained to FOLLOW instructions, indoctrinated, not really educated.

What’s the difference?

Indoctrination teaches us WHAT to think, not HOW to think!

So, to answer your question, why are so many smart and diligent people successful in school but fail in real life?

Being “school-smart” is radically different than being “street-smart.”

Do you want to be “street-smart?”

Consider this: We are now in an age where computers, algorithms and robots, are unbeatable at FOLLOWING instructions. If our value to the world is being good at following instructions, we then do NOT stand a chance at succeeding in today’s new economic environment.

Who will win?

“Street-Smart” in the new economy means we have extraordinary creative skills, meaning that we can innovate and think “outside the box.”

Creativity CANNOT be automated!

Computers, robots and algorithms CANNOT compete with us in creativity. Well, at least not yet …

Schools MUST stop “standardizing” us. We are all different and that’s where success comes from, from our unique abilities and strengths that make us stand out in this competitive world.

We now live in a very different world. Our educational system was built and perfected to serve the Industrial Age. The Industrial Age was all about competing with efficiencies. Following instructions with excellence increased productivity. Today that work belongs to machines, not to us.

Today the world belongs to CREATORS!

There are NO instructions ahead of us! The way we solved things yesterday is now outdated. Change is only accelerating.

The sooner we understand this, the better chance we all have at succeeding in this world of exponential change.

THE REAL REASONS WE LEFT THE UNITED STATES (and why we can’t move back)

We left the United States for several reasons, but only one prevents us from ever moving back. Are we upset about it? NO! Our only regret is not leaving SOONER!

Why is America the best place to live?

Absolutely not the best to live in, I would say it’s the worst developed country to live in.

Life for most people is about work, just running a hamster wheel hoping not to slip or you will be climbing out a hole. I remember life being a rat race just staying afloat and never catching a break. I imagine wealthy people don’t experience this but when 80% of the country are living paycheck to paycheck, obviously that’s not a good sign.

Food prices are triple sometimes four times more expensive than what I have paid in Western Europe for the same goods. Yet our minimum wage is significantly lower, so when 1 hours minimum wage barely covers a couple items of groceries, imagine how those families are feeling the sting for housing, water, utilities. Many 1 bedroom apartments cost more than an entire 1 month minimum wage.

You will prioritize work over family, because there is little choice in the matter.

So little choice because a social safety net is not available to help you, I’ve exhausted this option to death on hard times and it just wasn’t there. All I got was a lot of wasted time and disappointment.

Healthcare, higher education, child care is exhorbitant, they will drain your disposable income, along with the high costs of basic things that Americans believe they are getting a great deal for, for example in UK you get higher speed internet for a fraction of the price an American pays, I have cable with lots of channels, WiFi, and landline for £40 a month, my mom has the same with less channels for over $169 a month (that was 2014 prices).

The worst part of living in the US is the limited choices for people at the bottom, social mobility is low. There is this illusion you can make your life anything you want, this is available to the well connected and rich but it’s sold off as something all Americans can achieve through hard work and it’s not obtainable.

Another issue is just existing in the US is a price. If I don’t want to be homeless and totally ostracized by society, I have to pay a price…just the act of existing means I must pay for health care at the very least. If you happen to fall on difficult times, the fines, fees, interest, just pile up and it consumes you. I compare it to someone piling rocks on your chest and sternum to your lungs collapse. The thought of trying to maintain a bare minimum life style while problems are karate chopping you from all angles is exhausting.

In the 2.5 years I lived in the UK, at my very worst I have never felt this level of despair and hopelessness. If I allow myself to slightly remember my past in the US, the whole thought conjures up loads of anxiety, and resentment.

The USA is NOT Letting Citizens Renounce

What you didn’t mention and should have mentioned is that the US is one of only 4 countries in the world who taxes their citizens no matter where they live or where they make their income. So the obvious reason the US is rejecting renunciation of US citizenship is to keep wealthy international businessman from escaping this always/everywhere tax system.

What is the most incredible thing you’ve seen someone work out in their head?

My father and I were just chatting and he offhandedly said he wasn’t an educated man. I said “Not formally but you’ve had a great practical education.” He said “What do you mean?” Dad had left school after the 8th grade but had worked for a company that provided the equipment to move water, pumps and pipelines and such for many years. I asked “If you have a pipe 18” in diameter under a pressure of 15 pounds per square inch, how many gallons of water a minute are you moving?” He looked at me a moment, stared off into space for another moment and then gave me a number. I smiled and said “See? I’d have to dig out my textbooks and calculator to get an answer and you just did that in your head! Serious practical education!” I think he was pleased at my expression of respect.

How will the USA react when BRICS will control 80% of the world’s petrol production with new members?

G7 is in denial. According to them BRICS is a “gang that can’t shoot straight” due to the fact that “all members have their own individual interests”.

They even fail to realize what this sort of criticism says about their “rules based order” where everybody is supposed to jump or run on command, regardless of own interests, and they have a nerve to call it freedom and democracy.

Giant lights flame: and check out Taiwan team’s arrival

Wow! Just WOW!

How do you respond to people who say money is everything?

When my wife was diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer, I found out the worth of money.

It allowed me to buy time with my wife. She was given an 18 month prognosis by her Gynocological Oncologist. (Don’t be ashamed if you didn’t know that was a medical specialty, I didn’t either in April of 2016 when we met Dr. Steven Andrews. Now, his name goes to any woman who might need it.) She and I resolved to fight her cancer for two reasons:

To have as much quality time as possible.
For whatever her fight could teach her team for the NEXT woman.

We knew there were limits to what insurance would pay. I accepted them, she wasn’t so sanguine. There were a couple of times she begged me not to go on because of what we were spending. I firmly said NO.

In the end, due to the medical miracles Dr. Andrews and his team pulled out of their collective asses on a regular basis, Andrea’s 18 months became over 4 years. I held her hand when she took her last breath, kissed her cooling forehead, and called the home Hospice nurse to pronounce her death officially.

The cost? 85% of our retirement savings. I will be living most of the rest of my life on Social Security. The worth? As the MasterCard commercials say: PRICELESS. She and I made memories together in many different ways, many of them during the time we weren’t supposed to get. Yes, hers are gone, but mine remain, and that is worth everything to me. I knowingly spent the money to keep her beside me as long as she was willing to fight.

And Dr. Andrews may be a step closer to saving another lady later. I know he’ll give many more extra time with their loved ones.

I bought time, and it was worth incalculablely more than the money I spent.

In Malaysia, I noticed all the newly built buildings, public transportation, and park are not properly maintained after a few years. Everything looks run down. Is this a norm here or lack of funds?

I’m sure you are aware, but I don’t live in Malaysia. I’ve only had the privilege of visiting thus far. While in Kuala Lumpur, which I assume qualifies as a large city, I was very taken with the architecture. In my opinion, it was like a mosaic of old and new. Colonial and modern. Malay, Chinese, and Indian. Some bright and colorful like the Chinese temples, others somber and stately like the buildings from colonial days, others bright and shiny like the Merdeka building and the Petronas towers.

I can’t deny that some streets could do with some cleaning and anti-littering campaigns. But I also don’t expect perfection from a developing country and I certainly shouldn’t complain when I am a guest in the country and treated with such kindness from hotel staff and Grab drivers, to dear friends I cherish. Without fail I was made to feel welcome. Who am I to judge?

If you are bothered by messy streets then I have a few suggestions. First, you could organize meetings to mobilize people in the area to have a community beautification day where any able bodies who are willing could pick up trash, sweep the streets, and make minor repairs to building fronts. Secondly, you could print and pass out pamphlets highlighting the importance of a clean community environment for the sake of disease prevention. Third, petition the government for funds to revitalize and gentrify the area and to pay more people for trash collection. In my state the cities employ people for the purpose of landscaping and garbage disposal. I’m not sure how that works in Malaysia though.

If none of that helps then move. Seriously. If you are unhappy and uncomfortable there’s no reason to stay. And the people around you likely don’t appreciate the complaints without action.

Is the EU’s Global Gateway project aimed at competing with China’s Belt and Road Initiative?

Let me tell you the biggest thing that the EU’s Global Gateway project has accomplished in the past nine months.

It organised a party. One party.

It wasn’t even a real party. It was an online party.

Despite being an online party, it cost $400,000.

Next, guess how many people showed up for the party.

Six. Only SIX.

Well, that means the virtual party cost about $66,667 per attendee.

Does this inspire you with confidence about how skilfully the EU will manage its budget around the Global Gateway? Do you even feel sure that the EU will actually build any infrastructure in the real world – as opposed to imaginary party venues in the Metaverse?

At the moment, it is meaningless to speak of the EU Global Gateway competing with China’s BRI. They are just not doing the same sorts of things. China is building mega-sized ports, bridges, highways and railways. The EU is holding online parties for six pax.

Zelensky at the UN, kicking and screaming

The Duran. Very interesting.

What is the best case of “You just picked a fight with the wrong person” that you’ve witnessed?

I didn’t actually witness it, but, saw the aftermath. My youngest daughter was a bit reserved and quiet. She had a lot of friends, though and they nicknamed her “Chipper”.

One day I got a call from the Dean of Girls at her junior high school asking if I could come in. When I got there the first thing I saw was two hall lockers (the tall upright ones) with the doors caved in.

The Dean told me that some of the boys had been getting grabby.

“Chipper” was talking with some friends in the hall when a passing boy grabbed her breast. She never said a word, she grabbed him by the throat and proceeded to try to throw him through a locker twice.

The Dean said, when she got there, the boy was crumpled on the floor with my daughter standing over him daring him to get up.

I said: “I’m proud of her. But, I’m willing to pay for the damages.”

The Dean smiled and told me the boy’s parents were on the way and they were going to pay for the damages.

When I picked my daughter up to ride home. I said: “You made a bit of a mess”. She said: “He had it coming.”

I said: “You’re right. How about we stop for ice cream?”

As a Christian man, back in my Asian church, I never struggled with lust for women because I’m not really attracted to Asian women but at my new church with a lot of different ethnicities, I’m really struggling with lust for women. What should I do?

Become a Muslim and marry four of them and have children with each of them.

China Foreign Related Military tech.

When China had no navy or air force, the U.S. Army and Marine Corps would dare to cross Yalu River in North Korea. After China has an air force, the United States only dares to sit across the 17 degrees north latitude. After China’s naval and air rocket forces are formed, we don’t have any more problems dealing with the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. The Marine Corps is currently developing a hypersonic missile to increase its presence in Japan and South Korea. The question is, aren’t fixedly deployed missile bases vulnerable to missile bombings? When the island and the mainland China fire missiles at each other, which one suffers more? As a result, the Air Force basically has no chance in the Western Pacific. Warships can still run away, but aircraft are really useless. Guam was immediately taken care of by first wave of Dongfeng 26.

local wars require detailed analysis. If it is a protracted all-out war, the United States will be exhausted. No matter how profitable the financial industry is, a real fight still depends on how many tons of steel are produced.The Chinese and American militaries are the only militaries in the world that have completed information transformation and have begun to move towards intelligent and unmanned armies. The problem with the U.S. military is that it wants to integrate the entire U.S. military into a digital command system. As a result, various practical factors and historical problems have made it bloated and complicated. The Chinese military is relatively late due to its military reform, confidentiality system and informatization changes. The outside world has always been blind to the internal situation of the military and has only a partial understanding. Although more and more new equipment and new technologies are being exposed, the People’s Liberation Army itself is becoming more and more mysterious.

Taking the 1998 flood fight and the 1998 earthquake fight as examples, we can intuitively understand the PLA’s combat readiness and mobilization status and shortcomings. With the improvement of the country’s comprehensive strength, the military no longer needs to be on the front line all the time. After all, the COVID-19 epidemic is just a glimpse, and it is more of a big test for politics and society. China is the only industrialized country in the world with all industrial categories, and it continues to invest in upgrading industrial capabilities. The marginal costs brought about by large-scale production are reduced, and a large number of engineering talents continue to promote technological progress and efficiency innovation while solving one problem after another. We can regard the COVID-19 epidemic as a global biological and chemical war waged by USA. China has not only demonstrated unparalleled industrial advantages and political mobilization advantages, but also exposed some problems. As the “lighthouse of the world”, the United States wanted to show off, but its butt was exposed. The war has extended from a battle of blood and fire to a comprehensive contest of technology, political system, population quality, industrial system, culture and public opinion. The boundaries between the military and civilians are gradually blurring. War is no longer the exclusive preserve of military personnel. Everyone is colliding in the whirlpool of the emergency times. We firmly believe that in the end, it is people who determine the victory of a war .

(1) Army confrontation in local wars

Assuming that armies of US and China engage in one on one decisive battle. When we read the report of US patriot performance is really rubbish. On our hand we have these weapon.

PHL-191, a long-range guided rocket, can be equipped with 370mm guided rockets and 760mm tactical missiles.

The Huolong 280A tactical missile has a double-cone warhead, commonly known as a water-floating bomb. The existing air defense system cannot effectively intercept it. You think rockets are fired at each other, but they are actually derailed missiles bullying the “patriots”

Strategic Bureau Chief created top ten ranking of weapon each country, US weapon rank first in all category except rocket launcher, no matter how the US try to deceive US, we know truth.

In other words, if it is an army duel alone, it will be on a battlefield of 100-500 kilometers. The U.S. Army can only be bombed unilaterally.

(2) Air Force comparison

In terms of overall combat strength, air power has always been the core of the US offensive. Even as the navy most favored by Congress, the core of offense is still aircraft carrier-based aircraft.After equipping the complete J-20 and J-16 series with WS15, the Chinese Air Force is the only one capable of fighting against the U.S. Air Force. At this stage, the Chinese Air Force is only transforming from homeland defense to peripheral offense. Relying on military bases deployed around the world, the U.S. Air Force can achieve global strikes. The United States dismantled the F22 production line and concentrated on producing the F35. Today, after the J-20 was put into service in batches, it is a stupid move. But there were no problems at the time. The original design intention of the F22 was to hunt the Su-27 on the battlefield in Eastern Europe. However, as an air superiority fighter, the F22 does not have ground bombing capabilities. The mission of the U.S. Air Force is to seize air superiority and then blow up all obstacles in front of it. The Army is responsible for cleaning up the battlefield. Just like the Gulf War. This is will need an in depth analysis after this article, i will write about air battle between J-20 and F-35. I will also write a comprehensive J-20 reception anything related to J-20 after this article.

(3) Navy comparison

To be honest before 055 destroyed entered service, the chinese navy has no chance of winning a navy combat.

The 055 changed everything, or to be more precise, it was the YJ-21 hypersonic anti-ship ballistic missile carried by the 055.

With a range of thousands of kilometers, the 055 destroyer is no longer the escort of the aircraft carrier, but the firepower center of the fleet. Instead, carrier-based aircraft only need to focus on driving away enemy fighters and cruise missiles. The 112-unit vertical launch system of the 055 itself was originally designed for air defense and anti-submarine warfare. When the electromagnetic catapult aircraft carrier and the J-35 enter service and become combat effective, the PLA naval fleet will form a dual-core attack queue. At that time, nuclear power was no longer enough. conventional ballistic missile The United States has been researching stealth anti-ship missiles over the years, but the cost of developing them is too high, and the U.S. Navy has never been equipped with them. Ten years ago, there were no surface ships that could threaten the Navy. As a result, they have been making do with subsonic anti-ship missile. To put it bluntly, except for strategic nuclear submarines that launch nuclear warheads. Submarines have always been a hobby of second-rate navies. Only in a silent ambush in a fixed water area is there a chance of winning. Once targeted by a destroyer or anti-submarine aircraft, it can only be passively beaten. Therefore, the role of German submarines in World War II was not to confront the British and American navies head-on, but to intercept merchant ships.

Now the Fujian ship is about to undergo sea trials. If the Ford aircraft carrier has not solved the reliability problem of the electromagnetic ejection and arresting device after the Fujian ship is put into service and has achieved combat effectiveness, it will be really a reverse event, we will have the upperhand.

Academician Ma Weiming. Academician Ma recently issued a document that our country needs to build a new type of warship, a nuclear-powered all-purpose ship that integrates electromagnetic guns, laser weapons, microwave weapons, all-electric propulsion systems, and comprehensive management systems, and is also equipped with two electromagnetic ejection tracks to launch unmanned ships. Man-machine. Of course, this kind of warship is indispensable for its electronic warfare system.

(4) Mainland coastline versus islands and aircraft carrier battle groups

Put aside the Grand Theater Chess. The most likely local war between China and the United States is in the Western Pacific, that is, around taiwan island. In the ten years from 2010 to 2020, the equipment of China’s navy and air force has made a complete leap forward. And many people who don’t care about current affairs still have their mindset of the last century.

With the Rocket Force’s hypersonic missiles, the Air Force’s fifth-generation electronic warfare aircraft and long-range supersonic anti-ship missiles, the Navy’s aircraft carriers and 055 large-scale drive and the sea-based hypersonic anti-ship ballistic missile Eagle 21, and combat support long-range early warning radar space-based reconnaissance With the launch of satellites, the area within 1,000 kilometers of China’s coastline has become an absolute military restricted area. 1,000 to 4,000 kilometers is China’s advantageous area for firepower projection. The decisive factor is the range of the ballistic missile.

Dongfeng 17 not only glides in the atmosphere to avoid all existing anti-missile systems, but more importantly, it is low cost.

Dongfeng 17 uses the propeller of Dongfeng 16 to glide through the atmosphere to reach a range close to that of Dongfeng 21 , so the manufacturing cost is low. In recent years, China has made breakthroughs in the integrated molding technology of solid rocket motor fuel, which no longer requires manual carving and decoration of gunpowder pillars. Production costs have been significantly reduced, and the result is that ballistic missiles have become the price of cabbage, and Dongfeng 17 has begun to serve in large quantities. Unfortunately, Dongfeng 31 and Dongfeng 41 are too big, so they can only rely on manual modification of the gunpowder pillars.If the production cost of intercontinental ballistic missiles is reduced much in the future and waverider warheads and scramjet engines can be used, the picture will be so beautiful.When the Dongfeng missiles of the Rocket Force and the YJ-21 of the Navy and Air Force can effectively destroy the aircraft carrier fleet, the only one problem left is positioning.The simplest way to locate an aircraft carrier is to send a ship to follow it. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union’s strategy to deal with the U.S. aircraft carrier fleet was to use destroyer tracking and anti-ship missile saturation attacks.

Of course, during wartime, the aircraft carrier fleet spreads out and starts attacking hundreds of kilometers away, so tracking is only a last resort.Therefore, there are shore-based long-range early warning radars , space-based reconnaissance satellite patrols, underwater submarine patrols with unmanned underwater vehicles, large-scale early warning aircraft in the air, stealth unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, and even electromagnetic signal reconnaissance. Ballistic missiles themselves can also serve as reconnaissance vehicles. In short, use all means to locate the enemy’s coordinates. Similarly, the farther away from the coastline, the fewer means of reconnaissance, and the more difficult it is for the aircraft carrier to accurately locate it. It’s just that the aircraft carrier loses its threat to land when it is far away from the coastline. And China’s aircraft carrier fleet has broken away from the barriers of the land air force and rocket force, and the danger has also greatly increased.Aircraft carriers at sea can still operate, but air force bases, naval ports and missile launch sites on land can only be named one by one as long as they are within the missile range.

(5) Hypersonic ballistic missiles

In the 1990s, China is fully engaged in research on ballistic missiles under tremendous pressure of the superiority of US airforce and US navy. At last, the double-cone Dongfeng 21D with air rudder was built, making it a reality for ballistic missiles to maneuver against surface ships at the end. Then the Dongfeng 26 was further developed to cover Guam. Then the epoch-making Eagle Strike 21 was developed, which allowed surface ships and aircraft to carry ballistic anti-ship missiles, completely changing the rules of war.

There are currently three technical paths for hypersonic ballistic missiles. Biconical warheads, waverider warheads and scramjets. The double-cone warhead can significantly increase the range and terminal maneuverability of the missile when it re-enters the atmosphere. In the 1980s, the United States used biconical warheads in Pershing medium-range ballistic missiles, but they were not water-floating warheads. They were retired after the United States and the Soviet Union signed a treaty limiting intermediate-range ballistic missiles. North Korea and the Houthis have also tested biconical warheads.

Although it is not a hypersonic ballistic missile, it can achieve terminal limited orbit changes, which greatly increases the difficulty of interception by anti-missile systems. Currently, only China and Russia have biconical hypersonic ballistic missiles in active service. Russia currently only has one “Dagger”. On the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, russia conducted targeted clearing and attacks on the “Patriot” air defense system.

It is obvious that Russia does not have much equipment and can only use it sparingly. The hypersonic ballistic missile that the United States is closest to successfully testing is also a biconical warhead. Yes, the United States has no active hypersonic ballistic missiles. That’s why he is so passive. Asfor the waverider warhead in active service, only China’s Dongfeng 17 is publicly available. According to public information, Dongfeng 17 does not fly out of the atmosphere after launch, but begins to glide laterally at the edge of the atmosphere, with a maximum speed of Mach 10 and an attack speed of Mach 5 at the end. The special thing about Dongfeng 17 is that it avoids the detection and attack range of the current mid-course anti-missile system, and its ultra-high mobility makes the terminal anti-missile system completely unable to intercept.

What is inconsistent with Qian Xuesen’s trajectory is that the Dongfeng 17 does not fly out of the atmosphere. It also has a vector nozzle that can maneuver laterally. Even if a missile launch is detected during the boost phase, the impact point cannot be predicted and it is even more difficult to track when maneuvering without thrust. As for rocket scramjet engines, China, the United States and Russia are all in the research stage. Traditional rocket engines come with their own fuel and oxidizer. The ramjet engine introduces compressed air into the rocket engine combustion chamber to save fuel. The problem is that the engine first requires rocket combustion to accelerate to supersonic speed and then start the sub-burn or super-burn engine. The best performance range of sub-fuel engines is around Mach 3, and the best performance range of scram engines is around Mach 5. Therefore, the best combination is the engine composite design rocket plus sub-burning and super-burning, three forms. Or accelerate the aircraft to supersonic speed and release the sub-fuel and super-fuel engine. July last year, China’s Northwestern Polytechnical University completed a multi-modal test of a ramjet engine.

Now you know why USA sanction NPU and hack NPU website.

(6) industrial competition under total war.

If we reach the stage of total war, the logic of war will shift industrial potential into industrial military. United states has completely failed on this.

The U.S. Congress has been requiring the U.S. Navy to speed up the manufacture of new surface ships and purchase at least three of the latest model “Arleigh Burke” class destroyers every year. However, the U.S. Navy still submitted the purchase of two ships in the budget list for fiscal year 2024. Planning Check.

McCord, the U.S. military’s top budget official, said that’s because U.S. shipyards are barely able to build two destroyers a year, let alone three. In 2022, the United States will actually have only one Burke-class destroyer in service. China has 3 055 destroyers and 4 052D destroyers in service. The reason behind it is actually very simple.

In 2022, the total tonnage of U.S. shipbuilding will be 600,000 tons, including approximately 100,000 tons of new warship tonnage. 2022, China’s total shipbuilding tonnage will be 40 million tons, accounting for 55% of the world’s total tonnage. In 2022, nine large warships with a capacity of 150,000 tons will be commissioned. The world’s total crude steel output in 2022 will be 1.8785 billion tons, of which China’s output will be 1.013 billion tons, accounting for nearly 54%. The United States is the fourth largest steel producer in the world, with a crude steel output of slightly more than 80 million tons, and the EU alone is less than 220 million tons. In 2022, India’s crude steel output will be 125.1 million tons. in 2022, China’s power generation capacity will be 8,534.25 billion kilowatt hours (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan), a year-on-year increase of 9.7%; the United States’ power generation capacity will be 4,115.54 billion kilowatt hours, a year-on-year decrease of 1.4%.China’s railway mileage will be 155,000 kilometers in 2022, including 42,000 kilometers of high-speed rail. In 1916, the operating mileage of railways in the United States reached its peak, reaching 410,000 kilometers. Now, there are only more than 220,000 kilometers of railway mileage left in the United States. In 2021, the total railway freight volume in China was 4,773.72 million tons, and the total railway freight volume in the United States was 12.026 million tons. It is clear that the total mileage of American railways is longer, but the freight capacity is hundreds of times different. On the one hand, there is a gap in demand for industrial raw materials such as coal, iron ore. On the one hand, American railways are in disrepair, and their transportation efficiency cannot be improved. There were 868 rail freight derailments in the United States in 2021.

The weakening of basic industrial strength has hindered the progress of military industry. In the field of hypersonic ballistic missiles, which the United States is eager to catch up with, test launches of biconical missiles often fail. It is normal for weapons tests to fail. What is abnormal is the reason for the failure, such as launcher failure or rocket engine starting failure. Just like the Ford aircraft carrier, the electromagnetic ejection failure is understandable, after all, it is a new technology. It makes no sense that the weapon lifts frequently malfunction. After the Russo-Ukrainian War, it is not surprising that the United States turned to South Korea to produce 155mm artillery shells. In a total war, the first wave consumes active weapons, equipment and personnel. The rest depends on the reproduction capacity of weapons and the ability to mobilize personnel. Today, only the aviation industry can retain the face of American industry. The reason why we skipped the air force earlier is that in the Western Pacific, the air force must rely on the flight runways of air force bases on islands. As soon as the war started, the Rocket Force focused on taking care of them. they have room to take off. The only place that can allow the U.S. Air Force to exert its full strength is the United States itself.

F35 Production Line

Although the Boeing 737 max has brought shame to the United States, Boeing factories have repeatedly reported that workers’ quality has deteriorated due to marijuana use. Before the epidemic, Boeing produced more than 800 passenger planes per year. Lockheed Martin’s F35 production is also above 150 aircraft per year.

For comparison, China delivered its first passenger aircraft C919 last year, and plans to have a production capacity of 150 aircraft in five years. The J-20 production capacity is estimated to be 30-50 aircraft. Where are the limitations? Training of production line and industrial workers. Taken together, in local wars, China has an absolute advantage in East Asia. China’s ocean-going offensive capabilities are improving, but the United States still has the advantage on blue ocean war. It is only a matter of time before China’s industrial strength is finally transformed into military strength in a full-scale war.

Therefore, the United States has been fanning the flames around China and constantly provoking, but it does not want to enter the war by itself. It is best to replicate the situation in Ukraine, with South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Australia resisting harm from the front, and the United States standing behind and selling arms. Once China puts on a desperate posture, the US military will retreat on its own. In a total war, China will win the final victory, but it will only be a miserable victory. The United States has been standing still for 20 years. Even if China’s military technology keeps up, there is still a huge gap in weapons inventory.

The United States wants China to enter the conflict in 2025, stimulate the return of financial capital to the United States, and take over the supply of U.S. debt. China wants to delay it until 2030, or at least until 2027, and is ready to defeat others without a fight.

China is actually the only country in the world today that is preparing for a world war.

The whole industrial category system manufacturing is not to brag, but to always be prepared to fight against the entire world in an isolated and helpless situation. It is no exaggeration to say that even in the event of a full-scale nuclear war, China can rely on strategic reserves to recover quickly. China’s history is too long and its imprint is too deep.

(7) Informatization

As the pioneer of the Internet revolution, the US military is undoubtedly the leader in military informatization. The Gulf War shocked the whole world. Traditional armies were powerless to fight back against armies empowered by information technology . What is informatization?

Basically, soldiers are networked together and commanded in a unified way. US the only army back then who have this ability because at that time china Without an information-based society, there would be no information-based military. Just like there is no industrialized society without an industrialized army. Because of the core position of the military, although advanced systems and advanced technological weapons will be the first to be used in the military, without a responsive social environment, the military will also be dragged down by social realities and become a castle in the air. For example, the Chinese army has established a modern army by learning from the German-Russian military system and through its own exploration.

However, the confrontation with the world’s largest industrial country on the Korean battlefield completely exposed China’s weakness in industrial strength and lack of professional military logistics support. On the ChangJin Lake battlefield, the volunteer soldiers who were short of ammunition, food, and clothing relied on their tactical proficiency and revolutionary will tempered by blood and fire to cut off the retreat of the US Cavalry Division at all costs.

After blowing up the Watergate Bridge three times, the U.S. military air-dropped steel beam components urgently customized in Japan to the battlefield. After engineers urgently installed them with engineering equipment, the main force of the U.S. military retreated smoothly.

Thirty years later, after arduous industrial construction, China has initially established a basic heavy industry system. In 1979, the People’s Liberation Army, which had been lacking training for a long time, faced the Vietnamese army. The quality and command of its individual soldiers were significantly different from those in the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and they were even inferior to the enemy. But the military-industrial system established showed great progress.

That is, the density of artillery fire exceeds that of the US military at that time. our army is not a volunteer army. In the subsequent two-mountain battle, the major military regions will conduct fire mainly with artillery firing. After the reform and opening up, China transformed from a planned economic system to a market economy, and the society transformed from an agricultural society to a modern industrial society. We thought we catch up.

So when the trend of informatization was revealed in front of the Chinese military, how anxious it was at that time. We experienced hundreds of years of suffering when we were left behind in the industrialization era. Will we continue to fall behind in the information age? Back to the basic concept, what is informatization? The definition given by data scientist Shannon: “Information is something used to eliminate random uncertainty.” Definition of information war: It is a full-scale war carried out under the premise of network digitization and the extensive use of information technology and information weapons and equipment. The specific battlefield performance is-destroy upon discovery.

For example, in a war simulation game, our teammates and enemy units can directly communicate with each other and cooperate with each other in real time on the small map without any barriers. It is extremely difficult to achieve on the actual battlefield. Indian air defense systems shot down their own rescue helicopters, and Iranian air defenses shot down civilian airliners. Identification of friend or foe is still a big problem today. Fortunately, China has caught up with the information age. Although we now criticize Lenovo, NetEase, Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, etc., at that historical stage, these companies were undoubtedly the promoters of China’s information society. Huawei, BOE, Changxin, SMIC, BYD, DJI, MiHoYo, etc. The only possible Information war happened is when a war between USA and China broke out. Because only China and the United States have complete information industries in the world today. The United States uses Internet social tools to cause destruction around the world, while China builds walls and engages in Internet social governance. Other countries have no choice but to surrender the Internet and let the situation go unchecked. During the war disconnecting the Internet means completely losing the possibility of victory. China has benefited from an unprecedented wave of industrialization in the new century, and computers and mobile phones have begun to spread on a large scale. After 2010, society began to enter the mobile Internet era again. People realize that the so-called informatization is the “Internet of Everything”, the ultimate integration of the Internet and the Internet of Things. The popularization of sensors, mobile terminals and communication technologies has generated massive amounts of data, and big data applications have been born in order to process these data. Big data processing has promoted the progress of artificial intelligence (AI algorithm). In the past, the United States bullied small countries, but it actually did not reflect the power of informatization. The Russia-Ukraine war is also known as the “poor man’s version of information war.” First, the Ukrainian army used the US “Starlink satellite” to access NATO’s reconnaissance system. After the reconnaissance satellite long-range early warning aircraft discovered the Russian target, it sent the message to the frontline commander of the Ukrainian army team. The Ukrainian army team decided on its own to ambush the target. There is also the fact that the Russian military uses mobile phones to access the Ukrainian telecommunications network for communication, which is simply a living target. In the early days of the war, a large part of the casualty rate among Russian officers was related to miscomunication. The reason is not complicated. There is no digital communication equipment between Russian military tanks – this is not a problem due to lack of money but because without any concept of information technology. However, Russia is still good at learning war in war. Immediately carry out targeted electromagnetic interference. “Starlink” communications and electronic reconnaissance are greatly reduced. On the one hand, it reflects Russia’s profound accumulation of electronic technology, and on the other hand, it also illustrates Russia’s lack of war awareness – what has it been doing so long ago. A person who is fond of fighting but not good at preparation will only gain his progress after suffering losses.

“Murmansk-BN” integrated electronic warfare system. As the main combat equipment of the Russian army’s electronic warfare, this system can perform strong electromagnetic suppression on targets within 20 frequencies within 5,000 kilometers.

Russia and Ukraine use a large number of drones for battlefield reconnaissance and calibration, plus a large number of artillery pieces left by the Soviet Union. The cannon has the same barrel, but its power has been increased by several levels. Because of the massive smuggling of a certain civilian four-copter drone from a large Eastern country, Russia densely arranged a large number of frontline observation points in front. How dense is it? The drones on both sides can collide with each other. The battlefield that was originally filled with the fog of war became transparent. On the one hand, the whole world was watching the war live broadcast. On the one hand, any tank concentration and assault on either side will inevitably lead to a salvo of artillery fire from the by opposite side.

Last year, the Russian T72 crossed the river and was set on fire by artillery.

This year, the Leopard 2 tanks and Bradley armored vehicles assisted by NATO were attacked by the Ukrainian army without air defense. They were greeted by Russian mines, artillery, Lancet cruise missiles, and armed helicopters in turn.

The mine-protected vehicles assisted by NATO can only protect against roadside bombs, and can only be penetrated by the Russian army’s large number of mines.

Now the Russian army has even played tricks, using cheap shuttles to attach mines, grenades, and RPG warheads to carry out suicide attacks in VR.

The thousands of FPV quad-rotor drones purchased by the Russian army cost about 1,000 per unit, and it is cheaper to procure parts and assemble them from Shenzhen Huaqiangbei.

Comparing it to the Russian military’s own Lancet cruise missile, which costs US$100,000, it seems like it costs nothing.

The tanks and bayonets that military fans imagine, and the T80 vs. Leopard 2, cannot be realized on a battlefield where they are immediately destroyed upon discovery. The reason why Russia and Ukraine are called the poor people’s information war. For a big country, this kind of random flying of four-axis drones should not occur on the battlefield. Whether it’s electromagnetic suppression, laser irradiation, or anti-aircraft artillery. For China, even if its drones collide, it can still drown the opponent with its terrifying production capacity.

The Land Shield 3000 close-in defense gun is a modification of the 1130 close-in defense gun on a warship to an armored vehicle, with 11 Gatling tubes and 12,000 rounds per minute. Can intercept missiles up to Mach 4.

Although the US military does not pay attention to the army’s air defense system, you cannot say that it does not exist.

Ground-based electronic warfare systems are as dazzling to the Air Force’s electronic warfare aircraft as search lights in the night sky, waiting for them with an anti-radiation missile. Russia and Ukraine have been fighting fiercely for a year, and the air force has completely become a cheerleader. The Russian air force has the advantage but did not destroy the Ukrainian army’s air base and air defense system in the first time. It probably has no money. It has never gained control of the air, and the Russian Ka-52 only launched the “Vortex” anti-tank missile at the ultimate range of 10 kilometers when fighting the Leopard 2. The Russian military’s annual military expenditure of 80 billion US dollars is probably a lot of propaganda. There is also a question mark on where the US$50 billion in US aid to Ukraine was spent. Is it really written off? No way? Why are their firepower are so low?

One thing that can be mentioned is that the United States is the pioneer of the information-based military. A large number of digital combat systems and joint combat systems have been developed. Basically, each military service has one set, and the theater joint command has another set. Later, in order to solve the problem of too many vertical layers, insufficient horizontal interconnection, and poor ability to identify friend or foe, the US Global Command and Control System (GCCS) was developed.

Found the problem? Although it looks very cool, the US military has always wanted to develop a system, which is a center to command thousands of troops. Under the system with American characteristics, the sea, air, and ground forces compete for military spending. Unified command is inherently troublesome. On the battlefield in Iraq, there were situations where the presidential envoy, theater headquarters and military commanders were competing for command. Who would listen at this time? The final result may be that everyone listens to no one, and everyone goes their own way. Anyone who has been exposed to the project code knows that no matter how simple a system is at the beginning, it will be iterated over time, functions will be improved and hardware will be updated. In the end, it will pile up into a “hill of shit”. Imagine that when you sit in the position of the President of the United States and issue instructions to the nuclear base, you may need to broadcast signals. To issue orders to the Seventh Fleet Anti-Submarine Group – the Japanese Navy, a fax machine is required, and to issue orders to the Air Force’s F22 and F35 requires separate arrangements. Because the data links of different production years are incompatible, what about upgrading the F22? It couldn’t be done, because after the suspension of production, Lockheed Martin directly dismantled the production line to save costs. Where is the contradiction? The original design of the American command system is for an order to go directly to the soldiers. The soldiers do not need to think, they can just obey the orders. But an army is made up of individuals. Soldiers, officers, military services, theater commanders, the Department of Defense, and the White House all have their own agendas. A $1,000 coffee pot, tens of thousands of dollars of warship toilets, $6 million of Italian goats, and trillions of dollars of bad debts are expectable.

(8) Intelligent and unmanned – the battlefield heading into the future

While information warfare is still being hotly debated, military changes in the new era of intelligence and unmanned warfare have arrived.

The predator swarm drones in the “Wandering Earth 2” are smarter and more maneuverable than in reality.

Question: In the movie, when the J-20 and Su-57 take off at the same time, why do the drones chase the Su-57?

中国无人机“蜂群”作战系统亮相！无人机密密麻麻对地精准察打_哔哩哔哩_bilibili近期，中国电科集团电科院开展了陆空协同固定翼无人机“蜂群”系统的相关试验试飞工作，验证了陆上发射和空中投放固定翼无人机“蜂群”开展对地察打、精确打击等各项任务能力。（海客新闻）

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV14i4y1j7jg/?spm_id_from=333.337.search-card.all.click&vd_source=fae9e83d4aec1b716a9461884314dfa9

浙大Science Robotics封面全自主微型飞行机器人集群_哔哩哔哩_bilibiliScience Robotics 2022年5月封面论文标题：Swarm of Micro Flying Robots in the Wild https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.abm5954 https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1qv4y1K7Y6/?spm_id_from=333.337.search-card.all.click&vd_source=fae9e83d4aec1b716a9461884314dfa9

The two-seat version of the J-20 has begun to be developed, and together with the unmanned wingman, it constitutes the development direction of the new era.

无人机、排爆机器人、机器狗、无人车……_哔哩哔哩_bilibili无人机、排爆机器人、机器狗、无人车……_哔哩哔哩_bilibili

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1qT41137om/?spm_id_from=333.337.search-card.all.click&vd_source=fae9e83d4aec1b716a9461884314dfa9

UAV reconnaissance, guiding fire strikes; blasting minefields, EOD robots quickly clear minefields; commandos launch attacks, UAVs cooperate with fixed-point blasting; in addition, robot dogs go out to conduct reconnaissance, and no one Vehicles accompany the support… A combined brigade of the Army’s 80th Group Army conducted an all-element combined battalion real-force confrontation exercise. Multiple types of unmanned equipment were unveiled, and human-vehicle collaborative training was carried out.

Combined with the recent Ukrainian battlefield, the Ukrainian counterattack was tortured by landmines before it reached the Russian defense line. But for Zelensky, mobilizing troops may not be worth as much as unmanned vehicles. However, new smart landmines will be more widely used in the future, including automatic reconnaissance and friend-or-foe identification, automatic leaping overhead attacks, and one landmine can control hundreds of square meters of battlefield. Anti-smart landmines have become a new topic.

At the 2022 Zhuhai Air Show, the VT5U foreign trade light tank on display carries an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft and console for unmanned driving, greatly improving battlefield awareness and reducing casualties.

At the Abu Dhabi International Defense Exhibition, “China Military Industry” exhibited the “Sky Shield” anti-drone system. On the basis of the original laser killing method, it adds killing methods such as high-power electromagnetic suppression and combination of projectiles and artillery, making it closer to actual combat.

U.S. Marine Corps – Logistics robot dog, material handling robot dog, robot mule, robot cow. It can carry more than 180 kilograms of weapons or other equipment for about 32 kilometers. Like a well-trained military dog, its structural design is highly flexible and can accompany soldiers in harsh terrains, including woods, rocky beaches, etc.

We found that the United States was the first to apply drones on the battlefield. A superstar on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq.

RQ-4 Global Hawk, which was put into service in 2000, is active in military hotspots around the world. The cost is US$4000-120 million. It was shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in 2019 and will retire in 2022. Off-topic: Japan spent 61.3 billion yen to purchase three Global Hawks in 2014, with maintenance costs of 263.7 billion in the next 20 years. As a result, production delivery will only begin in 2020.

The MQ-1 Predator, an integrated surveillance and combat drone, is both famous and infamous. It first flew in 1994 and has participated in all U.S. foreign wars starting from Kosovo. Counter-terrorism and indiscriminate killing of civilians have become its labels.

MQ-9 “Reaper” drone

What is strange is that among the drones that have been active around the world in recent years, there is a lack of U.S.-made drones. Chinese Wing Loong and Rainbow series drones active in the Middle East and Africa. In the Naka conflict , the Turkish TB-2 equipped by Azerbaijan stole the show. The Iranian “Witness-136” suicide drone purchased by the Russian army that bombed Kiev, Ukraine, also made a splash. As the world’s largest arms trafficker, the United States’ absence is really inappropriate. So, whose fault is this? Answer: The enemy is on Capitol Hill. The U.S. Congress has enacted legislation to ban the export of large drones. When the AVIC Wing Loong drones and China Aerospace’s Rainbow drones were dumped in the Middle East, they were not receptive. In order to satisfy the contradiction between the growing needs of gold customers for foreign military intervention and our country’s love of peace, we simply exported the production lines to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Let me tell you a little story. The tall drones were originally flown by retired pilots. Without it, because the airflow in near-earth space is complex and requires manual control by experienced pilots. Nowadays, highly automated civil aviation aircraft require the full participation of two captains during takeoff and landing, just for the sake of safety. The problem is that airplanes in third world countries are all bought on a case-by-case basis, and the pilots are all spoiled. Where do so many retired pilots come from? The customer is the king. Change it. Added autopilot function, one-click takeoff and landing, automatic cruise, simplified operation process, one handle joystick can solve the drone flight control. Just one standard – to satisfy customers with all fool-proof operations. Later the customer made another request. The flight was too short. And firepower was not enough. Changed is made, increased body size and fuel capacity, and added attachment points.

Rainbow 6 UAV

Wing Long 2 UAV

The Nigerian military used Wing Loong 2 drones to conduct air strikes against terrorists. Drones allow some small countries to do an offensive air force.

Later, the customer made another request. Turkey’s TB-2 is too annoying. It’s not satisfying to bump into each other without shooting. It needs to be shot down. To meet the requirements, air-to-air missiles are installed to specifically counter UAVs. Through constant upgrading and improvement, Pterosaur and Rainbow formed a huge family pedigree. Wing Loong UAVs have begun to be sold back to the domestic civilian market. In 2021, communications were interrupted in some areas of Henan due to floods. Wing Loong drones took off from the Guizhou base and arrived in the disaster area to provide 5 hours of mobile communication services, and sent back radar in real time to scan the damage in the disaster area. While waiting for U.S. arms dealers to obtain export licenses, the world has changed. Wing Loong 2 sells for $5 million. Because Turkey’s TB-2 has weak industrial strength and its technology is not as good as that of Chinese companies, and the price is more expensive. India purchased 31 MQ-93s for US$113 million each. Even the domestically purchased MQ-9 is priced at as high as $30 million. If combined with the industrial production capacity mentioned earlier, it is actually not surprising. The cost is too high and the price is too expensive. As a result, there are less and less equipment, and the purchase price cannot go down. Regarding the performance of modern warfare, I recommend the annual update video produced by the owner of Bili bili station up. It should be noted that the tactical arrangements in the video are demonstrations by military fans based on public data and are not real military tactical details. For example, the J-16D’s decoy deception, and the two-seat J-20’s A-shooting and B-guided missiles with unmanned wingmen. In order to arrange for all of our country’s equipment in active service and under development to leave the country, we deliberately strengthened the enemy’s military quality and armament capabilities, and also thoughtfully supported the opponent’s space-based reconnaissance intelligence of Uncle Sam. For example, in order to intercept low-altitude penetrating cruise missiles, the J-8 was allowed to take up its duties as an interceptor aircraft.

【第三次世界大战】第三集完整版！展示现代战争的多种打法，几十款国产武器同时亮相_单机游戏热门视频制作平台：虚幻5引擎，DCS，ARMA3，3DMAX 若想学习此类短片如何制作，可购买我主页中的课程~ 三战系列微电影制作目的为传播国内军事文化，提醒人们居安思危，关注国防力量发展，绝非鼓吹战争

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1gX4y1v7ud/?spm_id_from=333.337.search-card.all.click&vd_source=fae9e83d4aec1b716a9461884314dfa9

(9) Industrialization
The United States, which attracts talents from all over the world, still has a strong innovation capability. However, under the influence of decades of deindustrialization in the financial industry, the United States has lost its production capacity. Industrialization is not just about factory workers and engineers, but also a whole social system that revolves around industry.
Including unified market, education and training, financial services, government policies, etc.
When the relationship is good, American companies design and sell and capture most of the profits, while Chinese companies are responsible for production and make hard money. But after the United States regarded China as an opponent, the world gradually turned into two parallel production systems. However, if there is no technological generation gap in military equipment, only players that can expand production at low cost will have the last laugh. In a sense, quantity is quality. Defeating more with less and relying on technology to make a comeback can certainly win a lot of glory and leave a name in history. But the real masters rely on operations to accumulate strength, and then rely on size to get through.
So what’s important?
Scale, scale, scale.
Han Xin ordered troops, the more the better.
Hiding new technologies will only lead to others taking advantage of them.
What is industrialization?
Machine production machines and standardized assembly line production and improvement processes.
When encountering problems, propose solutions, improve and then provide feedback, and continue to optimize.
Achieve technological leaps and improve productivity through continuous iterative improvements.
What advantages do industrialization, the entire industry chain, and system engineering capabilities bring?
Give a few examples.
An example, the balancing car was invented by an American company.
But it has always been a toy for the rich. The unit price is 8,000 US dollars, and the annual sales volume has been stable at 30,000.
After being acquired by a Chinese company, the price of the new generation product dropped to 14,500 yuan.
Later, it cooperated with Xiaomi to develop and sell products priced at 1,999.
Nowadays, Taobao sells a variety of balancing scooters ranging from 300 to 3,000.

Relying on its low-cost advantage, China’s bulletproof vests occupy 70% of the world’s market share. Because body armor is for civilian use in China, you can buy it casually on Taobao. American and Russian soldiers often privately purchase Chinese-made bulletproof inserts to put into their body armor. You’ll know how good something is after you’ve been shot a few times on the battlefield.

On the Syrian battlefield, heavy mortar shells modified with gas tanks imported from China have an impressive range, their accuracy also impressive. there is no problem in destroying a three-story building with one shot.

Rockets produced by the Palestinian Hamas organization.

Laiyang Steel Pipe Factory: Although this is a seamless steel pipe, what I export is indeed a water pipe.

After China converted the Varyag into the Liaoning ship, a lot of media asserted that the Chinese aircraft carrier would not be able to form combat effectiveness in a short time. Because only the United States and Russia can build the crown jewel of industry , the arresting cable , aircraft carriers that cannot take off and land carrier-based aircraft are just large flat plates. Then the Liaoning ship realized the take-off and landing of carrier-based aircraft after two months of service. Many years later, people discovered that the arresting cables for China’s aircraft carriers were supplied by Hebei Ju li Rigging Group, a private enterprise. Four months after the military tender, Ju li took out samples and passed the acceptance test.

After the military opened the tender, Ju Li raised his hand cautiously: That. The parameters seem to be similar to a product I exported to the United States.

More famous is DJI’s quadcopter drone. Before DJI, there were some aerial photography drones in the United States. The cheap ones cost more than 300,000 yuan, and the expensive ones cost several million. Only the film industry dares to use this thing. The French company Parrot launched the consumer-grade AR.Drone quadcopter toy in 2010. It has 720P aerial photography function and is compact, lightweight and highly entertaining.

In early 2012, DJI launched the Phantom all-in-one computer. It has certain wind resistance, positioning and carrying capabilities. DJI has always emphasized that its products are flying cameras. The price is several thousand yuan.

in 2015, the American star startup 3D Robotics launched the solo drone to challenge DJI’s status. The solo drone comes with autopilot capabilities and sells for $1,700. However, problems such as unstable flight caused by the GPS system connection affected sales. 100,000 units were produced and only 22,000 units were sold. A few months later DJI launched the Phantom 3, with the professional version priced at US$1,300, and a few months later the price was reduced to US$1,000.

In 2016, 3D Robotics exited hardware production.

Solo drone

Phantom 3 DJI

Although DJI has always emphasized that it is a private company. But in the Middle East, pterosaurs and rainbows are used by governments to eliminate terrorists at targeted locations. Terrorists have also learned to use DJI Phantoms strapped with grenades to “air-strike” government troops. On the Ukrainian battlefield, DJI drones have become “Internet celebrities”. Russia and Ukraine both use it.

Picture above translated as follow

Russian Embassy in China

General Baruyevsky, former Chief of the General Staff of Russia: Ordinary commercial quad-rotor drones made in China are incompatible with traditional drones. The application of artillery and rocket launchers brought about a real revolution in technology, which actually completely solved the old problems in artillery reconnaissance, target designation.

√ When the drone continues to hover over the target area for adjustment, the artillery can use conventional ammunition, with accuracy and efficiency comparable to precision-guided munitions, while the number of ammunition and artillery required to kill is greatly reduced.

√ The Mavic quadcopter drone manufactured by the Chinese company DJI has in principle become a true symbol of modern warfare.

Russia Embassy : 5 stars review from the costumer.

DJI tweet translation :

All DJI products are designed for civilian purposes, serving people’s production and life, and are committed to benefiting society and making life better. DJI’s products are not suitable and do not meet the needs of military applications. We do not have applications technology in the military field.

DJI: I’m not, I don’t have it, don’t talk nonsense

When the Ukrainian counterattack was overwhelmed by landmines, frontline soldiers discovered new uses for DJI drones.

A few hours after sunset, due to the difference in heat dissipation between metal and soil, there will be an obvious color difference under the camera of the drone carrying an infrared sensor, which can identify large-charge mines on the ground.

I don’t know, will Russia and Ukraine be drooling over when they see this model?

DJI, you still said you don’t know military technology?

Well, drones, phased array radars. Something feels wrong. Why are civilian drones equipped with phased array radars? Because it’s cheap.

(10) Sky Eye – Active Phased Array Radar

The Ministry of Commerce and Customs has recently implemented export controls on gallium and germanium rare metals and compounds. Exports after August 1 need to be declared. Gallium and germanium are both core raw materials for semiconductors. Among them, gallium production accounts for more than 90% of the world’s total production.

Is it because China has abundant reserves or has mastered core technology? neither. Because gallium is a rare metal, there is no abundant mine. It can only be obtained from the companion products of bauxite. The average gallium content in bauxite is 50 parts per million. So the production of gallium requires an entire alumina production line.

The largest downstream demand for alumina is electrolytic aluminum. It is well known that electrolytic aluminum is a large consumer of electricity. Cheap electricity is needed. In 2022, China will produce 40 million tons of aluminum, accounting for 60% of the world’s total production. It is this 40 million tons aluminum industry that produces 400 tons of gallium.

Gallium has an important compound, gallium nitride What we come into contact with most every day is gallium nitride fast charging. It has properties such as wide direct band gap, strong atomic bonds, high thermal conductivity, good chemical stability (almost not corroded by any acid) and strong radiation resistance. The GaN material series has low heat generation rate and high breakdown electric field, and is an important material for the development of high-temperature and high-power electronic devices and high-frequency microwave devices.

Therefore, gallium nitride also has a very wide range of application scenarios in the field of military equipment. The most typical phased array radar. Radar is the clairvoyance and ear of the modern military. In an information-based battlefield where discovery means destruction, the performance of radar directly determines whether the enemy fires first or a sitting duck. We know that radar is a device for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves. Early radar can detect the direction, distance and height of obstacles and other information by emitting electromagnetic waves and receiving echoes reflected by obstacles. However, the positioning effect for high-speed moving objects is very poor. Later , pulse Doppler radar was created based on the Doppler effect (the received frequency of waves becomes higher when the wave source moves toward the observer , and the received frequency becomes lower when the wave source moves away from the observer), which can accurately locate moving objects. Later, based on the interference of waves, phased array radar was invented. Phased array radar is a combination of Doppler radars.

The most intuitive way to experience the power of phased arrays is in the science fiction movie “The Wandering Earth 2”, in which nuclear warheads are arranged through phased arrays to concentrate the energy of the nuclear bomb explosion wave at one point.

The difference between passive phased array radar and active phased array radar is that passive phased array radar has only one central receiver/transmitter. In active phased array radar, each radiation component has an independent transmitter and receiver. One is a cyclops and the other is an insect with compound eyes. Because of the huge gap in performance, passive phased array radar is just a transition before the development of active phased array radar. Because of the independent transceiver characteristics of phased array radar subunits, the beam direction can be quickly changed through phase difference, and the mechanical scanning of traditional radar has been changed to electronic scanning. You can also group any unit independently to perform multi-beam scanning. It has strong anti-jamming and multi-target reconnaissance capabilities. Phased array radar also has disadvantages, that is, high power and high heat generation.

The phased array radar is a big house from the beginning, and a considerable part of the equipment is used for heat dissipation. Can only be used as missile and aircraft early warning

After the phased array radar is installed on the destroyer, it will become the famous “Aegis” air defense destroyer. In 2007, when China’s KJ-2000 was put into service, it was said to be a generation ahead of the American early warning aircraft because it installed a huge phased array radar on the aircraft. The powerful attack capabilities of the American F22 “Raptor” fighter jet are also related to the pioneering use of active phased array radar. It turns out that the huge radar can be installed in the radome of a fighter jet because of the use of gallium arsenide. Gallium nitride is an important raw material for the next generation of active phased array radar.

At the 2018 Zhuhai Air Show, Chinese military industrial enterprises launched an air-cooled active phased array radar for fighter jets. Later, it was directly installed on the “Fierce Dragon” Block III fighter jet jointly developed by China and Pakistan. As we know earlier, active phased array radars have high power and heat, so fighter jets are usually equipped with a liquid cooling system in their radome. Some simply use onboard fuel to dissipate heat for electronic components. Therefore, generally heavy fighter aircraft have space to install source phased array radars. But the Xiaolong is a light fighter and a cheap version. Is there something wrong? Remember the properties of gallium nitride mentioned earlier? High thermal conductivity. As long as the power supply and cooling requirements for the replacement of gallium nitride radar can be met, the detection range of active phased array radars on several types of fighter jets has the opportunity to be doubled.

Above picture is phased array radar multi target tracking high speed military radar is sold online casually in china the price 1 million yuan.

So it’s not surprising that DJI drones are equipped with phased array radars.

Hence the monster below.

20 tons AEGIS Unmanned warship. Each ship is equipped with 8 vertical launch missiles and 2 torpedoes.

The Iranian Navy has considered launching suicide attacks on U.S. warships using missile speedboats. If dozens of these small boats, which cost tens of millions of dollars, surrounded warships worth billions of dollars, or were equipped with towed sonar and spread out to hunt submarines in the vast sea area, the picture would be too beautiful.

Is it easy to get a job in China?

Any job?

Pretty easy. The government puts a lot of effort ensuring that if you are sincere about getting employed, there will be a job for you.

But a good job?

No. It is very hard.

There are also people who start working straight from high school, or perhaps they go to trade schools instead of the standard university route.

Unfortunately, the competition is just as fierce.

And just for reference, do you know what this graph from China: Number of university graduates | Statista

means?

It means China needed to create 7.585 million new jobs in 2019.

Remember that China is changing rapidly. The people who are retiring from low-end manufacturing or agriculture aren’t doing the same jobs as the 20 year olds in hi-tech and STEM fields.

Competition is fierce.

Ranch Round Steak

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

1 (3 pound) round steak
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Instructions

Cut steak into serving size pieces; trim away excess fat and pound to tenderize.
Combine flour, dry mustard, salt and pepper; use to coat meat. Reserve remaining flour mixture.
In skillet, brown meat, half at a time, on both sides in hot shortening. Push meat to one side; stir in reserved flour mixture.
Combine water and Worcestershire sauce; stir into skillet mixture. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly, reduce heat. Cover and simmer for about 1 hour or until meat is tender.
Remove meat to platter.
Skim excess fat from gravy. Drizzle gravy over meat and serve.

What Elon Musk just did in Ukraine could change EVERYTHING

Could Elon Musk end the war in Ukraine with this one move? Democrats are calling for an investigation into how Starlink is used in the warzone. Redacted Correspondent Dan Cohen dives deep into the details.

The slow slide to destiny

International relations can be likened to a game of 3D chess. 

In this great game Putin, in the finest Russian tradition, or like Mr. Spock in Star Trek, is a grand master. 

I don’t believe the chess players in the U.S. State Department, such as Victoria Nuland (wife of the Robert Kagan mentioned above) and the other neocons who are at the helm, are quite at Putin’s level, but they had the great advantage of being able to make a series of aggressive moves (e.g., the series of NATO expansions and the 2014 Ukraine coup) before Putin was able (i.e., was strong enough) to make a counterplay in response. 

By comparison, the general run of media journalists, commentators and even supposed analysts are tiddlywinks players. 

-UNZ "Russia is back"

Ok, the peak of the event sequences for this phase of “bumpiness” has passed. We are an a momentary adjustment period. See? It wasn’t all that bad. just your fears screeching towards you, eh? Well, you will be fine. Just stay calm.

Let’s go this array of odds and ends at this particular point in time.

Spaceballs – They’ve gone into plaid

We start with a funny clip of a parody of Star Wars known as “Spaceballs”. It’s a Mel Brooks classic. I hope to remind everyone not to get too serious. It’s really cramping our happiness, don’t you know.

Cool find

US aircraft carrier & strike group to enter East Sea as ‘show of force’

North Korean news agency Yonhap quoted on Monday sources as saying that US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln will access the international waters of the East Sea this week as a "show of force" movement to fend off any possible North Korean provocations. 

 The aircraft carrier along with a strike group will stay in the sea for about 5 days, Yonhap reported, adding that it will be the first incident of its kind since November 2017.  

The news agency quoted the spokesman for US Forces Korea, Lee Peters, as saying that "as a matter of operational security," he refuses to comment on the matter.

Article

A strange find

Now for something funny…

Father of 5-year-old pterodactyl: It’s not easy to get species-affirming care in America

Don't be too serious, folks -MM

Local man and father of a 5-year-old trans pterodactyl Bradley Mingastank is struggling to find the medical care his young dinosaur son needs, as it is very difficult to find species-affirming care in the United States.

“Seriously, it’s 2022, and we still haven’t figured out how to provide adequate medical care to children who think they’re extinct flying lizards,” said Mingastank. “I do my best to raise my son Madison as a pterodactyl per his wishes, which is important for his self-esteem. I only communicate to him in ear-piercing dinosaur screeches, I feed him small rodents and fish, and every once in a while I push him off the roof of the garage so he can try flying. But no other doctors seem to be willing to help him get the ultraviolet heat lamps and lizard medicine his pterodactyl body desperately needs.”

According to sources within the family, Madison first discovered his true pterodactyl identity when he put on a Halloween costume and then refused to take it off. It was then his parents knew he was a dinosaur trapped in a human child’s body.

“According to science, If someone thinks they are something, then they are automatically that thing, and the whole world must pretend they are that thing or they’ll die. That’s just proven science,” said Mingastank as he called a veterinarian to set up an appointment for his son.

UPDATE: Madison has changed his mind and has decided he is now a sea lion. His parents are currently looking for a giant aquarium to keep him in.

Dracula meets Lucy Westenra – “Dracula: Dead and Loving It”

One of my favorite scenes. Funny but sensual. I really like those old 1960s style vampires and their attractive female companions.

How To Make 1950’s good wife’s guide

I found this. It's really very dated. I found it interesting, but I do not recommend that anyone follow the guidelines. Never the less, I do think that this is good advice for either mean or women in regards to talking to strangers, friends, or family.

Don't shoot the messenger. -MM

Food – Dinner

Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have be thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they get home and the prospect of a good meal is part of the warm welcome needed.

Prep

Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people.

Be interesting and happy

Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.

No clutter

Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives. Run a dustcloth over the tables.

Fire

During the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering to his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.

Peace and quiet

Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Encourage the children to be quiet.

Welcoming
```
Be happy to see him.
```

Smile

Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.

Listen

Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.

Be positive

Don't greet him with complaints and problems.

No complaining

Don't complain if he's late for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through at work.

Comfort

Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or lie him down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.

Shoes and pillow

Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.

No questions
```
Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.
```
Yes, it’s dated advice.

.

But if you look at it closely, just about all of the advice pertains to cats and their “owners”.

.

And you know, both of my grandparents were happy folk and had functioning families. Perhaps they knew something that we have forgotten over the years.

A very strange find

Reports: Chemical Weapons Dropped in Mariupol (False Flag???)

World Hal Turner 11 April 2022

Numerous reports are coming in claiming an unmanned aerial vehicle dropped some type of chemical or nerve agent against a target in Mariupol, Ukraine, killing several and injuring 100’s.

We have no OFFICIAL confirmation, but the reports are flooding-in anyway.

This could be the exact, precise, FALSE FLAG that the USA and NATO have been “warning” the Russians “might use” which could spark a formal NATO military response into Ukraine.

It was back on March 24 that NATO publicly stated a Chemical attack would prompt their intervention (Story HERE)

The headline to that story looked like this:

More info as it becomes available. Check back.

UPDATE 4:59 PM EDT —

One (a single, isolated report) claims the following:

"Russian forces used a poisonous substance of unknown origin against Ukrainian military & civilians in the city of Mariupol, which was dropped from an UAV. The victims have respiratory failure and vestibulo-atactic syndrome."

Now, there are real problems with this report.

1) It does not say WHERE in Mariupol the attack allegedly took place.

The _only_ major fight zone where any type of chemical weapon would prove useful, is at Asovstal Steel Mill, where thousands of AZOV nazis are scattered through vast catacombs beneath the sprawling plant. It is in these catacombs, where a reported Biolab exists, consisting of allegedly 8 full floors deep, all beneath the plant, and initial rumors (not confirmed) claim this lab was working on genetic-specific bioweapons in violation of treaties.

2) The decision to FLOOD those underground catacombs by using fire trucks to pump water into the air shafts, to force out the Nazis, was already publicly reported (Story HERE)

Thus, it makes no sense at all to turn around and use a chemical weapon or nerve agent against the very target they intend to flood-out.

3) NATO has been itching for an excuse to enter the war inside Ukraine, and has, on more than one occasion, said the use of chemical weapons would meet that excuse.

Interesting timing now that a Biolab has been proved to be under that steel mill, and if Russia successfully takes over that Biolab, they will find PROOF that the US and others were working on Biological weapons in violation of Treaties. Or, worse, that they were working on race-specific bioweapons, designed to wipe out . . . only . . . . Russians.

4) The report cites “vestibulo-atactic syndrome”

Pathogenesis

In the practice of a neuropathologist, the vestibulo-atactic syndrome is most often observed in patients with cerebral ischemia, when the brain receives insufficient oxygen because of a violation of blood flow.

The pathogenesis of this pathology includes the lack of blood flow in the vertebro-basilar system, which unites the vertebral and central (base) arteries of the brain, the violation of blood circulation in the brain stem structures, as a result of which their energy supply and connections with other parts of the central nervous system (CNS) are disrupted.

Stem brain formations are sensitive to hypoxia (oxygen starvation of systems and organs), which causes a large prevalence of vestibular-ataxic syndrome and also the variety of forms and manifestations of this pathology in cerebral ischemia.

The clinical picture can vary depending on the cause of the disease, age and condition of the patient. For example, in elderly patients, the disruption of the central part of the vestibular analyzer is often combined with the lesion of its peripheral part, which forms a peculiar picture of the pathological disorder.

This pathology – a combination of motor and vestibular disorders due to violations of the general and cerebral circulation. It is quite common, many of its symptoms have been noticed in itself, without giving them much importance. If, when walking, a person begins to feel dizzy, he throws from side to side, coordination of movements is disturbed – this is an occasion to immediately consult a doctor.

What constitutes a vestibulo-atactic syndrome and what are its causes we have figured out. What are the signs and complaints of patients that enable the neurologist to diagnose ataxia?

Ischemic disorders in the work of the brain are dangerous because in the early stages they can simply not be noticed, since the first symptoms that appear can correspond to various disorders of the patient’s health and condition. A person can simply not pay attention to individual cases of malaise. This makes it difficult to timely diagnose and treat diseases that are the companions of the vestibulo-atactic syndrome.

The first signs of the initial stage of the disease are:

Frequent dizziness, especially when walking.
Flicker and “flies” before the eyes.
Nausea and vomiting.
Headache.

In later stages, motor disorders appear:

Loss of balance.
Throwing from side to side.
Falls.
Involuntary twitching of the eyelid

Hal Turner Analysis / Take-away:

If NATO officially asserts that chemical weapons WERE used (and that’s a big “if”) and that NATO is entering the war, Russia has already said publicly it will use its nuclear missiles.

UPDATE 5:28 PM EDT —

Kira Rudik, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, confirms recent reports about Mariupol attack: “The unknown substance was sprayed by Russians in Mariupol. People are suffocating.”

UPDATE 5:42 PM EDT —

The mass-media is starting to “run” with the story of a “Chemical attack” in Mariupol. They would only be running with it if their government masters told them to. And Government would only tell them to, if the plan is for NATO to announce they are intervening. Here, from the London “Mirror” newspaper (Link)

This is getting worse by the hour.

UH OH . . . 5:46 PM EDT — Now NEWSWEEK in the USA is carrying the story . . . . (Link)

5:49 PM EDT — Microsoft Network (MSN) now carrying the story too . . . (Link)

Whatever and whomever is in that lab is worth potentially destroying the world to them.

UPDATE 6:08 PM EDT —

UK'S FOREIGN MINISTER TRUSS TWEETS: REPORTS THAT RUSSIAN FORCES MAY HAVE USED CHEMICAL AGENTS IN AN ATTACK ON THE PEOPLE OF MARIUPOL. ANY USE OF SUCH WEAPONS WOULD BE A CALLOUS ESCALATION IN THIS CONFLICT AND WE WILL HOLD PUTIN AND HIS REGIME TO ACCOUNT.

6:52 PM EDT –

All the latest info TONIGHT at 9:00 PM Eastern (8:00 Central, 7:00 Mountain, 6:00 Pacific, 5:00 Alaska, 4:00 Hawaii) on the Hal Turner Radio Show. Set a REMINDER in your cell phone!

You can tune-in FREE as follows:

WBCQ Shortwave on Frequencies 7.490 and 6.160 AM

WRMI Shortwave on Frequency 5.950 AM

KYAH – 540 AM, Utah’s Talk Authority

or here on the Internet at this link: http://stream.halturnerradioshow.com:8000/ (Click LISTEN)

NOTE: This link does not go active until about one hour BEFORE showtime. During that hour, it streams commercial-free music until the show begins.

FINAL UPDATE —

It turns out that the “reports” of this “Chemical attack” originated from . . . . wait for it . . . . the Azov Battalion which is stuck in the Asovstal Steel Mill, and under siege from Russian forces. It appears to have been a blatantly fraudulent claim, designed to instigate the entry of NATO into the Ukraine situation.

The claim was repeated and re-circulated by the press and PR machine backing Ukraine. That’s why reports “flooded-in.”

Here’s the “rub.” If NATO, which appears to be run by sociopaths and psychotics, CHOOSES to treat this report as legitimate and CHOOSES to enter Ukraine, then it’s war with Russia and the nuclear missile will fly.

None of us knows right now if NATO sociopaths and psychotics will try to put lipstick on this pig of a report, and treat it as legitimate. Until we know, there is very real danger that this will be the match that ignites world war.

Isn’t the Iraq/Saddam trick with the “chemical weapons” a little out of date?

Or they are hoping that we don’t remember how the fake war started over there?

Well, some of us remember.

A decent thrift store find

INTEL: U.S. Delta Forces and U.K. “SAS” Fighting inside Ukraine since February!

World Hal Turner 13 April 2022

A source in the French intelligence community reportedly informed a Le Figaro reporter last week that elite special forces from the UK and the US have been deployed in Ukraine since the start of hostilities with Russia in late February.

The claim was made public by the newspaper’s senior international journalist Georges Malbrunot on Saturday, the same day that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson paid an unexpected visit to Kiev. Although this information has not been officially confirmed, the British leader was reportedly accompanied by special SAS guards.

SAS units “have been present in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, as did [sic] the American Deltas,” Malbrunot tweeted, citing a French intelligence source. He went on to say that Russia was well aware of the “secret war” waged against its troops by foreign commandos, according to the source. His information was mentioned in Le Figaro’s Ukraine updates.

The French journalist who returned from Ukraine after arriving with volunteer fighters told broadcaster CNews that “Americans are directly “in charge” of the war on the ground.”

The United Kingdom and the United States have been among Kiev’s most ardent military supports. Johnson is said to have personally urged his Ukrainian colleague, Volodymyr Zelensky, to continue fighting Russia until better terms are presented.

It seems that the United States and Europe lost their bet on Ukraine and Zelensky. They will not receive anything for the supplied weapons

Something tells me, dear readers, that, in the end, the Anglo-Saxons will get nothing from Ukraine but losses.

These losses will become the operating costs of the West.

There are several reasons for Western operating losses:

- the current power of the Nazis is illegitimate, even if the state of Ukraine will exist due to the succession of the DPR and LPR;

- it is not a fact that the state of Ukraine will exist after the completion of the special military operation of the Russian Armed Forces;

- to save the Nazi regime in Ukraine, Russia must suffer a military defeat and disappear as a state. This is the "wet" dream of the West, which is not destined to come true. From the word "never".

With a probability of up to 97%, in my opinion, instead of the state of Ukraine, the Southwestern Federal District of Russia may appear on the map.

Variants of names - Little Russia, Malorossia

After the victorious completion, of course, of the special military operation of the Russian Armed Forces on the territory of Ukraine.

All the enslaving "rights" of the West, to the best of my understanding, exist exactly until the moment when, instead of today's illegitimate government, legitimate successors come to govern Ukraine - the DPR and LPR.

That's when the United States and the rest of the West will get a "donut hole", nothing more.

All their costs will become their sunk costs.

Similar to the Nazis, who armed the collaborators, during the war with the USSR.

I don’t remember that in the history of the wars of the West against Russia, the Republic of Ingushetia, the USSR, such issues were resolved somehow differently.

And this will happen after the cleansing of the current Nazi regime in Ukraine.

With a high degree of probability, even shameful for the part of the Russian people living there, the name "Ukraine", invented by the Poles, will cease to exist.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, "soon the fairy tale is told, but the deed is not done soon."

Social processes, in comparison with the life expectancy of people, are slow.

For them, 100-300 years is not a period.

But, to the best of my understanding, this time. all the main events that cleanse the part of the Russian people living there from Nazism (constituting, somewhere, at least 80% of the total population), will occur much faster.

It will work out the social law of three generations, at least there are signs of this.

In addition, dear readers, as far as I know, Ukraine did not find time to register the 1991 treaty borders with the UN.

It directly follows from this that the entire territory of Ukraine was and is, from the point of view of the UN and international law, under the administrative control of Russia, as the legal successor of the USSR.

(The Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, inhabited mainly by Russians, having not agreed to become part of Romania, has a similar legal status, similar to that of the DPR and LPR.)

This explains why Russia, in this case, legally, is not at war with another state.

This fact legally confirms that civilians who are not at war with the Russian Armed Forces are OWN for Russia.

Which he confirmed with his order of the Supreme Command of Russia.

Russia, in its own right, conducts a special military operation on the territory that is legally one of the administrative units of Russia.

Yes, a few specific units, but nothing more.

It should also be borne in mind that there can be no war, other than a civil one, between territories under common administrative control.

As well as no annexations, etc., etc.

But, administrative reforms on the territory of Ukraine, in my understanding, can and, perhaps, should be in the future.

Moreover, Russia has the right to carry out administrative and other reforms at its own discretion, and, of course, in its own interest.

On the above basis, there is the only internationally recognized state western border of the USSR with the countries of Eastern Europe.

The rights of Russia, as the successor of the USSR, are registered with the UN.

So, Russia paid the debts of the USSR for all the republics, including for Ukraine, in accordance with international law.

Thus, from the point of view of international law, no one has any grounds for a dispute with Russia about the territorial affiliation of Ukraine.

Author – Gennady Tsybanev

Cool thrift shop find…

Dr Lexus!

One of the best Scenes. Dr. Lexus! Idiocracy 2006 comedy film, directed by Mike Judge. Starring Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph.

British Mercenary “CossackGundi” Surrenders To Russian Forces in Mariupol Ukraine

World NewsDesk 12 April 2022

CossackGundi Merc SurrendersToRussia large — Cossack Gundi Merc SurrendersTo Russia

We have received reports that British “volunteer” Aiden Aslin, better known as “CossackGundi”, and other international “volunteers” in the Ukrainian Marines, have chosen to lay down their arms to Russian forces around Mariupol, Ukraine, after running out of food and ammunition.

A source close to Aiden, who previously served with him in the YPG (Syria) spoke with him by phone and told us “I just spoke with Aiden. His unit is out of food and ammo. They have no other option but to surrender. He said he loves you all.”

He is surrendering to Russians which is only slightly better than surrendering to Chechyns.

He’s upset. Likely he knows he’s going to spend the rest of his life in some Russian prison. Worse, for him, is that once Russia tells the world they have him, the country of Syria is likely to issue an arrest warrant for the mercenary role he played in THAT country. This likely translates to life in prison not only in Russia, but in Syria as well.

Hal Turner Analysis

THIS is what happens to British forces who actually believe the mentally retarded British government. The people inserted into government positions are such incredible fools, and such blatant liars, they will fabricate just about __any__ story to get people to go do things for them. And when those things go bad . . . . the government fools who caused it all, are nowhere to be found.

British officials like Liz Truss are unimaginable liars; they deliberately falsify information to the public – and likely in private as well – to cause people to do things that are not in the interests of others. Those others fight back and whoever volunteers to help the British, gets the consequences. Just like CossackGundi is getting right now.

Same thing with the Americans. Look at what they did to Afghans. Pulled out of Kabul, and simply LEFT all the Afghans who helped them. Those Afghans – what few were allowed to live — were dealt with by the Taliban.

DO NOT FIGHT FOR THE UK OR FOR THE USA. If you choose to believe the lies of those government nitwits, liars, and sociopaths, you will likely get what CossackGundi is getting right now.

For what its worth, Ukraine is losing this conflict and is going to lose. Period. Full stop.

Ukraine never had a chance against Russia. Only an idiot would think otherwise.

Ukraine lost when they decided to accept western money to overthrow the Democratically elected President, Viktor Yanukovich, in 2014.

They lost again when they elected a west-financed puppet government in Kiev.

They lost again when the people of Crimea voted in a referendum, to leave Ukraine and return to Russia.

They lost again when the people of Luhansk and DOnetsk decided they, too, were leaving Ukraine for Russia – but Ukraine said “no” and sent the Ukraine Army to bomb them.

Ukraine lost again when their army in Luhansk and Donetsk was confronted by “Little Green men” sent in by Russia to protect the civilians in Luhansk and Donetsk.

Ukraine lost again when they signed the Minsk Agreements, then did absolutely NOTHING to implement them for five years, and instead continued to bomb civilians in Luhansk and Donetsk.

Ukraine lost again when they openly incorporated actual NAZIS into their government, police, and military.

Ukraine lost again when Luhansk and Donetsk declared Independence and invited Russia in to protect them.

Ukraine lost again when the Kremlin called on February 23, and gave Ukraine five hours to accept the terms of the Minsk Agreement, accept that Crimea was now Russian territory, and allow Luhansk and Donetsk to be free, then IGNORED the Kremlin ultimatum at the behest of the British and Americans. Once that five hour window expired, the Russian Army entered Ukraine.

Ukraine’s public relations machine would have people think that Ukraine is the victim; they are not. They are the perpetrators . . . they brought all this upon themselves and they are losing.

Discovery 1

The United States Begs China to help them deal with the American economic crisis

Translated from Chinese. This is from an article out of Hong Kong. I don’t know how accurate it is. While my factories and logistics carriers are seriously nervious about shipping to the USA, none of them has actually refused making products for Americans. -MM

2022-04-12 18:23 HKT

The trade war between China and the United States has been fought for several years, but judging from the current overall situation, it is clear that the outcome has been divided. The United States has fallen into a serious economic crisis, while China will enter a new round of golden age of economic development. Even when the United States has been forced to do nothing, it has repeatedly released goodwill hopes to China to soften China and get China's help to get out of the crisis.

According to a New York Times report, in mid-May, the U.S. Trade Representative made two requests for dialogue with senior leaders of the Chinese commerce sector, but both were rejected by China.

The current US economic crisis is indeed very serious.

In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic has brought a huge blow to the US economic order, because the US government at that time did not consider to achieve effective control of the coronavirus, and in response to the 2020 election. .

The Trump administration's policy of only focusing on economic data has directly led to the loss of control and raging of the domestic epidemic in the United States, which also caused headaches for the Biden administration, which had just taken office only a few months ago.

Although the Biden administration has adopted a relatively clear epidemic prevention and control policy after taking office, it has also vaccinated the people on a large scale, hoping to achieve herd immunity.

However, the epidemic in the United States cannot be completely controlled in just a few months. Under the influence of the epidemic, the unemployment rate in the United States has reached about 10%, and it is difficult for many Americans to maintain their basic survival.

Moreover, the coronavirus pandemic is after all spreading throughout the world, which has also had a huge impact on the overall world trade. It is already difficult for the United States to export its goods to all parts of the world without hindrance as before, and the world It is still unknown when the economy can be fully restarted.

What's more terrible is that in order to restore the instability of the economic order, the Biden administration unilaterally began to seek economic recovery after taking office. The Biden administration proposed a trillion-dollar infrastructure construction plan, but the current U.S. finances clearly cannot support it. According to data released by the U.S. Department of Finance, the U.S. government debt ratio reached 137% in fiscal year 2020, which is a historic high.

If the US government wants to pay back the money, it will take at least 20 years, so the Biden administration can also be said to have completely abandoned its control of the inflation rate. The Biden administration implemented monetary easing and fiscal stimulus plans, requiring the Fed to step up printing trillions of dollars into the market to revitalize the US economy. From the perspective of existing economic indicators, this is indeed useful.

The U.S. government has given the people a lot of money for consumption, thereby promoting the stability of the U.S. economic order. Therefore, in the first few months of this year, U.S. economic growth has at least returned to a normal track, but what this has brought is The domestic inflation rate in the United States has increased as never before. (note : when the world stop buying US treasury debt and begin to sales those in hand, US lost its power of printing money without domestic inflation)

In May of this year, the U.S. consumer price index rose to 5%, and the inflation rate was as high as 53%. This will bring more serious obstacles to the future economic development of the United States, and even now the United States is overdrafting its global economic hegemony. And the US dollar hegemony to temporarily stabilize the economic order.

The high inflation rate means that the domestic price level in the United States is rising rapidly, but the average salary of American residents has not followed up, and even has declined to a certain extent. After all, the coronavirus pandemic still exists, and various American companies want to guarantee themselves. The business interests of the United States have carried out large-scale layoffs and reduced employee salaries. Therefore, the economic harm caused by inflation to the United States has actually been hit on ordinary Americans, while the rich in the United States have entered the rotation of leeks. Carnival.

Because these wealthy people can also receive government financial subsidies, they have invested all the financial subsidies they received in the stock market to plunder the wealth of the American middle class. Therefore, we can clearly see that in the last half of the year, the top 10 wealthy individuals in the United States have completed their own rapid accumulation of capital, and their average asset ratio has increased by nearly 40%. Therefore, under the influence of the coronavirus pandemic, the inflation rate in the United States is rising rapidly, and the gap between the rich and the poor in the United States is becoming wider and wider.

The U.S. government must be responsible for all this. After the end of World War II, the U.S., as a capitalist country, has encountered economic crises more than once, but because of the existence of the Bretton Woods system and subsequent U.S. dollar hegemony and economic hegemony, the U.S. When suffering from an economic crisis, it is possible to transfer the crisis to the entire international community by investing a large amount of US dollars in the market. The facts have proved that such measures are indeed effective. The US economy protected by the international economic order has guaranteed its long-term prosperity, but now the US dollar hegemony has been challenged unprecedentedly.

The first point is that the global de-dollarization process is constantly being promoted. According to the data released by the IMF, the proportion of the US dollar in the world trade orientation system has dropped from 85% at its peak to 57%. Although it still has an advantage, But the advantage is far from what it used to be.

Moreover, in 2020, the entire world will be severely affected by the epidemic. .

The United States can indeed ensure its own economic order by transferring the economic crisis, but this has a premise that the world trade market must be stable, and all countries must buy American products. Products, or export products to the United States, but now obviously there is no such condition.

Because most countries are unable to maintain their trade stability under the influence of the epidemic. Vietnam, India and other well-known markets in the international community have begun to reduce their product imports.

It is no longer possible for them to import products from the United States on a large scale. As the world's largest and most dynamic market, China is of course also It is impossible to allow American products to enter the Chinese market on a large scale. After all, the Sino-US trade war has not completely ended until now.

But for the current U.S. government, there is not much that can be found. The U.S. needs China. As we have mentioned above, the inflation rate in the United States is very huge, which has even reached a historic high. The domestic price level in the United States has risen by 31% in just three months

(note : apparently, China stop export subsidies and imposed export tariff on certain strategic products such as steel help to keep the domestic prices stable, while making US cost rise to counter US irresponsible money printing.)

In order to quell domestic prices in the United States, they must obtain goods from China, because China's industrial output is huge, and because we have the advantage of the entire industrial chain, Chinese goods are characterized by good quality and low prices.

Once Chinese goods are acquired, the domestic price level in the United States will inevitably fall. Therefore, many American companies have begun to place orders with Chinese factories, but most Chinese factories have rejected orders from the United States. There are two main reasons for China's rejection of orders.

The first point is because of the coronavirus pandemic. Although the overall domestic epidemic in China has been brought under control, China's economic recovery level and factory resumption rate rank first in the world. However, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on us still exists. Unhindered large-scale industrial production as before is obviously unrealistic, which is not conducive to our overall epidemic prevention and control.

Therefore, the main purpose of China's industrial operation is to ensure its own market demand, not to save the United States. It is obvious that the rejection of US orders by Chinese companies is understandable. After all, the catastrophe is imminent.

Even if China is a responsible country, the first consideration is its own national interests and market needs. (note: still remember last winter, in the name of energy shortage and prices, China deliberately cut certain factory output? I believe it is deliberately cutting those output so that they can reject US order to avoid the dollar they received become useless in a foreseeable future. )

The second is that Sino-US relations have not yet returned to normal.

Before, the United States initiated a full-scale trade war against China, but now the United States has taken the initiative to show its favor to China, hoping that Chinese goods will enter the United States and quell American inflation. .

How can this be possible?

The initiative in the relationship between China and the United States is in China's hands. It is impossible for us to maintain the economic order of the United States by harming our own commercial and corporate interests.

And if Chinese factories do not accept US orders, US inflation may fall into an endless loop, because the US's own industrial manufacturing obviously cannot meet the needs of the market.

The U.S. has a population of hundreds of millions, and the U.S. economy is also the world's No. 1, but we can see that in the total U.S. economy, manufacturing accounts for only 10% of the total, while U.S. manufacturing and industry are only about 27% of China's. , It is simply impossible to meet the domestic market demand in the United States.

Not to mention that most of the US manufacturing and industry are concentrated in military weapons and high-end information industry.

These industrial categories and product categories can bring huge commercial benefits to the United States in peacetime, but they are severely affected in global trade. Under the circumstances, this does not have any positive effect on the United States' current idea of consolidating economic order. After all, Americans can't eat bullets. It's not realistic to let them eat mobile phones.

Although the Biden administration has put forward a large-scale infrastructure construction plan and a US secondary industry plan since it came to power, it takes time and money. So now the US needs China to help. If there is no China, the US inflation rate will only be Progress expands.

And the economic crisis in the United States really tells us that the economy of this country is mainly based on manufacturing and industry. About 80% of the total US economy comes from the tertiary industry, and about 7% of the total US economy is created by the lawyer industry.

That is to say, the total output value of the US manufacturing and industry is only more than that of the lawyer industry. The created GDP is 3% higher, and the US economy can be said to be built on castles in the air

In the past, the US economy was able to stabilize because the US possessed global hegemony and dollar hegemony. However, when US hegemony was challenged, their economic order did not have a solid foundation. China can certainly help the United States, but the premise is that the United States must respect our national sovereignty and give up unrealistic suppression and blockade of China. China is no longer an object that the United States can suppress at will.

Article

Another cool thrift shop discovery

China Firms Pulling-Out of USA, BRITAIN, CANADA

World Hal Turner 13 April 2022

China’s top offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC Ltd. is preparing to exit its operations in Britain, Canada, and the United States, because of concerns in Beijing the assets could become subject to Western sanctions, industry sources said.

All in a Day’s Work

From <redacted> a fine MM follower…

Back when we were supposed to be locked down for some unknown period of weeks or months, Wifey and I stocked up on some barterable and essential slop that we both could tolerate in an emergency.

Booze, beans and bullets.

Yesterday I came in for lunch from my yardwork tasks in the swampy bitch that is our backyard; muddy, but wet enough that the soles of my boots were pretty clean. Wifey was rotating out some of the A-Bomb supplies and a large can (12oz) of tuna + greenery was my awaiting meal. The can said that it had expired
over a year ago – like I give a shit what those lying planned-obsolescence assholes say. I pound down that mound of an enhanced salad in about fifteen minutes. I suited back up and headed to the quagmire to distribute Wifey’s latest “all natural” cure upon our weed farm that the neighbors love so. About fifteen
minutes into the task, I felt something gurgling down deep in my processing plant.

Fuck!

Read the rest HERE in glorious PDF.

Discovery 2

South Korea is on China’s “Hit List”

Article 9 of the South Korea-US Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) stipulates that a custom’s examination “shall not be made” in case of “military cargo consigned to the US armed forces,” according to a document posted by the South Korean Foreign Ministry.

“According to the SOFA, the US military cargo is exempt from customs inspection, allowing (the USFK) to bring in whatever it wants … (South) Korea is a very friendly country for the United States to import germs and conduct tests,” Lee Jang-hie, emeritus professor at law school of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, told Xinhua.

Article

Russians aren’t that different from Americans

1950″s Brownie Recipe

This is the recipe we used in Home Economics in the l950’s. It’s very moist and chewy, a super rich brownie. It goes great with pudding, ice cream, or fudge toppings.

And a fine brandy or hot coffee.

Here’s the recipe:

1 cup softened butter
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate bar
1 1/4 cups of sifted all-purpose flour
(measure flour after sifting)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Optional: add 1 cup of chopped pecans or walnuts.
dark chocolate can be used

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Use 13″ x 9″ pan, greased and floured
Bake 40-45 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Allow to cool in pan before slicing.
These brownies freeze very well, they will keep for months.

So Pun-ny

Poland “attacks” Belarus border post

Published bydreizinreport on April 12, 2022

A few days ago—and I’m not sure it was the first time—Polish uniformed personnel “attacked” a Belarus border post.

In the short video clip below, one Polish serviceman shoots a slingshot (see around 0:27) and another one shines a stroboscopic lamp, towards the Belarussian position.

You might think this is not serious.

It is serious. This is an international border. Unless you think the Polish border guard (or army, or whoever this is) is a hooligan rabble, they would not be doing this without orders.

Imagine if Mexico’s army did this to the U.S. Border Guard, how would Americans feel? (We know the cartels do much worse, but they’re not the government, so Mexico gets a pass.)

Next, the Poles may deploy a watermelon catapult, or sound warfare, or tear gas, or whatever, and someone on the Belarussian side will get hurt, or worse.

Poland will say, “It’s just a catapult!”, but if it breaks someone’s neck, Belarus would have to respond…..

…..And then it’s “NATO Article 5”, and the 10,000-plus U.S. military personnel in Poland, most located within 30 miles of the Ukrainian or Belarussian borders (for just such an eventuality), get drawn into it. Not to mention, just now I got video of this U.S. or German (these are not in the Polish arsenal) howitzer train—at least two batteries’ worth—moving into Poland.

In short, the border actions are a provocation.

This is one step in a campaign of escalation.

Poland has been trying to pull off a regime change in Belarus since 2020.

Claims that Uncle Sam is directly behind the regime change efforts are mostly false. It’s Poland, with Lithuania and Germany in second place.

In response, Belarus had been facilitating a wave of chaotic illegal migration of Iraqis and others into Poland, however, that more or less stopped, many months ago.

Recently, a team of railway saboteurs was arrested in Belarus; one of the three resisted and was shot (not killed.) They were found to have a pistol and some professional radio gear. I have videos of their apprehension and the damage they caused, but it’s not that interesting.

It’s likely they were operating under pay and orders from Polish intelligence. The railway is a target because it moves Russian army gear.

Poland’s intelligence service has set up a virtual “front group” called BYPOL, allegedly consisting of Belarussian security personnel who want to see a democratic Belarus blah blah.

BYPOL might have some uniformed collaborators in its employ. (We don’t know, because no one is identified—it’s made out like it’s an undercover network inside Belarus, probably imaginary.)

Even if it’s not 100-percent fake, it’s a front. You know who is writing the checks and pulling the strings.

BYPOL “exists” so that any sabotage inside Belarus can be “plausibly denied” by Poland. “It wasn’t us, it was BYPOL.”

BYPOL’s English-language website is here. It’s ridiculously slick, probably made in the USA, or with the help of an American PR firm.

Poland has been looking to expand its influence over its neighbors.

Much of Belarus and the Ukraine were controlled by Poland from the 1400s to the early 1700s, and then western Belarus and northwest Ukraine were occupied by Poland again from 1919 to 1939.

Now, Poland wants it back.

Don’t just take my word for it. Polish-American tweeter Jack Posobiec—1.7 million followers, and a regular on Steve Bannon’s show—has been calling for a renewed Polish empire for over a year.

A retired commander of Polish ground forces recently told Poland’s leading tabloid that Russia’s Kaliningrad province (taken from Germany in 1945) is rightfully Polish and must be conquered.

That’s the sort of crap that is going around in their media space. Their public is being primed for intervention and expansion.

In recent weeks, Poland has mobilized an entire infantry division (with the help of U.S. trainers) to move into northwest Ukraine, to “protect” the Ukrainians, even though the Ukraine-Russia fighting is hundreds of miles away.

A few military targets in this part of the Ukraine have been bombed, but no one seriously thinks Russia wants—or would be able to—move its ground forces into the area anytime soon. If the war comes here, unlikely as that is, it is still months away.

So far, the European Union and NATO Command have told Poland, “No!”

That may change if something heats up on the Poland-Belarus border.

If Poland and Belarus start fighting, that would be bad enough, it would involve NATO and possibly nuclear weapons. But (if we’re still here), Poland would also have some pretext and political cover to move into northwest Ukraine and establish a long-term protectorate there.

(This “expeditionary force” would be supported by NATO Patriot missile batteries now deployed in Slovakia.)

That’s their goal. That’s what this Belarus border drama is about.

Everyone must understand now, if the Russia-Ukraine war gets “out of control”, and turns into a broader Russia-NATO war, or a nuclear war, it won’t be thanks to Brandon.

It would be thanks to Poland.

It’s a common enough problem.

FLASH TRAFFIC: RUSSIA TO CONSIDER US/NATO VEHICLES BRINGING WEAPONS TO UKRAINE AS LEGITIMATE MILITARY TARGETS

World Hal Turner 13 April 2022

Russia will consider US and NATO vehicles that transport weapons to Ukraine as legitimate military targets, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov said.

He did not elaborate on WHERE such vehicles would be treated as legitimate military targets. While it may be normal to treat them as such INSIDE Ukraine, the statement seems deliberately ambiguous on that point.

In other news, however, there was no ambiguity:

The Russian Ministry of Defense today publicly warned Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenski that if Ukraine continues to attack targets inside Russia, then Russia will commence targeting the “centers of decision making” in Ukraine. Read that to mean, government buildings in the national capital, Kiev.

Earlier, the governor of the Kursk region in Russia reported several attacks at border crossings perpetrated on the Ukrainian side of the crossing. The attacks with mortars and small firearms have not yet caused any casualties, the governor said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry has warned that Russian armed forces will launch strikes on Ukrainian “decision-making centers”, including Kiev, if Ukraine doesn’t stop trying to hit objects on Russian territory. The ministry added that, so far, Moscow had avoided hitting these centers, but this policy might change.

Russia announced its decision drastically to scale down its military activities near Kiev after making such progress in the last in-person bilateral talks with Ukraine, which took place in Istanbul on 29 March. Moscow explained that key decision-makers, who can make the final call in peace talks, live in Kiev and hence the city should be spared any hostilities in the near future.

The defense ministry’s announcement comes in the wake of several incidents, in which the Ukrainian Armed Forces carried out attacks on Russian territory. Governor of the Kursk region, Roman Starovoit reported that a border crossing was shelled from the Ukraine side on 9 April and that the mortar position was suppressed when the Russian side returned fire. Starovoit also said that a group of Russian border guards came under small arms fire from the Ukrainian side on 13 April. There were no casualties among Russians in both incidents.

Discovery 3

4 Checkmate – Patrick McGoohan’s The Prisoner

This show should be watched in its entirity. This is a classic 1960s show about the retirement of “secret agents”. This is a really nice segment, and you really should watch the ENTIRE clip. It’s just… precious.

I hope you enjoy it. It seems very bizzare, but as you watch it you can see the beauty in the entire production.

Sweden Expects to Join NATO in June of this year

World NewsDesk 13 April 2022

The Social Democrat party leadership in Sweden has allegedly decided on the NATO issue. Party Leader Magdalena Andersson‘s goal is for Sweden to join NATO in June this year, say sources in the party.

OIP C.eOONJwi3vNvHft1Bxr9yagHaE9 — Magdalena Andersson

The application is planned to be submitted at the NATO meeting in Madrid on June 29-30.

The official neutrality of both Sweden and nearby Finland, has kept the peace with Russia for decades.

It is not yet known what Russia’s reaction might be to such a decision by Sweden, but the reaction by Russia over Finland joining is not in question: Russia has publicly stated that the only thing Finland would achieve by joining NATO would be the destruction of their country.

The America Competes Act of 2022

The America Competes Act of 2022 contains a proposal for a new outbound review process that would screen investments in offshore supply chains, notably in China

Though there is bipartisan political support for the investment regime, it is not yet clear what shape it will take or how it will impact US firms in China, say experts

Article

Discovery 4

So you lift up this crappy old rug, and you find a crappy owld wooden floor. On closer inspection, you see that it is real hardwood, and so you fix the holes and sand and clean it up then a fine layer of acrylic. Look at the transformation!

Russia’s role in space program is irreplaceable, Roscosmos boss says as EU suspends cooperation on Mars mission

Western countries are heavily sanctioning Russia’s space program. The European Union has decided to suspend cooperation with Russia on exploring Mars. But the head of Russia’s space program, known as “Roscosmos” told CGTN that Moscow’s role in space exploration is indispensable.

LI JIANHUA CGTN Reporter “Mr. Rogozin, thank you for accepting our interview. The EU has halted cooperation with Russia on ExoMars. How has this affected the Russian Space Agency and what is the impact on manned space exploration?”

DMITRY ROGOZIN Director General, Roscosmos “It’s a cooperative mission. If Russia doesn’t join, Europe won’t go ahead with the mission, because Russia’s contribution to the mission is huge. It is not only about the heavy rockets that send these instruments into orbit and to Mars. It’s also about the landing vehicles. These vehicles must help achieve a soft landing on Mars or the research rovers. The module itself is a research station. We have been waiting so long to realize this mission. If it is delayed, it will never happen. They may change Russia’s landing module, but that decision could take a lot of time and money.”

LI JIANHUA CGTN Reporter “Without international cooperation, will Russia be able to conduct the expedition research on its own?”

DMITRY ROGOZIN Director General, Roscosmos “The problem is when someone does it on their own, it costs a lot of money. It will be a huge burden on the budget. In the construction of ExoMars, the main element is the landing module. The Mars research rover is not the essential element. I think we can make this mission happen with another partner like China or someone else.”

LI JIANHUA CGTN Reporter “How about the International Space Station? NASA has said the Russia-US cooperation on the ISS will not be affected by the new sanctions. What’s your take on that?”

DMITRY ROGOZIN Director General, Roscosmos “The sanctions have been imposed on Russia to make our economy and high-tech companies suffer, to make our people’s lives more difficult, and to bring Russia to its knees. Clearly, it’s not possible because of the strength and will of our people and country.”

LI JIANHUA CGTN “So let’s say there are more sanctions on Russia and Russia decides to withdraw from the ISS programme. You previously warned that the ISS could collapse as a result of the sanctions. I’m quoting you as saying ‘if you stop cooperation with us, who will save the 500-ton ISS from going out of control, derailing and falling on Earth.’ What’s your take on that?”

DMITRY ROGOZIN Director General, Roscosmos “Russia’s role is vital. Only Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft can transport American, European, Canadian, Japanese astronauts and their guests. Soyuz is irreplaceable, because America doesn’t have any spacecraft. Russia helps the international space station avoid space rubbish and maintain orbital correction. The ISS is in a low earth orbit. It helps deliver fuels to the station. These are the main contributions from Russia and Roscomos in particular. So working without Russia is impossible, just like working without America. If they pull us out of this, the ISS wouldn’t exist anymore.”

LI JIANHUA CGTN Reporter “China’s Shenzhou-13 crew are set to come back to Earth in mid-April. What’s your comment on their mission? What do you think of China’s promise of international cooperation in the future?”

DMITRY ROGOZIN Director General, Roscosmos “We work well with our Chinese friends. We have Glonass, and China’s Beidou system was built in orbit not long ago. They are compatible, very compatible. The second project is interesting, which is the International Lunar Research Station. We have signed all the necessary documents with our Chinese friends. Regarding China’s space station, we can talk about creating new modules. To be friends in space, we must be friends on Earth. Russia and China are friends on Earth. I think China and Russia can work together in manned cosmonautics.”

Article

Discovery 5

You remove some drywall, and you discover windows that were covered up. Why?

Discovery 6

There’s all sorts of things lying around that are interesting.

The Inflation Crisis Of 2022 Is Now Worse Than Anything That We Experienced During The 1970s

America is going to be in for some trying times. -MM

April 12, 2022 by Michael

Most Americans don’t realize this, but we truly have entered historic territory. As you will see below, the inflation crisis of 2022 has now escalated to a level that is beyond anything that we experienced during the horrible Jimmy Carter era of the 1970s. If you are old enough to have been alive back then, you probably remember the constant headlines about inflation. And you also probably remember that it seemed like the impotent administration in power in Washington was powerless to do anything about it. In other words, it was a lot like what we are going through today. Unfortunately for us, this new economic crisis is still only in the very early chapters.

Of course the mainstream media would like us to believe that what we are experiencing today is not even close to what Americans went through in the late 1970s and early 1980s. According to CNN, the U.S. inflation rate hit a peak of 14.6 percent in the first half of 1980…

The inflation rate hit a record high of 14.6% in March and April of 1980. It helped to lead to Carter’s defeat in that fall’s election. It also led to some significant changes in the US economy.

Compared to that, the numbers we have been given in early 2022 seem rather tame. On Tuesday, we learned that the official rate of inflation in the U.S. hit 8.5 percent in the month of March…

Prices that consumers pay for everyday items surged in March to their highest levels since the early days of the Reagan administration, according to Labor Department data released Tuesday.

The consumer price index, which measures a wide-ranging basket of goods and services, jumped 8.5% from a year ago on an unadjusted basis, above even the already elevated Dow Jones estimate for 8.4%.

8.5 percent is much lower than 14.6 percent, and so to most people it would seem logical to conclude that we are still a long way from the kind of nightmarish crisis that our nation endured during the waning days of the Carter administration.

But is that the truth?

In reality, we can’t make a straight comparison between the official rate of inflation in 2022 and the official rate of inflation in 1980. The way that the inflation rate is calculated has been changed more than 20 times since 1980, and every time it was changed the goal was to make the official rate of inflation appear to be lower.

What we really need is an apples to apples comparison, and fortunately John Williams over at shadowstats.com has done the math for us.

According to Williams, if the inflation rate was still calculated the way that it was back in 1980, the official rate of inflation would be somewhere around 17 percent right now.

17 percent!

That means that the inflation that we are seeing now is even worse than anything that Americans went through during the Jimmy Carter era.

And government figures for individual categories seem to confirm that inflation is now wildly out of control. For example, the price of gasoline has risen by 48 percent over the past year…

The price of gasoline rose by 48.0 percent from March 2021 to March 2022, according to numbers released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In just one month—from February to March—the seasonally adjusted price of gasoline went up 18.3 percent.

Vehicle prices have escalated to absurd levels as well. If you can believe it, the average retail selling price of a used vehicle at CarMax has risen by 39.7 percent in just 12 months…

CarMax experienced a slowdown in fourth-quarter used car sales volume as its average retail selling price jumped 39.7% year-over-year to $29,312, an increase of approximately $8,300 per unit.

And I discussed yesterday, home prices in the United States have jumped 32.6 percent over the past two years.

We have entered a full-blown inflationary nightmare, and the Biden administration is trying to blame Vladimir Putin for it.

Needless to say, that is extremely disingenuous of Biden, because prices were already skyrocketing even before the war in Ukraine started.

But it is true that the war is making economic problems even worse all over the globe, and that isn’t going to end any time soon.

A couple of weeks ago there was a bit of optimism that some sort of a ceasefire agreement could be reached, but now there appears to be no hope that there will be one any time soon.

On Tuesday, Putin told the press that peace talks have reached “a dead end”…

Talks with Ukraine have reached “a dead end,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in fresh Tuesday remarks. “We will not stop military operations in Ukraine until they succeed.” He explained that Ukraine has “deviated” from agreements and any possible prior progress reached during the Istanbul meetings, according to state-run RIA.

The strong remarks aimed at both Kiev and the West were given during a joint presser with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko. He further hailed that the military operations is still going “according to plan,” Bloomberg reports, however while admitting to the domestic population that “Russian logistics and payment systems remain a weakness and the long-term impact of western measures could be more painful.” But he also said the county has withstood the economic “blitzkrieg” from the West.

And Volodymyr Zelensky is now saying that the return of Crimea is a “red line” for him…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky named recognition of the annexation of the Crimea region as one of his red lines for Moscow in any potential peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end war between the two countries.

Russia annexed the southern region of Crimea in 2014. Russian-backed separatists and forces, as well Ukrainian soldiers, have since been fighting in the eastern region of Ukraine.

Russia will never, ever willingly give Crimea back to Ukraine.

Anyone that thinks otherwise is simply being delusional.

So unless someone changes their tune, this war between Russia and Ukraine is going to keep going until someone achieves total victory.

And that could take a really long time.

Meanwhile, global food supplies will get tighter and tighter, and global economic conditions will continue to rapidly deteriorate.

In other words, the kind of nightmare scenario that I have been warning about for years is now upon us.

And so what happens if another “black swan event” or two hits us later in 2022?

We are so vulnerable right now, and it wouldn’t take much at all to push us over the edge and into an unprecedented worldwide crisis of epic proportions.

Do you want more?

You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.

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When boys go out to play; a Metallicman mini vacation and insight into my life in China

Hey everyone, I’ve been busier than a dog in a forest going tree to tree pissing indiscriminately. And some of my activities enables me to mix a little bit of business with pleasure. And isn’t that the way we want to do things? We work a little bit, and we play a little bit too.

Anyways, I decided that I would give you all a taste of what my last few days were like. It’s nothing super fantastical. I’m not driving a Ferrari, and staying in five star hotels and all that. It’s all rather middle class and plebeian. Don’t you know. But it’s so gosh darn different from what things are like in the Untied States that perhaps you all might might a glimpse into what it’s like to be me.

Sounds ok?

Everyday carry

One of the themes in Western media is “everyday carry”. People take pictures of the things that guys stuff in their pockets when they go out. And for most of America it’s a set of car keys, a wallet stuffed with cash, a multi-purpose tool, and a nice pocket knife or so.

I’m in China. My “everyday carry” is a cellphone and a couple of fobs. No one uses money anymore. We just scan to buy things, and some fobs for access to gates, or passes. These are only for the places that don’t have facial recognition yet.

But, I’ve kind of made up a picture of my gear bag for travel that you all might enjoy looking at.

First up is my bag. Nope, it’s not a designer bag with Gucci on the side of it. It’s just a basic functional bag that has stains and wear from use. that’s about it.

Typically, I keep it pre-loaded with basic gear and when I need to go overnight, I just top it off with whatever I need, and sling it over my shoulder and out the door I go.

Next up…

What I put inside it.

The last night was typical. I met a few new bosses, and we are out drinking and there we go again! They want to “bottoms’ up” me (Geng Bei) me until I can hardly stand. Now, my aide(s) are telling him, no. Please don’t try to drink me under. that I can drink anyone under the table. but he wouldn’t listen, and then one of my aides told them my age, and he about shit himself. He thought that I was in my late 30’s early forties. LOL.

Never the less, I did continue to drink And I did drink him almost under. He cried “uncle” after the third bottle of Beijiu.

Anyways, also in my travel bag are these essentials…

Now, of course, I have other things. But I want to elaborate on what they are and the limitations involved in using them.

For starters, you will notice that there isn’t a lighter. But there is a pack of cigarettes. In my world, people fight for the honor to light my cigarette. And they prefer to offer me my own packs out of a case that they tend to buy for the occasion. So I rarely have the need to carry my own cigarettes or a lighter. Not to mention that if I am flying that I cannot bring it on board the plane.

Of course, to this mix, I would throw into the bag a change of underwear. Usually socks and underpants. And what ever medicine that I am taking at the time. Which currently is blood pressure medicine. (It’s pretty much what you all will have to deal with when you pass 60-years old.)

And that, pretty much is my carry bag.

Having Dinner

So after arriving at our destination, we visited a couple of bosses of various factories. All friends of mine. And we enjoyed “death by tea and cigarettes”. I tend to deal with the small to middle-sized factories. And that’s just fine with me. And after we took care of some business, we went out to eat.

Now, there are all sorts of great places to eat in China. But as far as I know, no one discusses the “on the farm” eating establishments. What this is, is a restaurant that is a farm. They have a pond where they raise their fish, and cages where they raise their chickens, geese, and pigs. And a nice garden where they raise their vegetables. When you order a meal, say a chicken with leeks, peppers and garlic, they will kill the chicken there, and get the vegetables right there. All very, very fresh.

So here we are going to the farm restaurant. You can eat in these little bungalows that sit over a pond where fish are raised and the ducks and geese swim. though right now, the pond is all dried up (this is the season).

And then, of course, we all get settled in and select some food, and open up the massive quantities of alcohol. In this case, we agreed to drink a combination of Rice Wine and Beijiu. That’s 53 degree poison and will peel the paint off your car if you spill a drop. Yikes!

You will notice that we brought the alcohol with us. Which is pretty much the norm in China. You can bring in alcohol or other food to eat in any restaurant as you desire. they don’t have laws or rules forbidding you from doing that like they have in the United States.

You will also note that there are these clear plastic bags of water handing from the ceiling. these little bags keep the flies and mosquitoes away. Somehow when the insects get near the pavilions the water gets them confused and they fly away. So you aren’t bothered by them.

We pretty much ate Guangzhou style. Which is one food that walks, one that flies and one that swims. It was delicious. Of course.

So we ate and drank and had a fine time. This is what friends do. And you can see how much it resembles my life growing up in Western Pennsylvania. This is how things used to be back in the 1960’s and 1970’s before the ultra-billionaires bought up the United States and turned it into a feudal society to service them.

One of the topics of conversation is the big drive by President Biden (in the United States) to invest one trillion dollars in infrastructure.

Over all, this was welcomed as a positive development, and many felt that America was on the right track trying to copy China, though most had their doubts that it would actually come to fruition.

One said that America would need to pull out of Afghanistan, and some of the other wars that it is fighting to get the money, while another pointed out that America should have done this much sooner, and that there needs to be strong serious changes in how the United States makes and authorizes plans like this. China it isn’t. Most people came to the conclusion that it was just a bunch of “hot air” to appease the masses, and that the money would flow upwards to the wealthy oligarchy instead.

Then after dinner it’s a drunken drive to the hotel…

Now, of course, we had one of the workers or staff drive us to the hotel. We do not drive drunk. It’s too dangerous.

So we went off and went to the hotel. Now, this is a local small town hotel, not one in the big city and as such I ended up with a room with a tea table and a tea set and a large king size bed. My companions ended up with different rooms, one of which had a Majong table, and they decided to go play Majong until late in the night.

So to make a long story short, they were off getting drunk, playing Majong, and they sent me to my room with a few new friends to play with. It was a nice calm evening of delights for all of us.

It’s always fun to make new friends. I’ll tell you what.

Of course, everyone slept in, and where we got back on the road the first thing we wanted to do is go eat something warm and filling. So we ate Congee, and noodles. Then off to meet some more bosses who then whisked us off into their cars and we went out to eat some beef hot pot.

I am sure that many readers already know that Hot Pot is. It’s sort of a Chinese fondue. Only instead of cheese, you deal with beef, and you dip it in flavored oil. Then once it’s cooked, you can go ahead and eat it in your own sauces. It’s like this…

It’s pretty delicious.

Now, you will notice that there is this brown mixture to the side where I panned the camera to. This is a make-your-own dipping sauce. Mine is a mixture of garlic, sauces, some peanut sauce, and other goodies.

Here’s where you go to get the ingredients to make your own dipping sauce.

Doesn’t look like China is wracked with Famine like Townhall.com has claimed since 2017, or that people are dying everywhere and that the evil CCP is hiding the “true numbers” and the “truth about China”. LOL. You have to be a brain slug dumbed down imbecile to believe the nonsense out of the American media these days.

It’s all pretty tasty I’ll tell you what.

One of the things that I enjoy about China is the FREEDOM that you have that is impossible to have int he United States. And to underline this point, I made this little video to rub it in the faces of any “I’m free and China is a boot-stomping, totalitarian nation!” folk.

Here, I do something that you all in America CANNOT do, and would probably get you arrested for even trying it.

Freedom, you either have it, or you don’t.

Anyways, here’s how you cook the beef. You put it in this kind of basket ladle and then dip it inside the scorching hot oil for a spell, then you take it out and you eat it by dipping it int he sauce that you prepare.

Cool huh?

Like this…

I’ve got much more to say about China, and the adventures over the last few days, but this will suffice for now.

I do hope that you enjoyed this little insight into my life, and if you are from America (my old stomping ground) you will note that in many ways it is similar to the way things used to be in the Untied States, and often very different. Furthermore it doesn’t resemble anything like the nonsense spewing out of Townhall.com, Hall Turner, Rush Limbaugh or FOX “news”.

Like the “famine” in China that the CCP is “covering up” and hiding…

This is the real deal yo!

Do you want more?

I’ve got more post in my KTV index here…..

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just clean up the mess and get on with life Yes. I love it. Great. -MM

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